ABA 601 Week 1 Flashcards
Behaviorism
The philosophy of a science of behavior; there are various forms of behaviorism. Methodology, behaviorism, radical behaviorism.
Applied behavioral analysis (ABA)
The science in which tactics derived from the principles of behavior are applied to a improve socially significant behavior and experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for the improvement in behavior.
Determinism
The assumption that the universe is a lawful and orderly place in which phenomena occur in relation to other events and not in a willy-nilly, accidental fashion.
Empiricism
The objective observation of the phenomena of interest; objective observations are “independent of the individual prejudices, tastes, and provide options of the scientist… Results of empirical methods are objective in that they are open to anyone’s observation and do not depend on the subjective belief of the individual scientist” (Zuriff, 1985, p.9).
Experiment
A carefully controlled comparison of some measure of the phenomenon of interest (the dependent variable) under two or more different conditions in which only one factor at a time (the independent variable) differs from one condition to another.
Experimental analysis of behavior (EAB)
A natural science approach to the study of behavior as a subject matter in its own right founded by B. F. Skinner; methodological features include rate of response as a basic dependent variable, repeated or continuous measurement of clearly defined response classes, within-subject experimental comparisons instead of group design, visual analysis of graphed data instead of statistical inference, and an emphasis on describing functional relations between behavior and controlling variables in the environment over formal theory testing.
Explanatory fiction
A fictitious or hypothetical variable that often takes the form of another name for the observed phenomenon it claims to explain and contributes nothing to a functional account or understanding of the phenomenon, such as “intelligence” or “cognitive awareness” as explanations for why an organism pushes the lever when the light is on and food is available but does not push the lever when the light is off and no food is available.
Functional relation
A verbal statement summerizing the results of an experiment (or group of related experiments) that describes the occurence of the phenomenon under stufy as a function of the operation of one or more specified and controlled variables in the ecperiment in which a specific change in one event ( the dependent variable) can be produced by manipulating another event (the independent variable), and that the change in the dependent variable was inlikely the result of other factors (confounding variables) in behavior analysis expressed as b=f(x1), (x2), …, where b is the behavior and x1, x2, ect., are environmental variables of which the behavior is a function.
Hypothetical construct
A presumed but unobserved process or entity (e.g., Freud’s id, ego, and superego).
Mentalism
An approach to explaining behavior that assumes that a mental, or “inner”, dimension exists that differs from a behavioral dimension and that phenomena is this dimension either directly cause or at least mediate some forms of behavior, if not all.
Unconditioned punisher
A stimulus change that decreases the frequency of any behavior that immediately precedes it irrespective if the organism’s learning history with the stimulus, Unconditioned punishers are products of the evolutionary development of the species (phylogeny), meaning the all members of a species are more or less susceptible to punishment by the presentation of unconditioned punishers ( also called primary or unlearned punishers)
Neutral stimulus (NS)
A stimulus change that does not elicit respondent behavior.
Ontogeny
The history of the development of an individual organism during lifetime.
Unconditioned stimulus (US)
The stimulus component of an unconditioned reflex; a stimulus change that elicits respondent behavior without any prior learning.
Methodological behaviorism
A philosophical position that views behavioral events that cannot be publicly observed as outside the realm of science.
Parsimony
The practice of ruling out simple, logical explanations, experimentally or conceptually, before considering more complsex or abstract explanations.
Philosophic doubt
An attitude that the truthfulness and validity of all scientific theory and knowledge should be continually questioned.
Radical behaviorism
A thoroughgoing form of behaviorism that attempts to understand all human behavior, including private events such as thoughts and feelings, in terms of controlling variables in the history of the person (ontogeny) and the species (phylogeny).
Replication
(a) Repeating conditions within an experiment to determine the reliability of effects and increase internal validity. (b) Repeating whole experiments to determine the generality of findings of previous experiments to other subjects, settings, and/or behaviors.
Science
A systematic approach to the understanding of natural phenomena (as evidenced by description, prediction, and control) that relies on determinism as its fundamental assumption, empiricism as its primary rule, experimentation as its basic strategy, replication as a requirement for believability, parsimony as a value, and philosophic doubt as its guiding conscience.
