Exam Flashcards
(134 cards)
1
Q
When is a behavior change said to have generality?
A
A behavior change is said to have generality to the extent that the following occur:
(a) stimulus generalization: the trained behavior transfers from the training situation(s) to the target situation(s) (which is usually the natural environment)
(b) response generalization: training leads to the development of new behavior that has not been specifically trained
(c) behavior maintenance: the trained behavior persists in the target situation(s) over time.
2
Q
Define stimulus generalization, and give an example that is not in this chapter.
A
stimulus generalization refers to the procedure of reinforcing a response in the presence of a stimulus or situation, and the effect of the response becoming more probable in the presence of another stimulus or situation. The more similar the training and target situations are, the more stimulus generalization there will be between them. Ex: Tessy the dance teacher awarded Hanna with a sticker and praise at the end of class for keeping good posture during her routine and turning out her feet, this resulted in Hanna generalizing her behaviour of having good posture and turning out her feet during competitions and performances.
3
Q
List four tactics for programming operant stimulus generalization. Give an example of each.
A
- Train in the Target Situation. Ex: Bob practicing his speech in an approximation of the target situation by practicing in the same room where his presentation was to be held, and by imagining the audience and conditions that would occur.
- Carry the Training Conditions. Ex: a soccer player who learns to perform passing, dribbling and shooting skills under a wide variety of conditions such as: cold, windy, hot, calm, or noisy is more likely to perform the same skills during an actual competition/game if one or more of those conditions are encountered.
- Program Common Stimuli. Ex: a young figure skater used a self-mediated verbal stimulus to transfer skilled skating performance from practices to competitions. The young skater was able to land her double axel consistently at practices but often missed it at competitions because the jump was rushed in the excitement of the moment. To solve the problem, she inserted into her routine the word easy (said very slowly and stretched out) just before stepping onto her takeoff foot as a prompt to control the speed of the takeoff. Using this key word consistently at practices and then at competitions improved her execution during competitions.
- Train Sufficient Stimulus Exemplars. Ex: if a child is taught to say “dog” when viewing several exemplars of dogs, then the child is likely to generalize and refer to any variety of dog as a “dog.”
4
Q
Describe the generalization strategy referred to as general case programming. Give an example.
A
General Case programming is a variation of training sufficient stimulus exemplars. . With this approach, the teacher identifies a range of stimulus situations that the learner will be expected to respond to and the response variations that might be required. Then, during training, the learner’s behavior and acceptable variations are brought under the control of samples of the range of relevant stimuli.
Ex: to teach adolescents with developmental disabilities to use vending machines, you could introduce them to a variety of different machines and the responses needed to use them. This can produce generalization to enable the adolescents to operate any available vending machine that they came in contact with.
5
Q
Define response generalization.
A
Response generalization refers to the procedure of reinforcing a response in the presence of a stimulus or situation, and the effect of another response becoming more probable in the presence of that or similar stimuli or situations.
6
Q
Briefly describe four tactics for programming operant behavior maintenance. Give an example of each.
A
- Use Behavioural Trapping: this approach requires a behavior modifier to realistically identify contingencies in the natural environment and then to tailor the target behavior so that it will be trapped by those contingencies. Ex: Exercising is an example of a behavior that can be trapped/maintained once it is established because of the positive benefits an exerciser gains from exercising (providing that the exerciser experiences those benefits).
- Change the Behavior of People in the Natural Environment: this approach involves actually changing the behavior of people in the target situation so that they will maintain a learner’s behavior that has generalized from the training situation. Ex: A behavior modifier who is working to change a child’s “disruptive loud behavior” but is unable to be with that child all day, contacts that child’s parents and teacher to teach them how to reinforce the child’s behavior if it is desirable or how to extinguish it when it is undesirable.
- Use intermittent schedules of reinforcement in the Target Situation: Once a behaviour has generalized to a target situation, it is important to reinforce the desirable behaviour on an intermittent schedule to make that behavior more persistent in the target situations and to increase the probability that the behavior will occur under the control of natural reinforcers. Ex: To maintain desirable behaviour of boys during a car trip, occasionally a timer would ring, and if the boys were playing quietly in the backseat they would earn extra TV time that the hotel.
- Give the Control to the Individual: It is like self-management where you help individuals apply behavior modification techniques to their own behavior.
Ex: teaching an individual to record instances on their own generalized target behavior and apply a specific reinforcer for that behaviour.
7
Q
What is meant by “recruitment of reinforcement”? Illustrate with an example that is not in this chapter.
A
Recruitment of reinforcement is teaching an individual to emit a desirable behaviour and then telling someone about it in order to recruit reinforcement to maintain the generalized responding.
Ex: teaching workers with developmental disabilities in a sheltered workshop to meet a productivity goal and then to call a staff member’s attention to their good work. This led to increased reinforcement for the workers from the staff, which in turn helped to maintain the workers’ higher level of productivity.
8
Q
Give two examples of the Unaware-Misapplication Pitfall involving stimulus generalization; (a) one of which involves generalization of a desirable behavior to an inappropriate situation; and (b) the other of which involves generalization of an undesirable behavior.
A
a) Desirable behavior to inappropriate situation: when a person with developmental disabilities performs desirable behaviors under appropriate circumstances of greeting people by displaying affection (such as giving hugs) but does these behaviours under inappropriate situations, such as walking up and hugging a total stranger, which is less favorable
b) generalization of an undesirable behavior: Behaviour of being destructively competitive may stem from the strong reinforcement we get in our culture for winning in sports, but is not a desirable behaviour to be generalized into the everyday environment.
