SAFMEDS Flashcards
Positive and Negative
2 Types of Punishment
A form of direct, continuous observation in which the observer records a descriptive, temporally sequenced account of all behavior(s) of interest and the antecedent conditions and consequences for those behaviors as those events occur in the client’s natural environment.
ABC recording
Ability to yield a clear demonstration of the variables that are functionally related to the occurrence of a problem behavior
Advantage of a Functional Analysis (FA)
1) Identify correlations between 2 variables (usually, but not always, time of day and another variable), 2) may identify time periods or time-related variables correlated with behavior.
Advantages of a scatterplot
1) Based on continuous recording and use precise measures 2) in some cases may reflect (not confirm) casual relations, 3) likely to provide useful information for designing a subsequent functional analysis 4) do not require disruption to the person’s routine to conduct.
Advantages of ABC data
1) 0bservations are conducted under naturally occurring conditions (less disruptive to naturally occurring routine, 2) assist in planning of functional analysis.
Advantages of Descriptive Assessment
1) may provide a useful source of information in guiding subsequent, more objective assessments, 2) contribute to the development of hypotheses about variables that might occasion or maintain the behaviors of concern, 3) may be more convenient as they do not require direct observation of problem behavior.
Advantages of Indirect Functional Assessment
Demonstrating a functional relation between a manipulated variable/ event and a reliable change in some measurable dimension of the targeted behavior.
Analytic
An environmental change or stimulus change existing prior to a behavior of interest.
Antecedent
Behavior change tactics based on contingency-independent antecedent events.
Antecedent Interventions
Socially significant for participants (improve their day-to-day life experiences) and/ or socially significant to participant’s significant others (resulting in more positive behavior toward the participant)
Applied
The science in which tactics or methods derived from the principles of behavior are applied to improve socially significant behavior and experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for the behavior change.
Applied Behavior Analysis
Anyone who functions as a discriminative stimulus evoking verbal behavior.
Audience
A secondary verbal operant in which some aspect of a speaker’s own verbal behavior functions as an Sd or an MO for additional speaker verbal behavior; verbal behavior about verbal behavior.
Autoclitic
Punishment that occurs independent of the social mediation by others.
Automatic Punishment
Reinforcement that occurs independent of the social mediation of others.
Automatic Reinforcement
To promote an individual’s independence.
Autonomy
A contingency in which responding delays or prevents the presentation of a stimulus.
Avoidance Contingency
A condition of an experiment or control condition in which a specific independent variable is absent (not necessarily absence of treatment).
Baseline
The activity of living organisms.
Behavior
Alteration in the current frequency of behavior as a result of value-altering effect of a motivating operation; either evocative or ablative.
Behavior-altering effect
Studying and precisely measuring the activity of living organisms (physical events) rather than perceptions or descriptions of events
Behavioral
A form of assessment that involves a full range of inquiry methods (observation, interview, testing, and the systematic manipulation of antecedent or consequence variables) to identify probable antecedent and consequent controlling or correlated variables.
Behavioral Assessment
A behavior change that has consequences beyond the change itself, some of which may be important; exposes individual to new environments, new contingencies, or new responses
Behavioral Cusp
A type of antecedent intervention in which high-probability request sequences are delivered before a low probability request
Behavioral Momentum
Committee put together following the Miami/ Sundland abuse investigation that helped to draft the first set of guidelines and recommendations to protect and provide oversight to those with disabilities
Blue Ribbon Committee
CRF and EXT
Boundaries for all schedules of reinforcement
A measure of how response rate changes over time; how fast change occurs
Celeration
A specific sequence of discrete responses, each associated with a particular stimulus condition. When linked together, the result is a behavior change that produces a terminal outcome. Three types: forward, backward and total task.
Chaining procedures
Any recipient or beneficiary of the professional services provided by the behavior analyst, including direct recipient of services, parent/guardian, employer/ agency representative.
