Cooper Glossary Flashcards
The results of measurement, usually in quantifiable form; in applied behavior analysis, it refers to measures of some quantifiable dimension of a behavior
- This word is the plural form of datum
Data
The level and trend of behavior between successive data points; created by drawing a straight line from the center of each data point in a given data set to the center of the next data point in the same set
Data Path
A relation between the self, as one stimulus, and other stimuli from the external world
Deictic Relation
A phenomenon in which delayed rewards, regardless of their significance and magnitude (eg; enough money for a secure retirement), exert decreasing influence over choice making behavior as a function of their temporal distance from present circumstances
- Both humans and nonhuman laboratory animals discount the value of delayed rewards; the greater the delay to the reward, the greater the discount (ie; the less value or influence the reward has on current behavior)
Delay Discounting
Another name for Delay Discounting
Temporal Discounting
A variation of the multiple baseline design in which an initial baseline, and perhaps intervention, begin for one behavior (or setting, or subject), and subsequent baselines for additional behaviors begin in a staggered or delayed fashion
Delayed Multiple Baseline Design
A contingency in which reinforcement for all members of a group is dependent on the behavior of one member of the group or the behavior of a select group of members within the larger group
Dependent Group Contingency
The measured behavior in an experiment to determine if it changes as a result of manipulations of the independent variable; in applied behavior analysis, it represents some measure of a socially significant behavior
Dependent Variable
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 (eg; witholding a person’s access to a reinforcer for a specified period prior to a session)
Deprivation
Responding indicating a relation (eg; same as, opposite, different from, better than) between two or more stimuli that emerges as an indirect function of related instruction or experience
Derived Stimulus Relations
Another name for Derived Stimulus Relations
Emergent Stimulus Relations
A data path that shows a decreasing trend in the response measure over time
Descending Baseline
Direct observation of problem behavior and the antecedent and consequent events under naturally occurring conditions
Descriptive Functional Behavior Assessment
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
Determinism
Reinforcing only those responses within a response class that meet a specific criterion along some dimension(s) (ie; frequency, topography, duration, latency, or magnitude) and placing all other responses in the class on extinction
Differential Reinforcement
A procedure for decreasing problem behavior in which reinforcement is delivered for a behavior that serves as a desirable alternative to the behavior targeted for reduction and withheld following instances of the problem behavior (eg; reinforcing completion of academic worksheet items when the behavior targeted for reduction is talk outs)
Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA)
A schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement is provided at the end of a predetermined interval contingent on the number of responses emitted during the interval being fewer than a gradually decreasing criterion based on the individual’s performance in previous intervals (eg; fewer than five responses per 5 minutes, fewer than four responses per 5 minutes, fewer than three responses per 5 minutes)
Differential Reinforcement of Diminishing Rates (DRD)
A schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement is provided at the end of a predetermined interval contingent on the number of responses emitted during the interval being greater than a gradually increasing criterion based on the individual’s performance in previous intervals (eg; more than three responses per 5 minutes, more than five responses per 5 minutes, more than eight responses per 5 minutes)
Differential Reinforcement of High Rates (DRH)
A procedure for decreasing problem behavior in which reinforcement is delivered for a behavior that is topographically incompatible with the behavior targeted for reduction and withheld following instances of the problem behavior (eg; sitting in seat is incompatible with walking around the room)
Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior (DRI)
A schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement (a) follows each occurrence of the target behavior that is separated from the previous response by a minimum interresponse time (IRT), or (b) is contingent on the number of responses within a period of time not exceeding a predetermined criterion
- Practicioners use these schedules to decrease the rate of behaviors that occur too frequently but should be maintained in the learner’s repertoire
Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates (DRL)
A procedure for decreasing problem behavior in which reinforcement is contingent on the absence of a problem behavior during or at specific times (ie; momentary type, sometimes called Differential Reinforcement of Zero Rates of Responding or Omission Training)
Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior
Occurs when the behavior that is measured is the same as the behavior that is the focus of the investigation
Direct Measurement
An experiment in which the researcher attempts to duplicate exactly the conditions of an earlier experiment
Direct Replication
Statements describing corrective, disciplinary, and revocation actions, depending on the circumstances for violations of a professional
Disciplinary Standards
Conducted in a manner such that some instances of the response class(es) of interest may not be detected
Discontinuous
Any operant whose response rate is controlled by a given opportunity to emit the response
- Each discrete response occurs when an opprtunity to respond exists
Discrete Trial
Other names for Discrete Trial
Restricted Operant and Controlled Operant
Contingency in which responding in the presence of a signal prevents the onset of a stimulus from which escape is a reinforcer
Discriminated
An operant that occurs more frequently under some antecedent conditons than others
Discriminated Operant
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 their history, an SD evokes operant behavior because its presence signals the availability of reinforcement
Discriminative Stimulus (SD)
A stimulus in the presence of which a given behavior has been punished and in the absence of which that behavior has not been punished; as a result of this history, the behavior occurs less often in the presence of the SDp than in its absence
Discriminative Stimulus for Punishment (SDp)
Responding jointly to two stimuli on the basis of their differences
Distinction Relation
A procedure that prevents the subject and the experimenter(s) from detecting the presence or abscence of the treatment variable; used to eliminate confounding of results by subject expectations, parent and teacher expectations, differential treatmnent by others, and observer bias
Double Blind Control
An experimental technique that demonstrates the effects of reinforcement; it uses differential reinforcement of an incompatible or alternative behavior (DRI/DRA) as a control condition instead of a no reinforcement (baseline) condition
- During this condition, the stimulus change used as reinforcement in the reinforcement condition is presented contingent on occurrences of a specified behavior that is either incompatible with the target behavior or an alternative to the target behavior
- A higher level of responding during the reinforcement condition than during the DRI/DRA condition demonstrates that the changes in behavior are the result of contingent reinforcement, not simply the presentation of or contact with the stimulus event
DRI/DRA Reversal Technique
An experimental technique for demonstrating the effects of reinforcement by using differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) as a control condition instead of a no reinforcement (baseline) condition
- During the DRO condition, the stimulus change used as reinforcement in the reinforcement conditon is presented contingent on the absence of the target behavior for a specified period of time
- A higher level of responding during the reinforcement condition than durig the DRO condition demonstrates that the changes in behavior are the result of contingent reinforcement, not simply the presentation of or contact with the stimulus event
DRO Reversal Technique
A method for conducting a component analysis in which the investigator presents the treatment package and then systematically removes components
- If the treatment’s effectiveness wanes when a component is removed, the resarcher has identified a necessary component
Drop Out Component Analysis
A type of verbal behavior where the form of the response is under the functional control of a verbal stimulus with formal similarity, and a history of generalized reinforcem
Duplic
The total time that behavior occurs; measured by elapsed time from the onset of a response to its end point
Duration
An elementary verbal operant involving a vocal response that is evoked by a vocal verbal SD that has formal similarity between an auditory verbal stimulus and an auditory verbal response product, and a history of generalized reinforcement
Echoic
An assessment protocol that acknowledges complex interrelationships between environment and behavior
- This is a method for obtaining data across multiple settings and persons
Ecological Assessment
Michael’s (1982) term for Skinner’s (1957) taxonomy of five different types of speaker behavior (ie; expressive language) distinguished by their antecedent controlling variables and related history of consequences: mand, tact, intraverbal, duplic, and codic
Elementary Verbal Operants
Stimulus relations that are not taught directly but emerge as an indirect function of related instruction or experience
Emergent Stimulus Relations
Another name for Emergent Stimulus Relations
Derived Stimulus Relations
The objective observation of the phenomena of interest; objective observations are “independent of the individual prejudices, tastes, and private opinions of the scientist…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” (Zuriff, 1985)
Empiricism
An intervention that provides noncontingent access to preferred sources of reinforcement (eg; toys, games, social and recreation activities)
- This noncontingent access to preferred reinforcers arranges a competition between this environment and the stimulation provided by the problem behavior
Enriched Environment
The conglomerate of real circumstances in which the organism or referenced part of the organism exists; behavior cannot occur in the absence of this
Environment
An antecedent intervention that provides noncontingent access to preferred sources of reinforcement (eg; toys, games, social and recreation activities)
- This noncontingent access to preferred sources of reinforcement arranges a competition between the EE intervention and the stimulation provided by the problem behavior
Environmental Enrichment (EE)
A scale in which equal distances on the axis represent equal absolute amounts of the variable plotted on the axis (eg; behavior change on an equal interval vertical axis)
Equal Interval Scale
A probe for the emergence of untrained stimulus - stimulus relations that evaluates both symmetry and transivity simultaneously
Equivalence Test
The emergence of accurate responding to untrained and nonreinforced stimulus - stimulus relations following the reinforcement of responses to some stimulus - stimulus relations
- Requires successful performances on three types of probe trials - reflexivity, symmetry, and transivity - in the absence of reinforcement
Equivalence Class Formation
Another name for Equivalence Class Formation
Stimulus Equivalence
A variety of techniques for gradually transferring stimulus control with a minimum of errors
Errorless Learning
A contingency in which a response terminates (produces escape from) an ongoing stimulus
Escape Contingency
Behaviors maintained with negative reinforcement are placed on this when those behaviors are not followed by termination of the aversive stimulus; emitting the target behavior does not enable the person to escape the aversive situation
Escape Extinction
A motivating operation that increases the effectiveness of some stimulus, object, or event as a reinforcer
- For example, food deprivation establishes food as an effective reinforcer
Establishing Operation (EO)
Documents generated or adopted by professional organizations that provide clear guidelines for their members when deciding a course of proper action in conducting their professional duties
Ethical Codes of Behavior
