ABA Wk.1 (27) - Intro to ABA

Question 1

7 Dimensions of Applied Behavior Analysis

Answer 1

GET A CAB
G - GENERALITY. Are changes long-lasting? Durable? Transfer to new behaviors?
E - EFFECTIVE. The amount of change needs to be significant and verified by stakeholders (child, parent). Are they satisfied?
T - TECHNOLOGICAL (Technical). Procedures are described in such detail an independent reader could replicate.
A - APPLIED. Affecting improvements in behaviors that enhance people’s lives.
C - CONCEPTUALLY SYSTEMATIC. Tie it back to relevant/basic principles. Don’t use new words, tie reinforcement back to complete scienc.
A - ANALYTIC: Able to control the occurrence (“on”) & nonoccurrence (“off) of a response.
B - BEHAVIORAL: Target behavior is in need of improvements; Not similar; observable and measurable. (2 people need to independently observe(

Source: Baer, Wolf & Risley (1968)

Question 2

Applied (1 of 7 Dimensions of ABA)

Answer 2

Applied in behavioral analysis signals ABA’s commitment to effecting improvements in behaviors that enhance and improve people’s lives.

When BCBA’s are choosing goals and interventions to target, they must select behaviors that are respectively socially significant to the learner.

Question 3

Analytic (1 of 7 Dimensions of ABA)

Answer 3

All interventions selected by the BCBA are developed from evidence-based research. Putting together an intervention plan is done based on scientific research, data, and objective information. None of the goals or interventions targeted are done so at random and selected based on subjectivity.

Question 4

Behavioral (1 of 7 Dimensions of ABA)

Answer 4

The behavior of interest selected to target in an ABA intervention must be observable and measurable. As ABA is rooted in science, it is extremely important to target external behaviors that are observable and measurable to a third party.

External behaviors can include behaviors such as talking, crying, hitting, running, and jumping.

Question 5

BCBA

Answer 5

Board Certified Behavior Analyst

Question 6

Technological ( 1 of 7 Dimensions of ABA)

Answer 6

All procedures used in intervention plans are described in a technological fashion. They are written out clearly and concisely and are intended to be understood by any interventionist carrying out the intervention plan. If a procedure is described in a way that is difficult to understand or can be interpreted in many different ways, it is not technological.

Technological procedures must be objective in nature and should be carried out the same way by multiple practitioners.

Question 7

Effective (1 of 7 Dimensions of ABA)

Answer 7

An effective intervention improves the learner’s behavior and reduces their challenging behavior in a practical and functional manner. If a learner is not meeting their targeted goals, the learner is never to be blamed.

Question 8

Conceptually Systematic (1 of 7 Dimensions of ABA)

Answer 8

Similar to analytic, conceptually systematic means that all practitioners are implementing research-based techniques and teaching methods in their work.

The Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis (JABA) will be one of the primary sources of information to find evidence-based teaching methods and techniques that will be utilized in the practice. Commonly used teaching techniques employed across sessions and interventions include positive reinforcement, prompting, modeling, and extinction.

Question 9

Generality (1 of 7 Dimensions of ABA)

Answer 9

A behavior has generality if that behavior can be sustained over time, appears in different environments and settings, and extends to a range of associated behaviors.

We never want our targeted behaviors to be short-term. We want them to continue long after the intervention is over. We also want our targeted behaviors to be seen outside the initial setting it was being taught.

Question 10

Applied Behavior Analysis

Answer 10

ABA is the science in which tactics derived from the principles of behavior are applied systematically to improve socially significant behavior. Experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for behavior

Question 11

Behaviorism

Answer 11

Behaviorism is the philosophy of the science of behavior. The science of behavior entails 3 interrelated domains:
1) Philosophy (Behaviorism)
2) Basic Research (Experimental Analysis of Behavior, EAV)
3) Applied Research (Applied Behavior Analysis, ABA)

Question 12

Determinism

Answer 12

The assumption that the universe is a lawful and orderly place in which phenomena occur as a result of other events.

Question 13

Empiricism

Answer 13

The objective observation of the phenomena of interest.

Question 14

Experimentation

Answer 14

The controlled comparison of some measure of the phenomena of interest (Dependent variable, DV) under two or more different conditions in which only one factor at a time (independent variable, IV) differs from one condition to another.

Question 15

Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB)

Answer 15

The analysis of operant behavior with its unique relation to the environment. (Skinner, 1938)

Question 16

Explanatory Fiction

Answer 16

A fictitious variable is simply another name for the observed behavior that contributes nothing to an understanding of the variables responsible for developing or maintaining the behavior.

Question 17

Functional Analysis

Answer 17

Two Meanings:
1) Denotes demonstrations of functional relations between environmental variables and behavior.
2) An experimental methodology for determining environmental variables and contingencies maintaining problem behavior.

Question 18

Functional Relation

Answer 18

Exists when a well-controlled experiment demonstrates that a specific change in one event (DV) is reliably produced by specific manipulations of another event (IV), and that the change in the DV was unlikely to be the result of other extraneous factors (confounding variables).

y = f(x) “Product of relation between behavior and its determining variables.

Question 19

Hypothetical Construct

Answer 19

Presumed but unobserved entities that could not be manipulated in an experiment.

Theoretical terms that refer to a possible existing, but at the moment unobserved, process or entity.

Question 20

Mentalism

Answer 20

An approach to the study of behavior which assumes that a mental or inner dimension exists that differs from a behavioral dimension. And, that phenomena in this dimension either directly causes, or at least mediates, some forms of behavior. It relies on hypothetical constructs and explanatory fictions.

Question 21

Methodological Behaviorism

Answer 21

A philosophical position that considers behavioral events that cannot be publicly observed to be outside the realm of the science.

Question 22

Parsimony

Answer 22

Simple, logical explanations must be ruled out, experimentally or conceptually, before more complex or abstract explanations are considered.

Question 23

Philosophic Doubt

Answer 23

Continually questioning the truthfulness and validity of all scientific theory and knowledge.

Question 24

Pragmatism

Answer 24

The philosophical position that “the true value of a statement is a function of how well the statement promotes effective action.”

Question 25

Radical Behaviorism

Answer 25

Attempts to explain ALL behavior, including private events such as thinking and feeling. (John Watson)

Question 26

Replicatio_

Answer 26

Repeating experiments (and IV conditions within experiments) to determine the reliability and usefulness of findings.

Question 27

Science

Answer 27

A systematic approach to understanding natural phenomena - as evidenced by description, prediction, and control - that relies on:
1. Determinism as its fundamental assumption,
2. Empiricism as its prime direction,
3. Experimentation as its basic strategy,
4. Replication as its necessary requirement for believability,
5. Parsimony as its conservative value, and
6. Philosophic doubt as its guiding conscience.