Client
Deriving procedures to change behavior that are based on basic (proven) principles of behavior.
Conceptually Systematic
Two or more contingencies operate independently and simultaneously for two or more behaviors.
Concurrent Schedule
The likelihood that a target problem behavior will occur in a given circumstance.
Conditional Probability
Motivating variables that alter the reinforcing effectiveness of other stimuli, objects or events, but only as a result of the organisms learning history. Three types: surrogate, transitive and reflexive.
Conditioned motivating operations
A previously neutral stimulus change that functions as a punisher because of prior pairing with one or more other punishers.
Conditioned Punisher
A previously neutral stimulus change that functions as a reinforcer because of prior pairing with one or more other reinforcers.
Conditioned Reinforcer
The pairing of stimuli to result in learning; two types: operant and respondent.
Conditioning
Escape, attention, alone, play
Conditions in Iwata et al. (1982/1994) functional analysis
A situation of trust insofar as any information regarding a person receiving or having received services may not be discussed with or otherwise made available to another person or group, unless that person has provided explicit authorization for release of such information.
Confidentiality
A situation in which a person in a position of responsibility or trust has competing professional or personal interests that make it difficult to fulfill his or her duties impartially.
Conflict of Interest
A stimulus change that follows a behavior of interest.
Consequence
Bordering or being in direct contact with something.
Contiguity
Dependent and/or temporal relations between operant behavior and its controlling variables; if this, then that.
Contingency
Exchanging the reinforcement contingencies for two topographically different responses.
Contingency Reversal
A schedule that provides reinforcement for each occurrence of behavior (CRF).
Continuous Reinforcement
An elementary verbal operant that is evoked by a nonvocal verbal discriminative stimulus that has point-to-point correspondence and formal similarity with the controlling response (SEE-WRITE response).
Copying a Text
Graph on which cumulative number of responses are represented on vertical axis.
Cumulative Record
Product of measurement
Data
The variable in an experiment measured to determine if it changes as a result of manipulations of the independent variable; in applied behavior analysis, it represents some measure of a socially significant behavior
Dependent Variable
Direct observation of problem behavior and the antecedent and consequent events under naturally occurring conditions.
Descriptive Functional Behavior Assessment
The assumption that the universe is a lawful and orderly place in which phenomenon occur in relation to other events and not willy-nilly, or in accidental fashion.
Determinism
An elementary verbal operant involving a written response that is evoked by an auditory verbal discriminative stimulus that has point-to-point correspondence but no formal similarity between the stimulus and the response product (HEAR-WRITE Response)
Dictation
Reinforcing only those responses within a response class that meet a specific criterion along some dimension(s) and placing all other responses in the class on extinction
Differential Reinforcement
A procedure in which the practitioner reinforces occurrences of a behavior that provides a desirable and functionally-equivalent alternative to the problem behavior but is not necessarily incompatible with it and withholds reinforcement following instances of the problem behavior.
Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA)
A procedure in which reinforcement is provided at the end of a predetermined interval contingent on the number of responses emitted during the interval being greater than a gradually increasing criterion based on the individual’s performance in previous intervals.
Differential Reinforcement of High Rates (DRH)
A procedure in which the practitioner reinforces a behavior that can not occur simultaneously with the problem behavior and withholds reinforcement following instances of the problem behavior.
Differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior (DRI)
A schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement (a) follows each occurrence of the target behavior that is separated from the previous response by a minimum interresponse time (spaced-responding), or (b) is contingent on the number of responses within a period of time not exceeding a predetermined criterion (full-session)
Differential Reinforcement of Low Rate Behavior (DRL)
A procedure in which the practitioner reinforces whenever the problem behavior has not occurred during or at specific times. Procedural variations include interval and momentary schedules. Also referred to as omission training.
Differential reinforcement of zero rates (DRO)
Any operant whose response rate is controlled by a given opportunity to emit the response (also called restricted operant or controlled operant); contrast with free operant.
