Exam Study Guide Flashcards
Define behavior
that portion of the organisms interaction with its environment that is characterized by detectable displacements in space through time of some part of the organism and that results in a measurable change in at least one aspect of the environment
Explain the Dead-Man’s test
the definition of the behavior of an organism restricts the subject matter to the activity of living organisms, so this is a helpful rule of thumb for determining if something is or is not behavior; if a dead man can do it, it probably isn’t behavior
Explain operant class
the set of responses that result in the same consequence; the operant class of one thing may result in several different response topographies; when it comes to an operant class of behavior the consequence is on the function of the behavior or the consequence of a behavior
Explain three-term contingency
the functional relation among the antecedent conditions, the behavior, and the consequences. A = antecedent conditions that come before the behavior, B= the behavior, and C=the consequences that follow the behavior; describes the functional relationships between behavior and the environment (aka environmental events; context and environment)
What is ABC?
Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence; it is the three-term contingency behavior analyst’s most often look for
What are some other variables (besides what you are measuring) that could affect a client’s behavior?
illness, medication, exhaustion, hunger, thirst, needing to use the bathroom
Compare and contrast voluntary and involuntary
voluntary (aka operant) subject to operant conditioning
involuntary (aka respondent) is all behavior that is reflexive or autonomic and is not learned through consequence
Compare and contrast covert vs overt
covert (aka private behaviors, private events) activities observable only to the individual engaging in the activity
overt (aka public behaviors, public events) activities that are observable to another individual
Compare and contrast direct observation and indirect observation
direct observation - methods for objectively observing and measuring behavior; looking for how environmental events effect behavior; includes continuous and discontinuous procedures
indirect or self-report observation - observer relies on an individual’s memory of the behavior; includes permanent product recording
Provide some problems with self-report observation
people can be very inaccurate in their memories; people don’t know why they behave the way they do; people don’t use the correct terminology and can end up using circular reasoning to explain their behavior
Describe a behavioral assessment
the approach to validly observing, measuring, and recording behavior; the goals are to use observation and measurement techniques that can guide scientifically and ethically sound decisions
What are the four characteristics of a good measurement system of a behavioral assessment?
Sensitive, objective, reliable, valid
Describe the operational definition of behavior
(aka behavioral definition) a statement that specifies exactly what behavior to observe; a statement or definition that specifies exactly what behavior to observe; provides an accurate description of the target behavior; should include objective terms, be unambiguous, and be clear about which responses should be included and which should not be included, will enable countable or measurable behavioral data, a stranger will easily be able to see the behavior when it occurs; will be specific enough that it cannot be broken down into smaller behaviors
Describe permanent product recording
a form of indirect measurement; collect data from the permanent products produced by a behavior rather than collecting data by observing behavior itself; looking at the product or result of the behavior; main weakness is that it does not always guarantee that the specific individual engaged in the behavior (somebody else could have produced the product instead)
Compare and contrast continuous vs discontinuous
Continuous - record all instances of behavior
Discontinuous - sample from all possible occurrences of behavior
What are the procedures for continuous measurements of behavior?
Frequency, duration, latency, intensity
Describe frequency recording
(aka event recording) recording every instance of a response; continuous recording of separate instances of behavior as they occur; useful if the behavior is of uniform duration
Describe duration recording
measuring the entire amount of time that the target behavior is performed; best suited for continuous, ongoing responses rather than short duration behaviors; works best if the onset and offset of the behavior is easy to see; could be used for teaching social skills (ie hugging)
Describe latency recording
the amount of time that elapses between the onset of a specific event and the target response; appropriate when the relationship between a certain event and the initiation of a specific response if of interest
Describe intensity recording
(aka magnitude recording) involves measures of strength, amplitude force, or effort of a response, useful if the volume of a response is of concern
Compare and contrast frequency, duration, latency, and intensity recording procedures
frequency - records every instance
duration - records how long it lasts
latency - records the space between the onset of an event and the target response
intensity - records the strength of a response
When might discontinuous measuring procedures be preferable over continuous measuring procedures?
When continuous recording procedures are infeasible or impossible
Describe interval recording
The observation session is dividing into time periods of equal length and the time periods are contiguous; uses shorter intervals (ie 10 seconds). Useful for nonuniform behavior (difficult to clearly see the beginning and end of the response). The observer simply records the occurrence of nonoccurrence of the behavior during the interval.
Name the two types of interval recording
Whole-interval (WIR) and partial-interval (PIR)