Stimulus Generalisation (Noun)
Meaning
(psychology) transfer of a response learned to one stimulus to a similar stimulus.
Classification
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents.
Examples
- The concept of stimulus generalisation explains why a child who is afraid of dogs may also exhibit fear when encountering a similar-looking animal, such as a wolf.
- A person who has learned to associate a particular brand of car with reliability may exhibit stimulus generalisation by also expecting similar reliability from other models produced by the same manufacturer.
- In a classic experiment, Ivan Pavlov's dogs were conditioned to salivate upon hearing the sound of a bell, but they also exhibited stimulus generalisation by salivating to similar sounds, such as a tuning fork.
- The ability to apply knowledge learned in one situation to a similar situation is an example of stimulus generalisation, where the individual is able to generalise the response to a new stimulus.
- Stimulus generalisation plays a significant role in phobias, where an individual who has a fear of a specific object or situation may also exhibit a fear response to similar objects or situations.