Generalization of Say-Do Correspondence

Abstract

Say-do correspondence training establishes a relation between what a person says and then does, or does and then reports. The conditions that establish the generalized form of this behavior­ behavior relation have not been thoroughly investigated. The current study analyzes two conditions, or types of histories, giving rise to the generalization of say-do correspondence. Eleven preschool children, ages 3 years, 10 months to 5 years, participated. Two baseline phases showed the lack of say-do correspondence in four behaviors, two similar and two dissimilar, with the second baseline involving social consequences contingent upon saying what to do. Next, differential consequences were applied to the say-do correspondence relation in Behavior 1. Subsequently, say-do correspondence was maintained under two conditions with 6 and 5 children participating, respectively. In both conditions consequences were equally thinned but in Condition 1, saying was kept in a vocal modality (as during training) and, in Condition 2, saying was changed from a vocal to a symbolic modality. Generalized say-do correspondence of untrained behaviors was then tested. Considering the first trial for each behavior, greater generalization was observed in the symbolic condition. Observation of the children's behavior in this condition indicated that the type of symbolic saying response used in the current study permitted the transfer of the stimulus properties of saying from the saying to the doing context. Say-do correspondence training establishes an arbitrary relation between what a person says and does, or does and then reports (Baer, Detrich, & Weninger, 1988; Israel & O'Leary, 1973). To explain these This research was conducted in the kindergarten Fabula, Granada. We thank the