E

Question 1

Echoic

Answer 1

An elementary verbal operant involving a response that is evoked by a verbal discriminative stimulus that has point-to-point correspondence and formal similarity with the response

Question 2

Ecological Assessment

Answer 2

An assessment protocol that acknowledges complex interrelationships between environment and behavior. An ecological assessment is a method for obtaining data across multiple settings and persons

Question 3

Empiricims

Answer 3

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”

Question 4

Escape Contingency

Answer 4

A contingency in which a response terminates an ongoing stimulus

Question 5

Escape Extinction

Answer 5

Behaviors maintained with negative reinforcement are placed on escape extinction 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

Question 6

Establishing Operation (EO)

Answer 6

A motivating operation that establishes (increases) the effectiveness of some stimulus, object, or event as a reinforcer

Question 7

Ethical Code of Behavior

Answer 7

Statements that provide guidelines for members of professional associations when deciding a course of action or conducting professional duties; standards by which graduated sanctions can be imposed for deviating from the code

Question 8

Ethics

Answer 8

Behaviors, practices, and decisions that address such basic and fundamental questions as: What is the right thing to do? What’s worth doing? What does it mean to be a good behavior analytic practitioner?

Question 9

Event Recording

Answer 9

Measurement procedure for obtaining a tally or count of the number of times a behavior occurs

Question 10

Evocative Effect (of a MO)

Answer 10

An increase in the current frequency of behavior that has been reinforced by the stimulus that that is increased in reinforcing effectiveness by the same MO

Question 11

Exact Count-per-interval IOA

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Exclusion Time-Out

Answer 12

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 of time

Question 13

Experiment

Answer 13

A carefully controlled comparison of some measure of the phenomenon of interest (DV) under two or more different conditions in which only one factor at a time (IV) differs from one condition to another

Question 14

Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB)

Answer 14

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 DV, repeated or continuous measurement of clearly defined response class, within subject experimental comparisons instead of group designs

Question 15

Experimental Control

Answer 15

Two meanings a) the outcome of an experiment that demonstrates convincingly a functional relation, meaning the experimental control is achieved when a predictable change in behavior (DV) can be reliably produced by manipulating a specific aspect of the environment (IV) 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

Question 16

Experimental Design

Answer 16

The particular type and sequence of conditions in a study so that meaningful comparisons of the effects of the presence and absence of the IV can be made

Question 17

Experimental Question

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Explanatory Fiction

Answer 18

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” 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

Question 19

External Validity

Answer 19

The degree to which a study’s findings have generality to other subjects, settings, and/or behaviors

Question 20

Extinction (operant)

Answer 20

The discontinuing of a reinforcement of a previously reinforced behavior; the primary effect is a decrease in the frequency of the behavior until it reaches a pre-reinforced level or ultimately ceases to occur

Question 21

Extinction Burst

Answer 21

An increase in the frequency of responding when an extinction procedure is initially implemented

Question 22

Extraneous Variable

Answer 22

Any aspect of the experimental setting that must be held constant to prevent unplanned environmental variation