When 4-year-old Aileen goes to the store with her dad and whines for candy at the checkout, she gets the candy. But when she goes with her mom, whining never ends up getting her candy. Before long, Aileen only whines when she is at the store with her dad. This is called ________.
A) successive approximation
B) stimulus discrimination
C) continuous reinforcement
D) stimulus generalization

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Stimulus discrimination refers to the ability of an organism to differentiate between similar stimuli, and respond appropriately only to the relevant or desired stimulus. In this case, Aileen has learned to discriminate between being at the store with her dad (where whining for candy leads to getting candy) and being at the store with her mom (where whining for candy does not lead to getting candy). As a result, she only whines when she is with her dad, demonstrating stimulus discrimination.

When 4-Year-Old Aileen Goes to the Store with Her Dad