Content Area 2 Flashcards
Purpose of science
To understand the phenomenon under study
Definition of science
A systematic approach to understanding natural phenomena, evidenced by description, prediction, and control.
Science relies on
Determination (fundamental assumption), Empiricism (prime directive), Experimentation (basic strategy), Replication (necessary for believability), Parsimony (conservative value), and Philosophic doubt (guiding conscience)
Determination
Presumption that the universe is lawful and orderly so all phenomena occur as the result of other events
Empiricism
Practice of objective observation of the phenomena of interest
Experimentation
Study of a phenomena through systematically controlled and manipulated methods while carefully observing the effects of the event under study
Replication
Repetition of experiment and results; allows for determination of reliability
Parsimony
Requires all simple, logical explanations for the phenomena under investigation to be ruled out, experimentally or conceptually, before more complex/abstract explanations are considered (choose simplest explanation)
Philosophic doubt
Continually question the truthfulness of what is regarded as fact
In reinforcement and punishment, positive means
To add something
In reinforcement and punishment, negative means
To take away something
DISC
Important things to consider in reinforcement: deprivation, immediacy, size, contingency
Reinforcement
Increases probability of a behavior occurring in the future
Punishment
Decreases the probability of a behavior occurring in the future
Arbitrariness of behavior
Reinforcement strengthens the behavior that precedes it so you can accidentally reinforce arbitrary behavior
What is ABA?
Application of systematic environmental modifications to produce socially significant improvements in behavior
ABA focuses on
Objectively defined, observable behavior
ABA demonstrates
Reliable relationship between procedures employed and the behavior improvement
Methods used in ABA
Description, quantification, and analysis
Applied
Study socially significant behavior
Behavioral
Behavior studied is observable and measurable
Analytic
A functional relation is demonstrated between manipulated events and behavior
Technological
Procedures used are identified and precisely described
Conceptually systematic
Changes observed are described in terms of relevant basic principles
Effective
Behavior must be improved to a practical degree that is of social importance
Generality
Changes in behavior last over time and appear in other environments
Premark Principle (Grandma’s law)
Making access to one behavior contingent on another behavior
Response-Deprivation hypothesis
Restrict access to one behavior so that behavior acts as reinforcement for another behavior (e.g. no TV all day, if you finish hw, you can watch TV)
Measurement systems
Frequency, rate, duration, latency, interval systems
Interval systems
Partial, whole, momentary time sampling
Components of an FBA
- Indirect assessment
- Direct assessment
- Functional analysis (optional)
- Develop hypothesis
- Intervention planning
Functions of behavior
Attention, tangible, escape, automatic
Continuous reinforcement (CRF)
Every response is reinforced
Fixed interval
Reinforcement after set amount of time
Fixed ratio
Reinforcement after set number of responses
Variable interval
Reinforcement after average but variable amount of time
Variable ratio
Reinforcement after average but variable number of responses
Examples of negative punishment
Response-cost; Time out
Response-cost
Earring tokens through token system; lose tokens for inappropriate behavior
Time-out
Removing a student from all sources of positive reinforcement as a consequence for a specific undesired behavior
Prediction
Second level of scientific understanding that occurs when repeated observations reveal that two events consistently covary with one another. Correlation can be used to predict the relative probability that one event will occur based on the presence of another
Control
The highest level of scientific understanding; demonstrated in ABA research through functional relations
Functional relation
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 the change was unlikely to be the result of another extraneous factor (confounding variables)
Description
Systematic observation that can be quantified, classified, and examined for possible relations with other known facts
John B Watson
Spokesman for behaviorism. He was interested in environmental stimuli (S) and the responses (R) they evoke. Watsonian behaviorism became known as stimulus-response (S-R) psychology
Respondent behavior
Reflexive behavior that occurs whenever the eliciting stimulus is presented (Originated from Pavlov)
S-R-S
Three term contingency (originated from Skinner)
Operant behavior
Not elicited by preceding stimuli but influenced by stimulus changes that have followed the behavior in the past
Experimental analysis of behavior
Name that Skinner gave to the analysis of operant behavior
Mentalism
Assumes some “inner” dimension exists in people that determines their behavior, independent of the environment
Explanatory fiction
A fictitious variable that often is simply another name for the observed behavior that contributes nothing to an understanding of the behavior
Radical behaviorism
Seeks to understand all human behavior including public and private events (aka Skinner’s behaviorism)
Methodological behaviorism
Acknowledges the existence of mental events, but consider them outside the realm of scientific account.
Applied behavior analysis is
The science in which tactics based on the principles of behavior are applied systematically to improve socially significant behavior and experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for behavior change.
The basic research branch of ABA is
Experimental analysis of behavior
