Chapter 1 The ABCs Of ABA Flashcards
Behavior analysis
The study of functional relations between behavior and environmental events.
Functional Relations
The tendency of one event to vary in a regular way with one or more other events.
If X, then Y.
Behavior
Anything a person does that can be observed.
Overt behavior
Behavior that can be observed by someone other than the person performing it
Covert behavior
Behavior that can only be observed by the person performing it
Respondent behavior
Behavior that is most readily by the event that precedes it: reflexive behavior (involuntary)
Operant behavior
Behavior that is readily influenced by the events that follow it.
Overt-Operant behavior
Walking
Reading a book
Picking up a telephone
Overt- respondent behavior examples
The pupillary reflex: when you shine light in someone’s eye, the pupil gets small..
Knee - jerk reflex
Covert operant behavior example
Thinking about a meal- you go hungry
Covert Respondent behavior
Thinking too much, heart start racing
Behavioral repertoire
All things an individual is capable of doing at any given moment:
E.g if you can speak English that’s your repertoire
Environmental event:
Any event in a person’s environment that can be observed.
Environmental events are referred to as experienced
Antecedents:
Environmental events that occur before a behavior.
E.g: getting bit by a snake… behavior = hate outdoors
Consequences
Environmental events that occur after a behavior.
E.g drive over the speed limit- get ticket
Learning history
All the environmental events (antecedents and consequences) that have affected a person’s behavior up to the present.
Applied behavior analysis:
The attempt to solve behavior problems by providing antecedents, and /or consequences that change that behavior.
Medical Model
The view that behavior problems are merely symptoms of an underlying psychological disorder.
Symptom substitution
The idea that if a behavior problem is solved without resolving the underlying psychological disorder, another behavior problem will take its place.
Daniel’s Dictum
If you think this stuff is easy, you are doing it wrong.