9
Q
Define rule behaviorally and give an example that is not in this chapter.
A
Behaviourally, a rule describes a situation in which a behaviour will lead to a consequence.
Ex: rules can lead to rewards such as the rule, “if you eat all your vegetables, you can have dessert”. Or rules can make us avoid punishers; “if you’re not quiet, I’m sending you to timeout”
10
Q
Define contingency-shaped behavior, and give an example that is not in this chapter.
A
Contingency shaped behaviour is behavior that develops because of its immediate consequences rather than because of a specific statement or rule.
Ex: coach saying “if you listen carefully and don’t talk when I’m talking to the team, we’ll have an extra 5 minutes of scrimmage at the end of practice”
11
Q
Define rule-governed behavior, and give an example that is not in this chapter.
A
Rule-governed behaviour is behavior controlled by the statement of a rule.
Ex: listening attentively without talking when the coach is talking to the team (rule-governed behavior) in order to receive extra scrimmage time.
12
Q
In a couple of sentences, distinguish between rules that are often effective versus rules that are often weak or ineffective in controlling behavior.
A
Rules that are effective are rules that describe your behavior specifically, describe specific circumstances, identifies consequences, and identifies deadlines.
Rules that are ineffective are ones that have vague descriptions of behavior, vague description of circumstances, has improbable consequences, and has no deadlines.
13
Q
Briefly list six of the eight conditions that summarize effective versus ineffective goal setting as a behavior modification strategy.
A
- Specific goals are more effective than vague goals
- Public goals are more effective than private goals
- Realistic/Challenging Goals are more effective than do-your-best goals
- Goal setting is more effective if deadlines are included
- Goal setting plus feedback is more effective than goal setting alone
- Goal setting is most effective when individuals are committed to the goals.
14
Q
What is a mastery criterion? Give an example this is not in this chapter.
A
A mastery criterion is a specific guideline for performing a skill so that if the guideline is met, the skill is likely to be mastered. This means that an individual who has met a mastery criterion for a skill has learned it well enough to perform it correctly upon demand or when it is necessary to do so
Ex: mastering/ able to recite the periodic table of elements
15
Q
What do the authors mean by commitment in the context of goal setting?
A
authors mean that commitment is statements or actions by the learner indicating that the goal is important, the learner will work toward it, and the learner recognizes the benefits of doing so.
16
Q
List four strategies that you might follow to influence the effectiveness of modeling as a behavior modification technique.
A
- Arrange for peers to be models
- Arrange for the modeled behavior to be seen to be effective
- Use multiple models
- Combine modeling with rules
17
Q
What does the term physical guidance mean? How does it differ from gestural prompting (see page 98)?
A
Physical guidance is the application of physical contact to induce an individual to go through the motions of a desired behavior, while Gestural prompts are certain motions that a teacher makes, such as pointing to the correct cue or making signals directed to the learner without touching him or her.
18
Q
What is generalized imitation? Describe an example.
A
generalized imitation is when an individual learns to imitate a number of behaviors (perhaps with some shaping, fading, physical guidance, and reinforcement), and then learns to imitate a new response on the first trial without reinforcement.
Ex: when a dance teacher says, “Do this” while modeling the response and guiding the child to perform the response. Correct responses are reinforced and physical guidance is faded out over trials which facilitates generalized imitation.
19
Q
What do we mean by the term situational inducement? Which term given previously in this book has essentially the same meaning (see page 98)?
A
situational inducement is using situations/occasions that already exert control over the behavior to influence a behaviour. A term given previously that essentially has the same meaning is a prompt.
20
Q
Describe each of the four categories of situational inducement.
A
a) rearranging the existing surroundings. Ex: rearranging the items in one’s room to promote better a more persistent studying behaviour could involve using bringer lights and clearing off the desk from distractions
b) Moving the activity to a new location. Ex: for better study habits, moving locations from your bedroom to the library can help with the behavior
c) Relocating the people. Ex: teachers changing seating arrangements to relocate students who talk a lot together in order to keep them more focused and have less disruptions
d) changing the time of the activity. Ex: changing the time you go to the gym from late at night when you are tired, to early morning to kick start your day
21
Q
How do many people who are not behaviorists or behavior modifiers conceptualize motivation? Illustrate with an example.
A
Many people conceptualize motivation as some “thing” within us that causes our actions.
Ex: Suzie’s teacher saying “Suzie is a good student because she’s highly motivated”
22
Q
What is a conceptual problem with the traditional view of motivation? Illustrate with an example.
A
A conceptual or logical problem with the traditional view of motivation is that it involves circular reasoning.
Ex: saying that “Suzie is a good student because she’s highly motivated” doesn’t have clear reasoning to why she’s a good student or highly motivated but unclear circular reasoning. For example; Why does Susie work hard? Because she is highly motivated. How do we know she’s highly motivated? Because she works hard .
23
Q
Describe three practical problems with conceptualizing motivation as an internal cause of behavior.
A
1) The suggestion that the causes of behavior are inside of us rather than in the environment might influence some to ignore the principles for changing behavior.
2) Conceptualizing motivation as an internal cause of behavior may influence some to blame the individual for substandard performance by attributing this to a lack of motivation, or laziness, rather than trying to help such individuals to improve their performance.
3) Conceptualizing motivation as an internal cause of behavior may influence some to blame themselves for failures to emit various behaviors rather than examining potential self-management strategies.
24
Q
Define motivating operation. Give an example that illustrates both aspects of the definition.
