Ch. 2 Flashcards

Question

latency

Answer 1

of a beh is the length of time required for a beh to begin.

Answer 2

beh of an athlete who specializes in the 100 meter sprint amount of time it takes to commence running after hearing starting pistol = latency amount of time it takes to complete the race (start to finish) = speed the total amount of time spent running each day (independent of how fast they're running) = duration

Answer 3

the measurement of whether a beh occurs during each interval within a series of continuous intervals. - Major advantage is that don't have to record every single response. - Useful b/c its difficult to determine the point at ehich the target beh starts and stops. EX: measure amount of aggressive beh in a classroom, record the class, get ppl to note whether an aggressive incident occurred within each 10-min interval. (not interested in how many agress incidents occurred in each interval, only with number of intervals in which at least 1 agress incident occurred. % of intervals during at least 1 agress incident occurred is overall measure of the beh

Answer 4

a variant of interval recording, one measures wjether a beh occurs during each interval within a series of discontinuous intervals (intervals paced apart).

Answer 5

is the physical form of the beh. Ex: rather than record the rate at which a rat presses a lever, we might observe how it presses the lever, such as it if uses its left or right paw.

Answer 6

any beh in which responses can be categorized as right tor wrong. Ex: how many errors a student makes on an exam is a traditional method of determining how well the student knows the material.

Answer 7

which is the extent to which two or more independent observers agree in their observations of the occurrence of a beh. of times observers agree / total # of intervals 80% acceptable min, 90% preferred

Answer 8

involves gathering info about a beh and the circumstances within which it occurs. doesn't involve manipulation of any variables. includes survey approach --> ppl answer series of questions and case study --> intensive study of an individual

Answer 9

a descriptive method, in which one systematically observes and records the occurrence of a bah in its natural environment. researchers will define their variables precisely and make their observations in a consistent and uniform matter. problem is it often leaves us uncertain as to which variables affect the occurrence of the beh : i.e. it is difficult to determine the cause and effect (functional) relationship.

Answer 10

this is commonly used approach in ethology (now known as behvioural ecology), a branch of zoology that focuses on the study of inherited beh patterns in animals. such patterns have presumably evolved to help the animal cope with certain aspects of its natural envrio. for this reason, inherited beh patterns are usually best studied within the nat envrio (or close to it), b/c animal might not display the beh if removed from it.

Answer 11

one or more indep variables are systematically varied to determine their effect on a dep variable. any diffs in beh across diff conditions of the experiment are presumed to be caused by the diffs in the indep variable. 2 types 1. group desgin 2. single subject desgin

Answer 12

in which researchers manipulate 1 or more indep variables across groups of subjects. are good for assessing the average effects of certain variables. Cause and effect conclusions are possible due to strict control over the envrio that allows experimenter to rule out alt explanations. Random assignment. drawbacks, requires large # of subjects, not suited for investigating the effect of a certain treatment on a particular individual, focus on average performance of all subjects, and they are often analyzed at the end the experiment = no flexibility. control group design --> individuals are randomly assigned to either an experimental (treatment) group or control group. experi grp is exposed to certain manipulations or treatment, while control is not. Factorial design --> one examines the effects of 2 or more indep variables (or factors) across groups of subjects. comparative design --> in which species is used as a quasi-ID variable. often used to test evolutionary hypotheses regarding the diffs in selective pressures for a particular trait between species.

Answer 13

require only 1 or few subjects to conduct an entire experiment. also known as single case or small-n designs

Answer 14

in this, the beh is a baseline condition is compared to beh in a treatment condition. 1st step = measure baseline of number of times beh occurred. the baseline of a beh is the normal freq of the beh that occurs before some type of intervention. should last several days-2 weeks. (monitoring beh can sometimes result in reactivity, in which the beh improves a bit). continue baseline until beh is stable.

