| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| high probability (high-p) request sequence | antecedent intervention in which 2-5 easy tasks with a known history of reinforcement are presented in a quick succession immediately before requesting the target task (the low -p). Reinforcement is delivered after each correct response |
| Matching law | rates of responding across choices are distributed in proportions that match rates of reinforcement revieved from each choice alternative |
| stimulus | an energy change that affects an organism through its receptor cells |
| multiple stimulus replacement (MSWO) Preference Assessment | present an array and record how often an item is selected. Each time a item is selected, remoive it from array until all items are selected |
| Negative Reinforcement | stimulus removed after behavior results in increase of future frequency of responding |
| Paired Choice Preference Assessment | present pairs of reinforcers and note which is selected. Make sure to pair each reinforcer with all reinforcers once |
| operant | collection of responses that have the same effect on the environment |
| prompts | supplementary antecedent stimuli used to occasion a correct response in the presenence of an SD that will eventually control the behavior |
| Primary reinforcement | reinforcer effective without previous conditioning(ex. food, water, regulation of temperature) |
| Premack Principle | high frequency behavior reinforces low frequency behavior, low frequency behavior punishes high frequency behavior |
| consequence | stimulus change after a behavior |
| data | results of measurement, usually in quantified form |
| count | simple tally of numbe rof occurrences of a behavior |
| functional behavior assessment (FBA) | systematic method of assessment for obtaining information about the purposes (functions) a problem behavior serves a person |
| Discrete Trial Instruction (DTT) | any opernat whose response rate is controlled by a given opportunity to emit the response. Each discrete response occures when an opportunity to respond exists |
| Conditioned Reinforcer | stimulus with no initial reinforcing properties, but becomes reinforcing through pairing with unconditioned reinforcers |
| formal similarity | situation that occurs when the controlling antecedent stimulus and the response or response product share the same sense mode and physically resemble each other |
| behavior | everything an organism does |
| meaning of a word | variables responsible for emission (tact, mand, etc) |
| fading | procedure for transferring stimulus control in which features of an antecedent stimulus controlling a behavior are graduallyy changed to a new stimulus while maintainng the current behavior;stimuls features can be faded in or out |
| echoic | verbal operant involving a responses that is evoked by a verbal SD that has point to point correspondence and formal similarity |
| listener | someone who provides reinforcemtn for verbal behavior |
| error | responding incorrectly beforeor after a prompt or failing to respond within 3 seconds of SD |
| feature stimulus class | stimuli that share common physical forms or structures or common relative relationships |
| imitation | behavior controlled by any physical movement that serves as a novel model excluding vocal -verbal behavior, has formal similarity with the model and immediatley follows the occurrence of the model |
| generalization | when behavior maintains across different stimuli, settings, magnitude, frequency, and behaviors |
| listener responding | focuses on the child paying attention when someone speaks, attending as an audience to the speaker, and respoindng to the speaker's behavior |
| Frequency | number of times the behavior occurs |
| intraverbal | verbal operant that is evoked by a verbal SD that does not have point to point correspondence |
| aversive stimulus | unpleasant or noxius stimulus |
| extinction (operant) | withholding reinforcement for a previously reinforced behavior; results in decrease in future frequency of responding |
| antecedent | stimulus preceding a behavior |
| duration | a measure of the total extent of time that a behavior occurs |
| applied behavior analysis | science of applying principles of behavior to improve socially signficant behavior experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for the improvement in behavior |
| Discrimination Training | reinforce a response in the presence of a stimulus, but not in the absences of a stimulus |
| escape contingency | contingency in which a response terminates an ongoing stimulus |
| mand | verbal operant that is evoked by an MO and followed by specific reinforcement |
| differential reinforcement | reinforcing only those responses within a response class that meet a specific criterion along some dimentsion(s) |
| free operant preference assessment | student is given free access to any item while teacher records duration on how long the studnet interacts with chosen item and frequency |
| free-avoidance | contingency in which responses at any time during an interval prior to the onset of an aversive stimulus-compare with discriminated avoidance |
| response | single instance or occurrence of a specific class or type of behavior |
| Satiation | decrease in the frequency of operant behavior presumed to be the results of continued contact with or consumption of a reinforcer that has followed the behavior |
| Unconditioned Reinforcer | stimulus change that increases the frequency of any behavior that immediately preceds it irrespective of the organism/learning history with ethe stimulus |