A
A motivating operation (MO) is an event or operation that (a) temporarily alters the effectiveness of a reinforcer or punisher (a value-altering effect) and (b) influences behavior that normally leads to that reinforcer or punisher (a behavior-altering effect)
Ex: a) When we are food deprived, food is a powerful reinforcer, and we are likely to engage in various food-seeking behaviors. Just after eating a big meal, however, food temporarily loses its effectiveness as a reinforcer, and we are less likely to engage in food-seeking behaviors.
b) The effectiveness of a baseball coach giving a timeout as a punisher for misbehaving increases when it lowers your chance of earning points that go towards a major league baseball game.
25
Define echoic, and give an example that is not in the book
echoic is a vocal imitative response that is developed and maintained by social reinforcement.
Ex: If a parent says, “Say ‘water,’ ” and the child says “water” and receives praise, the child’s response “water” is an echoic.
26
Define tact, and give an example that is not in the book
tact is a naming response that is developed and maintained by social reinforcement.
Ex: If the parent points to a glass of water and asks, “What’s that?” and the child says “water” and receives praise, the child’s response “water” is a tact.
27
Define mand, and give an example that is not in the book
mand is a verbal response that is under the control of a motivating operation and is reinforced by the corresponding reinforcer or removal of the corresponding aversive stimulus.
Ex: If a child is thirsty and asks a parent for “water,” the child’s response “water” is a mand.
28
Define behavioral assessment.
Behavioral assessment involves the collection and analysis of information and data in order to (a) identify and describe target behavior; (b) identify possible causes of the behavior; (c) select appropriate treatment strategies to modify the behavior; and (d) evaluate treatment outcome.
29
List the four phases of a behavior modification program.
1) Screening or Intake Phase
2) Preprogram Assessment or Baseline Phase
3) Treatment Phase
4) Follow-Up Phase
30
What two things typically occur during the assessment phase of a behavior modification program?
1) Behavior modifier assesses the target behavior to determine its level prior to the introduction of the program or treatment
2) Behavior modifier analyzes the individual’s current environment to identify possible controlling variables of the behavior to be changed.
31
What is the purpose of the follow-up phase of a behavior modification program?
to determine whether the improvements achieved during treatment are maintained after the program’s termination.
32
Briefly distinguish between direct and indirect assessment procedures.
Direct Assessment is when you can directly observe the behaviour of interest, while Indirect Assessment is when you cannot directly observe the behaviour of interest, it includes things like scheduled appointments, interviews, questionnaires, and self-monitoring.
33
List the five main types of indirect assessment procedures.
1) Interviews
2) Questionnaires
3) Role-Playing
4) Info from consulting professionals
5) Client Self-Monitoring
34
How does a behavioral approach differ from a traditional approach to assessment in terms of a basic assumption about performance on a test or a checklist?
Behavioral Approach: performance on a checklist is a sample of a person's response to specific stimuli
Traditional approach: test performance is views as a sign of intrapsychic trait, or person variable
35
Describe two differences in the goals of a behavioral approach to assessment compared to a traditional approach.
Behavioural Approach:
- to identify behavioral excesses or deficits
-to identify environmental causes of current problem behaviours
Traditional Approach:
-to diagnose or classify individuals
-to identify intrapsychic or trait causes
36
Describe a difference between the method of a behavioral approach compared to a traditional approach to
assessment.
Behavioural Approach:
- preference for direct observation of specific behaviours
Traditional Approach:
-direct assessment of intrapsychic factors and underlying traits is impossible
37
What does the topography of a behavior mean? Give an example that is not in this chapter.
Topography is specific movements involved in making a response.
Ex: In a backstroke in swimming, it can be divided into specific movements such as “fingers together, tummy up, roll shoulder to ear, etc.)
38
What does the frequency of a behavior mean? Give an example that is not in this chapter.
Frequency (or rate) of behavior refers to the number of instances of a behavior that occur in a given period of time.
Ex: If you wanted to improve the practice performance of a figure skater, you might examine the frequency that they perform various jumps and spins.
39
What is another word for the intensity of a response? Give an example in which it would be important to measure the intensity of a behavior.
Intensity of a response is the magnitude or force used in a response and often utilizes instrumentation.
Ex: Cops importantly measure the intensity of the speed of vehicles by using devices that infer the force that the car propelled.
40
Name the six levels that the ABLA-R assesses.
1) imitation
2) position discrimination
3) visual discrimination
4) visual identity match-to-sample discrimination
5) visual nonidentity match-to-sample discrimination
6) auditory-visual combined discrimination
41
What do we mean by the latency of a response? Give an example that is not in this chapter.
The latency of a behavior is the time between the occurrence of a stimulus and the beginning of that behavior.
Ex: In a classroom, the time between 11:00 and lunch time (12:00) is the latency when students start to get whiny and complain because they are hungry.
42
Define continuous recording. Give an example that is not in this chapter.
Continuous recording is the recording of every instance of a behavior during a designated observation period and is commonly used when successive responses are quite similar in duration.
Ex: continuously recording instances if a child pinching another child
43
When would one likely select an interval-recording system over a continuous recording system?
You would select an interval recording system over a continuous recording system when successive responses are of variable duration, such as watching TV
44
Define time-sampling recording. Give an example that is not in this chapter.
Time-sampling recording scores a behavior as occurring or not occurring during very brief observation intervals that are separated from each other by a much longer period of time.
Ex: If a parent is concerned with their child’s of rocking in a chair, they can seek out the child once every hour and make a not e of whether the child shows any rocking behavior while sitting during a 15-second observation interval. Each observation interval is separated from the next by approximately 1 hour.