Behaviors, practices, and decisions that address such basic and fundamental questions as the following: what is the right thing to do? What’s worth doing? What does it mean to be a good behavior analytic practitioner? The Behavior Analyst Certification Board’s (BCBA’s) Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts details ethical practice for behavior analysts
Ethics
Measurement procedure for obtaining a tally or count of the number of times a behavior occurs
Event Recording
An increase in the current frequency of behavior that has been reinforced by some stimulus, object, or event whose reinforcing effectiveness depends on the same motivating operation
- For example, food deprivation evokes (increases the current frequency of) behavior such as opening the fridge that has been reinforced by food
Evocative Effect (of a Motivating Operation)
The percentage of total intervals in which two observers recorded the same count; the most stringent description of IOA for most data sets obtained by event recording
Exact Count per Interval (IOA)
A procedure for building new arbitrary conditional discriminations based on the robust finding that learners will select a novel comparison stimulus over a known one in the presence of a novel sample
Exclusion (Training)
A procedure for implementing time out in which, contingent on the occurrence of a target behavior, the person is removed physically from the current environment for a specified period
Exclusion Time Out
A carefully controlled comparison of some measure of the phenomenon of interest (the 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
Experiment
A natural science approach to the study of behavior as a subject matter in its own right founded by BF 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
Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB)
Two meanings:
(A) The outcome of an experiment that demonstrates convincingly a functional relation, meaning that it is achieved when a predictable change in behavior (the dependent variable) can be reliably produced by manipulating a specific aspect of the environment (the independent variable); and:
(B) The extent to which a researcher maintains precise control of the independent variable by presenting it, withdrawing it, and/or varying its value, and also by eliminating or holding constant all confounding and extraneous variables
Experimental Control
The particular type and sequence of conditions in a study so that meaningful comparisons of the effects of the presence and absence (or different values) of the independent variable can be made
Experimental Design
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 no food is available
Explanatory Fiction
The degree to which a study’s findings have generality to other subjects, settings, and/or behaviors
External Validity
The discontinuing of a reinforcement of a previously reinforced behavior (ie; responses no longer produce reinforcement); the primary effect is a decrease in the frequency of the behavior until it reaches a pre reinforced level or ultimately ceases to occur
Extinction
An increase in the frequency of responding when an extinction procedure is initially implemented
Extinction Burst
Phenomenon in which diverse and novel forms of behavior are sometimes observed during the extinction process
Extinction Induced Variability
Any aspect of the experimental setting (eg; lighting, temperature) that must be held constant to prevent unplanned environmental variation
Extraneous Variable
A procedure for transferring stimulus control in which features of an antecedent stimulus (eg; shape, size, position, color) controlling a behavior are gradually changed to a new stimulus while maintaining the current behavior; stimulus features can be faded in (enhanced) or faded out (reduced)
Fading
Stimuli that share common physical forms or structures (eg; made from wood, four legs, round, blue) or common relative relationships (eg; bigger than, hotter than, higher than, next to)
Feature Stimulus Class
A schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement is delivered for the first response emitted following the passage of a fixed duration of time since the last response was reinforced (eg; on an FI 3 minute schedule, the first response following the passage of 3 minutes is reinforced)
Fixed Interval (FI)
A schedule of reinforcement requiring a fixed number of responses for reinforcement (eg; an FR 4 schedule of reinforcement follows every fourth response)
Fixed Ratio (FR)
A DRO procedure in which reinforcement is available at the end of intervals of fixed duration and delivered contingent on the absence of the problem behavior during each interval
Fixed Interval DRO (FI-DRO)
A DRO procedure in which reinforcement is available at specific moments in time, which are separated by a fixed amount of time, and delivered contingent on the problem not occurring at those moments
Fixed Momentary DRO (FM-DRO)
A schedule for the delivery of noncontingent stimuli in which a time interval remains the same from one delivery to the next
Fixed Time Schedule (FT)
Occurs when the controlling antecedent stimulus and the response or response product (A) share the same sense mode (eg; both stimulus and response are visual, auditory, or tactile) and (B) physically resemble each other
- Verbal relations with this are echoic, copying a text, and imitation as it relates to sign language
Formal Similarity
A method for teaching behavior chains that begins with the learner being prompted and taught to perform the first behavior in the task analysis; the trainer completes the remaining steps in the chain
- When the learner shows competence in performing the first step in the chain, he is then taught to perform the first two behaviors in the chain, with the training completing the chain
- This process is continued until the learner completes the entire chain independently
Forward Chaining
Intentional, willful, and deceitful behavior; such behavior can cause harm to others
Fraudulent Conduct
Any operant behavior that results in minimal displacement of the participant in time and space
- This can be emitted at nearly any time; it is discrete, it requires minimal time for completion, and it can produce a wide range of response rates
- Examples in ABA include (A) the number of words read during a 1 minute counting period, (B) the number of hand slaps per 6 seconds, and (C) the number of letter strokes written in 3 minutes
Free Operant
A contingency in which responses at any time during an interval prior to the scheduled onset of an aversive stimulus delays the presentation of the aversive stimulus
Free Operant Avoidance
How often a behavior occurs
- Some behavior analysts use this to mean rate (a ratio of responses per standard unit of time); others use this as a synonym for count
Frequency
A procedure for implementing DRL in which reinforcement is delivered at the end of the session if the total number of responses emitted during the session does not exceed a criterion limit
Full Session DRL
A change in an organism’s repertoire of MO, stimulus, and response relations, caused by reinforcement, punishment, an extinction procedure, or a recovery from punishment procedure
- Respondent of these effects result from the pairing and unpairing of antecedent stimuli
Function Altering Effect (Relevant to Operant Relations)
Designates responses as members of the targeted response class solely in terms of their common effect on the environment
Function Based Definition
A term with two meanings in contemporary behavior analysis literature
- In its original and most fundamental usage, this denotes demonstrations of functional relations between environmental variables and behavior
- In the context of determining the purposes (functions) of problem behavior for an individual, it entails experimentally arranging antecedents and consequences representing those in the person’s natural routines so that their separate effects on problem behavior can be observed and measured
Functional Analysis
A systematic method of assessment for obtaining information about the purposes (functions) a problem behavior serves for a person; results are used to guide the design of an intervention for decreasing the problem behavior and increasing appropriate behavior
Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)
An antecedent intervention in which an appropriate communicative behavior is taught as a replacement behavior for problem behavior usually evoked by an establishing operation (EO); involves differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA)
Functional Communication Training (FCT)
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 expressed as b=f(x1),(x2),…, where b is the behavior and x1, x2, ect, are environmental variables of which the behavior is a function
Functional Relation
Serving the same function or purpose; different topographics of behavior are functionally equivalent if they produce the same consequences
Functionally Equivalent
A systematic process for identifying and selecting teaching examples that represent the full range of stimulus variations and response requirements in the generalization setting(s)
General Case Analysis
A generic term for a variety of behavioral processes and behavior change outcomes
Generalization
Changes in the behavior of people not directly treated by an intervention as a function of treatment contingencies applied to other people
Generalization Across Subjects
Any measurement of a learner’s performance of a target behavior in a setting and/or stimulus situation in which direct training has not been provided
Generalization Probe
Any place or stimulus situation that differs in some meaningful way from the instructional setting and in which performance of the target behavior is desired
Generalization Setting
A behavior change that has not been taught directly
- Generalized outcomes take one, or a combination of, three primary forms: response maintenance, stimulus/setting generalization, and response generalization
Generalized Behavior Change
Another name for Generalized Behavior Change
Generalized Outcome
A conditioned reinforcer that as a result of having been paired with many other reinforcers does not depend on an establishing operation for any particular form of reinforcement for its effectiveness
Generalized Conditioned Reinforcer
A term often used when a learner imitates a wide variety of unprompted, untrained, nonreinforced modeled behaviors in different settings and situations
- This could be considered a higher order response class in which participants imitate novel models without training and that are not predictive of reinforcement
Generalized Imitation
A behavioral effect whereby previously acquired speaker and listener skills enable or accelerate the acquisition of other speaker and listener skills, without dependence on direct teaching or a history of reinforcement
Generative Learning
A tact evoked by a novel stimulus that shares all of the relevant or defining features associated with the original stimulus
Generic (Tact) Extension
An interdependent group contingency in which a group is divided into two or more teams that compete against each other and/or a specified criterion
- The team with fewest marks at the end of the game earns a reinforcer
- Each team is also told that it can earn a reinforcer if it has fewer than a specified number of marks
Good Behavior Game
A visual format for displaying data; reveals relations among and between a series of measurements and relevant variables
Graph
A contingency in which reinforcement for all members of a group is dependent on the behavior of (A) a person within the group, (B) a select group of members within the larger group, or (C) each member of the group meeting a performance criterion
Group Contingency
Adjustment occurs when a person’s repertoire has been changed such that short and long term reinforcers are maximized and short and long term punishers are minimized
Habilitation
A multiple component treatment package for reducing unwanted habits such as fingernail biting and muscle ties; treatment typically includes self awareness training involving response detection and procedures for identifying events that precede and trigger the response; competing response training; and motivation techniques including self administerd consequences, social support systems, and procedures for prompting the generalization and maintenance of treatment gains
Habit Reversal
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
Habituation
A term sometimes used for a dependent group contingency (ie; a reward for the group is contingent upon the behavior of an individual group member)
Hero Procedure
A nested stimulus relation in which a category, subsuming multiple stimuli, is itself a member of a higher order category subsuming multiple stimuli
Hierarchical Relation
An antecedent intervention in which two to five easy tasks with a known history of learner compliance (the High-p requests) are presented in quick succession immediately before requesting the target task, the Low-p request
