week 1 Flashcards
determinism
the assumption that the universe is a lawful and orderly place in which phenomena occur in relation to other events and not accidentally
parsimony
the practice of ruling out simple, logical explanations experimentally, before considering more complex or abstract explanations
philosophical doubt
an attitude that the truthfulness and validity of all scientific theory and knowledge should be continually questioned
functional relation
a verbal statement summarizing the results of an experiment that describes the occurrence of the phenomena under study as a function of the operation of one or more specified and controlled variables in the experiment in which a specific change in one event can be produced by manipulating another event, and that the change in the dependent variable was unlikely the result of other factors
experimentation
controlled comparison of some measure of the phenomenon of interest under two or more different conditions in which only one factor at a time differs from one condition to another
pragmatism
a philosophical position that he truth value of a statement is determined by how well it promotes effective action
empiricism
the objective observation and measurement of phenomena of interest
behaviorism
the philosophy of a science of behavior; there are various forms of behaviorism
radical behaviorism
A form of behaviorism that attempts to understand all human behavior (including private and public events such as thoughts and feelings), in terms of controlling variables in the history of the person and the species
applied behavior analysis (ABA)
the science in which tactics derived from the principles of behavior are applied to improve socially significant behavior and experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for the improvement in behavior
replication
repeating conditions within an experiment to determine the reliability of effects and increase internal validity
repeating whole experiments to determine the generality of previous experiments to other subjects, settings, and behaviors
science
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 philosophic doubt as its guiding conscience
explanatory fiction
a fictitious or hypothetical variable that often takes form of another name for the observed phenomenon it claims to explain and contributes nothing to a functional account or understanding of the phenomenon (such as “intelligence” or “cognitive awareness:)
functional analysis
denotes demonstrations of functional relations between environmental variables and behavior. in the context of determining the purposes of problem behavior for an individual, entails experimentally arranging antecedents and consequences representing those in the persons natural routines so that their separate effects on problem behavior can be observed and measured
experimental analysis of behavior (EAB)
a natural science approach to the study of behavior as a subject matter in its own right founded by B.F. Skinner; 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