45
Briefly describe momentary time-sampling recording.
momentary time sampling in which a behavior is recorded as occurring or not occurring at specific points in time, such as every hour on the hour rather than during specific brief intervals
46
In a sentence or two, explain what we mean by interobserver reliability. (Describe the process, but don’t give
the procedures for calculating IORs.)
Interobserver reliability is the process when two independent observers might record observations of the same behavior of the same individual during a given session. They are careful not to influence or signal each other while they are recording, and then at the end of the recording procedures they see how well their scores compare.
47
Briefly name and describe the four minimal components of a behavior modification program.
1) Screening Phase: to clarify the problem and determining who should treat it
2) Assessment or baseline phase: determining the causes of the problem behavior and its initial level prior to the program,
3) Treatment phase: when the intervention strategy is initiated
4) Follow-up phase: evaluating the persistence of the desirable behavioral changes following termination of the program.
48
Define dependent variable, and give an example.
Dependent variable= the measure of behavior. Ex: If a student who performs at a much lower math level than her classmates correctly completes math problems, that would be the dependent variable
49
Define independent variable, and give an example.
Independent variable= the treatment or intervention
Ex: If a student who perform at a much lower math level than her classmates is assigned with a program from her teacher to help enhance her math skills, that would be the independent variable.
50
Define internal validity.
internal validity is when the independent variable caused the observed change in the dependent variable.
51
Define external validity.
External validity is when findings can be generalized to other behaviours, individuals, settings, or treatments
52
With reference to an example, briefly describe the four components of the reversal-replication design. What is another name for this design?
Another name of a reversal replication design is the ABAB design.
The four components are:
a) Baseline phase.
b) Treatment phase
c) Reversal back to baseline conditions
d) Replication of the treatment phase
If Kelly’s teacher would like to prove that a treatment program was responsible for Kelly’s behaviour improvement, at the end of the second week of the reinforcement program, the teacher decided to eliminate the reinforcement and return to the baseline conditions. She then reintroduced the treatment phase and Kelly’s performance improved. The teacher had replicated both the original baseline and the original treatment effects.
53
With reference to an example, briefly describe a multiple-baseline-across-behaviors design.
```
a multiple-baseline-across-behaviors design involves establishing baselines for two or more of an individual’s behaviors followed by introducing the treatment sequentially across those behaviors.
For example, a teacher who wants to help her student be more proficient in math could record her students performance in solving math problems during math class as well as in spelling and sentence writing during language arts. The treatment of an extra minute of recess per correct problem might have been introduced in math class while the other baseline conditions might have been continued during language arts. If the results were far from the baseline, the teacher might next have introduced the treatment for the second behavior by allowing an extra minute of recess for each word her student spelled correctly. Finally, the teacher might have introduced the treatment for the third behavior—sentence writing.
```
54
With reference to an example, briefly describe a multiple-baseline-across-situations design.
A multiple-baseline-across-situations design involves establishing baselines for a behavior of an individual across two or more situations concurrently followed by the introduction of the treatment to the behavior sequentially across those situations.
For example, for a boy who makes bizarre verbalizations, During the baseline phase, data on the verbalizations can be collected in 4 different situations. For the treatment, an extinction program that ignored verbalizations, was then introduced in the first situation while the remaining three situations continued on baseline. Following the successful reduction of the verbalizations during the first situation, treatment was introduced to the second situation, and the remaining two situations continued on baseline. Eventually, the treatment was introduced sequentially across the remaining two situations. The daily number of bizarre verbalizations then decreased.
55
With reference to an example, briefly describe a multiple-baseline-across-people design.
A multiple-baseline-across-people design involves establishing baselines for a specific behavior across two or more people concurrently followed by the introduction of the treatment sequentially to each person.
For example, a multiple-baseline-across-people design could be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of a combination of procedures designed to improve the practice performance of four female speed skaters. The number of skating laps completed per practice of the four skaters was recorded. The first skater was then given the treatment package while the others continued on baseline. Exposure to the treatment package improved the practice performance of the first skater. Across practices, the treatment package was introduced sequentially to the second skater, then to the third skater, and then to the fourth skater, and each time it led to an improvement in the number of laps skated per practice. This demonstration of improvement in individuals who receive treatment sequentially across time is a convincing demonstration of a treatment program’s effectiveness.
56
With reference to an example, briefly describe the changing-criterion design.
With a changing-criterion design, the control that a treatment exerts on an individual’s behavior is evaluated by introducing successive changes in the behavioral criterion for application of the treatment.
Ex: to demonstrate the effects of a token reinforcement system on exercising by 11-year-old boys, some of whom were obese and others of whom were not, the researcher can make the boys pedal on a stationary bike and per minute they can award token reinforcement to the boys at increasingly larger levels to see how this treatment affects the behaviour and if it increases it. They can demonstrate if token are effective in increasing the behaviour by randomly jumping back to the baseline phase where no token were awarded to see if the exercising behaviour suddenly decreases again.
57
With reference to an example, briefly describe an alternating-treatments design. What is another name for this
design? Explain when and why that name might be preferred.
alternating-treatments design involves alternating two or more treatment conditions, one condition per session, to assess their effects on a single behavior of a single individual. Ex: to see what treatment works best to improve a young gymnasts performance, you can randomly alternate three different conditions across practices, such as standard coaching, writing goals for the gymnast, and giving feedback and see which is most effective
Another name for this design is a multi-element design
58
A functional assessment of the causes of a problem behavior involves asking what two questions?
(a) what are the antecedents of the behavior, and (b) what are the immediate consequences of the behavior?
59
What does the term functional assessment refer to?
functional assessment refers to a variety of approaches that attempt to identify the antecedents and consequences for problem behaviors.
