Midterm Exam Flashcards
Define Sustainability
The feature of a practice or product that meet the current needs of the population while not hindering the ability of future populations to meet their needs
Sustainability can apply to a wide range of activity. What are 7 common areas?
Farming, health care, healthy lifestyle, packaging, recycling waste, transportation, reforestation
What are three potential pitfalls that can weaken support for sustainability?
The use of hyperbole or exaggeration, failing to get grassroots support, not looking for unintended consequences and working to ameliorate them
What are three advantages of the bottom up grass roots approach?
The community can see needs and make changes that work for them, control is within the community
Why does a sustainable system need to be adaptive?
So it can adjust to changing conditions and help it incorporate new technologies
How can we ensure that a sustainable system continues to function well?
By insuring it works towards continuous improvement
What role do small scale studies serve in developing a sustainable system?
Small scale studies allow us to test new approaches and allow many people to participate in the development of sustainable programs
How do we develop Kernels?
Start with the most basic pieces kernels that are empirically based and produce reliable effects in a cost effective manner
What do Kernels need to do to meet the challenge?
Be empirically based, determine the role of package components, aid in dissemination
Why is it important to understand the role of components in packaged interventions?
This allows us to then create behavior change with large groups of people
What are the three behavior analytic processes involved in Kernels?
Manipulate antecedent stimuli to occasion specific behavior, consequate behavior to increase or decrease the future probability of a behavior, chance verbal behavior as this alters the effects of contingencies
How can resident of the community help?
By focusing on everyday behaviors such as participation of community members in government, buying from local businesses or pro-environmental organizations, collaborating with other members of the community, development of innovative ideas that benefit the community
How did the embassy suites hotel in Lake Tahoe become more environmentally friendly?
Installing several technological upgrades, developing and running ERB based programs that encourage their guests and employees to participate in ecologically responsible practices
What was the major incentive for the Embassy Suites hotel in Lake Tahoe?
They saved over a million dollars
What are direct and indirect sustainable behaviors?
Direct behaviors are those related to how well people in the community follow sustainable protocols or engage in sustainable behaviors such as recycling and reducing energy use
Indirect behaviors that sustainability include decision makers behaviors that effect the members of the community engaging in sustainable behaviors. These include legislation and rule-making
Why is it important to make observations of sustainable behavior?
So we can know if the program is effective, and to provide feedback
What are four reasons people engage in unsustainable behavior?
It’s faster, less effortful, less expensive in the short term, more comfrotable
When are prompts most effective?
They occur just before you want the behavior to occur, they are placed where you will see them or they are very salient, the prompt describes or depicts consequences, prompted behavior is reinforced
Define positive reinforcers and give an example
Something that increases the frequency of a behavior that produces it; giving praise
Define negative reinforcer and give an example
something that increases the frequency of something that removes it; taking away a toy from a child
What is a motivating operation?
Motivating operations are environmental variables that: alter the effectiveness of some stimulus, object, or event as a reinforcer, and alter the current frequency of all behavior that hass been reinforced by that stimulus, object, or event
What is a positive punisher and provide an example?
A positive punisher decreases the frequency of a behavior that produces it
What is a negative punisher and provide and example
A negative punisher decreases the frequency of a behavior that removes it
What is extinction?
discontinuing reinforcement of a behavior
What are the four factors related to what non-scientists call habits?
the development of good stimulus control over a behavior, prompts from others, positive models for behavior, proficiency at the behavior (it occurs automatically)
What are the three elements of ABC analysis?
Antecendents (stimuli, person, place, or thing/ includes prompts), Behavior (what you do), Consequences (an event or change in the environment that follows a behavior reinforcement and punishment)
What is stimulus control?
Stimulus control occurs when a behavior is reinforced in the presence of one stimulus and extinguished in its absence. It can also be established by fading another stimulus that already controls the behavior
What are the three dichotomies in the PIC NIC analysis?
Type of consequence, Timing of the consequence, probability of the consequence occuring
What is the relationship between immediate reinforcement and learning?
Immediate consequences are important when teaching new behaviors. Future (delayed) consequences work to maintain them. Very long-term future consequences tend to be discounted for a number of reasons. Large negative consequences are just as effective the next day as the same day provided they are consistent. Magnitude is a variable.
What is the relationship between certain and uncertain behaviors?
This is a large variable. But events are rarely certain. Many reasons for engaging in unsustainable behavior are the certain positive consequences (faster, less effortful) but the negative consequences, though very large, are highly uncertain
Describe the relationship between PIC NIC and behavior
Consequences that are positive, immediate, and certain and negative, immediate, and certain are the post powerful of all
What is the most important variable for punishment?
Whether it is certain
How can you minimize side effects for punishments?
Get everyone to agree with the goal, given as a point of concern and not a reprimend, best as warning without a sanction, particularly if the MO is in place
What are four types of feedback?
Graphic feedback, feedback charts, written feedback, verbal feedback
What are the three characteristics of a good behavioral definition?
Objective, clear, and complete
What are the two basic scoring methods?
Automated recording where a machine program determines whether a behavior occurred; observational recording where people determine whether a behavior occurred
Define automated recording and provide five good examples
Measuring a behavior using a machine.
e.g usings a GPS to measure duration and distance of walks, measure activity using a 3 axis accelerometer, use store checkout computers to measure purchase of healthy foods, gas or electric meters to measure energy consumption, odometer to measure how much someone drive
What is the most common type of automated recording devices currently available?
The use of smart phones and watches to measure sleep, activity levels, and location over time
What are some devices in the natural environment that can be used to measure behavior
devices that measure energy use in homes and workplaces, universal product codes to categorize what types of foods people are purchasing, devices in a car that measure miles driven and various driving behaviors