High Probability (High-p) Request Sequence
Other names for High Probability (High-p) Request Sequence
Interspersed requests, pre-task requests, and behavioral momentum
A procedure for improving compliance and diminishing escape maintained problem behaviors
- The practicioner presents two to five easy to follow (High-p) instructions for which the participant has a history of compliance
- When the learner complies with several High-p instructions, the practicioner immediately presents a target instruction (ie; Low-p)
High Probability Instructional Sequence (High-p)
Development of a conditioned reflex by pairing of a neutral stimulus (NS) with a conditioned stimulus (CS)
Higher Order Conditioning
Another name for Higher Order Conditioning
Secondary Conditioning
Behavior defined in terms of general relations between antecedents and responses, rather than in terms of specific stimuli and responses; examples include generalized imitation, manding, instruction following, naming, and relational framing
Higher Order Operant Class
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
History of Reinforcement
A presumed but unobserved process or entity (eg; Freud’s ID, ego, and superego)
Hypothetical Construct
Behavior that (A) is occasioned by another person’s model of the behavior (or symbolic representation therof), (B) has formal similarity with the model, (C) follows the modeled behavior closely in time, and (D) the model is the primary controlling variable for the imitative behavior
- An imitative behavior is a new behavior emitted following a novel antecedent event (ie; the model)
Imitation
A systematic, research based set of procedures for teaching a nonimitative learner to imitate models of novel behaviors
Imitation Training
A verbal operant involving a response that is evoked by both an MO and a nonverbal stimulus; thus, the response is part mand and part tact
Impure Tact
A contingency in which reinforcement for each member of a group is dependent on that person’s meeting a performance criterion that is in effect for all members of the group
Independent Group Contingency
The variable that is systematically manipulated by the researcher in an experiment to see whether changes in the independent variable produce reliable changes in the dependent variable
- In Applied Behavior Analysis, it is usually an environmental event or condition antecedent or consequent to the dependent variable
Independent Variable
Other names for Independent Variable
Intervention Variable and Treatment Variable
Structured interviews, checklists, rating scales, or questionnaires used to obtain information from people who are familiar with the person exhibiting the problem behavior (eg; teachers, parents, caregivers, and/or the individual himself or herself); used to identify conditions or events in the natural environment that correlate with the problem behavior
Indirect Functional Assessment
Occurs when the behavior that is measured is in some way different from the behavior of interest; considered less valid than direct measurement because inferences about the relation between the data obtained and the actual behavior of interest are required
Indirect Measurement
A contingency that makes it difficult for the learner to discriminate whether the next response will produce reinforcement
- Practitioners use these in the form of intermittent schedules of reinforcement and delayed rewards to promote generalized behavior change
Indiscriminable Contingency
Formal permission - usually written, signed, and dated - given by a potential recipient of behavioral services or participant in a research study; requires that full disclosure of all pertinent information be provided to the individual prior to a granting of permission
- To give consent, the person must (A) demonstrate the capacity to decide, (B) do so voluntarily, and (C) have adequate knowledge of all salient aspects of the treatment
Informed Consent
The environment where instruction occurs; includes all aspects of the environment, planned and unplanned, that may influence the learner’s acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of the target behavior
Instructional Setting
A contingency in which reinforcement of all members of a group is dependent on each member of the group meeting a performance criterion that is in effect for all members of the group
Interdependent Group Contingency
A contingency of reinforcement in which some, but not all, occurrences of the behavior produce reinforcement
Intermittent Schedule of Reinforcement (INT)
The extent to which an experiment shows convincingly that changes in behavior are a function of the independent variable and not the result of uncontrolled or unknown variables
Internal Validity
The degree to which two or more independent observers report the same observed values after measuring the same events
Interobserver Agreement (IOA)
A measure of temporal locus, defined as the elapsed time between two successive responses
Interresponse Time (IRT)
A procedural variation of the behavior chain interruption strategy, entails arranging the environment such that the learner is unable to continue the chain at a predetermined point until responding to a prompt (eg; “what do you want?”)
Interrupted Chain Procedure
A procedure for implementing DRL in which the total session is divided into equal intervals and reinforcement is provided at the end of each interval in which the number of responses during the interval is equal to or below a criterion limit
Interval DRL
An index of the agreement between observers for data obtained by interval recording or time sampling measurement; calculated for a given session or measurement period by comparing the two observers’ recordings of the occurrence or nonoccurrence of the behavior in each observation interval and dividing the number of intervals of agreement by the total number of intervals and multiplying by 100
Interval by Interval IOA
Other names for Interval by Interval IOA
Point by Point IOA and Total Interval IOA
A variation of functional analysis designed to increase efficiency
- In the test condition, multiple contingencies are implemented simultaneously (eg; attention and escape) when the problem behavior is demonstrated
- In the control condition, those same contingencies are presented noncontingently and continuously
Interview Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis
An elementary verbal operant involving a response that is evoked by a verbal discriminative stimulus that does not have point to point correspondence with that verbal stimulus
- This is the opposite of echoic, in that the words emitted by one speaker do not match the words of another speaker
- This behavior constitutes the basis for social interaction, conversations, and much of academic and intellectual behavior
- Questions are mands, and answers are this type
Intraverbal
Some verbal stimuli only supplement other more critical antecedents, but nonetheless they play a causal role in evoking behavior
- Palmer (2016) recommends “in cases in which the verbal antecedent is, by itself, insufficient to evoke the relevant response, we should speak of this, usually as one of a number of concurrent controlling variables”
Intraverbal Control
A situation that occurs when the level of responding observed in a previous phase cannot be reproduced even though the experimental conditions are the same as they were during the earlier phase
Irreversibility
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
Joint Control
A schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement is contingent on a response being different in some specified way (eg; different topography) from the previous response (eg; Lag 1) or a specified number of previous responses (eg; Lag 2 or more)
Lag Reinforcement Schedule
An analysis in which each session is terminated as soon as a problem behavior occurs
- The index of problem behavior is the latency from onset of the establishing operation to the first occurrence of the problem behavior
Latency Based Functional Analysis
A technique of transferring stimulus control in which the practitioner gives the participant an opportunity to perform the response with the least amount of assistance on each trial
- The participant receieves greater degrees of assistance with each successive trial without a correct response
- The procedure for this requires the participant to make a correct response within a set time limit (eg; 3 seconds) from the presentation of the natural SD
- If the response does not occur within the specified time limit (eg; another 3 seconds) the participant does not make a correct response, the analyst gives the natural SD and another response prompt, such as a gesture
- The participant receives partial or full physical guidance if the less intrusive prompt does not evoke a correct response
Least to Most Response Prompts
The value on the vertical axis around which a series of behavioral measures converge
Level
A component of some token economy systems in which participants advance up (or down) through a succession of levels contingent on their behavior at the current level
- The performance criteria and sophistication or difficulty of the behaviors required at each level are higher than those of preceding levels; as participants advance to higher levels, they gain access to more desirable reinforcers, increased privileges, and greater independence
Level System
A situation in which reinforcement is available only during a finite time following the elapse of an FI or VI interval; if the target response does not occur within the time limit, reinforcement is withheld and a new interval begins (eg; on an FI 5 minute schedule with this type of hold for 30 seconds, the first correct response following the elapse of 5 minutes is reinforced only if that response occurs within 30 seconds after the end of the 5 minute interval)
Limited Hold
Based on a cartesian plane, a two dimensional area formed by the intersection of two perpendicular lines
- Any point within the plane represents a specific relation between the two dimensions described by the intersecting lines
- It is the most common graphic format for displaying data in Applied Behavior Analysis
Line Graph
Someone who provides reinforcement for a speaker’s verbal behavior
- They may also serve as an audience evoking verbal behavior
- The distinction between this and speaker is often blurred by the fact that much of this person’s behavior may involve becoming a speaker at the covert level (eg; thinking about what was said)
- A speaker may also serve as their own
Listener
When verbal SD evokes a specific nonverbal behavior, due to a history of reinforcement
Listener Discriminations
The average rate of response during a smaller period of time within a larger period for which an overall response rate has been given
Local Response Rate
The force or intensity with which a response is emitted; provides important quantitative parameters used in defining and verifying the occurrence of some response classes
- Responses meeting those criteria are measured and reported by one or more fundamental or derivative measures such as frequency, duration, or latency
Magnitude
Another name for Magnitude
Amplitude
Two different meanings in Applied Behavior Analysis:
(A) the extent to which the learner continues to perform the target behavior after a portion or all of the intervention has been terminated (ie; response type), a dependent variable or characteristic of behavior; and (B) a condition in which treatment has been discontinued or partially withdrawn, an independent variable or experimental condition
Maintenance
An elementary verbal operant involving a response of any form that is evoked by an MO and followed by specific reinforcement
- This allows a speaker to get what she wants or refuse what she does not want
Mand
A self directed behavior change technique in which the person forces herself to perform an undesired behavior (eg; a compulsive ritual) repeatedly, which sometimes decreases the future frequency of the behavior
Massed Practice
The allocation of responses to choices available on concurrent schedules of reinforcement; rates of responding across choices are distributed in proportions that match the rates of reinforcement received from each choice alternative
Matching Law
A discrete trial procedure for investigating conditional relations and stimulus equivalence
- This begins with the participant making a response that presents or reveals the sample stimulus; next, the sample stimulus may or may not be removed, and two or more comparison stimuli are presented
- The participant then selects one of the comparison stimuli
- Responses that select a comparison stimulus that matches the sample stimulus are reinforced; no reinforcement is provided for responses selecting the nonmatching comparison stimuli
Matching to Sample Procedure