Answer 15

Which consists of repeated alterations between a baseline phase and treatment phase. If the behaviour systematically changes each time, the treatment instituted and later withdrawn, then a functional relationship has been demonstrated between the treatment and the behaviour. It allows the entire experiment to be conducted with a single subject. Ideal for determining the effectiveness of a behavioural intervention for a particular person. One can simply eyeball the graph to see if the treatment is working and there doesn’t have to be statistical tests to determine if the change in behaviour is meaningful Each subject in the study constitutes an entire experiment, and each additional subject constitute a replication of that experiment. Therefore, finding the same pattern of results for all the subjects exposed to these procedures would indicate that the results of the experiment are probably valid, and have a good generality. Disadvantage is that if the behaviour doesn’t revert to its original baseline when the treatment is withdrawn, we will be left wondering if the treatment was effective. Another disadvantage is that the design is inappropriate for a situation in which the treatment is intended to, produce a long lasting or permanent change to your behavior, such that you would not expect to see a reversal. Ex: math. Another disadvantage is that in some circumstances it’d be ethically inappropriate to remove a treatment once some improvement has been obtained. Ex: drug addiction

Answer 16

If the treatment is an effective, rather than withdrawing from the treatment, and returning to baseline, a better strategy, would be to implement a new treatment and see if it produces a stronger effect, the new phase would be called C. If the new phase appears to be successful, subject can return to baseline for a week, and then return back to the treatment to confirm effectiveness. this is called an ABCAC design.

Answer 17

A treatment is instituted at successive points in time for two or more persons, settings or behaviours This design is therefore inappropriate for situations in which the treatment is likely to produce a permanent change in behavior, or in which it may be unethical to withdraw the treatment once some improvement has been achieved Limitations - more than one person, setting or behaviour to watch the treatment can be applied. - The treatment effect might generalize across the different settings or behaviours before the treatment is instituted within those settings or behaviors. Ex: multiple baseline across persons design —> at the end of the first week. One person begins the treatment while the other 2 carry on with the baseline. At the end of the second week, The second person begins the treatment. While the third person carries on with the baseline. At the end of the third week, the third person also begins the treatment. Ex: multiple baseline across settings design —> rates of smoking in three different settings. After a week of baseline. Self punishing for smoking but only at work. Second week self punishing for smoking at home and at work. Third week, start punishing smoking while at the coffee shop. Ex: multiple baseline across behaviours design —> implement treatment at different times for each behaviour. good alternative to reversal design, in that we do not have to worry about withdrawing the treatment to determine that it is effective.

Answer 18

In which the effect of the treatment is demonstrated by how closely the behaviour matches a criterion or standard, that is systematically altered. Ex: set a certain criterion for an allowable number of cigarettes that is slightly less than the average number of cigarettes smoked during the baseline. If successful for three consecutive days, reduce the allowable limit by two cigarettes, and repeat this process, until the eventual goal of no smoking has been achieved. Appropriate when behaviour is intended to change, gradually buy some specified amount. Important that behaviour closely match the changing criteria otherwise it will be difficult to determine if the change in behaviour is the result of the treatment or of some other factor Can be greatly strengthened by including a period In which the criteria suddenly change in the opposite direction. If the behaviour continues to track the criteria closely, even when they change direction then we will have obtained a strong evidence for the effectiveness of the treatment in a sense we have created a change in criterion design that incorporates aspects of a reversal design. Ex: number of cigarettes allowed would sometimes be raised for a few days.

Answer 19

In experimental research, the control group design is often employed in studies of classical conditioning, while the reversal design (or some variant of it) is often employed in studies of operant conditioning

Answer 20

One randomly alternates between conditions often on a day by day basis, independent of the level of responding. This might, for example be a useful design for determining whether eating certain foods before bed is the cause of a persons, bad dreams, or nightmares.

Answer 21

Are the ability to control their genetic makeup and their learning history. Knowledge of an animals, genetic make up, can help us eliminate, or assess the effects of inherited differences on learning and behaviour. Animals bred for research have had somewhat identical experiences during their upbringing, along with a fairly limited learning history Researchers are often able to more strictly control their experimental environment for animals than humans. This is especially important in behavioural research in which we are trying to isolate and manipulate certain aspects of the environment to determine their effect on behavior. Some research cannot ethically be conducted with humans. This is particularly the case with experiment manipulations that are potentially adverse or harmful.

Ch. 2 Flashcards

(45 cards)