All Past Exams Flashcards
What are the goals of behavior analysis?
To accurately predict behavior and to discover functional variables that may be used too positively influence behavior
Behavior may be defined as an ______ living organism’s activity, public or private which ma be ______ by external or internal stimuli
individual; influenced
If a goal-directed behavior occurs without a triggering event, most people would say that the behavior is…
consciously willed
What was the conclusion of the Libet studies?
The conscious initiation of a response happens AFTER the behavior has already begun
The definition of a _____ is a “thing you see, hear, smell, taste or feel”
stimulus
In the Chapter 1 lecture, we outlined some problems with the idea the Theory of Will (i.e., that at an uncaused conscious will causes behavior). That portion of the lecture ended by suggesting that if the Theory of Will is true, then you should “leave now and never return.” Why?
Because if behavior has no cause, predicting and positively influencing behavior is impossible.
What are the assumptions of behavior analysis?
Behavior is determined and the scientific method is a valid way to discover those determinants
What does it mean to say that behavior is determined?
It means that behavior has a cause or multiple causes; there causes are knowable biological and environmental variables
When he was 5, my son and I discussed (at his urging) whether or not Santa Claus existed. I asked him to develop a(n) ___________________ prediction. He said, “Santa lives at the north pole and if we go there we will find his workshop.” I replied, “And if we go there and we find no workshop, no elves, no toys, and no Santa Claus, will that mean that Santa Claus does not exist as a human, and only as a mythical spirit of giving?” He said, “Yes, that is what it would mean,”
falsifiable
What are the problems with taking a heuristic description of a pattern of behavior and then concluding that the behavior is caused by an inner force?
- Circular logic - the only evidence for the existence of the inner force is the pattern of behavior
- We cannot turn a heuristic ON and OFF. Therefore we cannot use it in behavior-change therapy
For experiments conducted in behavior analysis, the _____ variable is always an objective measure of behavior
dependent
For experiments conducted in behavior analysis, the _____ variable is always a publicy observable change, controlled by the experimenter, which is anticipated to influence behavior in a specific way
independent
correlation does not imply _____
causation
A ______ ______ specifics the behavior of interest with sufficient detail so that observers can easily distinguish instances from non-instances of behavior
behavioral definition
Behavior analysts don’t like to use _______ - ______ measures of behavior because people often can’t remember their own behavior and people are often motivated to exaggerate how often they engage in socially acceptable behaviors
self-report
After behavior analysts have specified exactly what counts and what does not count as an instance of the behavior they will give this specification to the consumer of the intervention or to an expert in the field. they will ask these individuals if the definition accurately reflects the behavior of interest. If it does then the definition has ______ validity
social
Which direct-observation technique is most appropriate to measure the driver’s behavior:
Harvey manages the fork-lift driver on the loading dock at the warehouse. The driver’s quota is 20 trucks loaded per day. Harvey is busy most of the day, but he could make some direct observations of the fork-lift driver at lunch time. Alternatively, Harvey could just count the number of trucks that are fully loaded and sitting in the parking lot at 5 pm.
outcome recording
After collecting data for a week, Harvey finds that the fork-lift driver is not meeting his quota. He wants to know if the quota is unreasonable; is it even possible for the driver to load 20 trucks a day? To find out, he’s going to quantify how long it takes the driver to load the first truck of the day. Now which direct-observation technique is most appropriate?
duration recording
Harvey found, over the last 5 days, that the fork-lift driver loaded the first truck in 15 minutes or less. That means the driver could load over 30 trucks a day, well above the 20-truck quota. Harvey wants to find out how often his driver is loading trucks during the rest of the day. He decides to install a hidden camera on the dock. He plans to turn it on several times a day, for 5 minutes each time. When he watches the video, he will break the video up into contiguous 1-minute intervals. For each of these 1-minute intervals Harvey will record if loading-behavior occurred at any point during the interval. Which direct-observation method is Harvey using?
partial-interval recording
What does IOA stand for?
interobserver agreements
What is the formal for IOA?
(Disagreements x 100) / (Agreements + Disagreements)
Here are the results of a direct observation session in which Jerry and Jim measured the frequency of coughs in a patient suspected of having whooping cough. Please calculate their IOA
JERRY: 200 coughs
JIM: 180 coughs
IOA = ________%
90
Please calculate the IOA for these two sets of observations. One set of observations was made by Otis and the other was made by Gomer. They both indicated whether or not the behavior of interest occurred during the observation interval by recording either a Yes or a No.
Interval Otis Gomer
1 YES NO 2 NO YES 3 NO NO 4 YES NO 5 NO YES 6 YES NO 7 YES YES 8 NO YES 9 NO NO 10 YES NO
IOA = ____________%
30
In the social and behavioral sciences, there are two broad categories of experimental designs. One of those designs relies on inferential statistics to determine if the independent variable changed behavior. Which design is reliant on the use of inferential statistics?
Group experimental designs
When evaluating if the independent variable has changed behavior, behavior analysts will often look at graphs of time-series single-subject data and make a judgement about how convincing the change (if any) is. What is this approach to data analysis called?
Visual analysis
There are four defining features of a single-subject experimental design. What are they?
- The focus is on the behavior of individuals, not groups.
- Each subject experiences the baseline and experimental (intervention) phases.