60
Define the term functional analysis.
Functional analysis is the systematic manipulation of environmental events to experimentally test their role as antecedents or consequences in controlling or maintaining specific problem behaviors.
61
Describe three limitations of functional analyses.
1. the amount of time required to carry out a functional analysis may put a large strain on available staff.
2. functional analysis cannot be applied to extremely dangerous behaviors.
3. many behavior problems occur at frequencies of less than one per day or per week.
62
Briefly describe three approaches to functional assessment, that is, three ways of identifying controlling variables
of problem behavior.
(a) Ask people familiar with the client a series of relevant questions to try and discover antecedents and consequences that control the client's problem behavior (a questionnaire assessment);
(b) Observe a client's problem behavior in its natural settings and describe the antecedents and immediate consequences that occur (an observational assessment);
(c) Experimentally assess which antecedents and consequences have a direct influence on the problem behavior of a client (an experimental functional analysis).
63
What are three indicators that a problem behavior is probably maintained by the social attention that follows it?
Indicators that the behavior is maintained by attention include:
(a) whether attention reliably follows the behavior; (b) whether the individual looks at or approaches a caregiver just before engaging in the behavior; and (c) whether the individual smiles just before engaging in the behavior.
64
What is a strong indicator that a problem behavior is being maintained as a way of escaping from demands? Give an example illustrating this indicator.
When the individual engages in the behavior only when certain types of demands or requests are made.
Ex: when asked to answer difficult questions, some children may engage in tantrums that are reinforced by the withdrawal of the request.
65
What are the two main indicators that a problem behavior is respondent behavior that is elicited by prior
stimuli vs. operant behavior being maintained by reinforcing consequences? Give an example illustrating these
indicators.
a) that it consistently occurs in a certain situation or in the presence of certain stimuli and b) that it is never followed by any clearly identifiable reinforcing consequence.
Ex: an individual who consistently shows signs of nervousness when asked a question in a wide variety of settings and irrespective of the consequences of doing so..
66
In a sentence for each, outline the six major causes of operant problem behaviors described in this chapter.
1) Problem behaviours maintained by social positive reinforcement. Ex: receiving attention for making delusional statements.
2) Problem behaviors maintained by internal self-stimulatory positive reinforcement. Ex: massaging your scalp because you enjoy the tingling sensation but can become so extreme that is can be self-injurious.
3) Problem behaviors maintained by external sensory positive reinforcement. Ex: a child who throws toys because they enjoy the loud noise when they land.
4) Problem behaviours maintained by social negative reinforcement. Ex: engaging in tantrums when asked difficult questions
5) Problem behaviours maintained by internal sensory negative reinforcement. Ex: severely scratching face due to a insect bite
6) Problem behaviours maintained by external sensory negative reinforcement. Ex: squinting from bright light
67
How does a behavior modifier evaluate the importance of a problem?
- if solving the problem leads to less aversiveness or positive reinforcement for the client or others
- if solving the problem directly or indirectly leads to desirable behaviours
- if the answer is no to any of these, reconsider involvement
68
How does a behavior modifier evaluate the ease with which a problem might be solved?
If the problem is to decrease an undesirable behavior, you can evaluate if the behavior has been occurring for a short time with no intermittent reinforcement. These characteristics are easier to solve than an undesirable behavior that has occurred for a long time under intermittent reinforcement.
69
You are about to design a treatment program. After defining the target behavior and identifying its desired level of occurrence and stimulus control, what six questions should you answer before proceeding to the design?
1. is the description of the goal precise
2. on what grounds was the goal chosen, and is it in the best interest of the client?
3. has client been given all possible info about the goal
4. have steps been taken to increase the clients commitment to accomplishing the goal
5. what are potential side effects of the goal for client and others
6. do the answers of the foregoing questions suggest that you should proceed? if so, then continue
70
If you are thinking of capitalizing on antecedent control, what six categories should you consider?
1. rules
2. goal setting
3. modeling
4. physical guidance
5. situational inducement (rearrange the surroundings, move the activity to a new location, relocate people, or change the time of the activity)
6. motivating operations
71
List five considerations for programming stimulus generalization.
(i) train in the test situation
(ii) vary the training conditions
(iii) program common stimuli
(iv) train sufficient stimulus exemplars
(v) establish a stimulus equivalence class
72
List three considerations for programming response generalization.
1) train sufficient response exemplars
2) vary the acceptable responses during training
3) use behavioral momentum to increase low probability responses within a response class
73
List four considerations for programming behavior maintenance.
(i) use natural contingencies of reinforcement
(ii) train the people in the natural environment
(iii) use schedules of reinforcement in the training environment
(iv) give the control to the individual
74
What is a behavioral contract?
A behavioral contract is a written agreement that provides a clear state
ment of what behaviors of what individuals will produce what reinforcers and who will deliver those reinforcers.
75
What is a treatment contract, and what should it clearly outline?
a treatment contract is a written agreement between the client and the applied behavior analyst or behavior therapist that clearly outlines the objectives and methods of treatment, the framework of the service to be provided, and contingencies for remuneration that may be forthcoming to the behavior modifier.
76
What are tokens?
tokens—conditioned reinforcers that can be accumulated and exchanged for goods and services
77
What is a token economy?
Token economy is a behavioral program in which individuals can earn tokens for a variety of desirable behaviors and can exchange the earned tokens for backup reinforcers
78
What are two major advantages to using tokens as reinforcers?
1) they can be given immediately after a desirable behavior occurs and cashed in at a later time for a backup reinforcer, so they can bridge long delays between the target response and backup reinforcer.
