1 - Foundational Knowledge: Easy

Question 1

Applied Behavior Analysis

Answer 1

A scientific approach for discovering environmental variables that reliably influence socially significant behaviors and for developing a technology of behavior change that is practical and applicable.

•ABA is an evidence based APPLIED science

Question 2

Science

Answer 2

A systematic approach for seeking and organizing knowledge about the natural world.

•Science is based on determinism.

Question 3

Purpose of Science

Answer 3

To achieve a thorough understanding of the phenomena under study.

•In ABA, the phenomena under study are socially significant behaviors.

Question 4

3 Levels of Scientific Understanding

Answer 4

1. Description
2. Prediction (Correlation; Covariation)
3. Control (Causation)

Question 5

Description

Answer 5

(First level of scientific understanding.)

Systematic observations that can be quantified and classified. Not causal explanations.

Question 6

Prediction

Answer 6

(Second level of scientific understanding.)

Two events may regularly occur at the same time. This does not necessarily mean one causes the other.

•correlation; covariation

Question 7

Control

Answer 7

(Third level of scientific understanding.)

Functional relation.

Experimental demonstration that manipulating the independent variable results in a change in the dependent variable.

•causation

Question 8

6 Attitudes of Science/Philosophical Assumptions of Behavior

Answer 8

DEERPP

1. Determinism
2. Empiricism
3. Experimentation
4. Replication
5. Parsimony
6. Philosophical doubt

Question 9

Determinism

Answer 9

(One of 6 attitudes of science.)

The universe is a lawful and orderly place in which all phenomena occur as the result of other events and not at random.

Question 10

Empiricism

Answer 10

(One of 6 attitudes of science.)

The practice of objective observation of the phenomena of interest.

• facts
• experimental, data-based scientific approach, drawing upon observation and experience
• requires objective quantification and detailed description of events

Question 11

Experimentation

Answer 11

(One of 6 attitudes of science.)

Manipulating variables to see the effects of the independent variable on the dependent variable.

•it is an assessment for causation

Question 12

Replication

Answer 12

(One of 6 attitudes of science.)

Providing enough and sufficient details and instructions so the experiment can be conducted by someone else with the same results.

•Used to determine the reliability and usefulness of findings.

Question 13

Parsimony

Answer 13

(One of 6 attitudes of science.)

All simple and logical explanations must be ruled out before considering more complex explanations.

•The simplest explanation is the one that must be accepted.

Question 14

Philosophical Doubt

Answer 14

(One of 6 attitudes of science.)

Having healthy skepticism and a critical eye about the results of studies of others and your own work.

Question 15

7 Dimensions of ABA

Answer 15

GAABTEC

• Generality: Extends behavior change across, time, settings, or other behaviors.
• Applied: ABA improves socially signficant behaviors, the overall life of the client, and signficant others.
• Analytical: A functional relationship is demonstrated between the manipulated events and a reliable change in some measurable dimension of the targeted behavior.
• Behavioral: Observable events that must be measurable and in need of improvement.
• Technological: defines procedures clearly and in detail so that they are replicable.
• Effective: Improves behavior in a practical manner, not simply making a change that is statistically significant, but making a change that is clinically significant.
• Conceptually Systematic: All procedures used should be tied to the basic principles of behavior analysis from which they were derived

Question 16

Mentalism

Answer 16

An approach to explaining behavior that assumes an inner dimension exists and causes behavior; traditional psychology.

Dominated by:

• hypothetical constructs
• explanatory fictions
• circular reasoning

Question 17

Hypothetical Constructs

Answer 17

(Imaginary Constructs)

Presumed but unobserved entities.

e.g. free will, information processing, unobservable storage and retrieval mechanisms for memory, readiness

Question 18

Explanatory Fictions

Answer 18

Fictitious variables that are another name for the observed behavior and contribute nothing to the understanding of the variables that maintain the behavior.

Question 19

Circular reasoning

Answer 19

Reasoning that infers both the cause and effect from the same information.

Question 20

Behaviorism

Answer 20

The philosophy of the science of behavior.

Emerged in the early 1900s.

Environmental explanation of behavior (not mentalistic).