The average percentage of agreement between the counts reported by two observers in a measurement period composed of a series of smaller counting times; a more conservative measure of IOA than total count IOA
Mean Count per Interval (IOA)
An IOA index for duration per occurrence data; also a more conservative and usually more meaningful assessment of IOA for total duration data calculated for a given session or measurement period by computing the average percentage of agreement of the durations reported by two observers for each occurrence of the target behavior
Mean Duration per Occurrence (IOA)
The process of applying quantitative labels to describe and differentiate objects and natural events
- In Applied Behavior Analysis, this involves three steps:
(A) Identifying the behavior to be measured, (B) defining the behavior in observable terms, and (C) selecting an appropriate observation and data recording method
Measurement
Nonrandom measurement error; a form of inaccurate measurement in which the data consistently overestimate or underestimate the true value of an event
Measurement Bias
A method of measuring behavior after it has occurred by recording the effects that the behavior produced on the environment
Measurement by Permanent Product
An approach to explaining behavior that assumes that a 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
Mentalism
A tact evoked by a novel stimulus that shares some, but not all, of the relevant features of the original stimulus
Metaphorical (Tact) Extension
A philosophical position that views behavioral events that cannot be publicly observed as outside the realm of science
Methodological Behaviorism
A tact evoked by a novel stimulus that shares none of the relevant features of the original stimulus configuration, but some irrelevant yet related feature has acquired stimulus control
Metonymical (Tact) Extension
A compound schedule of reinforcement consisting of two or more basic schedules of reinforcement (elements) that occur in an alternating, usually random, sequence; no discriminative stimuli are correlated with the presence or absence of each element of the schedule, and reinforcement is delivered for meeting the response requirements of the element in effect at any time
Mixed Schedule (Mix)
A behavior change strategy in which learners acquire new skills by imitating demonstrations of the skills by live or symbolic models
- The model shows, demonstrates, or conveys exactly the behavior the learner is expected to perform
- Models can be live demonstrations or symbolic representations of the desired behavior
Modeling
A measurement method in which the presence or absence of behaviors is recorded at precisely specified time intervals
Momentary Time Sampling
A technique of transferring stimulus control in which the practitioner physically guides the participant through the entire performance sequence, and then gradually reduces the level of assistance in successive trials
- Customarily, this transitions from physical guidance to visual prompts to verbal instructions, and finally to the natural stimulus without prompts
Most to Least Response Prompts
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
Motivating Operation (MO)
A type of duplic verbal behavior in which the form of a motor response is under the functional control of a visual verbal SD that has formal similarity between a verbal stimulus and a verbal response product, and a history of generalized reinforcement
Motor Imitation (Relating to Sign Language)
An experimental design in which two or more conditions (one of which may be a no treatment control condition) are presented in rapidly alternating succession (eg; on alternating sessions or days) independent of the level of responding; differences in responding between or among conditions are attributed to the effects of the conditions
Multielement Design
Other names for Multielement Design
Alternating Treatments Design, Concurrent Schedule Design, and Multiple Schedule Design
A multiple baseline design in which the treatment variable is applied to two or more different behaviors of the same subject in the same setting
Multiple Baseline Across Behaviors Design
A multiple baseline design in which the treatment variable is applied to the same behavior of the same subject across two or more different settings, situations, or time periods
Multiple Baseline Across Settings Design
A multiple baseline design in which the treatment variable is applied to the same behavior of two or more subjects (or groups) in the same setting
Multiple Baseline Across Subjects Design
An experimental design that begins with the concurrent measurement of two or more behaviors in a baseline condition, followed by the application of the treatment variable to one of the behaviors while baseline conditions remain in effect for the other behavior(s)
- After maximum change has been noted in the first behavior, the treatment variable is applied in sequential fashion to each of the other behaviors in the design
- Experimental control is demonstrated if each behavior shows similar changes when, and only when, the treatment variable is introduced
Multiple Baseline Design
There are two types of this
- Convergent type occurs when a single verbal response is a function of more than one variable (ie; what is said has more than one antecedent source of control)
- Divergent type occurs when a single antecedent variable affects the strength of more than one response
Multiple Control (of Verbal Behavior)
Instruction that provides the learner with practice with a variety of stimulus conditions, response variations, and response topographies to ensure the acquisition of desired stimulus control response forms; used to promote both setting/situation generalization and response generalization
Multiple Exemplar Training
A variation of the multiple baseline design that features itermittent measures, or probes, during baseline
- It is used to evaluate the effects of instruction on skill sequences in which it is unlikely that the subject can improve performance on later steps in the sequence before learning prior steps
Multiple Probe Design
A compound schedule of reinforcement consisting of two or more basic schedules of reinforcement (elements) that occur in an alternating, usually random, sequence; a discriminative stimulus is correlated with the presence or absence of each element of the schedule, and reinforcement is delivered for meeting the response requirements of the element in effect at any time
Multiple Schedule (Mult)
The effects of one treatment on a subject’s behavior being confounding by the influence of another treatment administered in the same study
Multiple Treatment Interference
Any experimental design that uses the experimental methods and logic of the reversal tactic to compare the effects of two or more experimental conditions to baseline and/or to one another (eg; A-B-A-B-C-B-C, A-B-A-C-A-D-A-C-A-D, A-B-A-B-B+C)
Multiple Treatment Reversal Design
A bidirectional stimulus relation in which one direction (eg; if A, then B) is directly learned and the other (if B, then A) is derived
Mutual Entailment
An observer who is unaware of the study’s purpose and/or the experimental conditions in effect during a given phase or observation period
- Data obtained by them are less likely to be influenced by observers’ expectations
Naive Observer
Any contingency of reinforcement (or punishment) that operates independent of the behavior analyst’s or practitioner’s efforts; includes socially mediated contingencies contrived by other people and already in effect in the relevant setting
Naturally Existing Contingency
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 Punishment
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 occurrence of similar responses
Negative Reinforcement
A stimulus whose termination (or reduction in intensity) functions as reinforcement
Negative Reinforcer
Failure to demonstrate professional integrity on the part of the provider that threatens the client’s health and safety; typically exhibited as nonfeasance - not doing what ought to be done
Negligence
A stimulus change that does not elicit respondent behavior
Neutral Stimulus (NS)
A stimulus set that must be held in common across a minimum of two conditional discriminations to provide a basis for all equivalence properties
Nodal Stimulus (Node)
Derived stimulus relations in which stimuli are related on some basis other than “sameness”
Nonequivalence Relations
A procedure in which stimuli with known reinforcing properties are presented on fixed time (FT) or variable time (VT) schedules completely independent of behavior; often used as an antecedent intervention to reduce problem behavior
Noncontingent Reinforcement (NCR)
An experimental control technique that demonstrates the effects of reinforcement by using noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) as a control condition instead of a no reinforcement (baseline) condition
- During the NCR condition, the stimulus change used as reinforcement in the reinforcement condition is presented on a fixed or variable time schedule independent of the subject’s behavior
- A higher level of responding during the reinforcement condition than during the NCR condition demonstrates that the changes in behavior are the result of contingent reinforcement, not simply the presentation of or contact with the stimulus event
Noncontingent Reinforcement Reversal Technique
An experimental design that consists of a related series of A-B (baseline-intervention) sequences conducted across participants at different points in time; often used to assess treatment effects when concurrent measurement of participants’ behavior is not possible
Nonconcurrent Multiple Baseline Across Participants Design
A procedure for implementing time out in which, contingent on the occurrence of the target behavior, the person remains within the setting, but does not have access to reinforcement, for a specified period
Nonexclusion Time Out
As a philosophy and principle, the belief that people with disabilities should, to the maximum extent possible, be physically and socially integrated into the mainstream of society regardless of the degree or type of disability
- As an approach to intervention, the use of progressively more typical settings and procedures “to establish and/or maintain personal behaviors which are as culturally normal as possible” (Wolfersberger, 1972)
Normalization
A measure produced by an observation and measurement system
- These serve as the data that the researcher and others will interpret to form conclusions about an investigation
Observed Value
Any unintended change in the way an observer uses a measurement system over the course of an investigation that results in measurement error; often entails a shift in the observer’s interpretation of the original definitions of the target behavior subsequent to being trained
Observer Drift
Influence on the data reported by an observer that results from the observer’s awareness that others are evaluating the data
Observer Reactivity
The history of the development of an individual organism during its lifetime
Ontogeny
Behavior that is selected, maintained, and brought under stimulus control as a function of its consequences; each person’s repertoire of this is a product of his history of interactions with the environment (ontogeny)
Operant Behavior
The basic process by which operant learning occurs; 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 in the future
Operant Conditioning
The rate of response over a given time period
Overall Response Rate
A behavior change tactic based on positive punishment in which, contingent on the problem behavior, the learner is required to engage in effortful behavior directly or logically related to fixing the damage caused by the behavior
- Forms of this are restitutional type and positive practice type
Overcorrection
A condition in which the range of discriminative stimuli, or stimulus features controlling behavior, is extremely limited; often interferes with learning
Overselective Stimulus Control
Another name for Overselective Stimulus Control
Stimulus Overselectivity
Occurs when the most salient component of a compound stimulus arrangement controls responding and interferes with the acquisition of stimulus control by the more relevant stimulus
Overshadowing
An experiment designed to discover the differential effects of a range of values of an independent variable
Parametric Analysis
The practice of ruling out simple, logical explanations, experimentally or conceptually, before considering more complex or abstract explanations
Parsimony
A time sampling method for measuring behavior in which the observation period is divided into a series of brief time intervals (typically from 5 to 10 seconds)
- The observer records whether the target behavior occurred at any time during the interval
- It is not concerned with how many times the behavior occurred during the interval or how long the behavior was present, just that it occurred at some point during the interval; tends to overestimate the proportion of the observation period that the behavior actually occurred
