Midterm Flashcards
Respondent Conditioning
• Automatic responses to prior stimuli
• Referred to as reflexive or involuntary
• Usually involves smooth muscles and glands that control our gastrointestinal track and blood vessels
• Is said to be elicited by prior stimuli
Operant Conditioning
• Controlled by consequences
• Referred to as voluntary behavior
• Usually involves skeletal muscles
• Is said to be emitted by an individual
Reinforcement
A consequence after a behavior that makes it more likely it will happen again
Punishment
A consequence after a behavior that makes it less likely to happen again
Define different types of reinforcers
• Primary reinforcer
• Secondary reinforcer
• Back-up reinforcer
• Generalized reinforcer
Primary Reinforcer
Innate reinforcing qualities, not learned (e.g., food, touch, and shelter)
Secondary Reinforcer
Associated with a primary reinforcer (e.g., give dog a treat, then say good boy)
Back-up Reinforcer
Reward in exchange for earned tokens (e.g., in a token economy)
Generalized Reinforcer
A stimulus that exerts a reinforcing effect because it has been associated with reinforcing stimuli
(e.g., stickers reinforce behavior when they add up to a prize)
Describe five categories of reinforcers
CAMPS
• Consumables
• Activities
• Manipulatives
• Possessions
• Social reinforcers
Consumables
Items that one can eat or drink
(e.g., candy, cookies, fruit, and beverages)
Activities
Opportunities to watch TV, look at a picture, book, or stare out of a window
Manipulatives
Play with a favorite toy, build with Legos, color or paint, ride a bicycle, or go on the Internet
Possessions
Sit in one’s favorite chair, wear a favorite shirt or dress, have a private room, or enjoy some other item that one can possess (at least temporarily)
Social Reinforcers
Affectionate pats and hugs, praise, nods, smiles, and even a simple glance or other indication of social attention
Explain the purpose and components of functional behavioral assessment
Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA): Identification of relationships applicable to target behaviors
• Identifies situation in which behavior is present
• Identifies consequences that are maintaining the problem behavior
• Allows you to plan an intervention
• Make a plan -> consider positive behavior interventions
• Make behavior intervention plan
• Define target behavior and function of behavior
• Includes baseline measure of issue behavior, frequency, duration, settings, etc.
• Define objective and goals, who will carry out the plan
• Intervention -> Alter antecedent events, teach adaptive behaviors, provide consequences and reinforcements
Functional Analysis (FA): Experimenting with what you think is leading to the behavior
• Manipulate the environment ahead of time
Indirect methods of behavioral assessment
Indirect Method of Assessment: Not directly observing the behavior yourself
• Interviews - Interviewing people that are important to the situation
• Questionnaires - child behavior checklist (broad overview; not specific to what is occurring in the situation)
• Role playing
• Data from referral source
• Client self monitoring
Direct methods of behavioral assessment
• Narrative recording
• Event recording
• Interval recording
• Time sampling
Narrative Recording
• Comprehensive description of the child’s natural behavior
• Going in and observing + writing down what happens
• Anecdotal recording - Write down things that seem relevant and of interest; not really sure what is controlling the behavior at this point
• Running recording - Writing down everything that happens; can not tend to all behaviors all the time
Event Recording
• Record each time the behavior occurs
• Good for behaviors that have clear cut beginnings and endings
• Not good for behaviors that have high frequencies - Requires you to pay attention to doing the behavior
• Figure out when you’re going to observe and for how long you are going to observe
• Have control of decision making
Interval Recording
• Look for behavior within specified intervals of time
• Number of times you are going to observe the child
• Looking for a frequency count - How often the behavior occurs within the intervals
• Record specific aspect of behavior within specified intervals of time
• Record presence or absence of behavior
• Divide observation period into specific intervals
•Partial Interval: If behavior occurs once at all during the interval, yes, or no
• Whole Interval: If behavior was present at the start and end of interval, if it lasts the entire time
• Momentary Time Interval: If the behavior is at the end of interval
• Variable Inter-Occasion Interval: Preselected random time intervals
Time Sampling
• A type of interval recording
• Takes random times throughout the day to see if there is a comparison
• This is time efficient
• You can go in the morning, late morning, and early afternoon and compare the frequency of behavior during the different times
• Compare frequency of behavior over intervals of different times
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of direct method of behavioral assessment
Direct: Real time information about the behavior, objective, but assessor may influence behavior
Advantages:
• More objective
Disadvantages:
• Time consuming
• Require appropriate training
• Only for behaviors, you can directly observe (overt behaviors)
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of indirect method of behavioral assessment
Indirect: Can get information from multiple sources (parent, teacher, etc.), may be biased due to those filling them out having their own opinions, and might be inaccurate since people could not understand what they are being asked
Advantages:
• Convenient
• Covert behaviors (may be something that you cannot observe or can be so subtle that you cannot pick up on)
Disadvantages:
• Not being able to observe to behave yourself
• Potentially inaccurate
• Can be biased information
Defined the six aspects of behavior that can be recorded
• Topography - Specific movements involved in making the response
• Frequency (or rate of behavior) - Number of instances of a behavior that occur in a given period of time
• Duration - Length of time from the beginning to the end of an episode of behavior
• Intensity (also known as magnitude or force of a response) - How strong the behavior is; Assessments of intensity often utilize instrumentation
• Stimulus Control - Degree of correlation between the occurrence of a given event and the response quickly following the event
• Latency (often called reaction time) - Time between the occurrence of a particular event or cue and the start of that behavior
Discuss sources of unreliability and observation systems
• Observer bias
• Observer drift
• Difficulties in coding behavior
• Child reactivity
Observer Bias
Observer may be biased in a way that influences the way they record behavior
Leniency Effect
• Not being strict
• Observer may be more tolerant of behaviors than other people are
• May already have some biases towards the individual
Primacy Effect
• Influenced by your first impressions (either positive or negative)
Observer Drift
• Lose your attention or motivation
• Observer can get tired
Difficulties in Coding Behavior
• If you miss or forget to record something
• Misunderstanding of how to record some thing
Child Reactivity
Child knows they are being observed, and they can change their behavior
Describe procedures to reduce unreliability
• Clear and precise definitions
• Systematic and precise rules for observation
• Time intervals that are not excessively long
• Training observers
• Periodic checks of observers
Reducing Child Reactivity
• Be as neutral as possible
• Position self outside of traffic flow
• Shift attention to other children
• Enter at natural breaks
Describe the Premack principle
High probability behavior contingent upon low probability behavior
Define Deprivation
Person has not experienced reinforcer
• Only give candy when reinforcing
• Recommended to do this before starting intervention
Define Satiation
Reinforcer is no longer reinforcing and it has lost its effect
• Reinforcement Menus - Selection of things they can get and are of interest
Differentiate different schedules of reinforcement
Fixed Ratio (FR)
Variable Ratio (VR)
Fixed Interval (FI)
Variable Interval (VI)
