Chapter 2 - Basic Concepts & Principles Flashcards
antecedent
An environmental condition or stimulus change existing or occurring prior to a behavior of interest
automatic reinforcement
Reinforcement that occurs independent of the social mediation of others (e.g. scratching an insect bite relieves the itch)
automaticity (of reinforcement)
Refers to the fact that behavior is modified by its consequences irrespective of the person’s awareness:
a person does not have to recognize or verbalize the relation between their behavior and a reinforcing consequence, or even know that a consequence has occurred, for reinforcement to “work.” (contrast with automatic reinforcement)
aversive stimulus
In general, an unpleasant or noxious stimulus;
more technically, a stimulus change or condition that functions
(a) to evoke a behavior that has terminated it in the past,
(b) as a punisher when presented following behavior and/or
(c) as a reinforcer when withdrawn following behavior.
behavior
That portion of an organisms’s interaction with its environment that involves movement of some part of the organism (Johnson & Pennypacker, 2009)
behavior change tactic
A technologically consistent method for changing behavior derived from one or more principles of behavior (e.g. response cost is derived from the principle of negative punishment);
possesses sufficient generality across subjects, settings, and/or behaviors to warrant its codification and dissemination.
conditioned punisher
A previously neutral stimulus change that functions as a punisher because of prior pairing with one or more other punishers.
Sometimes called secondary or learned
conditioned reflex
A learned stimulus-response functional relation consisting of an antecedent stimulus (e.g. sound of refrigerator door opening) and the response it elicits (e.g. salivation): each person’s repertoire of __________ ___________ is the product of his/her history of interactions with the environment (ontogeny).
conditioned reinforcer
A stimulus change that functions as a reinforcer because of prior pairing with one or more other reinforcers (sometimes called secondary or learned).
conditioned stimulus
The stimulus component of a conditioned reflex; a formerly neutral stimulus change that elicits respondent behavior only after it has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus or another conditioned stiumulus
consequence
A stimulus change that follows a behavior of interest.
Some ______, especially those that are immediate and relevant to current motivational states, have significant influence on future behavior; others have little effect.
contingency
Refers to dependent and/or temporal relations between operant behavior and its controlling variables
contingency-shaped behavior
Behavior acquired by direct experience with contingencies
contingent
Describes reinforcement (or punishment) that is delivered only after the target behavior has occurred
deprivation
The state of an organism with respect to how much time has elapsed since it has consumed or contacted a particular type of reinforcer; also refers to a procedure for increasing the effectiveness of a reinforcer (e.g. withholding a person’s access to a reinforcer for a specified period of time prior to a session)
discriminated operant
An operant that occurs more frequently under some antecedent operations than under others
discriminative stimulus
A stimulus in the presence of which a given behavior has been reinforced and in the absence of which that behavior has not been reinforced;
as a result of this history, an ___ evokes operant behavior because its presence signals the availability of reinforcement
environment
The conglomerate of real circumstances in which the organism or referenced part of the organism exists;
behavior cannot occur in the absence of _________.
extinction
The discontinuing of a reinforcement of a previously reinforced behavior (i.e. responses no longer produce reinforcement); the primary effect is a decrease in the frequency of the behavior until it reaches prereinforced level or ultimately ceases to occur.
habituation
A decrease in responsiveness to repeated presentations of a stimulus
most often used to describe a reduction of respondent behavior as a function of repeated presentation of the eliciting stimulus over a short span of time; some researchers suggest that the concept also applies to within-session changes in operant behavior
higher-order conditioning
Development of a conditioned reflex by pairing of a neutral stimulus with a conditioned stimulus (also called secondary ________)
history of reinforcement
An inclusive term referring in general to all of a person’s learning experiences and more specifically to past conditioning with respect to particular response classes or aspects of a person’s repertoire
joint control
A phenomenon in which two separate, but interrelated forms of a person’s own verbal behavior, combine to acquire stimulus control of a response that would not have occurred in the absence of either.
motivating operation
An environmental variable that
(a) alters (increases or decreases) the reinforcing or punishing effectiveness of some stimulus, object, or event; and
(b) alters (increases or decreases) the current frequency of all behavior that has been reinforced or punished by that stimulus, object, or event.
negative punishment
A response behavior followed immediately by the removal of a stimulus (or a decrease in the intensity of the stimulus) that results in similar responses occurring less often
negative reinforcement
A contingency in which the occurrence of a response is followed immediately by the termination, reduction, postponement, or avoidance of a stimulus, and which leads to an increase in the future occurrences of similar responses.
neutral stimulus (NS)
A stimulus change that does not elicit respondent behavior
ontogeny
The history of the development of an individual organism during its lifetime
operant behavior
Behavior that is selected, maintained, and brought under stimulus control as a function of its consequences;
each person’s repertoire of ______ ________ is a product of his history of interactions with the environment (ontogeny)
operant conditioning
The basic process by which operant learning occurs;
Consequences result in an increased or decreased frequency of the same type of behavior under similar motivational and environmental conditions
consequences (stimulus changes immediately following responses) result in an increased (reinforcement) or decreased (punishment) frequency of the same type of behavior under similar motivational and environmental conditions.
phylogeny
The history of the natural evolution of a species
positive punishment
A response followed immediately by the presentation of a stimulus that decreases the frequency of the behavior
positive reinforcement
A response followed immediately by the presentation of a stimulus change that results in similar responses recurring more often
principle of behavior
A statement describing a functional relation between behavior and one or more of its controlling variables with generality across organisms, species, settings, behaviors, and time (e.g. extinction, positive reinforcement);
an empirical generalization inferred from many experiments demonstrating the same functional relation.
punisher
A stimulus change that decreases the future occurrence of behavior that immediately precedes it.
punishment
A basic principle of behavior describing a response-consequence functional relation in which a response is followed immediately by a stimulus change that decreases future occurrences of that type of behavior
reflex
A stimulus-response relation consisting of an antecedent stimulus and the respondent behavior it elicits (e.g. bright light-pupil contraction).
Unconditioned and conditioned _____ protect against harmful stimuli, help regulate the internal balance and economy of the organism, and promote reproduction.
reinforcement
A basic principle of behavior describing a response-consequence functional relation in which a response is followed immediately by a stimulus change that results in similar responses occurring more often.
reinforcer
A stimulus change that increases the future frequency of behavior that immediately precedes it
respondent behavior
The response component of a reflex; behavior that is elicited, or induced, by antecedent stimuli
repertoire
All of the behaviors a person can do; or a set of behaviors relevant to a particular setting or task
(e.g. gardening, mathematical problem solving)
selectionism
A theory that all forms of life natuarally and continually evolve as a result of the interaction between function and the survival value of that function.
Operant _____by consequences is the conceptual and empirical foundations of behavior analysis.
response
A single instance or occurrence of a specific type or class of behaviors.
Technical definition: an “action of an organism’s effector. An effector is an organ at the end of an efferent nerve fiber that is specialized for altering its environment mechanically, chemically, or in terms of other energy changes.” (Michael, 2004)
respondent extinction
The repeated presentation of a conditioned stimulus (CS) in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus (US);
the CS gradually loses its ability to elicit the conditioned response until the conditioned reflex no longer appears in the individual’s repertoire.