Partial Interval Recording
A variation of time out from positve reinforcement in which contingent on the occurrence of the target behavior, the participant remains in the time in setting, but his view of the setting is restricted by a panel or cubicle, or a select space is arranged to serve as the time out area (ie; a carpet, a corner)
Partition Time Out
Another name for Partition Time Out
Select Space Time Out
A ratio (ie; a proportion) formed by combining the same dimensional quantities, such as count (number divided by number) or time (duration divided by duration; latency divided by latency); expressed as a number of parts per 100; typically expressed as a ratio of the number of responses of a certain type per total number of responses (or opportunities or intervals in which such a response could have occurred)
- A percentage presents a proportional quantity per 100
Percentage
Responding as if from the vantage point of another person, place, or time than the personal here and now
Perspective Shifting
An attitude that the truthfulness and validity of all scientific theory and knowledge should be continually questioned
Philosophic Doubt
The history of the natural evolution of a species
Phylogeny
A behavior that, when learned, produces corresponding modifications or covariation in other untrained behaviors
Pivotal Behavior
A procedure that prevents a subject from detecting the presence or absence of the treatment variable
- To the subject, the placebo condition appears the same as the treatment condition (eg; a placebo pill contains an inert substance but looks, feels, and tastes exactly like a pill that contains the treatment drug)
Placebo Control
A variation of momentary time sampling in which the observer records whether each person in a group is engaged in the target behavior at specific points in time; provides a measure of “group behavior”
Planned Activity Check (Placheck)
A procedure for implementing time out in which social reinforcers - usually attention, physical contact, and verbal interaction - are withheld for a brief period contingent on the occurrence of the target behavior
Planned Ignoring
A relation between the stimulus and response or response product that occurs when the beginning, middle, and end of the verbal stimulus matches the beginning, middle, and end of the verbal response
- The verbal relations with this are echoic, copying text, imitation as it relates to sign language, textual and transcription
Point to Point Correspondence
A form of overcorrection in which, contingent on an occurrence of the target behavior, the learner is required to repeat a correct form of the behavior, or a behavior incompatible with the problem behavior, a specified number of times; entails an educative component
Positive Practice Overcorrection
A response followed immediately by the presentation of a stimulus that decreases the future frequency of the behavior
Positive Punishment
A response followed immediately by the presentation of a stimulus change that results in similar responses occurring more often
Positive Reinforcement
A stimulus whose presentation or onset functions as reinforcement
Positive Reinforcer
The absence of responding for a period of time following reinforcement; an effect commonly produced by fixed interval (FI) and fixed ratio (FR) schedules of reinforcement
Postreinforcement Pause
Improvements in performance resulting from opportunities to perform a behavior repeatedly so that baseline measures can be obtained
Practice Effects
A philosophical position asserting that the truth value of a statement is determined by how well it promotes effective action; it is a primary criterion by which behavior analysts judge the value of their findings
Pragmatism
An instructional approach that involves (A) pinpointing the skills to be learned; (B) measuring the initial frequency or rate per minute at which the student can perform those skills; (C) setting an aim, or goal, for the child’s improvement; (D) using direct, daily measurement to monitor progress made under an instructional program; (E) charting the results of those measurements on a standard celeration chart; and (F) changing the program if progress is not adequate
Precision Teaching
A statement of the anticipated outcome of a presently unknown or future measurement; one of three components of the experimental reasoning, or baseline logic, used in single subject research designs
Prediction
A principle that states that making the opportunity to engage in a high probability behavior contingent on the occurrence of a low frequency behavior will function as reinforcement for the low frequency behavior
- Sometimes called “grandma’s law”
Premack Principle
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 (eg; extinction, positive reinforcement); an empirical generalization inferred from many experiments demonstrating the same functional relation
Principle of Behavior
Covert events typically accessible only to the person experiencing them
- Skinner’s radical behaviorism holds three major assumptions about this:
(A) These are behavior; (B) behavior that takes place within the skin is distinguished from other (“public”) behavior only by its inaccessibility, and (C) private behavior is influenced by (ie; is a function of) the same kinds of variables as publicly accessible behavior
Private Events
The extent to which procedures in all phases and conditions of an experiment, including baseline, are implemented correctly
Procedural Fidelity
A tactic for promoting setting/situation generalization by making the instructional setting similar to the generalization setting; the two step process involves (1) identifying salient stimuli that characterize the generalization setting and (2) incorporating those stimuli into the instructional setting
Programming Common Stimuli
A variation of the fixed ratio (FR) schedule of reinforcement that increases the ratio requirements incrementally within the session; PR schedule requirements are changed using (A) arithmetic progressions to add a constant number to each successive ratio, or (B) geometric progressions to add successively a constant proportion of the preceding ratio
Progressive Ratio (PR) Schedule of Reinforcement
A schedule that systematically thins each successive reinforcement opportunity independent of the individual’s behavior; progressive ratio (PR) and progressive interval (PI) schedules are thinned using arithmetic or geometric progressions
Progressive Schedule of Reinforcement
A procedure for transferring stimulus control from contrived response prompts to naturally existing stimuli that starts with simultaneous presentation of the natural stimulus and the response prompt (ie; 0 second delay)
- The number of 0 second trials depends on the task difficulty and the functioning level of the participant
- Following the simultaneous presentations, the time delay is gradually and systematically extended
Progressive Time Delay
A stimulus change that decreases the future occurrence of behavior that immediately precedes it
Punisher
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
Punishment
A form of behaviorism that attempts to understand all human behavior, including private events such as thoughts and feelings, in terms of controlling variables in the history of the person (ontogeny) and the species (phylogeny)
Radical Behaviorism
A variation of the changing criterion design in which each intervention sub-phase includes a lower and an upper criterion within which the participant is expected to perform
Range Bound Changing Criterion Design
A fundamental measure of how often behavior occurs expressed as count per standard unit of time (eg; per minute, per hour, per day) and calculated by dividing the number of responses recorded by the number of standard units of time in which observations were conducted
- Some behavior analysts use this and frequency interchangeably; others use frequency to mean count
Rate
A scale in which equal distances on a graph’s axis correspond to equal ratios of change in the variable plotted on the axis
Ratio Scale
A behavioral effect associated with abrupt increases in ratio requirements when moving from denser to thinner reinforcement schedules; common effects include avoidance, aggression, and unpredictable pauses or cessation in responding
Ratio Strain
Effects of an observation and measurement procedure on the behavior being measured
- It is most likely when measurement procedures are obtrusive, especially if the person being observed is aware of the observer’s presence and purpose
Reactivity
“Differential responding to novel combinations of stimulus components that have been included previously in other stimulus contexts” (Goldstein, 1983)
Recombinative Generalization
The occurrence of a previously punished type of response without its punishing consequence; analogous to the extinction of previously reinforced behavior and has the effect of undoing the effect of the punishment
Recovery from Punishment
A stimulus response relation consisting of an antecedent stimulus and the respondent behavior it elicits (eg; bright light pupil contraction)
- Unconditioned and conditioned reflexes protect against harmful stimuli, help regulate the internal balance and economy of the organism and promote reproduction
Reflex
A stimulus that acquires MO effectiveness by preceding some form of worsening or improvement
- It is exemplified by the warning stimulus in a typical escape avoidance procedure, which establishes its own offset as reinforcement and evokes all behavior that has accomplished that offset
Reflexive Conditioned Motivating Operation (CMO-R)
A type of stimulus to stimulus relation in which the learner, without any prior training or reinforcement for doing so, selects a comparison stimulus that is the same as the sample stimulus (eg; A=A)
- It would be demonstrated in the following matching to sample procedure: The sample stimulus is a picture of a tree, and the three comparison stimuli are a picture of a mouse, a picture of a cookie, and a duplicate of the tree picture used as the sample stimulus
- The learner selects the picture of the tree without specific reinforcement in the past for making the tree picture to tree picture match
Reflexivity
Another name for Reflexivity
Generalized Identity Matching
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
Reinforcement
A stimulus change that increases the future frequency of behavior that immediately precedes it
Reinforcer
Refers to a variety of direct, empirical methods for presenting one or more stimuli contingent on a target response and measuring their effectiveness as reinforcers
Reinforcer Assessment
A decrease in the reinforcing effectiveness of a stimulus, object, or event caused by a motivating operation
- For example, food ingestion abolishes (decreases) the reinforcing effectiveness of food
Reinforcer Abolishing Effect (of a Motivating Operation)
An increase in the reinforcing effectiveness of a stimulus, object, or event caused by a motivating operation
- For example, food deprivation establishes (increases) the reinforcing effectiveness of food
Reinforcer Establishing Effect (of a Motivating Operation)
Any specific type of arbitrarily applicable relational responding
Relational Frame
A theory of derived stimulus relations proposing that stimulus relations are inherently verbal and that accumulated experience with relational exemplars creates generalized repertoires of relating
Relational Frame Theory (RFT)
Holds that only behaviors likely to produce reinforcement in the person’s natural environment should be targeted for change
Relevance of Behavior Rule
Refers to the consistency of measurement, specifically, the extent to which repeated measurement of the same event yields the same values
Reliability (of Measurement)
Refers to the fact that a behavior can occur repeatedly through time (ie; behavior can be counted); one of the three dimensional quantities of behavior from which all behavioral measurements are derived
Repeatability
All of the behaviors a person can do; or a set of behaviors relevant to a particular setting or task (eg; gardening, mathematical problem solving)
Repertoire
(A) Repeating conditions within an experiment to determine the reliability of effects and increase internal validity
(B) Repeating whole experiments to determine the generality of findings of previous experiments to other subjects, settings, and/or behaviors
Replication
A statement of what the researcher seeks to learn by conducting the experiment; may be presented in question form and is most often found in a published account as a statement of the experiment’s purpose
- All aspects of an experiment’s design should follow from this
Research Question
The relative frequency with which operant behavior is emitted during extinction
Resistance to Extinction
