Exam 1 Flashcards
(26 cards)
Stimulus
Any event that can potentially influence behavior
Behavior
Any activity of an organism that can be observed or somehow measured
Learning
A relatively permanent change in behavior that results from some type of experience
Establishing Operation
A procedure that increases the appetitiveness or aversiveness of a stimuli
Operant conditioning
Goal directed or “voluntary” changes in behavior
Classical conditioning
Reflexive or “involuntary” changes in behavior
Radical Behaviorism
- A type of behaviorism that emphasizes the influence of the environment of overt behavior
- Rejects the use of internal events to explain behavior
- Views thoughts and feelings as behaviors that themselves need to be explained
Covert behavior
Behavior that can be subjectively perceived only by the person performing the behavior.
*Also known as “private events” or “private behavior”
Contingency
A predictive relationship between two events such that the occurrence of one event predicts the probable occurrence of the other
Baseline
The normal frequency of a behavior prior to intervention
Aversive stimulus
An event that an organism will avoid
Appetitive stimulus
An event that an organism will seek out
Nativism
The assumption that a person’s characteristics are largely inborn
*Also called “the nature perspective”
Empiricism
The assumption that behavior patterns are mostly learned rather than inherited
*Also called “the nurture perspective”
What is Descartes’ Philosophy and it’s assumptions
- Mind-body dualism
- Mind-body dualism assumes that we have a body that functions like a machine and produces involuntary, reflexive behaviors in response to external stimuli; As well as a mind that has free will and produces behaviors we regard as voluntary
- Descartes believed that only humans possessed free will and that the behaviors of non-human animals is entirely reflexive.
Types of research designs
- Group designs
- Single-Subject design
- Reversal design
- Multiple baseline design
Group design research
A type of experimental research design in which one manipulates one or more independent variables across groups of subjects
Single-subject design
A research design that requires only one or a few subjects in order to conduct an experiment
Reversal design
A design that involves repeated alterations between a baseline period and an intervention.
Multiple Baseline design
A design in which a treatment is instituted at successive points in time for two or more persons, settings, or behaviors
Descriptive research
A type of research that involves gathering information about a behavior and the circumstances within which it occurs
*Does not involve the manipulation of variables
Experimental research
A type of research in which one or more independent variables are systematically varied to determine their effect on an independent variable
*Does involve the manipulation of variables
Weakness of a control group design
- This design requires a large number of subjects
- Not well suited for investigating the effects of a certain treatment on a particular individual
- Little attention is given to the performance of individual subjects
Weaknesses of an AB comparison design
This design does not control for the possibility that some other event occurred at the same time that the treatment was implemented and it was in fact this other event that influenced the change in behavior
