Generalization

Description of the Strategy

Generalization as an effect has been noted since researchers began discussing learning. Original experiments in classical conditioning found that animals conditioned to a particular tone would initially respond to similar tones. Operant conditioning has shown that an individual who is reinforced for a particular response is more likely to make that response in similar situations. Both these examples illustrate the general concept of generalization. Most often, during learning trials an organism learns not only to respond to the target stimuli but also to not respond to other, somewhat similar stimuli. This later phenomenon is discrimination, and it is unusual to see a description of generalization without a concomitant discussion of discrimination.

At the most basic level, all instances of ...