Four-year-old Joshua reacts with anxiety to the sound of thunder. A chair slides across the wooden floor, making a sound similar to thunder. Joshua reacts with some slight anxiety. This is an example of

• A. stimulus discrimination.
• B. stimulus generalization.
• C. a neutral stimulus.
• D. a spontaneous recovery.

Answer: (B)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Identify the key elements in the scenario: Joshua, the sound of thunder, and the sound of a chair sliding.
2. Understand the concept of stimulus generalization: It occurs when a response that has been conditioned to a specific stimulus is elicited by a similar, but different, stimulus.
3. Recognize that Joshua's anxiety to thunder is a conditioned response, and the chair sliding sound is a similar stimulus.
4. Analyze Joshua's reaction to the chair sliding sound: He experiences slight anxiety, indicating that the response to thunder has generalized to a similar sound.
5. Conclude that this scenario is an example of stimulus generalization, as Joshua's conditioned response to thunder is triggered by a similar stimulus (the chair sliding sound).