Equivalence Relations and the Reinforcement Contingency
Year: 2000
Type: article
Abstract: Where do equivalence relations come from? One possible answer is that they arise directly from the reinforcement contingency. That is to say, a reinforcement contingency produces two types of outcome: (a) 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, or n-term units of analysis that are known, respectively, as operant reinforcement, simple discrimination, conditional discrimination, second-order conditional discrimination, and so on; and (b) equivalence relations that consist of ordered pairs of all positive elements that participate in the contingency. This conception of the origin of equivalence relations leads to a number of new and verifiable ways of conceptualizing equivalence relations and, more generally, the stimulus control of operant behavior. The theory is also capable of experimental disproof.
Author: Murray Sidman
Institution: New England Center for Children
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1964114172