Assumptions and Attitudes of Science Flashcards
What are the attitudes of science?
Determinism, empiricism, experimentation, replication, parsimony, and philosophic doubt.
What is the purpose of the attitudes of science?
A set of overriding assumptions and values that guide the work of all scientists.
What is determinism?
The universe is a lawful and orderly place in which all phenomena occur as the result of other events.
Why is determinism a philosophical assumption?
The scientist first assumes lawfulness and then proceeds to look for lawful relations (Delprato, Midgley 1992)
What is empiricism?
The practice of objective observation and measurement of the phenomena of interest.
What is objectivity?
Independent of the individual prejudices, tastes, and private opinions of
the scientist.
Why is empiricism important to the behavior analyst?
Understanding, predicting, and improving behavior hinges on the behavior analyst’s ability
to completely define, systematically observe, and accurately and
reliably measure occurrences and non-occurrences of the behavior of interest.
What is experimentation?
The most basic strategy of most sciences. To investigate the possible existence of a functional relation, an experiment (or better, a series of experiments) must be performed in which the factor(s) suspected of
having causal status are systematically controlled and manipulated while the effects on the event under study are carefully
observed.
What is an experiment?
A 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
What are the two meanings of functional analysis?
Skinner: demonstrations of functional relations between environmental variables and behavior.
Iwata et al 1982: An experimental methodology for determining environmental variables and contingencies maintaining problem behavior.
What does functional analysis provide in its original meaning?
Functional analysis provides the very foundation for an experimental science of
behavior; as a method for assessing the controlling variables
for problem behavior, functional analysis informs the design of
effective treatments.
What is replication?
The repeating of experiments, the primary method with which scientists determine the reliability and usefulness of their findings and discover their mistakes.
What is parsimony?
All simple, logical explanations for the phenomenon under investigation be ruled out before more complex or abstract explanations are considered.
What is philosophic doubt?
Requires the scientist to continually question the truthfulness of what is regarded as fact.
What does philosophic doubt require?
Skepticism of others’ research, as well as their own findings and interpretations.