Discrete trial
An operant that occurs more frequently under some antecedent conditions than under others.
Discriminated Operant
A stimulus in the presence of which a response has been reinforced in the past and in the absence of which the same type of responses have occurred and not been reinforced; contrast with SΔ/ stimulus delta.
Discriminative stimulus (Sd)
A stimulus in the presence of which a response has been punished in the past and in the absence of which the same type of responses have occurred and not been punished
Discriminative stimulus for punishment (Sdp)
“A CORE Ethical Principle that states that no emotional, physical or psychological harm to a client is first priority.
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DO NO HARM
A measure of the total extent of time in which a behavior occurs.
Duration
An elementary verbal operant involving an auditory response that is evoked by an auditory verbal discriminative stimulus that has point-to-point correspondence and formal similarity with the response; (HEAR-SAY Response).
Echoic
Producing large enough behavior change for practical value.
Effective
1) slow to moderate rates of responding with a post reinforcement pause, 2) responding begins to accelerate toward the end of the interval. Produces an effect called scallop.
Effects of Fixed Interval Schedule
1) high rate of response, 2) little hesitation between responses, 3) post -reinforcement pause
Effects of Fixed Ratio Schedule
1) slow to moderate response rate that is constant and stable, 2) no post-reinforcement pause
Effects of Variable Interval Schedule
1) very high rate of response and little hesitation between responses, 2) no post-reinforcement pause
Effects of Variable Ratio Schedule
The objective (direct) observation of the phenomenon of interest
Empiricism
The conglomerate of circumstances in which an individual exists and is demonstrating behavior.
Environment
Gradually fading instructional stimuli (response or stimulus prompts) in order to minimize or prevent errors.
Errorless learning
A contingency in which responding terminates an ongoing stimulus.
Escape Contingency
Escape responses no longer provide reinforcement as a result of escape attempts being blocked.
Escape Extinction
Behaviors, practices, and decisions that address such basic and fundamental questions as: What is the right thing to do? What’s worth doing? What does it mean to be a good behavior analytic practitioner?
Ethics
A treatment or intervention method that has been demonstrated to be effective through substantial, high-quality scientific research.
Evidence Based Treatment
Response cost, time-out from positive reinforcement.
Examples of Negative Punishment Procedures
Reprimand, response blocking, contingent exercise, overcorrection, contingent electric stimulation.
Examples of Positive Punishment Procedures
An outcome of an experiment that demonstrates convincingly a functional relation.
Experimental Control
The particular type and sequence of conditions in a study employed so that meaningful comparisons of the effects of the presence and absence of the independent variable can be made.
Experimental Design
The use of experiments, or carefully controlled comparisons of the phenomenon of interest, to identify relations between variables.
Experimentation
A situation where one individual takes advantage of another whom he/ she has power over (supervisees, subordinates) unjustly for his/ her own benefit; creates a conflict of interest.
Exploitive Relationships
Initial increase in response frequency upon implementation or occurrence of extinction.
Extinction Burst
A schedule of reinforcement in which the reinforcer is delivered for the first response emitted following the passage of a fixed duration of time since the last response was reinforced.
Fixed Interval (FI)
A schedule of reinforcement that requires a fixed number of responses to be completed before a response produces reinforcement.
Fixed ratio (FR)
Behaving with speed and accuracy.
Fluency
In verbal behavior, controlling stimulus and response product are in the same sense mode and resemble each other (implies point to point correspondence)
Formal Similarity
An operant behavior (response) that is emitted without any constraints or prompts; contrast with discrete trial.
Free Operant
A teaching tactic in which the teacher arranges for learning opportunities in which the learner can emit the target response at almost any time without constraint.