- Behavior is measured repeatedly in each phase until confident predictions about behavior may be made.
- Internal validity is assessed through replication and evaluating the functional role of confounded variables.
________ is the gradual reduction in reflex responding following repeated presentations of the eliciting stimulus
habituation
_____________________ selected behaviors are those innate reflexes that are elicited by a specific stimulus. For example, in infants, a loss of physical support elicits the Moro reflex (widely spread arms with palms in front and fingers extended).
Phylogenetically
Before Pavlovian learning occurs, the unconditioned stimulus (US) will elicit the….
unconditioned response (UR)
Pavlovian learning is demonstrated when the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS). We know the CS has acquired this behavioral function when it…
evokes the conditioned response (CS)
In the “Little Albert” study, after Pavlovian conditioning was complete, Watson approached Albert while wearing a white furry Santa Claus beard. What was Albert’s reaction and what was Watson testing for?
Albert began to cry and moved away from Watson. This was a test for generalization of Albert’s fear of novel stimuli that resembled the CS.
Mary Cover-Jones published a paper in the 1924 that revolutionized the treatment of phobias. What principle, discovered by Ivan Pavlov, did Cover-Jones use to decrease her client’s fear of furry animals.
Pavlovian extinction
During ___________________ _____________________ therapy, the client is gradually exposed to successively stronger approximations of the CS; before each new CS-approximation is presented, steps are taken to reduce/eliminate any fear evoked by the prior CS-approximation.
graduated exposure
Imagine that Mary Cover Jones worked with her client, Peter, for one session. By the end of the session, Dr. Cover Jones presents the furry animal and Peter shows no fear. Two days later, Peter returns to the therapist’s office, encounters the rabbit, and experiences a moderately strong fear response. This increase in conditioned responding following the passage of time since the last session is known as…
Spontaneous recovery
What is the first thing learned during Pavlovian conditioning?
The CS signals a delay-reduction to the US. The larger the delay-reduction, the faster Pavlovian learning occurs.
What is the second thing learned during Pavlovian conditioning?
The CS Signals when the US will occur
What is the third thing learned during Pavlovian conditioning?
The CS signals which US is coming
In the diagram above, the US->US interval is 30 mins and the CS->US interval is 3 mins. Use the equation in the book to calculate the delay-reduction ratio.
Delay-reduction ratio = _______ / _______ = ______
30/3 = 10
Chapter 4 outlined the hypothesis that Pavlovian learning plays a role in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The substance of the hypothesis was…
1.The US (a traumatic event) is a phylogenetically important event.
2. The CS that comes to elicit trauma are highly salient (e.g., a belligerent perpetrator).
3. Because the US (e.g., an explosion) is infrequent, any CS that reliably precedes it will signal a very large delay-reduction to the US.
4. The stimulus signaling the delay-reduction to the US is not redundant with other stimuli signaling the US event.
In Session 1, the conditioned response (salivating) underwent extinction. That is, the CS was presented repeatedly without the US and eventually the CS failed to evoke salivating. However, after the passage of time, at the beginning of Session 2, there is a clear increase in conditioned responding when the CS is presented. This effect is known as ________________________ ______________________.
spontaneous recovery
This quote was cited at the end of Chapter 4. To whom does it refer?
Dr. _________________________ was proving one thing that no amount of debate could refute - Behaviorism could make money.
Watson; who went into advertising after he resigned from Johns Hopkins University
The veterinarian weighed our dog to see how well we were doing in keeping him on a strict diet. The vet used which direct observation technique?
outcome recording
An _____ is an observable stimulus that is present before behavior occurs. A _______ is an observable stimulus that happens after behavior occurs
antecedent; consequence
Imagine that a rat in an operant conditioning chamber is performing very well. He moves the pole and we give him a food pellet every time. Then we start a new phase. Now we will give him food pellets once, on average, every 15 s, regardless of what he is doing. With this phase change we have switched from _____ to non-______ reinforcement
conditional; conditional
______ is the process or procedure whereby a _____ increases operant behavior above its baseline level
reinforcement; reinforcer
Who was the first scientist to demonstrate that reinforcers increase the probability of behavior?
E. L. Thorndike
The book defines ____________________ as, a generic class of responses influenced by antecedents, with each response in the class producing the same consequence.
Operant Behavior
On Jim’s old computer, pressing the F3 key saved his file and Jim pressed this often when he wanted to save his work. When Jim got his new computer, the F3 key did nothing when pressed. After a while, Jim stopped pressing the F3 key. This gradual reduction in pressing the F3 key is one of the reliable effects of ___________________________.
extinction
Drew is interested in being accepted into the highly competitive computer science program at the university. They want their computer-science professor to notice how attentive and interested they are relative to the many other students in the lecture hall. Drew waits until the instructor is looking at them (response) and immediately nods and gives the professor a thoughtful look (consequence). Each time the professor is looking at them (response), Drew nods and looks interested (consequence). After a few weeks, Drew finds that the professor is looking at them much more often. They try it in another class and finds it works there too. What procedure has Drew used to increase the amount of time the professor looks at Drew?
response consequence contingency
___________________________ behavior occurs when the individual behaves as though a response-consequence contingency exists when, in fact, the relation between response and consequence is noncontingent.
superstitious