The response component of a reflex; behavior that is elicited, or induced, by antecedent stimuli
Respondent Behavior
A stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure in which a neutral stimulus (NS) is presented with an unconditioned stimulus (US) until the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that elicits the conditioned response
Respondent Conditioning
Other names for Respondent Conditioning
Classical Conditioning and Pavlovian Conditioning
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
Respondent Extinction
A single instance or occurrence of a specific class or type of behavior
- Technical definition: an “action of an organism’s effector. An effector is an organ at the end of an errerent nerve fiber that is specialized for altering its environment mechanically, chemically, or in terms of other energy changes” (Michael, 2004)
Response
A procedure in which the therapist physically intervenes as soon as the learner begins to emit a problem behavior, to prevent completion of the targeted behavior
Response Blocking
A group of responses of varying topography, all of which produce the same effect on the environment
Response Class
The response contingent loss of a specific number of positive reinforcers (eg; a fine) that decreases the frequency of similar responses in the future; a form of negative punishment
Response Cost
A behavior change produced by differential reinforcement: Reinforced members of the current response class occur with greater frequency, and unreinforced members occur less frequently (undergo extinction); the overall result is the emergence of a new response class
Response Differentiation
The extent to which a learner emits untrained responses that are functionally equivalent to the trained target behavior
Response Generalization
A procedural variation of response blocking that involves interrupting stereotypic behavior at its onset and redirecting the individual to complete high probability behaviors instead
Response Interruption and Redirection (RIRD)
A measure of temporal locus; the elapsed time from the onset of a stimulus (eg; task direction, cue) to the initiation of a response
Response Latency
The extent to which a learner continues to perform the target behavior after a portion or all of the intervention responsible for the behavior’s initial appearance in the learner’s repertoire has been terminated
Response Maintenance
Other names for Response Maintenance
Maintenance, Durability, and Behavioral Persistence
Incorrect name for Response Maintenance
Resistance to Extinction
Prompts that operate directly on the response to cue a correct response
- The three major forms of these are verbal instructions, modeling, and physical guidance
Response Prompts
A model for predicting whether contingent access to one behavior will function as reinforcement for engaging in another behavior based on whether access to the contingent behavior represents a restriction of the activity compared to the baseline level of engagement
Response Deprivation Hypothesis
A form of overcorrection in which, contingent on the problem behavior, the learner is required to repair the damage or return the environment to its original state and then to engage in additional behavior to bring the environment to a condition vastly better than it was in prior to the misbehavior
Restitutional Overcorrection
Three common types of this - personal, protective equipment, and self - appear in the behavior analysis literature
- With personal, therapists physically restrict the problem behavior by holding the body parts (eg; response blocking) that produce the problem behavior
- With protective equipment, therapists often use protective equipment (eg; padded helmets, arm splints, boxing gloves, padded hand mitts, safety belts, safety straps) to protect individuals from causing serious injury
- Persons with self-injurous behavior (SIB) often apply self type, such as sitting on hands, placing arms between folded legs, and wrapping arms in tight clothing
Restraint
Refers to the reoccurrence of a previously reinforced behavior when reinforcement for an alternative behavior is terminated or decreased and to the three phase procedure that produces the effect:
(1) A target behavior is reinforced, (2) the target behavior is placed on extinction and reinforcement provided for an alternative behavior, and (3) both responses are placed on extinction
Resurgence
Any experimental design in which the researcher attempts to verify the effect of the independent variable by “reversing” responding to a level obtained in a previous condition; encompasses experimenta designs in which the independent variable is withdrawn (A-B-A-B) or reversed in its focus (eg; DRI/DRA)
Reversal Design
A comparison prior to conducting a behavioral assessment or intervention of the potential harm to the client (or others) versus the benefits likely to result from the procedures
Risk Benefit Analysis
Behavior controlled by a rule (ie; a verbal statement of an antecedent behavior consequence contingency); enables human behavior (eg; fastening a seat belt) to come under the indirect control of temporally remote or improbable, but potentially significant consequences (eg; avoiding injury in an auto accident)
- Often used in contrast to contingency shaped behavior, a term used to indicate behavior selected and maintained by controlled, temporally close consequences
Rule Governed Behavior
A decrease in the frequency of operant behavior presumed to be the result of continued contact with or consumption of a reinforcer that has followed the behavior; also refers to a procedure for reducing the effectiveness of a reinforcer (eg; presenting a person with copious amounts of a reinforcing stimulus prior to a session)
Satiation
A two dimensional graph that shows the relative distribution of individual measures in a data set with respect to the variables depicted by the X and Y axes
- Data points on these are not connected
Scatterplot
A procedure for recording to the extent to which a target behavior occurs more often at particular times than others; involves dividing the day into blocks of time, and using different symbols on an observation form to indicate level of the target behavior (eg; a lot, some, or not at all)
Scatterplot Recording
A rule specifying the environmental arrangements and response requirements for reinforcement; a description of a contingency of reinforcement
Schedule of Reinforcement
Changing a contingency of reinforcement by gradually increasing the response ratio or the extent of the time interval; it results in a lower rate of reinforcement per responses, time, or both
Schedule Thinning
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
Science
An interobserver agreement index based only on the intervals in which either observer recorded the occurrence of the behavior; calculated by dividing the number of intervals in which the two observers agreed that the behavior occurred by the number of intervals in which either or both observers recorded the occurrence of the behavior and multiplying by 100
- This is recommended as a measure of agreement for behaviors that occur at low rates because it ignores the intervals in which agreement by chance is highly unlikely
Scored Interval IOA
The fundamental principle underlying operant conditioning; the basic tenet is that all forms of (operant) behavior, from simple to complex, are selected, shaped, and maintained by their consequences during an individual’s lifetime, Skinner’s concept of this is parallel to Darwin’s concept of natural selection of generic structures in the evolution of species
Selection by Consequences
A category of verbal behavior in which the speaker points to or selects a particular stimulus; what is conveyed to the listener is the information on the stimulus selected
Selection Based Verbal Behavior
A theory that all forms of life naturally and continually evolve as a result of the interaction between function and the survival value of that function
- Operant selection by consequences is the conceptual and empirical foundation of behavior analysis
Selectionism
Contingency contract that a person makes with himself or herself, incorporating a self selected task and reward as well as personal monitoring of task completions and self delivery of the reward
Self Contract
A person’s ability to “delay gratification” by emitting a response that will produce a larger (or higher quality) delayed reward over a response that produces a smaller but immediate reward
Self Control [Impulse Analysis]
Another word for Self Control [Impulse Analysis]
Impulse Control
Skinner (1953) conceptualized self control as a two response phenomenon: The controlling response affects variables in such a way as to change the probability of the controlled response
Self Control [Skinner’s Analysis]
A procedure in which a person compares her performance of a target behavior with a predetermined goal or standard; often a component of self management
Self Evaluation
Another word for Self Evaluation
Self Assessment
Self generated verbal responses, covert or overt, that function as rules or response prompts for a desired behavior; as a self management tactic, this can guide a person through a behavior chain or sequence of tasks
Self Instruction
The personal application of behavior change tactics that produces a desired change in behavior
Self Management
A procedure whereby a person systematically observes his behavior and records the occurrence or nonoccurrence of a target behavior
Self Monitoring
Other names for Self Monitoring
Self Recording and Self Observation
A two dimensional graph with a logarithmic scaled y axis so that equal distances on the vertical axis represent changes in behavior that are of equal proportion
Semilogarithmic Chart
A procedure by which behaviors maintained by automatic reinforcement are placed on extinction by masking or removing the sensory consequence
Sensory Extinction
The effects on a subject’s behavior in a given condition that are the result of the subject’s experience with a prior condition
Sequence Effects
The extent to which a learner emits the target behavior in a setting or stimulus situation that is different from the instructional setting
Setting/Situation Generalization
Using differential reinforcement to produce a series of gradually changing response classes; each response class is a successive approximation toward a terminal behavior
- Members of an existing response class are selected for differential reinforcement because they more closely resemble the terminal behavior
Shaping
Responding is under stimulus control of a single antecedent stimulus conditon; described by the three term contingency: SD —> R —> SR+
Simple Discrimination
A single component word or phrase evokes a nonmatching intraverbal response (eg; upon hearing “ready, set…” a child says “go”)
Simple Verbal Discrimination
An arrangement in which types of stimulus equivalence probes are introduced sequentially, beginning with symmetry, followed by transivity (if relevant), and then combined tests for equivalence
Simple to Complex Testing Protocol
A wide variety of research designs that use a form of experimental reasoning called baseline logic to demonstrate the effects of the independent variable on the behavior of individual subjects
Single Case Designs
Other names for Single Case Designs
Single Subject Designs, Within Subject Designs, and Intra Subject Designs
Refers to the extent to which target behaviors are appropriate, intervention procedures are acceptable, and important and significant changes in target and collateral behaviors are produced
Social Validity
A contingency in which an antecedent stimulus and/or the consequence for the behavior is presented by another person
Socially Mediated Contingency (Reinforcement)
A verbal response evoked by a stimulus property that is only indirectly related to the proper tact relation (eg; Yogi Berra’s classic malapropism: “baseball is ninety percent mental; the other half is physical”)
Solistic (Tact) Extension
A procedure for implementing DRL in which reinforcement follows each occurrence of the target behavior that is separated from the previous response by a minimum interresponse time (IRT)
Spaced Responding DRL
Responding jointly to two stimuli on the basis of their juxtaposition in space
Spatial Relation
Someone who engages in verbal behavior by emitting mands, tacts, intraverbals, autoclitics, ect
- They are also someone who uses sign language, gestures, signals, written words, codes, pictures, or any form of verbal behavior
Speaker
A line drawn through a series of graphed data points that shows the overall trend in the data; drawn through the intersections of the vertical and horizontal middles of each half of the charted data and then adjusted up or down so that half of all the data points fall on or above and half fall on or below the line
Split Middle Line of Progress
A behavioral effect associated with extinction in which the behavior suddenly begins to occur after its frequency has decreased to its pre reinforcement level or stopped entirely