Free operant arrangement
behavior-environment interactions described as positive or negative reinforcement contingencies; include social positive reinforcement (attention), tangible reinforcement, automatic positive reinforcement; social negative reinforcement (escape), and automatic negative reinforcement
Function of Behavior
An analysis of the purposes (functions) of problem behavior, wherein antecedents and consequences representing those in the person’s natural routines are arranged within an experimental design so that their separate effects on problem behavior can be observed and measured; typically consists of four conditions: three test conditions - contingent attention, contingent escape, and alone - and a control condition in which problem behavior is expected to be low because reinforcement is freely available and no demands are placed on the person. Each condition contains a motivating operation (MO) and a potential source of reinforcement.
Functional Analysis (FA)
A systematic method of assessment for obtaining information about the purposes (functions) a problem behavior serves for a person; results are used to guide the design of an intervention for decreasing the problem behavior and increasing appropriate behavior.
Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)
a statement that describes how 2 variables (events)are related where a change in one event can reliably be produced by the specific manipulation of another event.
Functional Relation
Serving the same function or purpose; different topographies of behavior are functionally equivalent if they produce the same consequences.
Functionally Equivalent
Producing behavior change that lasts over time, appears in new environments other than the one in which the intervention initially took place, or spreads to other behaviors not directly treated by the intervention.
Generality
A conditioned reinforcer that has been paired with many other reinforcers and as a result, does not depend on an establishing operation for its effectiveness.
Generalized Conditioned Reinforcer
A visual display of relationship between measurements and relevant variables.
Graph
Reinforcers that can cause damage long term (cigars, high fat / sugar foods, etc.).
Harmful Reinforcers
An idea or theory that is not proven but that leads to further study or investigation.
Hypothesis
Matching the behavior of a novel model immediately following the occurrence of that novel model; excludes vocal-verbal behaviors.
Imitation
A new behavior emitted following a novel antecedent event (i.e. the model); related to imitation and modeling.
Imitative Behavior
The variable that is systematically manipulated by the researcher in an experiment to determine whether changes.
Independent Variable
Structured interviews, check-lists, rating scales, or questionnaires used to obtain information from people who are familiar with the person exhibiting the problem behavior (e.g. teachers, parents, caregivers, and/or the individual him-or herself); used to identify conditions or events in the natural environment that correlate with the problem behavior.
Indirect Functional Assessment
The process whereby the potential recipient of services or participant in a research study gives explicit permission before any assessment or treatment is provided. Full disclosure of effects and side effects must be provided. To give consent, the person must (a) demonstrate the capacity to decide, (b) do so voluntarily, and (c) have adequate knowledge of all salient aspects of the treatment.
Informed Consent
The quality of being truthful, honest and maintaining commitments.
Integrity
A schedule in which some, but not all occurrences of a behavior are reinforced.
Intermittent Schedule of Reinforcement
Required component of the research process where approval is received to ensure no harm is committed.
Internal Review Board (IRB)
Degree to which two or more independent observers report the same observed value after measuring the same event.
Interobserver Agreement
The amount of time that elapses between two consecutive instances of a response.
Interresponse Time (IRT)
Reinforcement schedule that requires an elapse of time before a response produces reinforcement.
Interval Schedule
An elementary verbal operant that is evoked by a verbal discriminative stimulus and that does not have point-to-point correspondence with that verbal stimulus (HEAR-SAY response)
Intraverbal
Programming for the generalization and maintenance of any behavior for which any contingency of reinforcement (or punishment) operates independent of the practitioner’s efforts.
Introduce to natural maintaining contingencies
The elapsed time between the onset of a stimulus and the initiation of a subsequent response.
Latency
A policy that states that restrictive interventions are used only with individuals demonstrating dangerous behaviors for which non-restrictive interventions have been attempted and documented as ineffective.
Least Restrictive Procedures
The value on y axis around which a set of measures converge (can be mean, median, mode).
