Transitivity is a concept in derived relational responding and stimulus equivalenceStimulus Equivalence refers to a situation in which an individual demonstrates that different stimuli are related to each other in specific ways, without direct teaching for all relations. It involves... More. Transitivity occurs when a learner demonstrates that if StimulusStimulus is defined as any change in the environment or form of energy that affects an organism’s behavior or physiological state. Stimuli can be external or internal, and they can el... More A is related to Stimulus B, and Stimulus B is related to Stimulus C, then the learner can infer that Stimulus A is also related to Stimulus C without direct training on this relationship.
Example
A learner is taught that:
- Picture of a cat (Stimulus A) matches the spoken word “cat” (Stimulus B), and
- The spoken word “cat” (Stimulus B) matches the written word “cat” (Stimulus C).
If the learner can then match the picture of the cat (Stimulus A) to the written word “cat” (Stimulus C) without direct instruction on this relation, this demonstrates transitivity.
Transitivity, along with reflexivityIn Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), reflexivity is a concept in derived relational responding, particularly within stimulus equivalence. Reflexivity refers to a learner’s ability to match a stimulus... More and symmetrySymmetry is a concept in derived relational responding, particularly in stimulus equivalence. Symmetry refers to the learner’s ability to reverse a trained relation between two stimuli. In other wor... More, forms the foundation of stimulus equivalence, showing that an individual can derive new relations between stimuli based on previous learned relations.
Let me know if you’d like more examples or further explanation!