2) tokens that are paired with many different backup reinforcers are generalized conditioned reinforcers and therefore do not depend on a specific motivating operation for their strength
79
List and briefly describe five initial steps involved in setting up and managing a token economy.
1) Decide on the target behaviours- by determining the type of individual you have, objectives you want to accomplish and specific interfering problems
2) Take Baselines and Keep Data- on specific target behaviors
3) Select the Type of Tokens to use- but is best to chose things that are attractive, lightweight, portable, and not easy to counterfeit
4) Select Backup reinforcers- which are referred to as privileges that can occur on a weekly basis such as giving your child permission to stay up a couple hours later every Friday
5) Manage the Backup reinforcers- by managing how you store and dispense backup reinforcers
80
What six characteristics should a token have?
attractive, lightweight, portable, durable, easy to handle, and not easily counterfeited.
81
State two general methods of weaning individuals from tokens when transferring behavior to the natural environment.
1) Eliminate tokens gradually
| 2) decrease the value of the tokens gradually
82
If one decides to wean an individual from tokens by eliminating tokens gradually, what are three ways that might be accomplished?
by (a) making the token delivery schedule more and more intermittent, (b) decreasing the number of behaviors that earn tokens, or (c) increasing the delay between the target behavior and token delivery.
83
What is one precaution to help ensure high ethical standards for a token economy?
One precaution is to make the system completely open to public scrutiny, provided that such openness is subject to the approval of the individuals in the program or their advocates.
84
What do people mean when they talk about willpower? Is willpower a useful concept? Why or why not?
Willpower is when people speak as though some magical force is within them and is responsible for overcoming problems. Willpower not a very useful concept because the person offering it typically neglects to tell us how we can get more of this willpower. It is more useful to look at how problems of self-control stem from differences between effective versus ineffective consequences of a behavior
85
Describe the behavioral model of self-control.
A behavior model of self- control is a statement that self-control occurs when an individual behaves in some way that arranges the environment to manage his or her subsequent behavior.
86
How does this book define commitment?
Commitment to change refers to your statements or actions that indicate that it is important to change your behavior, that you recognize the benefits of doing so, and that you will work toward doing so.
87
Describe five steps that you could take to strengthen and maintain your commitment to a program of self-control.
- First, LIST ALL THE BENEFITS there are for changing your behavior. Write them out and post them in a conspicuous place.
- Second, make your commitment to change PUBLIC
- Third, REARRANGE YOUR ENVIRONMENT TO provide frequent reminders of your commitment and your goal
- Fourth, invest considerable TIME and energy in initially planning your project;
- Fifth, because you will undoubtedly encounter temptations to quit your project, PLAN AHEAD for various ways to deal with them.
88
Give an example that illustrates how recording and graphing of a problem behavior was all that was needed to
bring about improvement.
ex: recording each urge to have a cigarette was sufficient to decrease not only the likelihood of subsequently taking a cigarette but also the number of urges.
89
List seven major classes of antecedents that you might consider when planning how to manage the situation in
a self-control program.
1) Instructions
2) Modeling
3) Physical Guidance
4) Our immediate surroundings
5) Other people
6) The Time of Day
7) Motivating Operations
90
Define mastery criterion, and give an example that is not in the text.
A mastery criterion is a performance requirement for practicing a skill so that if the criterion is met, the behavior has been learned.
Ex: mastering an aerial (no handed cartwheel) in the sense that the person is able to successively perform this behavior at any place under any condition without messing it up.
91
Describe three different ways of arranging for reinforcers to be received in a self-control program, in a sentence
or two for each.
1) First, asking others to manage reinforcers for you is an effective way to receive reinforcers in self-control programs
2) The second way to receive reinforcers—reminding yourself of delayed natural consequences for a behavior immediately after it occurs—can be illustrated by the problem of shopping for holiday presents.
3) The third way to receive reinforcers in self-control programs is for individuals to manage consequences for their own behavior
92
What is the meaning of relapse in a self-control program?
going back to the unwanted behavior at approximately its same level as before you started your program.
93
Briefly describe two possible causes of relapse in consequences, and indicate how each might be handled.
1) Failure to Incorporate Everyday Rewards into your Program, due to the fact that the extra work to incorporate rewards can become burdensome. To handle this, you can link your self-control program to everyday rewarding activities.
2) Consequences that are only cumulatively significant, for example, someone who decided that their new slim body could easily handle an extra dessert could continuously have the mindset of “one dessert is not a problem” to the point when the accumulation of extra desserts on numerous occasions will put the weight back on. A way to handle this is to set specific dates for follow-up checks or postchecks and to list specific strategies to follow if the postchecks are unfavorable
94
What is a behavioral contract (see pages 243, 267–268)?
A behavioral contract is a written agreement that provides a clear state
ment of what behaviors of what individuals will produce what reinforcers and who will deliver those reinforcers.
95
What are cognitive processes?
Cognitive processes or cognitions are verbalizations or images that are frequently called believing, thinking, expecting, or perceiving.
96
What do the letters ABCT stand for?
Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
97
What are the three waves or generations of behavior therapy?
a) treatments that emphasize cognitive restructuring to decrease maladaptive thoughts that are assumed to cause troublesome emotions and behavior
(b) self-directed strategies to enhance overt coping skills,
(c) treatments of the third generation of behavior therapies that emphasize changing clients’ reactions to their maladaptive thoughts rather than the thoughts themselves
98
What are the two major assumptions of cognitive therapy?
