Midterm

Question 1

ABA Designs (Reversal Designs)

Answer 1

Baseline, intervention, return to baseline
• More powerful than AB designs because you can more effectively show that the change was caused by the intervention
• Advantages: Can quickly produce objective information; compare different interventions for a single client; allow for rapid identification of unhelpful interventions which can then be abandoned
• Limitations: For ethical reasons, it is preferable to end with an intervention period rather than with a baseline period

Question 2

ABAB Designs

Answer 2

• Such designs are stronger designs than ABA designs because they provide greater evidence that the intervention is causing the change
• Such designs are consistent with ethical practices because they allow clients to end in the treatment phase rather than in the baseline phase

Question 3

Sequencing effects

Answer 3

• An effect on a subject’s behavior resulting from contact with a prior condition.
• A situation in which one experimental treatment phase within the experiment influences subsequent performance during another treatment phase.
• Ex: ?

Question 4

Altering antecedent conditions

Answer 4

a. Changing chains
b. Avoiding antecedents
c. Narrowing antecedent control
d. Re-perceiving antecedents
e. Changing self-statements
f. Change the social or physical environment

Question 5

Alternating treatment design (What it is? Advantages of)

Answer 5

a. Treatment is characterized by rapid alteration of 2 or more interventions (use not over 3)
b. Interventions are counterbalanced (i.e. intervention one not always offered first)
c. Degree of differential effect of treatment is shown by diverging paths
d. Advantages: don’t need to collect baseline data; minimizes sequencing effects; comparison of multiple treatments can be made quickly
i. Example: child literacy intervention: small group and large group on each day—take literacy test after each group, alter in another class so time of day is not a confounding variable
e. Disadvantages: can never totally conclude that one was more effective even if they scored way better on one

Question 6

Analogue assessment (What is this? What are different types of analogue assessments? advantages and disadvantage of)

Answer 6

a. Indirect measurement procedures that reflect how individuals behave in real-life situations (assuming this though)
b. Types: enactment, role play, video/audiotaped analogue, paper-pencil analogue, Behavioral Avoidance Test
c. Advantages: best for screening and monitoring of treatment decisions, cost-effective, can help conceptualize
d. Disadvantages: generalizability of results, procedures not standardized, instruction can produce bias

Question 7

Baseline data. What is it, and why do we collect it?

Answer 7

a. A measure of the level of the behavior under natural (non-intervention) conditions
b. Reasons for collecting it:
i. Can serve a descriptive function by demonstrating the existing level of performance
ii. Can serve a predictive function by predicting the level of performance in the near future if an intervention is not provided
iii. Can provide data against which to measure treatment progress

Question 8

Ascending vs. descending baselines: implications for interpreting intervention effects.

Answer 8

1. Ascending baselines:
   - If your goal is to increase a positive behavior, and there is reactivity during your baseline in the ascending direction, it can be difficult to determine whether or not your intervention is working. This is why ABA or ABAB designs are preferable to AB designs.
2. Descending baselines:
   - If your goal is to decrease a problematic behavior, and there is reactivity during your baseline in the descending direction, it can be difficult to determine whether or not your intervention is working. This is why ABA or ABAB designs are preferable to AB designs.

Question 9

Baseline logic

Answer 9

i. Prediction: When a steady state of responding has been established during baseline, one can predict that this level of behavior will continue in the absence o any changes/manipulations of environmental conditions
ii. Verification: Behavior returns to baseline levels when an intervention is removed
iii. Replication: is shown when the independent variable is reintroduced and behavior change like what was seen in the first introduction of the intervention is replicated

Question 10

Functions of behavioral assessment

Answer 10

1. Describe problem
2. Identify controlling variables
   a. ABC functional analysis (Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence)
   b. SORCK model (Stimuli, Organism, Response, Consequence, Kontingencies)
3. Evaluate the impact of adaptive functioning
   a. How is the problem behaving affecting the person’s life?
4. Select treatment interventions
5. Evaluate treatment outcomes