Question 21

4 Branches of Behavior Analysis

Answer 21

• Conceptual Analysis of Behavior (Behaviorism)
• ABA
• Behavior Service Delivery (people in various fields implementing ABA)
• Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB)

Question 22

History of Behaviorism

Answer 22

• 1850’s - 1900s: Pavlov and Classical Conditioning
• 1900’s: Mentalism
• 1913: Watson and Methodological Behaviorism (Stimulus-Response Behaviorism; S-R Psychology; Watsonian Behaviorism)
• 1938-1990’s: Skinner and Radical Behaviorism

Question 23

Methodological Behaviorism

Answer 23

(Stimulus-Response Behaviorism; S-R Psychology; Watsonian Behaviorism)

John Watson

The study of behavior through direct observation of the relationship between environment stimuli (S) and the responses (R) they bring about.

• only looks at publicly observable events and is not concerned with private events
• 1920 Little Albert Experiment

Question 24

Radical Behaviorism

Answer 24

B.F. Skinner in 1938

Included private events into the understanding of behavior.

Influenced by:

• Darwinian Selectionism (selectionism by consequences)
• Pragmatism

Question 25

Darwinian Selectionism

Answer 25

Evolution as a result of selection with respect to function.

•behaviors that result in the best outcomes are selected and survive leading to more adaptive repertoires

Question 26

Pragmatism

Answer 26

The meaning of an idea or proposition lies in its observable practical consequences.

Question 27

2 Primary Types of Behavior

Answer 27

• Respondent Behavior

- Operant Behavior

Question 28

Respondent Behavior

Answer 28

(Reflex; Reflexive Relations; Unconditioned Stimulus-Unconditioned Response; US-UR)

Involuntary behavior that is elicited by antecedent stimuli.
•unlearned
•reflexive
•genetic

Question 29

Habituation

Answer 29

In respondent conditioning: when the eliciting stimulus is presented repeatedly over a short time, leading to a decrease in the strength of the respondent behavior.

Question 30

Phylogeny

Answer 30

Behavior that is inherited genetically.

Respondent behavior is due to phylogenic history.

Question 31

Respondent Conditioning

Answer 31

(Classical Conditioning; Pavlovian Conditioning)

When new stimuli acquire the ability to elicit respondents.

Question 32

Operant Behavior

Answer 32

Emit/evoke; Voluntary

Any behavior whose probability of occurrence is determined primarily by its history of consequences

Operants are defined in terms of their relationship to controlling variables (function, not topography).

Operants are due to ontogenic history.

Question 33

Adaptation

Answer 33

In operant conditioning: reductions in responding evoked by an antecedent stimulus over repeated or prolonged presentations.

e.g. no longer laughing after the third time you hear the same joke

Question 34

Ontogeny

Answer 34

Learning that results from an organism’s interaction with their environment.

Question 35

Operant Contingency

Answer 35

(3 Term Contingency)

The occasion for a response (SD), the response, and the outcome of the response.

The dependency of a particular consequence on the occurrence of a behavior.

Question 36

Primary Unit of Analysis in ABA

Answer 36

3 Term Contingency

A - B - C

Question 37

Contiguity

Answer 37

(Temporal Contiguity)

When two stimuli occur close together in time, resulting in an association of those two stimuli.

In respondent conditioning: affects the pairing of the CS and US

In operant conditioning: affects the paring of the behavior and consequence

Question 38

Superstitious Behavior

Answer 38

When the temporal contiguity between a specific response and consequence creates a contingency that does not exist.

Question 39

Respondent-Operant Interactions

Answer 39

An experience that includes both respondent and operant conditioning simultaneously.

e.g. heating food in the microwave

Question 40

Dead Man’s Test

Answer 40

If a dead man can do it, it is not behavior. If a dead man cannot do it, it is behavior.

Question 41

3 Principles of Behavior

Answer 41

Scientifically derived rules of nature that describe the predictable relation between a biological organism’s responses and objects and events that can influence behavior.

All ABA strategies are derived from these 3 principles.

• Reinforcement
• Punishment
• Extinction

Question 42

Operant

Answer 42

An item of behavior that is initially spontaneous, rather than a response to a prior stimulus, but whose consequences may reinforce or inhibit recurrence of that behavior.

Response-Consequence relationship. Similar behaviors that are strengthened or weakened collectively as a result of operant conditioning.