Sharon has learned that her language arts teacher is happy to answer her questions but that her biology teacher discourages questions. sharon therefore asks questions in language arts but not in biology. in behaviorist terminology, sharon is:

She is under stimulus control. This means that she has a more open way of behaving towards her art teacher due to the response that the teacher gives her. She behaves in a more evasive way towards the biology teacher due to his negative response when she asks questions. Stimulus control is about modifying one’s behavior in the presence of one stimuli and acquiring a different behavior in the absence of the stimuli. In this instance, it would be the encouragement of the teacher in regards to students asking questions.