Read the scenario below and answer the question that follows. Glen is attempting to use operant conditioning to train his dog, Thor, to fetch a ball upon command. Once, when Thor goes to fetch the ball, he instead brings Glen a pinecone. Which operant conditioning process is Thor displaying?

Thor has learned to retrieve an object, but he applies that response to a pinecone instead of the ball. This is stimulus generalization: responding similarly to stimuli that resemble or serve a similar role to the trained stimulus. Stimulus discrimination would mean Thor distinguishes the ball from the pinecone and fetches only the ball, so the correct choice is stimulus generalization.

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