Cooper CH 1 Flashcards
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
The science in which tactics derived from the principals of behavior are applied to improve socially significant behavior.
determinism
The assumption that the universe is a lawful and orderly place in which phenomena occur in relation to other events.
experiment
A carefully controlled comparison of some measure of the phenomenon of interest (DV) under two or more different conditions in which only one factor at a time (ID) differs from one condition to another.
empiricism
The objective observation of the phenomena of interest. Results of empirical methods are objective in that they are open to anyone’s observation.
explanatory fiction
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
functional relation
verbal statement summarizing the results of an experiment that describes the occurrence of the 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 (DV) can be produced by manipulating another event the (IV), and that the change in the DV was unlikely the result of other factors.
Radical behaviorism
overt and covert behavior is observed and studied
functional analysis
classifying behavior according to response functions and analyzing the environment in terms of stimulus functions
science of behavior
an objective approach, philosophy and set of techniques for studying behavior
behaviorism
focus of psychology on objective behavior without philosophical speculation about mind-body dualism
hypothetical construct
unobservable events and structures that are created to help explain behavior
the experimental analysis of behavior
a natural science approach to understanding the origin and control of the behavior