Level
1) the assessment process may temporarily strengthen or increase the undesirable behavior acquiring new functions; 2) the deliberate arrangement of conditions that set the occasion for, or potentially reinforce, problem behavior can be counterintuitive to persons who do not understand its purpose; 3) some behaviors may not be amenable to functional analyses; 4) unctional analyses that are conducted in contrived settings might not detect the variable that accounts for the occurrence of the problem behavior in the natural environment; and 5) the time, effort and professional expertise required to conduct and interpret functional analyses have been frequently cited as obstacles to its widespread use in practice.
Limitations of a Functional Analysis
1) may be unclear whether temporal patterns are routinely evident; 2) obtaining accurate data with scatterplots may be difficult, 3) the subjective nature of the ratings of how often the behavior occurs can contribute to difficulties with interpretation.
Limitations of a scatterplot
Correlations can be difficult to detect, especially if the influential antecedents and consequences do not reliably precede and follow the behavior.
Limitation of ABC data
1) correlations can be difficult to detect; 2) data can be misleading, 3) functional relations may not be detected;
Limitations of Descriptive Assessment
1) informants may not have accurate and unbiased recall of behavior and the conditions under which it occurred; 2) little research exists to support the reliability of the information obtained from indirect assessment methods.
Limitations of Indirect Functional Assessment
In verbal behavior, the individual who provides reinforcement for verbal behavior. A listener may also serve as an audience evoking verbal behavior.
Listener
Force or intensity of a response.
Magnitude
The extent to which a learner continues to exhibit a behavior after a portion or all of an intervention has been terminated.
Maintenance of Behavior
An elementary verbal operant that is evoked by a motivating operation and followed by specific reinforcement.
Mand
The process of assigning a value (numbers or units) to a particular feature of an object or event.
Measurement
An approach to explaining behavior that assumes that a mental or inner dimension exists that differs from a behavioral dimension and that the phenomena in this dimension either directly causes or in some way influences some forms of behavior.
Mentalism
A 1972 abuse case that resulted in major overhaul of ethical guidelines for the field of ABA.
Miami Sunland Investigation
A type of antecedent stimulus in which the instructor demonstrates a physical movement for the learner and this demonstration evokes imitative behavior.
Modeling
Antecedent variable that alters (increases or decreases) the effectiveness of some stimulus, object, or event as a reinforcer and then alters (increases or decreases) the frequency of a behavior that has been reinforced by that stimulus, object, or event in the past.
Motivating Operation
A situation in which a behavior analyst is in both a behavior-analytic role and a non-behavior-analytic role simultaneously with a client, supervisee, or someone closely associated with or related to the client; prohibited by BACB Ethics Code.
Multiple Relationships
A response is followed immediately by the removal of a stimulus that decreases the future frequency of similar responses under similar conditions; referred to as Type II punishment.
Negative Punishment
A response is followed immediately by the removal of a stimulus that increases the future frequency of similar responses under similar conditions
Negative Reinforcement
Any unintended change in the way an observer uses a measurement system over the course of an investigation that results in measurement error.
Observer Drift
Behavior whose future frequency is determined by its history of consequences.
Operant Behavior
The basic process by which operant learning occurs; consequences result in an increased or decreased frequency of the same type of behavior under similar motivational and environmental conditions in the future.
Operant Conditioning
A schedule that withholds reinforcement for an occurrence of a target behavior; noted as EXT
Operant Extinction
A clear, concrete description of the target behavior. Can be function-based or topography- based.
Operational Definition
Applying principles of behavior analysis to organizations and the work force; performance management
Organizational Behavior Management (OBM)
The practice of ruling out simple, logical explanations before considering more abstract or complex explanations.
Parsimony
Ratio formed by expressing the proportional quality of some event in terms of the number of times it occurred per 100 opportunities.
Percent
A teaching model or system that: utilizes written word as the primary delivery of instructional content, self-pacing, mastery of content, use of proctors, and lecture for motivational purposes. Also known as The Keller Method.
Personalized System of Instruction
An attitude that the truthfulness and validity of all scientific theory and knowledge should be continually questioned.
