Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) — Question 13

You are working with a child on teaching swimming. You teach the child to do the front crawl. After a few weeks of teaching, the child is doing both the front crawl and also starts doing the breast stroke. What has occurred?

Answer options

• A. Stimulus generalization
• B. Response generalization
• C. Failure to generalize
• D. Maintenance

Correct answer: A

Explanation

The correct answer is A, Stimulus generalization, because the child is applying learned skills from one swimming style (front crawl) to another (breaststroke). Response generalization (B) refers to variations in responses to the same stimulus, which doesn't apply here; the child is not failing to generalize (C), and maintenance (D) pertains to the continued performance of a learned behavior over time, rather than learning a new one.