Question 11

Methods used in behavioral assessment

Answer 11

1. Indirect methods
   • Behavioral interviews (client, significant other)
   • Questionnaires/ behavioral self-report
   • Analogue situations (e.g., role playing)
   • Self-monitoring
   • Anecdotal/narrative recording
   • Participant observation
   • Someone else (spouse, etc) measures a clearly observable behavior
   Potential problems: Inaccuracies, reactivity, non-adherence
2. Direct methods
   • Observation in natural environment
   • Electrophysiological/ electromechanical and other biological measures
   Potential problems: Reactivity, inter-rater reliability, comprehensiveness, cost-effectiveness

Question 12

Ways in which behavioral assessment is different from traditional assessment:

Answer 12

• *Whereas traditional tests involve the assessment of hypothesized constructs which are then used to predict overt behavior, the behavioral approach entails a more direct sampling of the criterion behaviors themselves **
• *Emphasis on the use of minimally inferential assessment measures/methods **
• More interested in directly measuring a behavioral excess or deficit rather than some other construct
• More interested in in vivo samples of behavior in settings such as the home, school, and workplace
• Based on assumptions more amenable to direct empirical testing
• Considers the rate of responding to be a very important variable to be measured

Question 13

Behavioral chains

Answer 13

A series of discrete complex behaviors that must be performed in a certain order

a. Stimuli throughout chain serve as conditioned reinforcers for the previous response and discriminative stimuli for the next response
i. Best to intervene early in the chain rather than later in the chain
ii. Stimuli at beginning of chain are easiest to compete with because they are not reinforced as strongly; intervene with going to the store to buy cigarettes, not breathing in the lit cigarette
b. Forward: total task from beginning to end
c. Backward: starting with just put arms in shirt with shirt on, then start with shirt over head have to learn to pull down and put arms in

Question 14

Behavioral goals: considerations is selecting target behaviors

Answer 14

a. Habilitation
b. Will behavior change really help the client?
c. Indirect benefits – is behavior change a necessary step?
d. Consideration of significant others
e. Normalization
f. Adaptive replacement behavior available?

Question 15

General principles of behavioral interviewing

Answer 15

a. Operates on principle that client problems can be understood using learning principles
b. Seeks to gather specific, detailed descriptions of observable events linked to problems
i. Frequency
ii. Duration
iii. Timeline follow-back technique
c. Aims to delineate factors controlling behaviors (antecedents, consequences)
d. Greater emphasis on present circumstances than distant past
i. CBT approaches may also examine origins of maladaptive thoughts
e. Also, history of problem development is important
i. May provide clues about how problem developed form a learning perspective

Question 16

Tenets of behavioral model

Answer 16

a. Behavior may be overt and covert:
i. Radical behaviorists would be interested in observable behaviors only
b. Emphasis on behaviors rather than abstract constructs
i. Behaviors are measurable
c. Human problems can be conceptualized in terms of excesses or deficits in behavior
d. Interest in the context in which behavior occurs (“behaviors in situations”)
i. Three term contingency: A-B-C (antecedents, behaviors, consequences)
ii. Interest in “in vivo” samples of behavior (e.g. school, home, work)
e. Assumes that a client needs to be taught new behaviors, rather than have underlying psychological processes changed
i. Treatment procedures and techniques are ways of altering an individual’s environment.
ii. Methods and rationale can be described precisely.

Question 17

Narrative Recording/Structured Diaries

Question 18

Interval recording

Answer 18

i. Select period of time, divide time into smaller intervals, record presence of behavior in each interval
a. Partial interval recording: Record if behavior occurs at any point, even if only momentarily, during an interval
a. May overestimate behavior
b. Best when used to decrease behavior
b. Whole interval recording: Record only when behavior observed during entire interval
a. May underestimate behavior
b. Best when used to increase behavior

Question 19

Event recording

Answer 19

a. Record each instance of a behavior occurring throughout the day
i. Use only when feasible

Question 20

Conditioned reinforcers

Answer 20

a. A conditioned reinforcer is a previously neutral stimulus. If the neutral stimulus is paired with a primary reinforcer it acquires the same reinforcement properties associated with the primary reinforcer.
i. Money is a conditioned reinforcer. The actual paper bills are not themselves reinforcing. However, the paper bills can be used to acquire primary reinforcers such as food, water, and shelter. Therefore, the paper bills become reinforcers as a result of pairing them with the acquisition of food, water, and shelter.

