Section A Flashcards
What is the science Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)? (Definition & Focus)
Evidence-based applied science that uses learning principles to improve socially important behavior
- Focuses on assessing environmental influences, assessment-based interventions, and data-based decision-making
What is science?
A systematic organized approach to understanding natural phenomenon through collecting knowledge and understanding
Purposes of science
To find the and understand the universal Truths on 3 scientific levels (DPC), which are independent of any group’s beliefs/opinions
The purpose of the science of ABA is:
To understand socially significant behaviors that we aim to change
The 3 levels of scientific understanding are:
- Description
- Prediction
- Control
Level Scientific of Understanding: Control
- 3rd and highest level of understanding
- AKA: Causation
- A functional r.ship is established when science confirms what was predicted
- Event 1 (IV), results in change of another event (DV) and this event can only be attributed to the IV (Event 1)
Level Scientific of Understanding: Description
- 1st level of understanding
- Facts that are observable and measurable, which help us test possible r.ships and identify hypothesis
Level Scientific of Understanding: Prediction
- 2nd level of understanding
- Repeated observations that show a consistent correlation between 2 or more events which allow us to make scientific guesses about the probability of 1 event occurring when the other event occurs.
- Correlation does not equal causation! (Prediction does not equal control)
Prediction AKAs
Correlation and Covariation
What are the 5 Philosophical Assumptions?
- Determinism
- Empiricism
- Parsimony
- Pragmaticism
- Selectionism
- DEPPS
Determinism
The world is orderly, predictable, and lawful.
Empiricism
- A philosophical assumption
- The objective observation and measurement upon which knowledge is built
- Empiricism = Evidence = Data = Facts
Parsimony
- A philosophical assumption
- Rule out the most simple and logical explanation that requires the fewest assumptions, before considering more complex explanations
Pragmatism
- A philosophical assumption
- How things come to be
- A practical approach to problems in which truth is found in the process of verification
- A probabilistic AB because of C philosophy
Selectionism
- Philosophical assumption
- Selection by consequences
- Positive consequences survive and produce more complex repertoires
- Ontogeny
What are the 3 terms formerly associated with the Philosophical Assumptions?
- Philosophical Doubt
- Replication
- Experimentation
PRE(viously)
Experimentation
- PRE(viously) a philosophical assumption
- AKA: Experimental Analysis
- Controlled comparison of the DV under 2 or more IVs
- Requires all variables to be controlled except for the IV
Replication
- PRE(viously) a philosophical assumption
- Necessary to determine reliability and usefulness
- Helps discover mistakes, making science a self-correcting operation
Philosophical Doubt
- PRE(viously) a philosophical assumption
- Skepticism: Always question the truth and be open to being wrong
7 Dimension of ABA
- Behavioral
- Applied
- Technological
- Conceptually Systematic
- Analytical
- Generality
- Effective
Behavioral
- 7 Dimensions of ABA
- Must target the behavior of in need of improvement
- Observable, measurable, passes the mannequin test, not doing something is not a behavioral objective
Applied
- 7 Dimensions of ABA
- Socially significant to their daily lives
Technological
- 7 Dimensions of ABA
- Clearly defined procedures that are replicable
Conceptually Systematic
- 7 Dimensions of ABA
- Procedures use the basic principles of behavior analysis
Basic principles of behavior analysis
PER the principles
- Punishment
- Extinction
- Reinforcement
Analytic
- 7 Dimensions of ABA
- A functional relation is demonstrated with enough experimental control and believability
- AKA: Functional relation; Experimentation; Control; Causation
Analytic AKAs
- Functional relation
- Causation
- Experimentation
- Control
Generality
- 7 Dimensions of ABA
- AKA: Generalization
- Behavior change that persist across time, setting, behaviors, and people
Effective
- 7 Dimensions of ABA
- Enough improvement to make a socially significant difference in the individual’s life
- Not theoretical or statistical differences
Mentalism
Explains behavior through an assumption of about the inner and mental dimension as the cause of behavior
- AKA: Spiritual; Psychic; Subjective; Feelings; Attitudes; Processing
- Associated Terminology: Hypothetical structures, explanatory fiction, and circular reasoning
Mentalism AKAs and Associated Terminology
- AKA: Spiritual; Psychic; Subjective; Feelings; Attitudes; Processing
- Associated Terminology: Hypothetical structures, explanatory fiction, and circular reasoning
Hypothetical Construct
- Mentalism
- A presumed, but unobserved process
- Ex. Free will, determination, ego, intelligence…. Cannot be observed or measured.
Explanatory Fiction
- Mentalism
- A mythical UNOBSERVED explanation of a behavior that does not add to our understanding of what causes or maintains the behavior
- Ex. Knowing, wanting, figuring out, understanding
Circular Reasoning
- Mentalism
- The cause and effect are both inferred from the same information
4 Branches of Behavior Analysis
BEAP
- Behaviorism
- EAB (Experimental Analysis of Behavior
- ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis)
- Professional Practice Guided by the Science of Behavior Analysis
Behaviorism
- A Branch of Behavior Analysis
- The philosophical, theoretical, historical, and methodological issues within the science of behavior
- Reaction to mentalism, which had difficulty with predictions and experimental control it in turn gave an environmental explanation of behavior
- AKA: Conceptual Analysis of Behavior; Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism
Behaviorism AKAs
- Conceptual Analysis of Behavior
- Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism
EAB
- A Branch of Behavior Analysis
- Experimental Analysis of Behavior
- Research on the basic principles of behavior and processes conducted mainly in laboratories or controlled settings, with humans and nonhumans
ABA (As a Branch)
- A Branch of Behavior Analysis
- Applied Behavior Analysis
- Applied research that creates the technology for improving research through assessments, observation, data analysis, revisions, and communication of the effects of their work
Professional Practice Guided by the Science of Behavior Analysis
- A Branch of Behavior Analysis
- The dissemination of the field in other fields, not necessarily behavior analyst, but practitioners that use ABA procedures within their professions
History of Behaviorsim
Ivan Pavlov and classical conditioning
- SS Pairing
- CS-CR
- Dogs
John Watson
- 1st person to describe behaviorism as a formal system
- Methodological behaviorism (publicly observable events) – No private events
- Little Albert
B.F. Skinner
- Radical behaviorism!
- Included private events
Behavior from the perspective of radical behaviorism
2 Main Ideas: (1) Darwinian Selectionism & (2) Pragmatism
- Ontogeny = Selection by consequences in the lifetime of the individual
- VS. Phylogeny = Natural selection in throughout the history of species - Developed by Peirce and James
- Stresses that that meaning of an idea lies in its observable practical consequence rather than theory and dogma
