Chapter 1: Definitions and Characteristics ABA Flashcards
the science of Human Behavior 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.
Applied Behavior Analysis
The view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with 1 but not 2
Behaviorism
The philosophical theory that every human act or decision is the inevitable result of specific antecedent or consequence influences (physical, psychological, environmental) that are independent of human will.
Determinism
The objective observation of the phenomena of interest, objective observations are independent of the individual prejudices tastes, and private opinions of the scientist… results are objective in that they are open to anyone observation and do not depend on the subjective belief.
Empiricism
the act of conducting a controlled test or investigation
Experiment
A natural science approach to the study of behavior founded by BF Skinner. Emphasis on describing function relations between behavior and controlling variables in the environment over formal theory testing,
Experimental Analysis of Behavior
A fictitious or hypothetical variable that often takes the 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 as explanations for why an organism pushes the lever when the light is on and food is available but does not push the lever when the light is off and no food is available.
Explanatory Fiction
A verbal statement summarizing the results of an experiment (or group of related experiments) that describe 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 (the dependent variable) can be produced by manipulating another event (the independent variable) and that change in the dependent variable was unlikely the result of other factors (confounding variables) in behavior analysis expressed as b=f(x), (x2)… where b is the behavior and x1, x2 are environmental variables of which the behavior is a function.
Functional Relation
A presumed but unobserved process or entity- e.g. Freud’s id, ego, and superego
Hypothetical Construct
An approach to explaining behavior that assumes that a mental, or “inner” dimension exists that differs from a behavioral dimension and that phenomena in this dimension either directly cause or at least mediate some forms fo behavior if not all.
Mentalisim
A philosophical position that views behavioral events that cannot be publicly observed as outside the realm of science.
Methodological Behaviorism
The practice of ruling out simple, logical explanations, experimentally or conceptually before considering more complex or abstract explanations
Parsimony
An attitude that the truthfulness and validity of all scientific theory and knowledge should be continually questioned.
Philosophic Doubt
A form of behaviorism that attempts to understand all behavior, including private events such as thoughts and feelings in terms of controlling variables in the history of the person/ ontogeny and the species/ phylogeny
Radical Behaviorism
repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances.
Replication
