Transitivity is a concept in derived relational responding and stimulus equivalenceStimulus Equivalence refers to a situation in which an indiv.... Transitivity occurs when a learner demonstrates that if StimulusStimulus is defined as any change in the environment or... 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... and symmetrySymmetry is a concept in derived relational responding, part..., 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!