Philosophic Doubt
A behavior, once learned, that produces corresponding modifications or covariations in other adaptive untrained behaviors.
Pivotal Behavior
In verbal behavior, occurs when the beginning, middle, and end of the stimulus control the corresponding beginning, middle, and end of the response or response-product. Can occur without formal similarity (i.e. across sense modes)
Point to point correspondence
A response is followed immediately by the presentation of a stimulus that decreases the future frequency of similar responses under similar conditions; referred to as Type I punishment
Positive Punishment
A response is followed immediately by the presentation of a stimulus that increases the future frequency of similar responses under similar conditions
Positive Reinforcement
A stimulus whose presentation or onset functions as reinforcement.
Positive Reinforcer
The philosophy or belief that the truth of a theory is related to its practical success in its application.
Pragmatism
A statement of the anticipated outcome of a presently unknown or future measurement; one of three components to baseline logic
Prediction
A statement that makes the opportunity to engage in a high-probability behavior contingent upon the occurrence of a low-probability behavior; assumes preferred activities reinforce lower-probability behavior.
Premack Principle
A statement describing a functional relation between behavior and one or more of its controlling variables with generality across organisms, species, settings, behaviors, and time
Principle of Behavior
Those events wherein individuals respond with respect to certain stimuli accessible to themselves alone. The responses that are made to those stimuli may themselves be public, i.e., observable by others, or they may be private, i.e. accessible only to the individual involved.
Private Events
The document published by the BACB that outlines the professional and ethical behavior required of a behavior analyst.
Professional and Ethical Compliance Code
A tactic for promoting generalization that includes typical features of the generalization setting into the instructional setting.
Program common stimuli
Supplementary antecedent stimulus used to occasion a correct response in the presence of an Sd that will eventually control the behavior.
Prompt
The stimulus change (presented or removed) that decreases the future frequency of behavior that immediately precedes it.
Punisher
A behavioral principle that occurs when a stimulus change immediately follows a response and decreases the future frequency of that type of behavior in similar conditions.
Punishment
The spread of the difference between the highest and lowest values of a given set of data or dependent variable. Expressed as the number of the highest value and the number of the lowest value of a data set.
Range
The number of responses per unit of time.
Rate
A reinforcement schedule that equires a number of responses before a response produces reinforcement.
Ratio Schedule
The reemergence of the baseline rate of a recently punished or extinguished response.
Recovery from Punishment
A behavioral principle that occurs when stimulus change immediately follows a response and increases the future frequency of that type of behavior in similar conditions.
Reinforcement
The stimulus change (presented or removed) that increases the future frequency of behavior that immediately precedes it.
Reinforcer
The association between two or more variables; the way in which two or more concepts are connected.
Relation
Consistency of measurement across different measurement opportunities.
Reliability
One of the three dimensional quantities of behavior from which all behavioral measurements are derived; refers to the fact that a behavior can occur repeatedly through time; countability.
Repeatability
1) repeating conditions within an experiment to determine the reliability of effects and increase internal validity (as in one of three components to baseline logic) or 2) repeating whole experiments to determine the generality of findings of previous experiments to other subjects, settings, and/or behaviors (as an attitude of science)
Replication
Operant behavior that occurs during extinction.
Resistance to Extinction
Behavior that is elicited by antecedent stimuli or induced by a stimulus that precedes the behavior; the response component of a reflex
Respondent Behavior
A stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure in which a neutral stimulus (NS) is presented with an unconditioned stimulus (US) until the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) that elicits the conditioned response (CR); also called classical conditioning)
Respondent Conditioning
The repeated presentation of a conditioned stimulus (CS) in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus (US); the CS gradually loses its ability to elicit the conditioned response until the conditioned reflex no longer appears in the individual’s repertoire
Respondent Extinction
A specific instance of behavior.
Response
A group of responses with the same function; each responses produces the same effect on environment.
