Oral

Communication
INSTRUCTOR:
‘Miss Sanam Naseer’
Sec: b

ABOUT STUDENT;
NAME : SYED OWAIS ALI
ID : SP07-BB-0135

Article For;

Stimuli
Stimuli
Stimuli are events in the environment that influence behavior. A
single stimulus can serve many different functions. Listed below
are several functions that a stimulus can serve.

Discriminative Stimulus
A discriminative stimulus influences the occurrence of an operant
response because of the contingencies of schedules of
reinforcement or paradigms of reinforcement/punishment that are
or have been associated with that response. Many authors further
suggest that discriminative stimuli provide information to the
organism, allowing it to respond appropriately in the presence of
different stimuli. An observing response is sometimes necessary
for presentation of the discriminative stimulus/stimuli.

For example, different individuals can serve as discriminative

stimuli in a joke-telling situation. The jokes that you tell your
priest are probably different from the jokes that you tell your best
friend because of your past history of telling jokes to both people.

Experimentally, we can observe the discrimination of stimuli by

associating different discriminative stimuli with different schedules
of reinforcement or paradigms of reinforcement/punishment.

For instance, in the laboratory, a pigeon could be required in the

presence of a steady chamber light to peck a key on a Fixed
Interval schedule to produce food, whereas it could be required in
the presence of a blinking chamber light to pull a chain on a
Variable Ratio schedule to turn off a loud noise. The
discriminative stimuli clarify the "rules of the game," making each
prevailing three-term contingency unambiguous.
Eliciting Stimulus
An eliciting stimulus is a change in the environment that is highly
correlated with the occurrence of a later response.

An eliciting stimulus is an essential component of Pavlovian

conditioning.

For example, if a piece of chocolate (unconditioned stimulus) is

placed into your mouth, then you will probably salivate copiously
(unconditioned response).

Placing the piece of chocolate into the mouth is said to elicit

salivation.

Emotional Stimulus
Some stimuli may produce an emotional reaction which may
influence the occurrence of behavior.

For example, a game of backgammon might be interrupted by

news of the unexpected death of a famous politician.

Reinforcing Stimulus
A reinforcing stimulus is one that increases the occurrence of
behaviors that it follows.

For instance, the receipt of a trophy may increase the chances of a

young girl competing in a yearly road race.

Nominal Stimulus
A discriminative stimulus may have many identifiable attributes.
Although we can readily observe the organism's response to the
whole stimulus, it may not be clear exactly which attributes of the
stimulus are controlling the behavior (see functional stimulus). The
unanalyzed stimulus as a whole is said to be the nominal stimulus.

For example, your friend asks you to look at a passing sports car. It
is not clear just what your friend wanted you to note about the car:
its color, make, speed, location, driver, etc.

Functional Stimulus
The functional stimulus refers to the specific attributes of the
discriminative stimulus that exert control over the organism's
behavior.

In the above example, your friend may have been particularly

interested in the car's color.

Stimulus Control
We speak of stimulus control when a discriminative stimulus
changes the likelihood of an operant response. The controlling
relation between the discriminative stimulus and the operant
response (what Skinner called attention) comes about because of
the reinforcer/punisher that has followed the operant response in
the presence of that discriminative stimulus. Thus, the three-term
contingency lies at the root of stimulus control.
 Summary
Stimuli are events in the environment that influence
behavior. These are the various functions which can be
serving by Stimuli.

A discriminative stimulus influences the occurrence of an operant

response because of the contingencies of schedules of
reinforcement or paradigms of reinforcement/punishment that are
or have been associated with that response.

An eliciting stimulus is a change in the environment that is highly

correlated with the occurrence of a later response.

Some stimuli may produce an emotional reaction which may

influence the occurrence of behavior.

A reinforcing stimulus is one that increases the occurrence of

behaviors that it follows.

A discriminative stimulus may have many identifiable attributes.

Although we can readily observe the organism's response to the
whole stimulus, it may not be clear exactly which attributes of the
stimulus are controlling the behavior (see functional stimulus). The
unanalyzed stimulus as a whole is said to be the nominal stimulus.

The functional stimulus refers to the specific attributes of the

discriminative stimulus that exert control over the organism's
behavior.

We speak of stimulus control when a discriminative stimulus

changes the likelihood of an operant response.