Exam Study Guide Flashcards
Define behavior
that portion of the organisms interaction with its environment that is characterized by detectable displacements in space through time of some part of the organism and that results in a measurable change in at least one aspect of the environment
Explain the Dead-Man’s test
the definition of the behavior of an organism restricts the subject matter to the activity of living organisms, so this is a helpful rule of thumb for determining if something is or is not behavior; if a dead man can do it, it probably isn’t behavior
Explain operant class
the set of responses that result in the same consequence; the operant class of one thing may result in several different response topographies; when it comes to an operant class of behavior the consequence is on the function of the behavior or the consequence of a behavior
Explain three-term contingency
the functional relation among the antecedent conditions, the behavior, and the consequences. A = antecedent conditions that come before the behavior, B= the behavior, and C=the consequences that follow the behavior; describes the functional relationships between behavior and the environment (aka environmental events; context and environment)
What is ABC?
Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence; it is the three-term contingency behavior analyst’s most often look for
What are some other variables (besides what you are measuring) that could affect a client’s behavior?
illness, medication, exhaustion, hunger, thirst, needing to use the bathroom
Compare and contrast voluntary and involuntary
voluntary (aka operant) subject to operant conditioning
involuntary (aka respondent) is all behavior that is reflexive or autonomic and is not learned through consequence
Compare and contrast covert vs overt
covert (aka private behaviors, private events) activities observable only to the individual engaging in the activity
overt (aka public behaviors, public events) activities that are observable to another individual
Compare and contrast direct observation and indirect observation
direct observation - methods for objectively observing and measuring behavior; looking for how environmental events effect behavior; includes continuous and discontinuous procedures
indirect or self-report observation - observer relies on an individual’s memory of the behavior; includes permanent product recording
Provide some problems with self-report observation
people can be very inaccurate in their memories; people don’t know why they behave the way they do; people don’t use the correct terminology and can end up using circular reasoning to explain their behavior
Describe a behavioral assessment
the approach to validly observing, measuring, and recording behavior; the goals are to use observation and measurement techniques that can guide scientifically and ethically sound decisions
What are the four characteristics of a good measurement system of a behavioral assessment?
Sensitive, objective, reliable, valid
Describe the operational definition of behavior
(aka behavioral definition) a statement that specifies exactly what behavior to observe; a statement or definition that specifies exactly what behavior to observe; provides an accurate description of the target behavior; should include objective terms, be unambiguous, and be clear about which responses should be included and which should not be included, will enable countable or measurable behavioral data, a stranger will easily be able to see the behavior when it occurs; will be specific enough that it cannot be broken down into smaller behaviors
Describe permanent product recording
a form of indirect measurement; collect data from the permanent products produced by a behavior rather than collecting data by observing behavior itself; looking at the product or result of the behavior; main weakness is that it does not always guarantee that the specific individual engaged in the behavior (somebody else could have produced the product instead)
Compare and contrast continuous vs discontinuous
Continuous - record all instances of behavior
Discontinuous - sample from all possible occurrences of behavior
What are the procedures for continuous measurements of behavior?
Frequency, duration, latency, intensity
Describe frequency recording
(aka event recording) recording every instance of a response; continuous recording of separate instances of behavior as they occur; useful if the behavior is of uniform duration
Describe duration recording
measuring the entire amount of time that the target behavior is performed; best suited for continuous, ongoing responses rather than short duration behaviors; works best if the onset and offset of the behavior is easy to see; could be used for teaching social skills (ie hugging)
Describe latency recording
the amount of time that elapses between the onset of a specific event and the target response; appropriate when the relationship between a certain event and the initiation of a specific response if of interest
Describe intensity recording
(aka magnitude recording) involves measures of strength, amplitude force, or effort of a response, useful if the volume of a response is of concern
Compare and contrast frequency, duration, latency, and intensity recording procedures
frequency - records every instance
duration - records how long it lasts
latency - records the space between the onset of an event and the target response
intensity - records the strength of a response
When might discontinuous measuring procedures be preferable over continuous measuring procedures?
When continuous recording procedures are infeasible or impossible
Describe interval recording
The observation session is dividing into time periods of equal length and the time periods are contiguous; uses shorter intervals (ie 10 seconds). Useful for nonuniform behavior (difficult to clearly see the beginning and end of the response). The observer simply records the occurrence of nonoccurrence of the behavior during the interval.
