B-21: Identify examples of processes that promote emergent relations and generative performance ©
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Target Terms: emergent relations, generative performance
Emergent Relations
Definition: Responding that is not directly taught. Instead, it is learned (or derived) by “putting together” multiple bits of learning acquired through direct teaching. Emergent relations are sometimes called “derived relations.”
Generative Performance
Definition: This is when a learner engages in responses based on emergent relations, instead of based on what was directly taught.
How do untrained relations happen?
We’re talking about “stimulus equivalence” i.e. things in the environment having the same “meaning” or role for a learner.
Reflexivity: This is a prerequisite skill to further stimulus equivalence – essentially demonstrating understanding of identical matching. Example: A=A
Symmetry: If A=B is the trained relation, the untrained relation is derived in the reverse direction like this: B=A
Transitivity: If A=B and B=C are trained relations, then the third relation derived by the learner would be: A=C.
Example: A client is taught to read, and makes connections between the written word TRUCK and a real physical truck without having been directly taught this connection. Relations were derived between A and C through the following learning: written word (A) = spoken word (B) and spoken word (B) = physical object (C).
Why it matters: This is all about “leaps in learning!” When we are taught explicitly how two things relate to each other, we acquire a “trained relation.” When we infer more relationships to form new understandings between things, we are forming “untrained relations.” Untrained relations are a massive “bang for the buck” in learning. Humans don’t need to be explicitly taught every single thing they end up learning about the world.
Rule governed behavior and derived relations can help us understand mental health challenges, such as anxiety and depression, in a behavior analytic way. Once we understand rule governed behavior and derived relations, we can begin to see how mental health challenges, such as anxiety and depression, can be conceptualized behavior analytically.
For example, rules can result in things being “present” in the environment internally (e.g. “danger”), and impact our behavior, even if the external environment is designed to demonstrate the opposite (e.g. “safety”).
Anything can remind us of something else – the relation does not have to be directly taught by a direct contingency. For example, a beautiful peaceful sunset might remind us of the opposite (e.g. violence and ugliness).