Unit 5 Flashcards
Behavioral contingency
A relationship between responses and the
environmental events preceding and following them.
The three term contingency
Antecedent and consequent contingencies that are
involved in the process of conditioning or learning.
Experimenting
• Control the factors whose effects are under study
(IV), as well as all of the other factors that are not of
interest but that might affect how clearly these effects
are seen (extraneous variables).
• Manage procedures for accurately measuring the
targeted behavior (DV) to see if it changes as the
independent variable condition is systematically
presented or terminated.
• The researcher’s behavior should come under the
control of the subject matter (behavior).
Scientific method
“The established practices of scientific communities
that have evolved over time because of their
effectiveness in studying natural phenomena.”
Independent variable
“Environmental event or events whose presence or
absence is manipulated by the investigator in order to
determine their effects on the dependent variable.”
Dependent variable
“In behavioral research, usually a response class.”
Extraneous variable
“Environmental events that are not of interest to the
researcher but that may influence the participant’s
behavior in ways that obscure the effects of the
independent variable.”
Results of scientific activities
- Facts
- Empirical generalizations
- Laws of nature
Researchers
Try to identify empirical generalizations about the
relationship between behavior and the environment
by arranging special conditions designed to answer
experimental questions.
Practitioners
Focus on changing an individual’s behavior in
targeted ways that solve problems in everyday living
faced by the individual and others.
Characteristics of behavior
• A biological phenomenon (occurs only at the level
of individual organisms).
• It involves movement.
• Results from interactions between the organism
and its environment and is therefore not a part of
or possessed by the organism.
• Must have some impact on the environment.
Environment
“The complex of physical circumstances in which the
organism or referenced part of the organism exists.
This includes any physical event or set of events that
is not part of a behavior and may include other parts
of the organism.”
Natural scientific approach to studying
behavior
- Direct measurement
- Controlled experimentation
- Focus on studying behavior for its own sake
Behavior
“That portion of an organism’s interaction with its
environment that involves movement of some part of
the organism.”
Intraorganism
“A reference to the individual organism as a level of
analysis.”
Unit of analysis (response class)
“A constituent part of a whole phenomenon that
serves as a basis for experimental study. In the study
of behavior, the unit of analysis is the response class.”
Response
“A single instance of a response class.”
Response class
“A collection of individual responses that have
common sources of influence in the environment.
Also called a behavior.”
Goal of developing and phrasing
experimental questions
Developing a question whose subsequent
experiment will generate data more revealing and
useful than produced by any other previous
question
Considerations in choosing a response class
- Compatibility with procedures
- Sensitivity to independent variable
- Influence by extraneous variables
- Dimensional quantities
- Measurability
Most important role of the experimental
question
Guiding the selection of the independent variable(s).
Types of response definitions
Topographical and functional
Topographical response definition
“A definition of a response class based on the form of responses in three-dimensional space.”
Steps in writing a topographical response
definition
Identify why it is necessary to define the behavior in
terms of the form that each individual response takes.
Functional response definition
“A definition of a response class based on the functional relations between its responses and classes of antecedent and consequent environmental events.”
Adding a temporal requirement to a response class definition
• The time between the presentation of a stimulus
and the occurrence of the target behavior
(latency).
• The time requirement to complete a response
(duration).
• The amount of time that must occur between
successive responses (IRT)
Response products
“The tangible or intangible environmental effects of
responding that are more than transitory in
duration.”
Episode
“A relatively brief period of responding defined by
the relatively frequent occurrence of one or more
specific response classes and which is distinguished
from other such bouts by relatively extended periods
in which the target responses do not occur.”
Objectives of data analysis procedures
• Modify initial decisions as the experiment
proceeds
• Identify and describe data that answer the
question
• Discover unanticipated relationships
Risks in interpreting response product data
- Determining authorship
- Assuring 1:1 correspondence
- Lack of contact with topography
Types of group response class definitions
- Collective, equivalent, interactive
- Collective, equivalent, noninteractive
- Collective, nonequivalent
Steps in defining a response class
• Consider the characteristics of the behavior
• Decide on the type of definition needed
• Compose a written draft definition
• Try out the draft definition by using it to measure
responding. Modify as necessary and try out the
modifications.