Question 21

Generalized reinforcers

Answer 21

a. A generalized reinforcer is a conditioned reinforcer that has obtained the reinforcing function by pairing with many other reinforcers (such as money, a secondary generalized reinforcer).
b. Primary (conditioned) versus secondary (generalized)
i. Primary is a smile from mom or hug, but you pair that with “good girl” secondary and eventually the “good girl” alone is reinforcing

Question 22

Operant Conditioning

Answer 22

i. Refers to relationship of behavior to the environmental events (antecedents and consequences that control behavior)
a. First described by B. F. Skinner, an American psychologist
b. Involves applying reinforcement or punishment after a behavior
c. Focuses on strengthening or weakening voluntary behaviors
ii. Positive reinforcement: give something good; behavior increases (prize)
iii. Negative reinforcement: take away something bad and behavior goes up (seat belt noise stops)

Question 23

Classical Conditioning

Answer 23

a. Classical Conditioning
i. First described by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist
ii. Involves placing a neutral signal before a reflex
iii. Focuses on involuntary, automatic behaviors
b. Definition: when a neutral stimulus (CS) is paired repeatedly with a stimulus (US) that elicits and unlearned response (UR), the neutral stimulus (CS) will eventually elicit a response (CR) that appears the same as the unlearned response (UR).
i. US= unconditioned stimulus (loud noise)
ii. CS=conditioned stimulus (rat)—originally the neutral stimulus becomes conditioned to also produce the cry
iii. UR= unconditioned response (cry, flee, startle—reflexive response to a loud noise)
iv. CR= conditioned response (similar to cry, flee, startle—not always identical)
v. Best for CS to precede US
vi. Behavioral responses are referred to as respondents which are unlearned, reflexes, critical to basic biological functioning

Question 24

Changing criterion design – what is this; know that it is related to the concept of shaping

Answer 24

a. Conduct initial baseline observations on target behavior
b. Implement a series of treatment phases
c. Each treatment phase is associated with a step-wise change in the criterion for a target behavior
i. Example: reinforce for 30 minutes of walking 2xs per week, switch to only reinforcing for 3 times per week
ii. Can be shaping like a more elaborate successive approximation or can be more frequency/intensity
iii. Each phase must be long enough for the behavior to stabilize
iv. Recommended to vary length of each
v. The more times the target behavior changes to meet new criterion the stronger evidence that the behavior is under experimental control

Question 25

Covert sensitization

Answer 25

a. Covert sensitization is a form of behavior therapy in which an undesirable behavior is paired with an unpleasant image in order to eliminate that behavior.
i. Ex: Clockwork Orange

Question 26

Discriminative stimuli (SDs)

Answer 26

a. The discriminative stimulus is the cue (stimulus) that is present when the behavior is reinforced. The animal learns to exhibit the behavior in the presence of the discriminative stimulus.
i. Ex: peck on red circle is reinforced while peck on blue circle is not

Question 27

Extinction (general principles in the application of/extinction burst)

Answer 27

a. Extinction refers to no longer reinforcing a previously reinforced behavior (such as using planned ignoring (no longer reinforce tantrum with attention)
b. General Principles for effective application:
- Schedule of reinforcement pre-extinction will impact the rate of extinction, for example, fixed ratio is more likely to have behavior stop fast when put on extinction, or if something was previously reinforced every time behavior will especially stop fast when put on extinction
- Select a specific behavior
- Behaviors strongly reinforced for a long time are harder to extinguish (also contingent upon previous schedule of reinforcement that maintained the behavior)
- Extinction burst: behavior may get worse before better
- Consider if extinction is feasible
- Monitor and record how often the target behavior occurs prior to the extinction procedure
- Identify a desirable alternative behavior for which the individual can be reinforced
viii. Be certain all relevant individuals know about the plan! And be consistent

c. In CC: spontaneous recovery is when after a while no startle w/dog because lots of exposure that is not paired with biting then you stop therapy and all of a sudden they see a dog an BAM! The startle is back

Question 28

Mower’s two-factor theory for phobia acquisition and maintenance

Answer 28

a. Phobias may be established via classical conditioning

b. And maintained by operant conditioning; ie. avoidance is negatively reinforced

