Unit 6 terms

Question 1

Analytic

Answer 1

A dimension of ABA that means that analysts work to demonstrate experimental control over the occurrence and nonoccurrence of the behavior, or functional relations.

Question 2

Applied

Answer 2

A dimension of ABA that means that analysts focus on changing behaviors that socially significant and have immediate importance to the client.

Question 3

Aversive stimulus

Answer 3

A stimulus change or condition that functions to evoke a behavior that has terminated it in the past, as a punisher when presented following behavior, and/or as a reinforcer when withdrawn following behavior.

Question 4

Behavior change tactic

Answer 4

A technologically consistent behavior modification method that possesses sufficient generality across subjects, settings, and/or behaviors to warrant its codification and dissemination.

Question 5

Behavioral

Answer 5

A dimension of ABA that means that precise measurement is collected on the actual behaviors that require improvement, and documentation needs to be taken to show that it was the client’s behavior that changed.

Question 6

Behavioral contrast

Answer 6

The phenomenon in which a change in one component of a multiple schedule that increases or decreases the rate of responding on that component is accompanied by a change in the response rate in the opposite direction on the other, unaltered component of the schedule.

Question 7

Challenging behavior

Answer 7

Disruptive behaviors which represent a major obstacle to habilitation. Severe aggression, self-injurious behavior, and violent tantrums are some of the behaviors that significantly restrict the lives of those who engage in them.

Question 8

Conceptually systematic

Answer 8

A dimension of ABA that means that the procedures used to change behaviors are derived from basic principles of behavior.

Question 9

Conditioned punisher

Answer 9

A previously neutral stimulus change that functions as a punisher because of prior pairing with one or more punishers.

Question 10

Conditioned reinforcer

Answer 10

A previously neutral stimulus that has been paired a number of times with an established reinforcer and consequently functions as a reinforcer itself.

Question 11

Effective

Answer 11

A dimension of ABA that means that the behaviors changed improve to produce practical results for the client.

Question 12

Experimental analysis of behavior

Answer 12

A natural science approach to the study of behavior as a subject matter in its own right founded by B.F. Skinner. Its methodological features include rate of response as a basic dependent variable, repeated or continuous measurement of clearly defined response classes, within-subject experimental comparisons instead of group design, visual analysis of graphed data instead of statistical inference, and an emphasis on describing functional relations between behavior and controlling variables in the environment over formal theory testing.

Question 13

Generality

Answer 13

A dimension of ABA that means that behavior changes last over time, appear in novel environments, and spread to other behavior.

Question 14

Generalized conditioned punisher

Answer 14

A stimulus change that, as a result of having been paired with many other punishers, functions as punishment under most conditions because it is free from the control of motivating conditions for specific types of punishment.

Question 15

Mentalism

Answer 15

An approach to explaining behavior that assumes that an “inner” dimension exists that differs from a behavioral dimension, and that phenomena in this dimension either directly cause or at least mediate some forms of behavior.

Question 16

Negative punishment

Answer 16

A response behavior is followed immediately by the removal of a stimulus, or a decrease in the intensity of the stimulus, that decreases the future frequency of similar responses under similar conditions.

Question 17

Negative reinforcement

Answer 17

A type of reinforcement in which the occurrence of the behavior is followed by the removal or avoidance of an aversive stimulus.

Question 18

Positive punishment

Answer 18

A behavior is followed immediately by the presentation of a stimulus that decreases the future frequency of the behavior.

Question 19

Positive reinforcement

Answer 19

A type of reinforcement in which, contingent on the behavior, a stimulus or event is presented and the probability of the behavior increases in the future.

Question 20

Principle of behavior

Answer 20

A statement describing a functional relation between behavior and one or more of its controlling variables with generality across organisms, species, settings, behavior, and time.

Question 21

Punisher

Answer 21

A stimulus or event that, when presented contingent on the occurrence of a behavior, decreases the future probability of the behavior.

Question 22

Punishment

Answer 22

The process in which a behavior is followed by a consequence that results in a decrease in the future probability of the behavior.

Question 23

Radical behaviorism

Answer 23

A thoroughgoing form of behaviorism that attempts to understand all human behavior-including private events such as thoughts and feelings-in terms of controlling variables in the history of the person and species.

Question 24

Science

Answer 24

A systematic approach to the understanding of natural phenomena that relies on determinism as its fundamental assumption, empiricism as its primary rule, experimentation as its basic strategy, replication as a requirement for believability, parsimony as a value, and philosophical doubt as its guiding conscience.

Question 25

Technological

Answer 25

A dimension of ABA that means that the written descriptions for all ABA procedures used in a study are described in enough detail that they can be replicated.

Question 26

Three-term contingency

Answer 26

The antecedent that is present when the behavior occurs, the behavior, and the reinforcing consequence.

Question 27

Unconditioned negative reinforcer

Answer 27

A stimulus that functions as a negative reinforcer as a result of the evolutionary development of the species.

Question 28

Unconditioned punisher

Answer 28

A stimulus change that decreases the frequency of any behavior that immediately precedes it, irrespective of the organism’s learning history with the stimulus.

Question 29

Unconditioned reinforcer

Answer 29

A stimulus change that increases the frequency of any behavior that immediately precedes it, irrespective of the organism’s learning history with the stimulus.