Cooper Ch 1

Question 1

Applied Behavior Analysis

Answer 1

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 2

Behaviorism

Answer 2

The philosophy of a science of behavior; there are various forms of behaviorism.

Question 3

Determinism

Answer 3

The assumption that the universe is a lawful and orderly place in which phenomena occur in relation to other events and not in a willy-nilly, accidental fashion.

Question 4

Empiricism

Answer 4

The objective observation of the phenomena of interest; objective observations are “independent of the individual prejudices, tastes, and private opinions of the scientists…Results of empirical methods are objective in that they are open to anyone’’s observation and do not depend on the subjective belief of the individual scientist.

Question 5

Experiment

Answer 5

A carefully controlled comparison of some measure of the phenomenon of interest (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.

Question 6

Experimental Analysis of Behavior

Answer 6

(EAB) A natural science approach to the study of behavior as a subject matter in its own right founded by B.F. Skinner; methodological features include rate of response as a basic dependent variable, repeated or continuous measurement of clearly defined response classes, within-subject experimental comparisons instead of group design, visual analysis of graphed data instead of statistical inference, and an emphasis on describing functional relations between behavior and controlling variables in the environment over formal theory testing.

Question 7

Explanatory Fiction

Answer 7

A fictitious or 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, such as intelligence or “cognitive awareness” as explanations for why an organism pushes the lever when the light is on and food is available but does not push the lever when the light is off and not food is available.

Question 8

Functional Relation

Answer 8

A verbal statement summarizing the results of an experiment (or group of related experiments) that describes the occurrence of the phenomena under study as a function of the operation of one or more specified and controlled variables in the experiment in which a specific change in one event (the dependent variable) can be produced by manipulating another event (the independent variable), and that the change in the dependent variable was unlikely the result of other factors (confounding variables); in behavior analysis expresses as b = f (x1), (x2).,., where b is the behavior ans x1, x2, etc., are environmental variables of which the behavior is a function.

Question 9

Hypothetical Construct

Answer 9

A presumed bye unobserved process or entity (ex. Freud’s id/ego/superego).

Question 10

Mentalism

Answer 10

An approach to explaining behavior that assumes that mental, or “inner,” dimension exists that differs from a behavioral dimension and that phenomena in this dimension either directly cause or at least mediate some forms of behavior, if not all.

Question 11

Methodological Behaviorism

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Parsimony

Answer 12

The practice of ruling out simple, logical explanations, experimentally or conceptually, before considering more complex or abstract explanations.

Question 13

Philosophic Doubt

Answer 13

An attitude that the truthfulness and validity of all scientific theory and knowledge should be continually questioned.

Question 14

Radical Behaviorism

Answer 14

A thoroughgoing form of behaviorism that attempts to understand all human behavior, including private events such as thoughts and feelings, in therms of controlling variables in the history of the person (ontogeny) and the species ( phylogeny).

Question 15

Replication

Answer 15

A.) Repeating conditions within an experiment to determine the reliability of effects and increase internal validity.
B.) Repeating whole experiment to determine the generality of findings of previous experiments to other subjects, settings, and /or behaviors.

Question 16

Science

Answer 16

A systematic approach to the understanding of natural phenomena (as evidenced by description, prediction, and control) that relies on determinism as its fundamental assumption, empiricism as its primary rule, experimentation as its basic strategy, replication as a requirement for believability, parsimony as a value, and philosophic doubt as its guiding conscience.