What does stimulus control refer to?

Stimulus control refers to the ability of a stimulus to influence the likelihood of a particular behavior occurring. This concept is rooted in behavior analysis and suggests that certain stimuli can serve as cues or signals that indicate whether a particular behavior will be reinforced or not. When a behavior is consistently reinforced in the presence of a specific stimulus, that stimulus gains control over the behavior, increasing the likelihood that the behavior will occur when that stimulus is present.

For example, if a child is taught to say "please" when requesting a toy, and they receive the toy every time they use that word, the act of hearing "please" becomes a stimulus that controls the child's request behavior. This illustrates how specific conditions or stimuli can shape behavior responses in a predictable way, highlighting the essence of stimulus control in applied behavior analysis.