Response Class
An antecedent intervention that involves delivering a reinforcer on a time-based schedule. There is no response requirement to access reinforcement. Also referred to as non-contingent reinforcement (NCR).
Response independent schedule of reinforcement
A prompt that operates directly on the response.
Response Prompt
The physical shape or form of a behavior.
Response Topography
Deliberate evaluation of the potential risks (e.g., limitations, side effects, costs) and benefits (e.g., treatment outcomes, efficiency, savings) associated with a given intervention. A risk-benefit analysis should conclude with a course of action associated with greater benefits than risks.
Risk Benefit Analysis
A verbal description of a behavioral contingency.
Rule
Reflexes; stimulus-response relations.
S-R Relation
Graphic display showing relative distribution of data points with respect to variables on x and y axis; data points are not connected.
Scatterplot
A rule that describes the contingency of reinforcement, or which behaviors will be reinforced and which will not.
Schedule of Reinforcement
Changing a contingency of reinforcement by gradually increasing the response ratio or the extent of the time interval; results in a lower rate of reinforcement per responses, time, or both.
Schedule Thinning
A systematic approach for seeking and organizing knowledge about the natural world.
Science
The theory that all forms of life evolve as a result of selection with respect to function, or consequences.
Selectionism
A behavior that is automatically reinforced results in masking or removing the sensory consequence.
Sensory Extinction
A strategy for promoting generalization; responding is assessed across behavior, environments and individuals. If generalization has not occurred, then additional training occurs in non-generalization conditions.
Sequential modification
The process of differentially reinforcing successive approximations toward a terminal behavior.
Shaping
This behavior change process may result in an initial increase in response amplitude (or force), spontaneous recovery and an initial increase in frequency (a burst).
Side effects of extinction
Unwanted effects of the process of punishment, including: undesirable emotional responses and aggression, escape & avoidance, and an increased rate of the problem behavior under non-punishment conditions.
Side effects of punishment
Experimental designs in which individual serves as their own control.
Single Subject Design
An outcome achieved when the goals or results of an intervention are socially acceptable to the client.
Social Validity
Behavior targeted for change that improves the quality of life for the subject or individual.
Socially Significant Behavior
A communicator who engages in verbal behavior by emitting mands, tacts, intraverbals, autoclitics, and so on. A speaker is also someone who uses sign language, gestures, signals, written words, codes, pictures, or any form of verbal behavior.
Speaker
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.
Spontaneous Recovery
1) Gather information via indirect and descriptive assessment, 2) interpret information from indirect and descriptive assessment and formulate hypotheses about the purpose of problem behavior, 3) test hypotheses using functional analysis, 4) develop intervention options based on the function of problem behavior.
Steps to Conducting an FBA
A change in the environment.
Stimulus
A group of stimuli that share specified common elements along formal, temporal, and/ or functional dimensions
Stimulus Class
A behavioral principle; describes a relationship between an antecedent stimulus and a response when the rate, frequency, magnitude, latency, or duration of a response is altered in the presence of the stimulus; operant conditioning.
Stimulus Control
A stimulus in the presence of which a given behavior has NOT produced reinforcement in the past; contrasted with Sd
Stimulus delta (S-delta; SΔ)
Responses are reinforced in the presence of one stimulus condition (the Sd) but not in the presence of the other stimulus (S-delta); one response, two antecedent stimulus conditions.
Stimulus Discrimination Training
The tendency for similar stimuli to evoke a response when stimulus control exists.
Stimulus Generalization
A variety of procedures used to determine the stimuli that a person prefers and the relative preference value of those stimuli to increase the odds of selecting stimuli that function as reinforcers.
Stimulus Preference Assessment
A prompt that operates directly on the antecedent stimuli to cue a correct response.
Stimulus Prompt
A procedure in which two stimuli are presented at the same time, usually repeatedly for a number of trials, which often results in one stimulus acquiring the function of the other stimulus
Stimulus-Stimulus Pairing
An elementary verbal operant evoked by a nonverbal discriminative stimulus and followed by generalized conditioned reinforcement (SEE-SAY Response).
