Chapter 1

Question 1

determinism

Answer 1

the assumption that the universe is a lawful and orderly place

Question 2

explanatory fiction

Answer 2

a 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 (why an organism pushes the lever when the light is on and food is available but doesn’t push the lever when the light is off and no food is available)

Question 3

science

Answer 3

a systematic approach to the understanding of natural phenomena that relies on determinism as its fundamental assumption, empiricism as its primary role, experimentation as its basic strategy, replication as a requirement for believability, parsimony as a value, and philosophic doubt as its guiding conscience

Question 4

methodological behaviorism

Answer 4

a philosophical position that views behavioral events that cannot be publicly observed as outside the realm of science

Question 5

empiricism

Answer 5

objective observation of the phenomena of interest

Question 6

behaviorism

Answer 6

includes everything people do. An organism’s interaction with its environment which results in measurable change in at least one aspect of the environment.

Question 7

experiment

Answer 7

comparison of some measure of the phenomenon of interest (DV) under two or more different conditions in which only one factor at a time (IV) differs from one condition to another

Question 8

functional relation

Answer 8

exists when a well controlled experiment reveals that a specific change in one event (DV) can reliably be 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

Question 9

hypothetical construct

Answer 9

a presumed but unobserved process or entity (Freud’s ed)

Question 10

applied behavior analysis

Answer 10

the science in which tactics derived from the principles of behavior are applied to improve socially significant behavior and experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for the improvement in behavior

Question 11

mentalism

Answer 11

an approach to explaining behavior that assumes that a mental, or “inner” dimension exists and either directly causes or mediates some forms of behavior, if not all

Question 12

replication

Answer 12

repeating conditions within an experiment to determine the reliability of effects and increase internal validity

Question 13

radical behaviorism

Answer 13

a form of behaviorism that attempts to understand all human behavior, including private events

Question 14

parsimony

Answer 14

the process of ruling out simple logical explanations before considering more complex explanations

Question 15

experimental analysis of behavior

Answer 15

a natural science approach to the study of behavior founded by BF Skinner. Emphasis on describing functional relations between behavior and controlling variables in the environment over formal theory testing

Question 16

philosophic doubt

Answer 16

continually question the truthfulness and validity of all scientific theory and knowledge