Spontaneous Recovery
Data that show no evidence of an upward or downward trend; all of the measures fall within a relatively small range of values
Stable Baseline
A multiply-divide chart with six base-10 (or x10 divided by 10) cycles on the vertical axis that can accomodate response rates as low as 1 per 24 hours (0.000695 per minute) to as high as 1000 per minute
- It enables the standardized charting of celeration, a factor by which rate of behavior multiplies or divides per unit of time
Standard Celeration Chart
A pattern of responding that exhibits relatively little variation in its measured dimensional quantities over a period of time
Steady State Responding
Repeatedly exposing a subject to a given condition while trying to eliminate or control extraneous influences on the behavior and obtaining a stable pattern of responding before introducing the next condition
Steady State Strategy
“An energy change that affects an organism through its receptor cells” (Michael, 2004)
Stimulus
Occurs when a competing stimulus blocks the evocative function of a stimulus that has acquired stimulus control over the behavior
- It can be mitigated by rearranging the physical environment, making instructional stimuli appropriately intense, and consistently reinforcing behavior in the presence of the instructionally relevant discriminative stimuli
Stimulus Blocking
A group of stimuli that share specified common elements along formal (eg; size, color), temporal (eg; antecedent or consequent), and/or functional (eg; discriminative stimulus) dimensions
Stimulus Class
A situation in which the frequency, latency, duration, or amplitude of a behavior is altered by the presence or absence of an antecedent stimulus
Stimulus Control
A stimulus in the presence of which a given behavior has not produced reinforcement, or has produced reinforcement of lesser quality, in the past
Stimulus Delta
When one stimulus (the SD) signals the availability of reinforcement and the absence of that stimulus signals a zero or reduced chance of reinforcement, responses will occur more often in the presence of the SD than in its absence
Stimulus Discrimination
The conventional procedure requires one behavior and two antecedent stimulus conditions
- Responses are reinforced in the presence of one stimulus condition, the SD, but not in the presence of the other stimulus
Stimulus Discrimination Training
The emergence of accurate responding to untrained and nonreinforced stimulus-stimulus relations following the reinforcement of responses to some stimulus-stimulus relations
- Requires successful performances on three types of probe trials - reflexivity, symmetry, and transivity - in the absence of reinforcement
Stimulus Equivalence
Another name for Stimulus Equivalence
Equivalence Class Formation
A method of transferring stimulus control that involves highlighting a physical dimension of a stimulus (eg; size, color, and position) to increase the likelihood of a correct response and then gradually diminishing the exaggerated dimension until the learner is responding correctly to the naturally occurring stimulus
Stimulus Fading
When an antecedent stimulus has a history of evoking a response that has been reinforced in its presence, the same type of behavior tends to be evoked by stimuli that share similar physical properties with the controlling antecedent stimulus
Stimulus Generalization
A graphic depiction of the extent to which behavior that has been reinforced in the presence of a specific stimulus condition is emitted in the presence of other stimuli
- The gradient shows relative degrees of stimulus generalization and stimulus control (or discrimination)
- A flat slope across test stimuli shows a high degree of stimulus generalization and relatively little discrimination between the trained stimulus and other stimuli; a slope that drops sharply from its highest point corresponding to the trained stimulus indicates a high degree of stimulus control (discrimination) and relatively little stimulus generalization
Stimulus Generalization Gradient
A variety of procedures used to determine the stimuli that a person prefers, the relative preference values (high versus low) of those stimuli, the conditions under which those preference values remain in effect, and their presumed value as reinforcers
Stimulus Preference Assessment
Prompts that operate directly on the antecedent task stimuli to cue a correct response in conjunction with the critical SD (eg; changing the size, color, or position of a stimulus within an array to make its selection more likely)
Stimulus Prompts
Refers to two different forms of stimulus control that can result from a match to sample procedure involving one sample stimulus and two comparison stimuli; when presented with A1 as the sample, a participant can either select B1 (known as Type S or select responding) or reject B2 (known as Type R or reject responding)
Stimulus Control Topographies
A procedure in which two stimuli are presented at the same time, usually repeatedly for a number of trials, which often results in one stimulus acquiring the function of the other stimulus
Stimulus - Stimulus Pairing
The sequence of new response classes that emerge during the shaping process as the result of differential reinforcement; each successive response class is closer in form to the terminal behavior than the response class it replaces
Successive Approximations
A stimulus that acquires its MO effectiveness by being paired with another MO and has the same value altering and behavior altering effects as the MO with which it was paired
Surrogate Conditioned Motivating Operation (CMO-S)
A type of stimulus to stimulus relationship in which the learner, without prior training or reinforcement for doing so, demonstrates the reversibility of matched sample and comparison stimuli (eg; if A=B, then B=A)
- This would be demonstrated in the following matching to sample procedure: the learner is taught, when presented with the spoken word car (sample stimulus A), to select a comparison picture of a car (comparison B)
- When presented with the picture of a car (sample stimulus B), without additional training or reinforcement, the learner selects the comparison spoken word car (comparison A)
Symmetry
A behavior therapy treatment for anxieties, fears, and phobias that involves substituting one response, generally muscle relaxation, for the unwanted behavior - the fear and anxiety
- The client practices relaxing while imagining anxiety producing situations in a sequence from the least fearful to the most fearful
Systematic Desensitization
An experiment in which the researcher purposefully varies one or more aspects of an earlier experiment
- When this produces the results of previous research it not only demonstrates the reliability of the earlier findings but also adds to the external validity of the earlier findings by showing that the same effect can be obtained under different conditions
Systematic Replication
An elementary verbal operant involving a response that is evoked by a nonverbal discriminative stimulus and followed by generalized conditioned reinforcement
- This allows a speaker to identify or describe the features of the physical environment
- The elements that make up one’s physical environment are vast; thus, much of language instruction and educational programs focus on teaching tacts
Tact
Once a tact has been established, the tact response can occur under novel stimulus conditions through the process of stimulus generalization
- Skinner (1957) identifies four different levels of generalization based on the degree to which a novel stimulus shares the relevant or defining features of the original stimulus
- The four types of this are generic, metaphorical, metonymical, and solecistic
Tact Extension
An elementary verbal operant involving a spoken verbal stimulus that evokes a written, typed, or fingerspelled response that does not have formal similarity between the stimulus and the response, but does have point to point correspondence and a history of generalized reinforcement
Taking Dictation
A schedule of reinforcement identical to the chained schedule except, like the mix schedule, the tandem schedule does not use discriminative stimuli with the elements in the chain
Tandem Schedule (Tand)
The response class selected for intervention; can be defined either functionally or topographically
Target Behavior
The process of breaking a complex skill or series of behaviors into smaller, teachable units; also refers to the results of this process
Task Analysis
Randomly varying functionally irrelevant stimuli within and across teaching sessions; promotes setting/situation generalization by reducing the likelihood that (A) a single or small group of noncritical stimuli will acquire exclusive control over the target behavior and (B) the learner’s performance of the target behavior will be impeded or “thrown off” should he encounter any of the “loose” stimuli in the generalization setting
Teach Loosely
A strategy for promoting generalized behavior change that consists of teaching the learner to respond to a subset of all the relevant stimulus and response examples and then assessing the learner’s performance on untrained examples
Teach Enough Examples
Refers to the fact that every instance of behavior occurs during some amount of time; one of the three dimensional quantities of behavior from which all behavioral measurements are derived
Temporal Extent
Refers to the fact that every instance of behavior occurs at a certain point in time with respect to other events (ie; when in time behavior occurs can be measured); often measured in terms of response latency and interresponse time (IRT); one of the three dimensional quantities of behavior from which all behavioral measurements are derived
Temporal Locus
Responding jointly to two stimuli on the basis of their juxtaposition in time
Temporal Relation
The end product of shaping
Terminal Behavior
A variation of nonexclusion time out whereby each occurrence of the target behavior immediately stops an activity or sensory reinforcer
Terminate Specific Reinforcer Contact
An elementary verbal operant involving a response that is evoked by a written verbal discriminative stimulus that does not have formal similarity between the stimulus and the response, but does have point to point correspondence and a history of generalized reinforcement
Textual
The basic unit of analysis in the analysis of operant behavior; encompasses the temporal and possibly dependent relations among an antecedent stimulus, behavior, and consequence
Three Term Contingency
A procedure for transferring stimulus control from contrived response prompts to naturally existing stimuli that begins with the simultaneous presentation of the natural stimulus and response prompt
- After several correct responses, a delay is introduced between the stimulus and the response prompt until the student emits the unprompted correct response
- This is considered an “errorless learning” technique as students make few or no errors transitioning from the contrived prompt to the instructional stimulus
Time Delay
A measurement of the presence or absence of behavior within specific time intervals
- It is most useful with continuous and high rate behaviors
Time Sampling
The immediate response contingent withdrawal of the opportunity to earn positive reinforcement or the immediate loss of access to positive reinforcers for a specified time; a form of negative punishment
Time Out from Positive Reinforcement
An object or symbol that is awarded contingent on appropriate target behavior(s) that can be traded for a wide variety of backup reinforcers; these function as generalized conditioned reinforcers
Token
A behavior change system consisting of a list of target behaviors, with tokens (points or small objects) participants earn for emitting the target behaviors, and a menu of backup reinforcers (ie; preferred items, activities, or privileges) for which participants exchange earned tokens
Token Economy
Another name for Token Economy
Token Reinforcement System
The physical form or shape of a behavior
Topography
Defines instances of the targeted response class by the shape or form of the behavior
Topography Based Definition
A category of verbal behavior in which the listener is affected by a specific response topography emitted by the speaker; includes (eg; speech, sign language, writing, fingerspelling)
Topography Based Verbal Behavior
The simplest indicator of IOA for event recording data; based on comparing the total count recorded by each observer per measurement period; calculated by dividing the smaller of the two observers’ counts by the larger count and multiplying by 100
Total Count IOA
A relevant index of IOA for total duration measurement; computed by dividing the shorter of the two durations reported by the observers by the longer duration and multiplying by 100
