Response generalization under verbal conditioning in alcoholics, delinquents and students

Response generalization of a verbal CR was examined in an experiment which was repeated three times, each with a different sample of subjects (alcoholics, delinquents and students). An operant conditioning procedure using verbal reinforcement was employed to develop a verbal CR. In each study the sample was divided so that one section was reinforced for verbal overestimates of the diameter of a circle and the remaining section was reinforced for underestimates. Each verbal estimate of a circle was followed by a drawing estimate of its diameter which received no reinforcement. In each experiment, the verbal estimates were observed to increase in size in the section reinforced for overestimating while the remainder of the sample, reinforced for underestimating, decreased the size of their verbal estimates. In addition, response generalization was observed in accord with the experimental hypothesis for the size of the drawings tended to shift in the same direction as the verbal CR. The experimental procedure was considered to be reliable for the evidence on conditionability and response generalization, as defined in this research, was consistently obtained in these three experiments even though different kinds of subjects were employed in each study and different Es conducted the experiment. The evidence was considered to be in line with the general body of learning theory of response generalization and also possible to hold some important implications for understanding behaviour changes in patients undergoing psychotherapy.