| Secondary Reinforcer | AKA conditioned reinforcer, a stimulus or situation that has acquired itsfunction as a reinforcer after pairing with a stimulus that functions as a reinforcer |
| Target Behavior | response class selected for intervention; can be defined by either function or topography |
| Single Stimulus Preference Assessment | Present a single stimulus and record contact with item, or latency or duration of contact |
| Speaker | someone who engages in verbal behavior by emitting mands, tacts, intraverbals, autoclitics, and so on |
| Reinforcer | energy change that increases future frequency of behavior that immediately precedes it |
| Response Latency | elaspsed time from the onset of a stimulus to the initiation of a response |
| Response Class | group of responses of varying topography that all produce the same effect on the environment |
| Positive Reinforcement | occurs when a behavior is followed immediately by the presnetation of a stimulus that increases the future frequency of the behavior in similar conditions |
| Rate | cycles per unit time |
| Reinforcement | occurs when a stimulus change immediately follows a response and increases the future frequency of that type of behavior in similar conditions |
| Response Maintenance | the extent to which a procedure can produce durable changes in behavio |
| Stimulus preference assessment | variety of procedures used to determine a.) stimulus that a person prefers, b.) the relative preference values of those stimuli c.) the conditions under which those preferences value remain in effect |
| Tact | Elementary verbal operant evoked by a non verbal discriminative stimulus and followed by generalized conditioned reinforcement |
| Token Economy | system where participants earn generalized conditioned reinforcers as immediate consequence for specific behavior; participants accumulate tokens and exchange them for items and activities from a meu of backup reinforcers |
| Verbal behavior | Behavior whose reinforcement is mediated by a listener. Encompasses the subject matter usually treated as language and topics such as thinking, grammar, composition, and understanding |
| Analogue FA | Setup conditions to mimic real-life situations |
| Analogue FA conditions | Control, attention, escape from task, alone, tangible |
| Analytic | Characteristic of ABA. Scientifically based experimental designs are used. They maybe used to identify the function of problem behavior, whether or not a Tx works, or what element of a Tx is effective. |
| Antecedent Manipulation | Adding or removing antecedents that evoke behaviors. Include MO, SD, response effort |
| Antecedent Manipulations (5) | "1. Antecedent control procedure 2. Establishing/abolishing Operation 3. Present SDs for appropriate behavior 4. Remove SDs for inappropriate behavior 5. Increase response effort for inappropriate behavior" |
| Applied | Characteristic of ABA. Focuses on behavior with social significance. |
| Applied Behavior Analysis vs Experimental Analysis of Behavior | "Both use systematic manipulations and data analysis of individual organisms. ABA: Behaviors of social significance to the person are investigated EAB: Behaviors of no social significance of the person are investigated" |
| Assumptions/Characteristics of Science | "1. Determinism 2. Law of Parsimony 3. Scientific Manipulation 4. Empiricism 5. Philosophic Doubt 6. Replication" |
| Automatic reinforcement | A reinforcer that is produced by the behavior without the participation of other people (i.e., "response produced"). For example, echolalia produces sounds that may maintain the behavior. It can be positive or negative reinforcement. |
| Behavioral | Characteristic of ABA. Behavior is the focus, not a hypothetical entity. |
| Behavioral Assessment | Assessment that examines the person's entire life in order to identify possible causes of the behavior in question. You may use descriptive assessment methods or functional analyses. |
| Behavioral assessment: 2 general kinds | "1. Functional analysis 2. Descriptive assessment" |
| Behavioral assessment: goal | Identify the function of behavior |
| Behavioral Technologies | Collection of procedures that have arisen from research and are applied to practical problems by practitioners. Ex: behavioral momentum is now implemented by many service providers in clinics, schools, and homes |
| Behaviorism | Philosophy of behavior that assumes behavior is a function of current and past environments as well as genetics. |
| Characteristics of ABA | "1. Effective 2. Technological 3. Conceptually Systematic 4. Generality 5. Analytic 6. Applied 7. Behavioral" |
| Conceptually Systematic | Characteristic of ABA. Procedures are tied to the basic principles of behavior. |
| Dependent Variable | Measure of behavior of interest |
| Determinism | Assumption of Science. Behavior is caused by some event. |
| Discrepency analysis | Compare data with those of norm group to determine changeworthiness of current behavior |
| Divided attention | When attention is diverted to another person, and not just withheld |
| Effective | Characteristic of ABA. Changes in behavior that are large enough to impact a person's life. |
| Empiricism | Assumption of Science. Information is collected by objective observations |
| Explanatory Fiction/Circular Reasoning | Explaining behavior by using entity that lies within the behavior itself. (Eric is aggressive because he has an aggressive trait. Evidence of aggressive trait is his aggressive behavior) |
| Functional Analysis | Manipulation of environmental conditions to determine a functional relation between problem behavior and independent variables. Often, the goal is to confirm an hypothesis developed in descriptive assessment. |