Question 29

Multiple baseline designs (know what this is; why you might want to do this instead of a reversal design)

Answer 29

a. Description
i. Multiple measures are used to obtain data over two or more baselines
ii. The end result appears visually as a series of A-B designs on top of one another
iii. The DV may consist of 2 or more different behaviors
iv. Versatile and relatively easy to understand
v. Perhaps the most common design in use today
b. When to use:
i. When withdrawal or reversal designs may not be feasible due to ethical concerns of withdrawing treatment
ii. When practical considerations are necessary, such as more than one person needing interventions
iii. In cases where the IV should not be withdrawn or the achieved target behavior cannot be reversed

Question 30

Overcorrection/positive practice (what are these?)

Answer 30

a. Forms of punishment
i. Overcorrection, put gum under desk clean every desk
ii. Positive practice, put gum under desk practice throwing it away again and again

Question 31

Premack Principle

Answer 31

a. States that more probable behaviors will reinforce less probable behaviors.
i. Meaning: any activity that you are more likely to engage in can serve as a reinforcer for behavior that you are less likely to perform

Question 32

Reactivity

Answer 32

a. Behavior decreases/increase because it is being monitored

Question 33

Response Cost

Answer 33

a. A form of punishment in which the loss of a specific amount reinforcemnt occurs contingent upon the performance of a inappropriate behavior and results in the decreased probability of the future occurrence of the behavior
• “My response will cost me something”
• Remove reinforcers the client already has
• Everyday example: fine

Question 34

Self-Assessment (Reasons to do; Self-assessment devices)

Answer 34

a. Portable, practical, cost-efficient
b. Increases clients awareness of behavior
c. Allows access to private events like thoughts or drug use that you may not otherwise observe
d. May clarify diagnostic considerations
e. Provides baseline to measure against
f. Reactive effects: just monitoring may help
g. Can record: rate, duration, latency (time between antecedent and behavior), intensity (such as SUDs)
h. Can do:
i. Event recording
ii. Momentary time sampling: is it occurring exactly when bell goes off, etc.
iii. Interval recording
a. Partial: occurs at all in interval (better for decreasing behavior)—more conservative estimate
b. Whole: occurs for entire interval (better for increasing behavior)

Question 35

Self-report data (as used in behavioral assessment) – strengths and limitations of

Answer 35

a. Strengths
i. It’s inexpensive and efficient
ii. It can be used with clients with a wide range of issues
iii. It can increase self-awareness
iv. It’s the only way to get information about infrequent and private events and behaviors
b. Limitations
i. Many self-report strategies have not been developed using standard methods of test construction; their psychometric properties may not be known; no norms or other benchmarks may be available
ii. High potential for biased reporting- clients may over- or under-estimate their target behaviors during the course of treatment to create the impression that treatment is going well (or isn’t)
iii. Clients may be inaccurate unintentionally
iv. Clients may be noncompliant
v. Data is further jeopardized when clients are asked to retrospectively report behaviors as is common with questionnaires and interviews. Memory is fallible and estimations may be off.
vi. Self-report measures may create forced choices that do not accurately match the client’s experience (e.g. multiple choice questionnaires or Likert scales)

Question 36

Imagined Modeling

Answer 36

i. To imagine someone else, instead of yourself, performing the behavior and being reinforced for it.
a. Imagine a model that is similar in age and of the same gender.
b. Imagine different models in each situation rather than one person only.
c. Imagine a model that begins with the same difficulties you have- one that must cope with the problem rather than one that has mastered the problem.
d. Imagined the model being reinforced for successful coping, preferably with natural outcomes.
e. Imagine model self-instructing during the performance.
f. Make sure that the self instructions are the ones that you will you in your eventful real life performance

Question 37

Factors necessary for observational learning to occur:

Answer 37

i. Attentional processes
ii. Retentional processes
iii. Motor reproductive processes
iv. Incentive and motivational processes (feel/believe that behavior will have positive consequences if you display the behavior)

Question 38

Characteristics of models that facilitate learning through modeling:

Answer 38

i. Likeability
ii. Status
iii. Sincerity
iv. Similarity to learner (i.e. age, gender)
v. Exposure to many models