Total Duration IOA
A variation of forward chaining in which the learner receives training on each behavior in the chain during each session
Total Task Chaining
Refers to dimensions of procedural arrangements when teaching multiple conditional discriminations
- Commonly used ones include one to many training or sample as node training, many to one or comparison as node structure, and linear series training
Training Structure
An elementary verbal operant involving a spoken verbal stimulus that evokes a written, typed, or finger spelled response
- Like the textual, there is point to point correspondence between the stimulus and the response product, but no formal similiarity
Transcription
Occurs when teaching a new function for one member of an established equivalence class results in the same function holding for all members of the class
Transfer of Function
Occurs when the behavioral function of one stimulus in a stimulus class changes as a predictable function of the behavior function of other stimuli in the class
Transformation of Function
An environmental variable that, as a result of a learning history, establishes (or abolishes) the reinforcing effectiveness of another stimulus and evokes (or abates) the behavior that has been reinforced by that other stimulus
Transitive Conditioned Motivating Operation (CMO-T)
Describes derived stimulus-stimulus relations (eg; A=C) that emerge as a product of training two other stimulus-stimulus relations (A=C and B=C)
- It would be demonstrated if, after training, the following occurs: (1) If A (eg; spoken word bicycle) = B (eg; the picture of a bicycle) and (2) B (the picture of a bicycle) = C (eg; the written word bicycle), then (3) A (the spoken name, bicycle) = C (the written word bicycle)
Transitivity
An undesirable situation in which the independent variable of an experiment is applied differently during later stages than it was at the outset of the study
Treatment Drift
The extent to which the independent variable is applied exactly as planned and described and no other unplanned variables are administered inadvertently along with the planned treatment
Treatment Integrity
A behavioral intervention consisting of multiple components (eg; contingent praise, tokens, and extinction)
Treatment Package
The overall direction taken by a data path
- It is described in terms of direction (increasing, decreasing, or zero), degree (gradual or steep), and the extent of variability of data points around it
- This is used in predicting future measures of the behavior under unchanging conditions
Trend
An analysis in which a series of trials is interspersed among classroom activities
- Each trial consists of two 1 minute components: (A) the establishing operation and contingency for problem behavior (test condition), and (B) continuous access to the reinforcer (control condition)
Trial Based Functional Analysis
An IOA index for discrete trial data based on comparing the observers’ counts (0 or 1) on a trial by trial, or item by item, basis; yields a more conservative and meaningful index of IOA for discrete trial data than does total count IOA
Trial by Trial IOA
A measure accepted as a quantitative description of the true state of some dimensional quantity of an event as it exists in nature
- Obtaining these requires “special or extraordinary precautions to ensure that all possible sources of error have been avoided or removed” (Johnston & Pennypacker, 1993)
True Value
A special form of event recording; a measure of the number of responses or practice opportunities needed for a person to achieve a pre established level of accuracy or proficiency
Trials to Criterion
An error that occurs when a researcher concludes that the independent variable had an effect on the dependent variable, when no such relation exists; a false positive
Type I Error
An error that occurs when a researcher concludes that the independent variable had no effect on the dependent variable, when in truth it did; a false negative
Type II Error
Occurs when, in the case of a two step chain, the second behavior in the chain (R2) produces reinforcement in the presence of the prior SD (S2), but (R2) also produces reinforcement when that SD is not present
- It may weaken a chain
Unchaining
A motivating operation whose value altering effect does not depend on a learning history
- For example, food deprivation increases the reinforcing effectiveness of food without the necessity of any learning history
Unconditioned Motivating Operation (UMO)
A stimulus that functions as a negative reinforcer as a result of the evolutionary development of the species (phylogeny); no prior learning is involved (eg; shock, loud noise, intense light, extreme temperatures, strong pressure against the body)
Unconditioned Negative Reinforcer
A stimulus change that decreases the frequency of any behavior that immediately precedes it irrespective of the organism’s learning history with the stimulus
- These are products of the evolutionary development of the species (phylogeny), meaning that all members of a species are more or less susceptible to punishment by the presentation of this
Unconditioned Punisher
Other names for Unconditioned Punisher
Primary Punishers and Unlearned Punishers
An unlearned stimulus-response functional relation consisting of an antecedent stimulus (eg; food in mouth) that elicits the response (eg; salivation); a product of the phylogenic evolution of a given species; all biologically intact members of a species are born with similar repertoires of these
Unconditioned Reflex
A stimulus change that increases the frequency of any behavior that immediately precedes it irrespective of the organism’s learning history with the stimulus
- These are the product of the evolutionary development of the species (phylogeny)
Unconditioned Reinforcer
Other names for Unconditioned Reinforcer
Primary Reinforcer and Unlearned Reinforcer
The stimulus component of an unconditioned reflex; a stimulus change that elicits respondent behavior without any prior learning
Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
Two kinds: (A) The occurrence alone of a stimulus that acquired its function by being paired with an already effective stimulus, or (B) the occurrence of the stimulus in the absence as well as in the presence of the effective stimulus
- Both kinds of this will undo the result of the pairing: the occurrence alone of the stimulus that became a conditioned reinforcer; and the occurrence of the unconditioned reinforcer in the absence as well as in the presence of the conditioned reinforcer
Unpairing
An interobserver agreement index based only on the intervals in which either observer recorded the nonoccurrence of the behavior; calculated by dividing the number of intervals in which the two observers agreed that the behavior did not occur by the number of intervals in which either or both observers recorded the nonoccurrence of the behavior and multiplying by 100
- This is recommended as a measure of agreement for behaviors that occur as high rates because it ignores the intervals in which agreement by chance is highly likely
Unscored Interval IOA
The extent to which data obtained from measurement are directly relevant to the target behavior of interest and to the reason(s) for measuring it
Validity (of Measurement)
Either (A) an increase in the reinforcing effectiveness of some stimulus, object, or event, in which case the MO is an establishing operation (EO); or (B) a decrease in reinforcing effectiveness, in which case the MO is an abolishing operation (AO)
- For example, the reinforcing effectiveness of food is altered as a result of food deprivation and food ingestion
Value Altering Effect (of a Motivating Operation)
The frequency and extent to which multiple measures of behavior yield different outcomes
Variability
Data points that do not consistently fall within a narrow range of values and do not suggest any clear trend
Variable Baseline
A schedule of reinforcement that provides reinforcement for the first correct response following the elapse of variable durations of time occurring in a random or unpredictable order
- The mean duration of the intervals is used to describe the schedule (eg; on a VI 10 minute schedule, reinforcement is delivered for the first response following an average of 10 minutes since the last reinforced response, but the time that elapses following the last reinforced response might range from 30 seconds or less to 25 minutes or more)
Variable Interval (VI)
A schedule of reinforcement requiring a varying number of responses for reinforcement
- The number of responses required varies around a random number, the mean number of responses required for reinforcement is used to describe the schedule (eg; on a VR 10 schedule an average of 10 responses must be emitted for reinforcement, but the number of responses required following the last reinforced response might range from 1 to 30 or more)
Variable Ratio (VR)
A DRO procedure in which reinforcement is available at the end of intervals of variable duration and delivered contingent on the absence of the problem behavior during the interval
Variable Interval DRO (VI-DRO)
A DRO procedure in which reinforcement is available at specific moments of time, which are separated by variable amounts of time in random sequence, and delivered if the problem is not occurring at those times
Variable Momentary DRO (VM-DRO)
A schedule for the delivery of noncontingent stimuli in which the interval of time from one delivery to the next randomly varies around a given time
- For example, on a VT 1 minute schedule, the delivery to delivery interval might range from 5 seconds to 2 minutes, but the average interval would be 1 minute
Variable Time Schedule (VT)
Behavior whose reinforcement is mediated by a listener; includes both vocal verbal behavior (eg; saying “water, please” to get water) and nonvocal verbal behavior (pointing to a glass of water to get water)
- Encompasses the subject matter usually treated as language and topics such as thinking, grammar, composition, and understanding
Verbal Behavior
A type of convergent multiple control involving a verbal stimulus that alters the evocative effects of another verbal stimulus in the same antecedent configuration
- The conditional discrimination is between the words in the antecedent event
Verbal Conditional Discrimination (VCD)
An interaction between a speaker and a listener
- A speaker emits any type of verbal response (eg; echoic, mand, tact, intraverbal), in any form (speech, sign language, icon selection, eye contact), and a listener (1) serves as an audience for a speaker, (2) provides reinforcement for a speaker, and (3) responds in specific ways to the speaker’s behavior
- The roles of speaker and listener switch back and forth in an exchange, and usually involve covert speaker and listener behavior as well
Verbal Episode
Verbal stimuli can alter the functional effects of immediate or future SDs and MOs and, accordingly, change a listener’s behavior
- For example, being told “The bridge is out, turn left at the 7-eleven and there will be another one in 5 miles” can alter the functional effects of stimuli encountered in the future and evoke verbal and nonverbal behavior at that time (eg; tacting the 7-eleven, turning left)
Verbal Function Altering Effect
One of three components of the experimental reasoning, or baseline logic, used in single subject research designs; accomplished by demonstrating that the prior level of baseline responding would have remained unchanged had the independent variable not been introduced
- Verifying the accuracy of the original prediction reduces the probability that some uncontrolled (confounding) variable was responsible for the observed change in behavior
Verification
A behavior change strategy in which the participant views a video of a model performing the target behavior and then imitates the behavior
Video Modeling
A behavior change strategy in which the participant views a video of himself successfully performing the target behavior and then imitates his own model
Video Self Modeling
A systematic approach for interpreting the results of behavioral research and treatment programs that entails visual inspection of graphed data for level, trend, and variability within and between experimental conditions
Visual Analysis
A time sampling method for measuring behavior in which the observation period is divided into a series of brief time intervals (typically from 5 to 15 seconds)
- At the end of each interval, the observer records whether the target behavior occurred throughout the entire interval; tends to underestimate the overall percentage of the observation period in which the target behavior actually occurred
Whole Interval Recording
A term used by some authors as a synonym for A-B-A-B design; also used to describe experiments in which an effective treatment is sequentially or partially withdrawn to promote the maintenance of behavior changes
Withdrawal Design
