stereotype n
a popular concept of the speech of a particular group of people, e.g. Irish,
New Yorkers, Australians. For example:
New Yorkers: / boid / for bird
/toititoid / for thirtythird
Australians: /woin / for wine
/dai / for day
Stereotypes are usually highly exaggerated and concentrate on only a few
features of the speech patterns of a particular group.
stimulated recall n
see recall
stimulus n
see stimulus-response theory, behaviourism
stimulus-response theory n
also S-R theory
a learning theory associated particularly with the American psychologist
B.F. Skinner (1904 –90) (see behaviourism), which describes learning as
the formation of associations between responses. A stimulus is that which
produces a change or reaction in an individual or organism. A response
is the behaviour which is produced as a reaction to a stimulus. Reinforce-
ment is a stimulus which follows the occurrence of a response and affects
the probability of that response occurring or not occurring again. Reinforce-
ment which increases the likelihood of a response is known as positive
reinforcement. Reinforcement which decreases the likelihood of a response
is known as negative reinforcement. If no reinforcement is associated
with a response the response may eventually disappear. This is known as
extinction. If a response is produced to similar stimuli with which it was
not originally associated this is known as “stimulus generalization”.
Learning to distinguish between different kinds of stimuli is known as
discrimination.
There are several S-R theories which contain these general principles or
variations of them, and they have been used in studies of verbal learning
and language learning.
see also operant conditioning
stop n
also plosive
a speech sound (a consonant) which is produced by stopping the airstream
from the lungs and then suddenly releasing it.
stereotype