| Functional analysis best practice: how many controls to use | Use one control for each test (pair wise) |
| Functional analysis best practice: natural vs contrived environments | Natural |
| Functional analysis best practice: role of supplemental information | To develop an hypothesis |
| Functional analysis best practice: what to do with tangible condition | If descriptive assessment does not indicate behavior occurs to produce tangibles, then don't include in test conditions. |
| Functional analysis models | AB and ABC |
| Functional analysis on high intensity behavior | "1. Look at the latency to the first response in the condition. Then end the condition. 2. Or, just study precursors." |
| Functional analysis review: most common function | "1. Escape from task 2. Attention" |
| Functional analysis review: most common population studied | Kids with disabilities |
| Functional analysis review: most common setting | Inpatient settings |
| Functional analysis: AB model | FA in which an EO is manipulated (task vs no task; frequent attention vs low attention). No consequences are presented when behavior occurs. |
| Functional analysis: ABC model | FA in which EO and consequences are manipulated. Examples: Attention condition: FR 1 attention for problem behavior when attention deprived. Tangible condition: FR 1 tangible for problem behavior when tangible deprived. |
| Functional analysis: Trial-based methods | Functional analysis using brief trials in the natural environment. Research has used control-test or control-test-control sequences. DV is latency or % trials with problem behavior. |
| Functional analysis: brief | An FA that involves 1 or 2 sessions |
| Functional analysis: limits | "1. Does analogue apply to real life 2. Sometimes misses idiosyncratic variables 3. Doesn't always investigate complex variables" |
| Functional analysis: role of precursors | Can be the DV if the problem behavior is dangerous. |
| Functional analysis: strengths | 1. High degree of confidence in determining functional relations |
| Functional analysis: undifferentiated data | " may suggest that the behavior is under multiple control (there is more than 1 operant) or that there is some idiosyncratic variable maintaining the behavior in all conditions or automatic reinforcers might maintain behavior in all conditions" |
| Generality | Extent to which the results or functional relations will be observed if the experiment is changed in some way. Can be tested by implementing the Tx with different Ss, settings, behaviors, or species. |
| How to sample high rate behavior | Continuous recording for short period of time |
| Hypothesis testing (2 kinds) | "1. Tx vs no Tx probes in real life setting 2. Set up FA conditions to test hypothesis" |
| Inadequate Explanations of Behavior | "1. Nominal Fallacy 2. Teleology 3. Reification 4. Circular reasoning" |
| Independent Variable | Treatment or intervention |
| Kinds of descriptive assessments | "1. Direct observation 2. Records review 3. Interviews" |
| Law of Parsimony | Assumption of Science. The simplest explanation of behavior should be provided, all else being equal |
| Maladaptive behavior: problem with term "maladaptive" | It is assumed that behavior is adaptive, as it has a function. |
| Mentalistic Explanations of Behavior | Explanations that appeal to mental, unobservable processes. Ex: The child was aggressive due to his frustration with school. |
| Nominal Fallacy | Explaining behavior by naming or classifying it (The behavior is PICA to explain eating inedible objects) |
| Philosophic Doubt | Assumption of Science. Conclusions of science are tentative and can be revised as new data comes to light. |
| Precursors: role in assessment | In the case of high intensity behavior, precursors maybe assessed for safety reasons |
| Precursors: role in treatment | It can be useful to intervene, and treat, precursor behavior: 1) less restrictive procedures can be used 2) a given Tx maybe more effective, as precursors are earlier in the chain and therefore maybe weaker |
| Private Events | Behavior and/or stimuli that can only be observed by the person emitting the behavior, or experiencing the stimuli. These behaviors and stimuli still must be explained by appealing to a history of environmental contingencies or biological processes. |
| Problem with analogue FA – with respect to generality of results | Analogue setting sometimes unlike real-life. Thus, poor generality in some cases. |
| Reasons why you might need to intervene | "A. Danger to self, others B. Safety hazard C. Welfare in current environment D. Behavior problem prevents access to less restrictive environment" |
| Proximal MO example | 1. Task presented to child –> problem behavior |
| Reification | Explaining behavior by appealing to non-existent entity (ID, ego, self, etc.) |
| Scientific Manipulation | Characteristic of Science. Systematically manipulating an event to see effects on behavior |
| Setting events: issue with term | Setting events is not technical term in the field. They typically refer to motivational operations |
| Social Significance | Characteristic of Applied Behavior Analysis whereas the behavior is socially significant to the person as well as the changes that occur. |
| Systematic Manipulation | Assumption of science. To see if an event affects behavior, the event is systematically manipulated and the effects on behavior are noted. |
| Technological | Characteristic of ABA. Provides written detail of procedures to permit replication of techniques in other settings. |
| Teleology | Explaining behavior by appealing to future, unexperienced events (I am doing my homework to graduate) |
