Kohlenberg, Hayes, & Hayes, 1991

In Experiment 1, subjects acquired conditional equivalence classes controlled by three male and threee femail names as contextual stimuli. When equivalence relations were tested using new names not used in training (three male and three femail), contextual control remained intact. Thus, generalized control of the composition of conditional equivalence classes by characteristically gender-identified names was shown. A basic analysis of this finding was tested in Experiment 2. Contextual equivalence classes were established using a contextual stimuli nonrepresentational visual figures that were members of additional pretrained three-member equivalence classes. When other stimuli in the pretrained equivalence classes were used as contextual stimuli, the conditional equivalence classes remained intact. Control subjects showed that this effect depended on the equivalence relations established in pretraining. The results show that cocntextual control over equivalence classes can transfer through equivalence classes. The implications of this phenomenon for social stereotyping are discussed.