Tact
A research-based or technologically consistent method for changing behavior that has been derived from one or more basic principles of behavior.
Tactic
The response class selected for intervention; can be defined functionally or topographically.
Target Behavior
A method for measuring procedural integrity and inter-observer agreement. This approaches measures the three components of a learning unit and then derives a rate of student responding.
Teacher Performance Rate Accuracy (TPRA)
Detailing procedures for behavior change in sufficient detail so that replication can occur.
Technological
One of the three dimensional quantities of behavior from which all behavioral measurements are derivedRefers to the fact that every instance of behavior occurs during some amount of time.
Temporal Extent
One of the three dimensional quantities of behavior from which all behavioral measurements are derived; refers to the fact that every instance of behavior occurs at a certain point in time with respect to other events (when in time).
Temporal Locus
An elementary verbal operant involving a spoken response that is evoked by a visual verbal discriminative stimulus that has point-to-point correspondence but no formal similarity between the stimulus and the response product (e.g. reading; SEE-SAY response).
Textual
A behavior change system consisting of three major components: 1) a specified list of target behaviors, 2) tokens or points that participants receive for emitting the target behaviors, and 3) a menu of backup reinforcer items that the tokens may be exchanged for.
Token economy
Physical form or shape of a behavior.
Topography
Teaching a new behavior without developing and implementing a plan to facilitate its maintenance and generalization; not a desired tactic for promoting generalization
Train and hope
A strategy to promote generalization where noncritical aspects of the instructional setting are randomly varied within and across teaching sessions. This approach reduces the likelihood of faulty stimulus control.
Train loosely
A strategy to promote generalization that consists of teaching the student to respond to a sub-set of all possible stimulus and response examples and then assessing student performance on untrained examples.
Train sufficient exemplars
Overall direction taken by a data path; described by direction (increasing, decreasing, or flat/zero), degree (gradual or steep) and the extent of variability of data points around the trend.
Trend
Discrete opportunity for an occurrence of a behavior.
Trial
The number of response opportunities needed to achieve a pre-determined level of performance.
Trials to Criterion
Ratio and Interval
Two types of intermittent schedules
A stimulus whose presentation functions as a punisher without a history of having been paired with any other punishers.
Unconditioned Punisher
A stimulus whose presentation functions as a reinforcer without a history of having been paired with any other reinforcers.
Unconditioned Reinforcer
A generalization tactic in which the learner can not discriminate whether the next response will produce reinforcement. Uses intermittent reinforcement schedules & delayed rewards.
Use indiscriminable contingencies
The extent to which data obtained are directly relevant to the target behavior of interest and to reasons for measuring it.
Validity
Alteration in the reinforcing effectiveness of a stimulus, object, or event as a result of a motivating operation; establishing or abolishing.
Value-altering effect
The frequency and extent to which multiple measures of behavior yield different outcomes.
Variability
A schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement is delivered for the first response emitted following the passage of a variable duration of time since the last response was reinforced.
Variable Interval Schedule (VI)
A schedule of reinforcement that requires a variable number of responses to be completed before a response produces reinforcement.
Variable Ratio (VR)
Behavior whose reinforcement is mediated by a listener; includes both vocal-verbal behavior (e.g. saying ‘water please’ to get water) and nonvocal-verbal behavior (pointing to a glass of water to get water); encompasses the subject matter usually treated as language and topics such as thinking, grammar, composition, and understanding.
Verbal Behavior
The unit of analysis in a behavior analysis of verbal behavior.
Verbal Operant
Demonstrating that a prior level of baseline responding would remain unchanged in the absence of the independent variable; one of three components to baseline logic.
Verification
Institutionalized patients have a right to effective and individualized care or else they should be released / referred elsewhere.
Wyatt v Stickney
