Lecture 1 - Skepticism and Defining Behaviour Flashcards
(23 cards)
What is science?
A systematic approach for seeking and organizing knowledge to achieve a thorough understanding and to seek meaningful relations
What does ABA focus on?
Socially important behaviour
What are the three levels of understanding in science?
Description, Prediction, Control
What is the description characteristic of science?
Facts about observed events that can be quantified, classified and examined for possible relations with other known facts.
Which characteristic of science suggests questions for additional research?
Description
What is the prediction characteristic of science?
Relative probability that when one event occurs, another event will or will not occur.
Which chatacteristic of science provides correlational data about variable?
Prediction
What is the control characteristic of science?
Allows functional relations between iv and dv to be derived which is unlikely to be the result of confounding variables
What is skepticism?
Philosophic doubt - continuous questioning of truthfulness and vaildity of scientific theory and knowledge
What is pseudoscience?
Something based on case studies/testimonials and not scientfic evidence.
How can you avoid pseudoscience?
By being a scientist-practitioner
What does skepticism NOT mean?
Doubting everything. Keep and open mind but not so much that your brains fall out
What is the first step towards the assessment of a behaviour?
Operationally defining it
What are the two ways in which a behaviour can be operationally defined?
Function based and topography based
Which kind of operational definition includes reponses based on their common effect on the environment?
function based defintions
Which type of operaional definition includes responses based on their form or shape?
topography based defintions
What should an operational definiton be to be good?
Objective, Clear and Complete
what does it mean to be an objective operational defintion?
Refer only to oberserable characteristics of behaviour.
What does it mean to be a clear operational defintion?
readable, unamigious and refers to only the target behaviour.
what does it mean to be a complete operational definiton?
to say whats included in the behaviour and whats NOTA included in the behaviour
Is ‘any instance of babbling’ a clear defintion?
NO, its not clear or complete.
Why are operational definitons important?
So there can be replication, for good evaluation, and agreement between observers.
What shoudl you consider when writing an operational defintion?
response classes and topographies that you would deff want to observe if they came up.
