Unit 1 Flashcards
Behavior
Everything that an organism does.
The interaction of the muscles, glands, or other parts of a live organism with the environment
Public behavior
Behavior that can be observed by others, even though special instrumentation may be required at times
Private behavior
Behavior that cannot be observed by others; it is only accessible to the organism who is engaging in the private event
Response
A specific instance of behavior
Property
A fundamental quality of a natural phenomenon
Response cycle
The beginning, middle, and end of a response
Fundamental properties
Temporal Locus
Temporal extent Repeatability
Temporal locus
A single response occurs in time
Temporal extent
A response occupies time
Repeatability
A response can reoccur
Dimensional quantities
A quantifiable aspect of a property
Latency
The amount of time between a stimulus and response
Duration
The amount of time between the beginning and the end of the response cycle
Countability
The number of responses for number of cycles of the response class
Inter-response time (IRT)
The time between two successive responses
Rate
The ratio of the number of responses over some period of time
Celeration
Change in one of the other dimensional quantities of behavior over time
Topography
Configuration, form, or shape of a response
Function
The effects or results of a response on the environment
Response class
A grouping of individual actions or responses that share those commonalities included in the class definition
Topographical response class (TRC)
A collection of two or more responses which share a common form
Functional response class
A collection of two or more topographically different responses that all have the same effect on the environment, usually producing a specific class of reinforcers
Environment
The total constellation of stimuli and conditions which can affect behavior
Environmental context
Consist of the situation (set of circumstances) in which behavior occurs at any given time
Stimulus
A change in the environment which can affect behavior
Antecedent
A stimulus which precedes, that is, occurs before a response
Consequence
A stimulus which follows, that is, occurs after a response
Stimulus class
A group of stimuli that share specified common elements along formal, temporal, and/or functional dimensions
Functional relation
Changes in an antecedent or consequent stimulus class consistently alter a dimension of a response class
Behavior analysis
A natural science that studies functional relations between behavior and environmental events.
