Transfer of social attributions in stimulus equivalence classes by preschool children

The transfer of social attributions within stimulus-equivalence classes comprised of photographs of children was examined. Five children (mean age: 4 yr., 2 mo.) were taught conditional discriminations sufficient for the emergence of two 3-member equivalence classes (A1-B1-C1 and A2-B2-C2). Social attributions were established by using two photographs to identify fictional children who could facilitate (B1) or prevent (B2) the participant's reinforcement on a computer game. Transfer of attribution was assessed by asking the participants questions regarding predicted social behaviors by children in all six photographs. One set of questions pertained explicitly to the response-options of the computer game; a second set referred to other prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Three children chose photographs in response to questions consistent with their experience with members B1 and B2 of the shared equivalence class when the questions pertained to the computer game. One subject also selected photographs in response to questions about predicted prosocial and antisocial behavior which reflected her experience with the B1 and B2 photographs.