Unit 5

Question 1

Behavioral contingency

Answer 1

A relationship between responses and the

environmental events preceding and following them.

Question 2

The three term contingency

Answer 2

Antecedent and consequent contingencies that are

involved in the process of conditioning or learning.

Question 3

Experimenting

Answer 3

• 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).

Question 4

Scientific method

Answer 4

“The established practices of scientific communities
that have evolved over time because of their
effectiveness in studying natural phenomena.”

Question 5

Independent variable

Answer 5

“Environmental event or events whose presence or
absence is manipulated by the investigator in order to
determine their effects on the dependent variable.”

Question 6

Dependent variable

Answer 6

“In behavioral research, usually a response class.”

Question 7

Extraneous variable

Answer 7

“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.”

Question 8

Results of scientific activities

Answer 8

• Facts
• Empirical generalizations
• Laws of nature

Question 9

Researchers

Answer 9

Try to identify empirical generalizations about the
relationship between behavior and the environment
by arranging special conditions designed to answer
experimental questions.

Question 10

Practitioners

Answer 10

Focus on changing an individual’s behavior in
targeted ways that solve problems in everyday living
faced by the individual and others.

Question 11

Characteristics of behavior

Answer 11

• 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.

Question 12

Environment

Answer 12

“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.”

Question 13

Natural scientific approach to studying

behavior

Answer 13

• Direct measurement
• Controlled experimentation
• Focus on studying behavior for its own sake

Question 14

Behavior

Answer 14

“That portion of an organism’s interaction with its
environment that involves movement of some part of
the organism.”

Question 15

Intraorganism

Answer 15

“A reference to the individual organism as a level of

analysis.”

Question 16

Unit of analysis (response class)

Answer 16

“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.”

Question 17

Response

Answer 17

“A single instance of a response class.”

Question 18

Response class

Answer 18

“A collection of individual responses that have
common sources of influence in the environment.
Also called a behavior.”

Question 19

Goal of developing and phrasing

experimental questions

Answer 19

Developing a question whose subsequent
experiment will generate data more revealing and
useful than produced by any other previous
question

Question 20

Considerations in choosing a response class

Answer 20

• Compatibility with procedures
• Sensitivity to independent variable
• Influence by extraneous variables
• Dimensional quantities
• Measurability

Question 21

Most important role of the experimental

question

Answer 21

Guiding the selection of the independent variable(s).

Question 22

Types of response definitions

Answer 22

Topographical and functional

Question 23

Topographical response definition

Answer 23

“A definition of a response class based on the form of
responses in three-dimensional space.”

Question 24

Steps in writing a topographical response

definition

Answer 24

Identify why it is necessary to define the behavior in

terms of the form that each individual response takes.

Question 25

Functional response definition

Answer 25

“A definition of a response class based on the
functional relations between its responses and
classes of antecedent and consequent environmental
events.”

Question 26

Adding a temporal requirement to a
response class definition

Answer 26

• 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)

Question 27

Response products

Answer 27

“The tangible or intangible environmental effects of
responding that are more than transitory in
duration.”

Question 28

Episode

Answer 28

“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.”

Question 29

Objectives of data analysis procedures

Answer 29

• Modify initial decisions as the experiment
proceeds
• Identify and describe data that answer the
question
• Discover unanticipated relationships

Question 30

Risks in interpreting response product data

Answer 30

• Determining authorship
• Assuring 1:1 correspondence
• Lack of contact with topography

Question 31

Types of group response class definitions

Answer 31

• Collective, equivalent, interactive
• Collective, equivalent, noninteractive
• Collective, nonequivalent

Question 32

Steps in defining a response class

Answer 32

• 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.”

Question 33

Description

Answer 33

“Attaching a number to an event to distinguish it

from other events.”

Question 34

Comparison

Answer 34

“Using descriptions of multiple individual events to

identify differences among them.”

Question 35

Prediction

Answer 35

“Making repeated descriptions of an event taken over
time in order to predict the outcome of a future
measurement.”

Question 36

Requirements for setting up human

observation

Answer 36

• 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

Question 37

Guidelines to minimize the problems
associated with discontinuous measurement
procedures

Answer 37

• 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.

Question 38

Absolute unit

Answer 38

“A unit of measurement whose value is defined I a
fixed or unvarying manner independently of the
phenomenon being measured.”

Question 39

Direct measurement

Answer 39

“Measurement practices in which the events
measured are the same as those about which
conclusions will be drawn.”

Question 40

Indirect measurement

Answer 40

“Measurement practices in which the events
measured are not the same as those about which
conclusions will be drawn.”

Question 41

Complete observation

Answer 41

“A schedule of observation that allows detection of

all responses in the defined class.”

Question 42

Incomplete observation

Answer 42

“A schedule of observation that samples from the

population of responses in the defined class.”

Question 43

Continuous observation

Answer 43

“Observation procedures in which all target
responses can be detected during observation
periods.”

Question 44

Observed values

Answer 44

“Values resulting from observation and recording

procedures used to collect the data for a study.”

Question 45

Discontinuous observation

Answer 45

“Observation procedures in which all target
responses are not necessarily detected and
recorded.”

Question 46

True values

Answer 46

“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.”

Question 47

Accuracy

Answer 47

“The extent to which observed values approximate

to events that actually occurred.”

Question 48

Procedure for assessing accuracy

Answer 48

Obtain true values and compare with observed

values

Question 49

Reliability

Answer 49

“The stability of the relationship between observed

values and the events that actually occurred.”

Question 50

Procedures for assessing reliability

Answer 50

• Obtain true values and compare with observed
values
• Present observer with sample sample multiple
times.

Question 51

Validity

Answer 51

“The extent to which observed values represent the
events they are supposed to represent and that will
be the focus of interpretation.”

Question 52

Procedures for assessing validity

Answer 52

• Arrange for direct measures of target behavior
on a periodic basis
• Collect corroborative evidence consistent with
assumptions of validity

Question 53

Interobserver agreement

Answer 53

“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.”

Question 54

Procedures for determining interobserver

agreement

Answer 54

• Select and train primary and secondary observers
• Set up independent observation procedures
• Select agreement formula and calculate
agreement

Question 55

Behavioral variability

Answer 55

“Variations in features of responding within a single
response class, as well as variations in summary
measures of that class.”

Question 56

Levels of summarizing variability

Answer 56

• 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.

Question 57

Functions of behavioral variability

Answer 57

• Motivates and guides researcher curiosities
• Guides decision-making as a study proceeds
• Provides the foundation for interpreting
experiments.

Question 58

Experimental design

Answer 58

“Arrangement of control and treatment conditions
that permit comparisons that help to identify the
effects of the independent variable on the
dependent variable.”

Question 59

Within-subject design

Answer 59

“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.”

Question 60

Steady-state strategy

Answer 60

“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.”

Question 61

Steady state

Answer 61

“A pattern of responding that shows relatively little
variation in its measured dimensional quantities over
some period of time.”

Question 62

Transition state

Answer 62

“A pattern of responding involving change from one

steady state to a different steady state.”

Question 63

Transitory state

Answer 63

“A pattern of responding involving a deviation from
a steady state that ends in a return to the same
steady state.”