Name the two types of interval recording
Whole-interval (WIR) and partial-interval (PIR)
What is WIR
whole-interval recording
What is PIR
partial-interval recording
Describe whole-interval recording
an occurrence is recorded only if the target behavior occurs for the entire interval (ie participation during circle time); a nonoccurrence is recording if a response either does not occur during the interval or does not last for the entire duration of the interval; tends to underestimate the occurrence of behavior
Describe partial-interval recording
an occurrence is scored if the target behavior occurs at any point during the interval; a single occurrence is recording for that interval even if the target behavior occurs more than once; if a single response begins at the end of one interval and continues into the next interval a single response is scored for both intervals; a nonoccurrence is scored if the target behavior does not occur in any part of the interval; tends to overestimate the duration of a target behavior but underestimate its rate of occurrence
Describe momentary-time sampling
observation periods are divided into equal intervals but an occurrence or nonoccurrence of the target behavior is recorded only at the end of each interval; useful for observing and measuring multiple target behaviors of a single individual as well as target behaviors of multiple individuals in the same setting
Compare and contrast whole-interval recording, partial-interval recording, and momentary-time sampling
whole-interval recording - occurrence recorded if the target behavior occurs for the entire interval
partial-interval recording - occurrence recorded if the target behavior occurs at any point during the interval
momentary-time sample - occurrence recording only if the target behavior occurs at the end of the interval
Describe reinforcement
the procedure that underlies every skills acquisition program, refers to the procedure where a stimulus is either presented or removed after a response resulting in an increase in some aspect of that behavior
Describe positive reinforcement
occurs when a behavior is followed immediately by the presentation of a stimulus that increases the future frequency of the behavior in similar conditions
Describe negative reinforcement
occurs when a behavior is followed immediately by the removal of a stimulus that increases the future frequency of the behavior in similar conditions
Describe schedules of reinforcement
a rule specifying the environmental arrangements and response requirements for reinforcement; a description of a contingency of reinforcement
Compare and contrast positive and negative reinforcement
positive - adding a reinforcer
negative - removing a reinforcer
Compare and contrast unconditioned and conditioned reinforcers
Unconditioned reinforcer – (aka primary) any stimulus or event that has biological importance and serves as a consequence to increase the probability of behavior immediately preceding its delivery, eg food water oxygen warmth sexual stimulation; necessary to the survival of an organism
Conditioned reinforcer – (aka secondary) any stimulus or event that was initially a neutral stimulus or even that has acquired reinforcing capabilities through pairing with another reinforcer,eg money praise stickers tokens, etc; obtain reinforcing capabilities through learning
What are the different schedules of reinforcement?
continuous reinforcement (CRF)
Intermittent reinforcement
Extinction (EXT)
What are the different types of intermittent reinforcement?
Ratio schedule
Interval schedule
Compare and contrast continuous reinforcement, intermittent reinforcement, and extinction
Continuous (CRF) – reinforces every response
Intermittent – some responses are reinforced; makes it more likely that behavior is maintained over time
Extinction (EXT) – no responses are reinforced; useful if the goal is to decrease the target behavior
Compare and contrast ratio schedules and interval schedules
Ratio schedules – a certain number of responses must occur before a reinforcer is delivered
Interval schedules – a reinforcement schedule in which a reinforcer is delivered contingent on the first response after a certain amount of time
Define extinction burst
an increase in the frequency of responding when an extinction procedure is initially implemented
Define spontaneous recovery
a behavioral effect associated with extinction in which the behavior suddenly begins to occur after its frequency has decreased to its prereinforcement level or stopped entirely
Describe a stimulus preference assessment
a variety of procedures that are designed to determine what an individual’s preferred stimuli are, and to determine the relative preference value of those stimuli in relation to each other (which are more and which are less preferred)
Define preference hierarchy
ranked list of most preferred to least preferred stimuli; useful to determining which stimuli might function as reinforcers
Compare and contrast between direct and indirect preference assessments
Indirect preference assessments – do not involve directly observing the client’s behavior; includes surveys, checklists, and interviews
Direct preference assessments – involve measuring the client’s behavior
What are the two main types of preference assessments?
Free-operant, trial-based
Describe free-operant preference assessment
observing with what stimuli the client interacts, can be conducted in a natural or contrived setting; provided with free, continuous access to stimuli during timed sessions; the client is free to interact with whatever stimuli for however long they want; the RBT records the duration of engagement with each stimulus; may not reveal as much information as other preference assessments
Describe trial-based preference assessment
require the RBT to present stimuli and record the client’s behavior across several trials
What are the different types of trial-based preference assessments?
Single-stimulus
Paired-choice (PC)
Multiple stimulus (MS)
Multiple stimulus without replacement (MSWO)
Describe a single-stimulus preference assessment
a range of potential stimuli are identified; a single stimulus is presented to the client, the RBT records whether the client approaches the stimulus, then every other stimulus is presented individually, multiple times, the total number of approaches is recording and dividing by the total number of presentations to get a percentage
Describe a paired-choice (PC) preference assessment
(aka forced choice) the RBT identifies stimuli to include in the assessment, the RBT then presents two stimuli together in a pair and asks the client to choose one, another pair of stimuli is then presented; this process continues until each stimuli is presented with each other stimuli; the RBT then calculates a percentage by dividing the number of times the item was selected by the number of times it was presented
Describe a multiple stimulus (MS) preference assessment
a range of potential stimuli are identified, all stimuli are presented together in an array, the client is instructed to choose an item, all stimuli are replaced in the array and the array is shuffled for the next trial; can be conducted more rapidly
Describe a multiple stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessment
stimuli are identified, all of the stimuli are presented in an array, the individual is instructed to choose, the first stimulus is scored with a one for most preferred, the chosen stimulus is not replaced, the remaining stimuli are shuffled and the client is asked to choose again, this repeats until all of the stimuli are chosen or the client stops choosing
Compare and contrast single-stimulus, paired-choice, multiple stimulus, and MSWO preference assessments
single-stimulus - each stimulus presented one at a time
paired-choice - each stimulus presented in a pair and rotated out so each stimulus is paired with each other stimulus
multiple stimulus - all stimuli are presented in an array, and each one that is chosen is replaced for each trial
MSWO - all stimuli are presented in an array but each stimulus is not replaced once it has been chosen
Describe a reinforcer assessment
a contrived situation where a preferred stimulus follows a contingency of behavior reliably over of time and the frequency of the behavior is measured to see if it increases
Define behavioral repertoire
all of the behaviors that the individual is capable of performing
What is a skill acquisition plan?
a plan put together by a BCBA that includes individualized assessments (curriculum-based, developmental, social skills), written goal of target behavior, step-by-step teaching procedure, error correction, mastery criterion, teaching materials and reinforcers, individualized based on the unique needs of the client