The formation of stimulus equivalence classes through implicit responding

Abstract

Private events (Skinner, 1957) and implicit behavior (Kantor, 1924; 1977) both refer to phenomena such as thinking, visualizing, and reasoning, although they are analyzed in different ways. Specifically, private events refer to responses that occur in the presence of certain stimuli which are accessible to the individual alone. Implicit behavior occurs when the original stiumulus object is absent and a response is instead made to a substitute stimulus object. To date, little or no empirical research examining private events or implicit behavior has been generated. This thesis performed such an empirical analysis by using a stiumulus equivalence paradigm where the transitive relation between two stiumuli - one that was seen previously and one that was new - could only have been made via a substitution of the original stimulus. Overall results showed that 13 to 20 subjects either immediately or eventually acquired 4-stage equivalence. The results are discussed in terms of the role that implicit responding has in equivalence classes, and possible implications of these findings on psychopathology.