(1) Individuals interpret and react to events by forming cognitions—beliefs, expectations, and attitudes—on the basis of the perceived significance of those events
(2) defective or maladaptive cognitions can cause emotional and behavioral disorders.
99
in a sentence, what is cognitive restructuring?
Strategies for recognizing maladaptive thinking and replacing it with adaptive thinking are often referred to as cognitive restructuring.
100
What are the three main phases of rational-emotive behavior therapy and who developed it?
1. the therapist helps the client identify troublesome thoughts that are based on irrational beliefs
2. The RET therapist vigorously challenges the clients irrational beliefs that are thought to be the basis for the problematic self talk
3. The client is taught through modeling and homework assignments to replace the irrational self-statements with statement based on rational beliefs
Ellis developed it
101
Describe the three major components of Beck’s cognitive therapy.
1) Clients identify the dysfunctional
thoughts and maladaptive assumptions that might be causing debilitating emotions or behavior.
2) Once a thought or dysfunctional assumption has been identified, several methods can be used to counteract it.
3) Beck frequently uses additional homework assignments that contain liberal doses of behavior modification procedures to develop various desirable daily activities.
102
Briefly list the five steps of self-instructional training that Meichenbaum and others used with children.
1) Adults Demonstrates Self-Instructing
2) Child Performs while Adult Verbalizes
3) Child Performs the Task and Verbalizes Out Loud
4) Overt Self-Instructions Fade
5) Task Performance is Performed with Covert Self-Instructions
103
What is mindfulness as Buddhists and behavior therapists use the term?
Behavior therapists say that mindfulness involves nonjudgmental awareness, observation, and description of one’s covert or overt behaviors as they occur and, in some cases, observation of the antecedents and consequences of those behaviors
Buddhists say that mindfulness is when you pay close attention to sights, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations of an experience as it occurs.
104
What is acceptance as cognitive behavior therapists use the term?
Acceptance refers to refraining from judging one’s sensations, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, useful or useless, and so on.
105
Briefly describe the three phases of ACT.
Phase 1: through the use of metaphors, paradox, stories, and other verbal techniques presented by the therapist, the client learns that past attempts to control trouble- some thoughts and emotions have often served only to increase the frequency of such thoughts and emotions.
Phase 2: through the use of mindfulness training and acceptance exercises, the client learns to experience and nonjudgmentally embrace thoughts and emotions, including those that are troublesome.
Phase 3: regardless of whether the troublesome thoughts and emotions are eliminated, clients are encouraged to identify values in various life domains, such as work, family, health, and intimate relationships.
106
What are three differences between cognitive therapy and ACT?
First, CT assumes that troublesome thoughts constitute the primary cause of disturbing emotions whereas ACT considers both thoughts and emotions simply as responses and assumes that both are caused by various envi-ronmental contingencies.
Second, a major focus of CT is the use of cognitive restructuring to change troublesome thoughts directly while ACT teaches the client to embrace and accept various thoughts and emotions. ACT also teaches clients that, in spite of experiencing troublesome thoughts and aversive feelings, they can still take constructive action to pursue valued goals.
A third difference is the focus of the behavioral homework assignments. With CT, a primary purpose of behavioral homework assignments is to help the client overcome distorted thinking. With ACT, behavioral homework assignments are used to build larger patterns of effective action in the pursuit of valued goals.
107
Briefly describe several of the therapeutic phases of DBT.
a) The early part of therapy focuses on helping the client express what he or she hopes to get out of therapy.
b) a client is encouraged to nonjudgmentally observe and describe his or her overt and covert behaviors
c) interpersonal skills are eventually targeted so that clients learn to say no, ask for what they need, and appropriately interact with others in their lives.
d) after clients have learned to accept aspects of their lives without distortion, judgment, or evaluation, they are much more likely to be able to learn and follow specific behavioral strategies for achieving their therapeutic goals.
108
From a behavioral point of view, summarize why cognitive restructuring techniques might be effective.
These techniques might be effective because it is possible that some self-statements could function as CSs to elicit the respondent components of anxiety, anger, and other emotions.
109
What are empirically supported therapies (ESTs)?
“specific treatments that have been shown to be efficacious in controlled clinical trials”
110
Why do empirically supported therapies often turn out to be behavioral or cognitive behavioral therapies?
Because the behavioral approach emphasizes basing treatments on well-established principles, measuring the out- comes of treatments in objectively defined behaviors, and altering treatments that are not producing satisfactory results.
111
What is a specific phobia?
An intense, irrational, incapacitating fear of a stimulus class
112
What is a fear hierarchy?
A fear hierarchy is a list of fear-eliciting stimuli arranged in order from the least to the most fear-eliciting.
113
Define systematic desensitization.
systematic desensitization is a procedure for overcoming a phobia by having a client in a relaxed state successively imagine the items in a fear hierarchy. Ex: client can make a fear-of-flying hierarchy
114
Using an example, briefly describe the three phases of systematic desensitization of a specific phobia.
- Phase one: the therapist helps the client construct a fear hierarchy—a list of approximately 10–25 stimuli related to the feared stimulus. Ex: relaxing major muscles of the body such as the arms, neck, and shoulders
- Phase 2: the client learns a deep-muscle relaxation procedure that requires tensing and relaxing a set of muscles.
- Phase 3: the actual therapy begins. ex: client visualizes their fear eliciting scene, and if anxiety kicks in the therapist returns the client to a previous scene.
115
Briefly illustrate an example of how in vivo flooding might be used to treat a specific phobia.
A fear of heights, for example, might be treated by having the client look out the window on the first floor, then the third floor, then the seventh floor, and finally the top of a 10-story building.
