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It is becoming increasingly evident that the slopes of gradients of stimulus generalization are affected by a number of variables. Since it appears that stimulus generalization is being used increasingly as an explanatory concept, an increase in our very limited knowledge of the effect of such variables is needed. The experiment reported below is designed to shed further light on a variable previously investigated by Reinhold and Perkins (1955), the effect of discrimination training along one stimulus dimension upon generalization within a second dimension.In the Reinhold and Perkins study, rats in the experimental group were trained to discriminate one runway surface from another (e.g., rough = S D , smooth = S A ), while control groups received continuous or intermittent reinforcement under S D and no presentations of S A . Subsequently, a change in runway color produced a greater generalization decrement for the experimental group than for either control group. Since nondifferential conditioning may be considered the limiting case of an easy discrimination, one might take these results as indicating that the more difficult the discrimination along the dimension on which S D and S A fall (Dimension I) the steeper the generalization gradient along a second dimension (Dimension

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NE of the games which historians of all fields play with great relish and to the occasional benefit of their readers is "Father of." The rules of the game arc simple. One picks an individual not too well known to one's colleagues (preferably an ancient Greek) and one finds bits and pieces of his writings which are either relevant to the work presently being done in some area of endeavor, or writings which are sufficiently vague that they can be interpreted as being relevant to the work presently being clone in some area of endeavor. One then names this individual "The Father of " and waits for someone else to find a slightly earlier figure who has been equally relevant or equally vague.Much has been written on this topic, including the distinction between "founder" and "father" (e.g., Boring, 1927Boring, , 1963. I should like to add to this literature, having already detracted from it, by nominating as "The Father of Applied Psychology" Lycurgus, the Spartan law giver. One minor difference in approach is signified by the fact that Lycurgus' nomination is based on what he did, rather than what he wrote.There is, of course, some question as to whether there ever actually was such a person as Lycurgus or whether, perhaps, there were actually two people both named Lycurgus. In his History oj Greece, J. B. Bury (1900) comments that "the theory has arisen that Lycurgus was not a man; he was only a god." Man or god, it makes no difference, Lycurgus would not be the first "Father of" some field of psychology to be deified. Assuming that he did actually exist, Lycurgus' accomplishments in behavior modification were quite extensive, culminating in the addition of a descriptive term for a personality characteristic, "Spartan," which persists to this day in our language. Webster's Third New International Dictionary (unbridged) defines "Spartan" as "marked by simplicity, frugality, avoidance of comfort and luxury,