Lesson 1: Behaviour analysis Flashcards
Definition: Pre-analytic assumptions
Background set of beliefs we bring with us to science and the clinic, and which influence our core goals and values. They are neither “true” nor “false”
Mental mechanistic perspective: pre-analytic assumptions (3)
(1) There is a “mind” somewhere “inside” of us comprised of mental mechanisms.
(2) Mental mechanisms (e.g., attention, memory, and stereotypes) are hypothetical machines comprised of parts, relationships, and operating conditions
(3) These mechanisms mediate between environment (input) & behaviour (output).
Purpose of clinician in a mental mechanistic perspective? (2)
(1) Construct and validate a model of the mental machine (its parts; how they are connected to one another; conditions under which they work).
(2) Understanding how the mental machine work so we can change the machine and then change behaviour. Mental machine is the unit of anlaysis.
Behaviour analytic perspective: pre-analytic assumptions (2)
(1) People are defined in terms of what they do (Behaviour) not what they are (“Extrovert”) or have (“Depression”)
(2) Behaviour is an action which takes place in a context (‘act-in-context’). To change behaviour we need to identify how the past and present context triggers and maintains it (i.e., how behaviour is functionally related to the environment).
Purpose of clinician in a behaviour analytic perspective? (2)
(1) To predict-and-influence behaviour with precision, scope, and depth. To help people create rich, full, and meaningful lives.
(2) Unit of analysis: the act-in-context
Definition: Functional Contextualism
A set of pre-analytic assumptions or philosophical worldview. Emphasises that behaviour is an act-in-context, one that can be understood by analysing how it’s functionally related to the environment.
Definition: Behaviour
A response that’s due to a stimulus.
2 categories of behaviour?
(1) Public behaviour: an action that other people can directly observe.
(2) Private behaviour: an action that is not directly observable by other people.
Definition: functionally related/ functional relation/ function of (3)
Behaviour Analysts explain behaviour by saying that it is a function of the environment.
Function of:
(1) there are a set of past and present contextual variables that are external to the behaviour, and which influence the occurrence of the behaviour.
(2) “this behaviour is due to that stimulus”. Another way of saying that “X is dependent on Y”.
(3) There is a response following one stimulus but not any other stimulus
When do you know if a behaviour is a function of the stimuli? (3)
(1) the behaviour doesn’t occur when other stimuli are introduced
(2) the behaviour only happens in certain contexts and not in others
(3) the behaviour is followed by a certain consequence
Definition: functional interpretation
An assumption about how behaviour is functionally related to the environment. May or may not be accurate.
Functional interpretations are useful starting points. They can often guide us towards behaviours, stimuli, and their functional relations
Definition: functional analysis (2)
(1) Functional analysis involves - amongst other things - systematically manipulating the environment to demonstrate that it impacts behaviour in a given way.
(2) An approach that systematically manipulates the environment to identify variables functionally related to behaviour.
Definition: behaviour-behaviour relations
one behaviour can be related to another.
but: we can never direclty operate on behaviour, only on the environment
Definition: context
The world that’s external to behaviour. Can vary from internal to external, micro (small) to macro (large), from past to present.
“Naming is not explaining” (3)
(1) Naming certainly has its benefits. Being able to use a single term to summarise a complex set of behaviours speeds up communication.
(2) But it also comes at a cost… People quickly assume that labels cause behaviour rather than simply describe it. They act as if a term is something a person is or has, something inside them that’s separate from, and which drives, behaviour.
(3) When people take a label that’s used to describe behaviour and act as if it is a cause of behaviour they are engaging in circular reasoning