• Determine how the definition will guide measurement
procedures.
• Start the experiment or intervention but be ready to
modify the definition further if necessary.”
Description
“Attaching a number to an event to distinguish it
from other events.”
Comparison
“Using descriptions of multiple individual events to
identify differences among them.”
Prediction
“Making repeated descriptions of an event taken over
time in order to predict the outcome of a future
measurement.”
Requirements for setting up human
observation
• Determine task requirements that observers will
have to meet.
• Consider how observer demands can be
minimized.
• Select and recruit observers
• Design and implement observer training program
• Establish procedures for evaluating observer
performance
Guidelines to minimize the problems
associated with discontinuous measurement
procedures
• Interpreting the data with respect to its
limitations
• Using discontinuous measurement only when
continuous observation is not possible
• Limiting the amount of non-observation time
during sessions.
Absolute unit
“A unit of measurement whose value is defined I a
fixed or unvarying manner independently of the
phenomenon being measured.”
Direct measurement
“Measurement practices in which the events
measured are the same as those about which
conclusions will be drawn.”
Indirect measurement
“Measurement practices in which the events
measured are not the same as those about which
conclusions will be drawn.”
Complete observation
“A schedule of observation that allows detection of
all responses in the defined class.”
Incomplete observation
“A schedule of observation that samples from the
population of responses in the defined class.”
Continuous observation
“Observation procedures in which all target
responses can be detected during observation
periods.”
Observed values
“Values resulting from observation and recording
procedures used to collect the data for a study.”
Discontinuous observation
“Observation procedures in which all target
responses are not necessarily detected and
recorded.”
True values
“Values resulting from special observation and
recording procedures that are somewhat different
from those used to collect the data being evaluated
and that involve special efforts to minimize error.”
Accuracy
“The extent to which observed values approximate
to events that actually occurred.”
Procedure for assessing accuracy
Obtain true values and compare with observed
values
Reliability
“The stability of the relationship between observed
values and the events that actually occurred.”
Procedures for assessing reliability
• Obtain true values and compare with observed
values
• Present observer with sample sample multiple
times.
Validity
“The extent to which observed values represent the
events they are supposed to represent and that will
be the focus of interpretation.”
Procedures for assessing validity
• Arrange for direct measures of target behavior
on a periodic basis
• Collect corroborative evidence consistent with
assumptions of validity
Interobserver agreement
“A procedure for enhancing the believability of data
that involves comparing simultaneous but
independently observations from two or more
observers. Provides no information about accuracy
or reliability.”
Procedures for determining interobserver
agreement
• Select and train primary and secondary observers
• Set up independent observation procedures
• Select agreement formula and calculate
agreement
Behavioral variability
“Variations in features of responding within a single
response class, as well as variations in summary
measures of that class.”
Levels of summarizing variability
• Displaying the distribution of individual responses
over time
• Displaying summaries of response measures of
each observation period
• Displaying summaries of response measures
across multiple observation periods.
Functions of behavioral variability
• Motivates and guides researcher curiosities
• Guides decision-making as a study proceeds
• Provides the foundation for interpreting
experiments.
Experimental design
“Arrangement of control and treatment conditions
that permit comparisons that help to identify the
effects of the independent variable on the
dependent variable.”
Within-subject design
“A method of arranging comparisons between
control and experimental conditions in which each
subject is exposed to both control and experimental
conditions in sequence so that the data represent
the performance of individual participants.”
Steady-state strategy
“An approach to making experimental comparisons
that involves measuring responding for each
participant repeatedly under each condition in an
effort to assess and manage extraneous influences
and thereby obtain a stable pattern of responding
that represents the full effects of each condition.”
Steady state
“A pattern of responding that shows relatively little
variation in its measured dimensional quantities over
some period of time.”
Transition state
“A pattern of responding involving change from one
steady state to a different steady state.”
Transitory state
“A pattern of responding involving a deviation from
a steady state that ends in a return to the same
steady state.”
