Stimulus generalization of conceptual responses.

It has been argued that the principles of stimulus generalization (SG) derived from conditioning experiments also apply to human voluntary responses (e.g., Gibson, 1939; Brown, et al., 1951; Andreas, 1954; Mednick & Freedman, 1960). In order to prove this contention empirically, several experiments have been performed on a variety of voluntary responses, such as, verbal, perceptual, conceptual and judgmental. However, a critical survey of these studies, such as that reported in the following pages, reveals that they have failed to demonstrate convincingly any more than superficial similarities between their results and the results reported in conditioning experiments. Furthermore, their authors have typically shown such strong predilection for working within the framework of traditional formulations of SG that they have failed to analyze and report their results in such a way as to bring out their full significance for other areas of psychological investigation to which they are relevant