Lecture 1

Question 1

Applied Behaviour Analysis

Answer 1

Branch of behaviour analysis that focuses on applying behavioural principles to real-world, socially significant situations

Question 2

Anthropomorphism

Answer 2

Explanation of behaviour that attributes human motives to animals, when we don’t know whether they have the same motives or emotions

Question 3

Automatic, involuntary behaviour (reflex)

Answer 3

Behaviour that is triggered by a stimulus and proceeds in full once triggered

Question 4

Behaviour analysis

Answer 4

The science of behaviour - end goal is to explain why a behaviour occurs, be able to predict its occurrence, and to control its occurrence

Question 5

Behaviourism

Answer 5

The philosophy of the science of behaviour

Question 6

Conditioned reinforcer

Answer 6

Stimulus that becomes a secondary reinforcer via pairing with a primary reinforcer

Question 7

Consequence

Answer 7

A stimulus that follows a behaviour, and changes the probability of that behaviour occurring again in the future

Question 8

Contextual behavioural science

Answer 8

Concerned with integrating basic and applied research, emphasizes the importance of the “act-in-context”, and provides a mechanism of applying behavioural principles to all areas of human complexity

Question 9

Covert events

Answer 9

Events that cannot be observed directly

Question 10

Culture

Answer 10

Collection of contingencies of reinforcement into which individuals are born and to which they are exposed throughout their lives

Question 11

Epi-phenomenonalism

Answer 11

Mental events are a “side-phenomenon” without relevance

Question 12

Experimental Analysis of Behaviour

Answer 12

Branch of behaviour analysis that focuses on discovering basic principles and mechanisms underlying behaviour

Question 13

Habituation

Answer 13

Process by which prolonged exposure to a stimulus reduces the response to that stimulus

Question 14

Law of Effect

Answer 14

States that responses followed by satisfying or pleasurable consequences will increase in frequency, whereas responses followed by discomfort will decrease in frequency

Question 15

Learning

Answer 15

Behaviour change in response to a change in the environment

Question 16

Mentalism (or explanatory fiction)

Answer 16

Explanation of behaviour that refers to mental events which are not measurable or falsifiable

Question 17

Methodological behaviourism

Answer 17

States that psychology should only be concerned with events that are publicly observable

Question 18

Observational learning

Answer 18

Process by which learning occurs via observation

Question 19

Operant

Answer 19

A response that is emitted spontaneously that has the same effect on the environment (not a reflex)

Question 20

Operant conditioning

Answer 20

Process of learning in which a voluntary behaviour develops and is controlled by the consequences that follow - responses are emitted

Question 21

Overt events

Answer 21

Events that are directly observable

Question 22

Negative punishment

Answer 22

Removal of an appetitive stimulus decreases the likelihood of behaviour being repeated

Question 23

Negative reinforcement

Answer 23

Removal of an aversive stimulus increases the likelihood of behaviour being repeated

Question 24

Positive punishment

Answer 24

An aversive stimulus following a response decreases the likelihood of the response being repeated

Question 25

Positive reinforcement

Answer 25

An appetitive stimulus following a response increases the likelihood of the response being repeated

Question 26

Radical behaviourism

Answer 26

States that private events are governed by the same behavioural principles as public events; the only difference between public and private events is accessibility

Question 27

Respondent (or classical, or Pavlovian) conditioning

Answer 27

Process of learning in which an unconditioned stimulus (US) is paired with a neutral stimulus (NS), and eventually the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) and elicits a conditioned response (CR) - responses are elicited

Question 28

Topography

Answer 28

The actual “shape” of the operant - what does the behaviour “look like”?

Question 29

Translational research

Answer 29

Branch of behaviour analysis that aims to bridge the gap between experimental and applied research