116
Briefly illustrate an example of how participant modeling might be used to treat a specific phobia.
if a client has a fear of birds, the client watches the therapist observe a budgie in a cage about 10 feet away. The client is then encouraged to imitate this behavior and is praised for doing so. After several trials, the process is repeated at a distance of 5 feet from the bird, then 2 feet, then beside the cage, then with the cage door open, and finally ending with the budgie perched on the client’s finger.
117
In several sentences, describe an effective treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder.
Prolonged exposure therapy such as imagining the event, talking about the event, or writing about the event.
Cognitive Processing therapy can help the client learn to challenge faulty thinking about the traumatic event and to generative more balanced thoughts.
118
Briefly describe four types of eating disorders. For which has behavior therapy been most effective?
a) Bulimia Nervosa: binge eating episodes followed by purges (such as self-induced vomiting, taking laxatives, excessive exercise, or long periods of fasting)
b) Anorexia Nervous: rarely eating or eating very little. Concerned heavily with calories. Obsessed with appearance and being thin
c) Binge eating disorder: frequent binge eating episodes without purging episodes.
d) Obesity: sufficiently overweight and has health problems
Behavior therapy has been most effective for bulimia nervosa
119
List and briefly describe four behavioral strategies for treating obesity?
(a) self-monitoring; including daily records of foods eaten and their caloric contents, and body weight (b) stimulus control; restricting eating at home to a specific location (e.g., the kitchen table)
(c) changing rate of eating; having clients put down utensils between bites or take short breaks between courses;
(d) behavioral contracting; such as having clients sign a contract in which they agree to lose a certain amount of weight in a specified period of time in return for some desired reinforcers
120
What are two other names for Pavlovian conditioning?
Classical conditioning & Respondent Conditioning
121
Describe how Watson and Rayner demonstrated Pavlovian conditioning of a fear response in an 11-month-old
infant.
Watson and Rayner first demonstrated that the child was not afraid of a white rat. Then, after several pairings of the white rat with a loud noise that caused the infant to cry and show other indications of fear, the child exhibited a conditioned reflex of fear to the rat.
122
What role did Hans Eysenck play in the development of behavior therapy in the 1950s?
Hans Eysenck was influential in criticizing traditional Freudian psychoanalytic treatment and in advocating learning theory or conditioning procedures as alternatives.
123
What is operant conditioning?
Behaviour that is influenced/ controlled by its consequences
124
The publications of the early 1960s within the operant orientation seem to have been characterized by two features. What were they?
(a) Much of it was done with very resistant populations, such as persons with intellectual disabilities, children with autism, and severely regressed psychiatric patients who had not received a great deal of successful input from traditional psychology
(b) many of the applications took place in institutional or highly controlled settings.
125
What is another name for the operant orientation?
Applied behavior analysis
126
Briefly, how did cognitive therapists Ellis and Beck explain emotional problems, and how did they propose to
treat them?
Ellis and Beck believe that faulty cognitive processes, faulty thinking, causes emotional, and behavioral problems. They proposed to treat them by developing approaches to therapy that focused on helping clients recognize and change faulty thinking.
127
In a sentence for each, distinguish between the terms cognitive behavior therapy, applied behavior analysis, and behaviour modification as they tend to be used today.
* Cognitive behavior therapy is behavior modification carried out on dysfunctional behavior, generally in a clinical setting.
* Applied behavior analysis emphasizes the application of operant conditioning principles and is behavior modification in which there often is an attempt to analyze or clearly demonstrate controlling variables of the behavior of concern.
* Behavior modification includes all explicit applications of behavior principles to improve specific behavior—whether or not in clinical settings and whether or not controlling variables have been explicitly demonstrated.
128
State two propositions on which behavior modification is based.
a) behaviour can be controlled and (b) it is desirable to do so to certain objectives
129
Why is extreme wariness a healthy reaction to any new development in science or technology? Discuss an
example of this.
Extreme wariness is a healthy reaction to any new advance in science or technology because it ensures civilization is cautious before fully adapting a new scientific view or theory. For example, if more precautions had been taken in the early development of atomic energy, perhaps there would be less danger today. It is important to have ethical guidelines to ensure that behaviour modification (a scientific study) is used for the good of society.
130
From a behavioral point of view, what does the term ethics mean?
From a behavioural point of view the term ethics refers to certain standards of behaviour that a culture developed to promote the survival of that culture.
131
Discuss countercontrol. Why is it important?
Counter control is the reciprocal of control, it is the influence the controllee has on the controller by virtue of access to suitable reinforcers. For example voters can exert counter control over politicians by voting them out of office. It is important because some individuals with severe developmental disabilities might lack meaningful forms of counter control.
132
15. What was a primary conclusion of the comprehensive report by Stolz & Associates on the ethical issues involved
in behavior modification?
A primary conclusion of the commission was hat persons engaged in any type of psychological interventions should subscribe to and follow the ethics codes and standards of their professions.
133
In a sentence, what should be the characteristics of the intervention methods used by behavior modifiers?
Behaviour modifiers should use the most effective, empirically validated intervention method with the least discomfort and fewest side effects, with the least intrusive and restrictive interventions being used whenever possible.
134
Discuss three possible meanings of intrusive and restrictive interventions.
1. interventions based on positive reinforcement are generally considered to be less intrusive and restrictive than interventions based on aversive control.
2. intrusive and restrictive sometimes refers to the extent to which clients are given choices and allowed freedom of movement in a therapeutic environment.
3, intrusive and restrictive sometimes refer to the extent to which consequences are deliberately managed as opposed to naturally occurring.
