chapter 1 Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis

Question 1

It is a scientific approach for discovering environmental variables that reliably influence socially significant behavior and for developing a technology of behavior change that takes practical advantage of those discoveries

Answer 1

ABA

Question 2

a systematic approach for seeking and organizing knowledge about the natural world.

Answer 2

Science

Question 3

description,
prediction, and
control

Answer 3

3 levels of scientific understanding

Question 4

Descriptive knowledge consists of a collection of facts about the observed events that can be quantified, classified, and examined for possible relations with other known facts—a necessary and important activity for any scientific discipline.

Answer 4

Description

Question 5

Repeated observations reveal that two events consistently covary with each other.

When systematic covariation between two events is found, this relationship—termed a correlation—can be used to predict the relative probability that one event will occur, based on the presence of the other event.

Answer 5

Prediction

Question 6

Highest, level of scientific understanding.

A functional relation exists when a well-controlled experiment reveals that a specific change in one event (the dependent variable) can reliably be produced by specific manipulations of another event (the independent variable), and that the change in the dependent variable was unlikely to be the result of other extraneous factors (confounding variables).

Answer 6

Control

Question 7

Determinism, empiricism, experimentation, replication, parsimony, and philosophic doubt

Answer 7

6 attitudes of science

Question 8

The universe is a lawful and orderly place in which all phenomena occur as the result of other events.

Answer 8

Determinism

Question 9

The practices of objective observation of the phenomena of interest.

demands objective observation based on thorough description, systematic and repeated measurement, and precise quantification of the phenomena of interest.

Answer 9

Empiricism

Question 10

an experiment is a carefully conducted comparison of some measure of the phenomenon of interest (the dependent variable) under two or more different conditions in which only one factor at a time (the independent variable) differs from one condition to another.

Answer 10

Experimentation

Question 11

The repeating of experiments.

It is the primary method with which scientists determine the reliability and usefulness of their findings and discover their mistakes.

Is the primary reason science is a self-correcting enterprise that eventually gets it right.

Answer 11

Replication

Question 12

all simple, logical explanations for the phenomenon under investigation be ruled out, experimentally or conceptually, before more complex or abstract explanations are considered.

Answer 12

Parsimony

Question 13

The scientist to continually question the truthfulness of what is regarded as fact.

evaluates continually its effectiveness once the practice has been implemented.

Good scientists maintain a healthy level of skepticism.

Answer 13

Philosophic doubt

Question 14

CASE

Conceptual Analysis of Behavior
ABA
Behavior Service Delivery
Experimental Analysis of Behavior

Answer 14

4 Branches of Behavior Analysis

Question 15

The philosophy of the science of behavior

Environmental (i.e., not mentalistic) explanation of behavior.

Answer 15

Behaviorism

Question 16

An approach to explaining behavior that assumes an inner dimension exists and causes behavior.

aka (Spiritual, psychic, subjective, feelings, Attitudes, processing)

Answer 16

Mentalism

Question 17

1. Hypothetical Construct
2. Explanation Fiction
3. Circular Reasoning

Answer 17

Mentalism Terminology

Question 18

Behavioral, Applied, Technological, Conceptually Systematic, Analytical, Generality, Effective

Answer 18

7 DIMENSIONS OF ABA

Question 19

The behavior chosen for study must be the behavior in need of improvement.

The behavior must be measurable; the precise and reliable measurement of behavior is just as critical in applied research as it is in basic research.

Answer 19

Behavioral

Question 20

To meet this criterion, the researcher or practitioner must select behaviors to change that are socially significant for participants: social, language, academic, daily living, self-care, vocational, and/or recreation and leisure behaviors that improve the day-to-day life experience of the participants and/or affect their significant others (parents, teachers, peers, employers) in such a way that they behave more positively with and toward the participant.

Answer 20

Applied

Question 21

Its operative procedures are identified and described with sufficient detail and clarity “such that a reader has a fair chance of replicating the application with the same results”.

Answer 21

Technological

Question 22

The procedures for changing behavior and any interpretations of how or why those procedures were effective should be described in terms of the relevant principle(s) from which they were derived.

Answer 22

Conceptually Systematic

Question 23

A behavior change has __________ if it lasts over time, appears in environments other than the one in which the intervention that initially produced it was implemented, and/or spreads to other behaviors not directly treated by the intervention.

Answer 23

Generality

Question 24

Behavioral techniques must improve the behavior under investigation to a practical degree.

The extent to which changes in the target behaviors result in noticeable changes in the reasons those behaviors were selected for change originally.

Answer 24

Effective

Question 25

Behaviorism attempts to explain all behavior, including public and private events such as thinking and feeling.

Answer 25

Radical behaviorism

Question 26

Is a philosophical position that considers behavioral events that “cannot” be publicly observed to be outside the realm of science.

Answer 26

Methodological behaviorism

Question 27

Demonstrated a functional relation between the manipulated events and a reliable change in some measurable dimension of the targeted behavior.

the experimenter must be able to control the occurrence and nonoccurrence of the behavior.

The ultimate issue is believability

Answer 27

Analytic