A boy is sitting on his father’s lap looking at a book. The father tells his son: “Look for the dog” and helps the boy touch the dog. When the child touches the dog, the father hugs him and says “yes, exactly.” The child finds this very pleasant, building strength, so that when the parent turns the page and says again “find the dog,” the child will touch the dog without waiting for the parent’s guidance. If, however, the child had touched the cat instead of the dog, the parent would not have hugged him or verbally reinforced him; The behavior of touching the cat is associated with the unavailability of reinforcement every time the child hears “touch the dog” said. We are then in the presence of a delta stimulus, and in this Psychology-Online article we will see what is the delta stimulus in psychology with examples.
What is a delta stimulus
Two phases are involved in stimulus discrimination training:
- The first, when there is a , the behavior is reinforced.
- The second, when any other previous stimulus, except the discriminative stimulus, is present, the behavior is not reinforced. During discrimination training, any pre-stimulus present when the behavior is not strengthened is called a delta stimulus.
He delta stimulus is defined as “a stimulus in the presence of which a particular response will not be reinforced” (Malott, 2007). In fact, when a stimulus is associated with the absence of reinforcementwe speak of the delta stimulus state, in the presence of which the behavior is not reinforced.
A delta stimulus is one that is present when a response is being subjected to extinction or punishment, and the presence of a delta stimulus will reduce the probability and/or rate of the response that was punished or extinguished in its presence. What is the function of the delta stimulus? In general, the delta stimulus functions as a signal that indicates that a certain response will not be emitted.
In the following articles you will find more information about the and the .
Examples of delta stimulus in psychology
To finish seeing what delta stimuli are and how they work, we will present some examples:
- During animal discrimination training, the animal often responds in the presence of stimuli similar to discriminatory stimuli: these similar stimuli are delta stimuli (animal trainers call them “cold stimuli”). But eventually, the response to the delta stimulus will turn off. Let’s take the example of a chicken that has to peck at a red circle. The trainer makes two cards, one with a red circle and one with a blue circle. Pecking the red circle will be reinforced, which pecking the blue circle does not. At first, the hen might peck at both circles, but if it is reinforced only in the presence of the red circle, it will eventually only occur in the presence of that circle. The blue circle, in this case, would be a delta stimulus.
- Stimulus-based behavioral control occurs when the presence or absence of a discriminative stimulus or a delta stimulus controls the performance of a particular behavior. For example, the presence of a stop signal (delta stimulus) at a traffic junction warns the driver to stop driving and increases the likelihood of “braking” behavior.
- A child displays a series of disruptive behaviors in the classroom, but only in the presence of a certain teacher, Laura, and not with another teacher, Mariela. In this example, teacher Mariela is the delta stimulus.
Difference between delta stimulus and discriminative stimulus
Stimulus means anything that a person can experience through the senses; anything that can be seen, felt, smelled, touched or tasted. Various people can experience the same sensations in different ways, and a stimulus that may be pleasant for one may be irritating or painful for another. In particular:
- A stimulus can be associated with another event when is followed by reinforcement or punishment; In this case it is considered a discriminative stimulus. In other words, when that stimulus is present, it indicates the availability or possibility of reinforcement or punishment.
- When a stimulus is associated, however, with the non-availability of a boosterthen it is called as a condition delta stimulus.
For example, although the behavior of swearing can, in the case of a child, be reinforced with social attention in the context of the group of friends, it can be punished in the presence of parents. In this case, the group of friends is a discriminative stimulus, while the family would be a delta stimulus for the “swearing” behavior.
Also know that it is a and a.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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References
- Mallott, R. W. (2007). Principles of Behavior. London: Pearson.
Bibliography
- Hernández Sánchez, C. (et al.) (2012). Racism and education. From invisibility to evidence. Madrid: Editorial Complutense.
- Behavior Modification (2015). Stimuli. Recovered from: http://modificaciondelaconducta.blogspot.com/p/estimulos.html
- Trivisonno, C. M. (2007). Introduction to the ABA Approach to Autism and Developmental Delays. A Manual for Parents and Educators. Lulu Editions.