Instructor’s Manual with Test Items
to accompany
Applied Behavior Analysis
Third Edition
John O. Cooper ● Timothy E. Heron ● William L. Heward
All, Ohio State University
Updated and Expanded for 3rd Edition by
Janelle Allison, Behavior Development Solutions ● Kim M. Kelly, Behavior
Development Solutions ● Nicole Davis, Northeastern University ● Jonathan
Kimball, Behavior Development Solutions ● Stephen Eversole, Behavior
Development Solutions
Originally Prepared by
Stephanie Peterson, Idaho State University ● Renée K. Van Norman, University of Nevada-Las Vegas ● Lloyd
Peterson, Idaho State University ● Shannon Crozier, University of Nevada-Las Vegas ● Jessica E. Frieder, Idaho
State University ● Peter Molino, Idaho State University ● Heath Ivers, Idaho State University ● Shawn
Quigley, Idaho State University Megan Bryson, University of Nevada-Las Vegas ● David Bicard, University of
Memphis
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
Columbus, Ohio
, Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 1
Chapter 2: Basic Concepts and Principles................................................................................................................... 5
Chapter 3: Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors.................................................................................................. 9
Chapter 4: Measuring Behavior................................................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 5: Improving and Assessing the Quality of Behavioral Measurement....................................................... 14
Chapter 6: Constructing and Interpreting Graphic Displays of Behavioral Data.................................................... 16
Chapter 7: Analyzing Behavior Change: Basic Assumptions and Strategies........................................................... 19
Chapter 8: Reversal and Multielement Designs........................................................................................................ 22
Chapter 9: Multiple Baseline and Changing Criterion Designs............................................................................... 25
Chapter 10: Planning and Evaluating Applied Behavior Analysis Research........................................................... 28
Chapter 11: Positive Reinforcement............................................................................................................................ 33
Chapter 12: Negative Reinforcement.......................................................................................................................... 37
Chapter 13: Schedules of Reinforcement................................................................................................................... 40
Chapter 14: Positive Reinforcement........................................................................................................................... 44
Chapter 15: Negative Punishment.............................................................................................................................. 47
Chapter 16: Motivating Operations............................................................................................................................. 51
Chapter 17: Stimulus Control...................................................................................................................................... 55
Chapter 18: Verbal Behavior....................................................................................................................................... 58
Chapter 19: Equivalence-Based Instruction.............................................................................................................. 63
Chapter 20: Engineering Emergent Learning with Nonequivalence Relations..................................................... 66
Chapter 21: Modeling, Imitation, and Observational Learning................................................................................70
Chapter 22: Shaping.................................................................................................................................................... 72
Chapter 23: Chaining.................................................................................................................................................. 76
Chapter 24: Extinction................................................................................................................................................ 79
Chapter 25: Differential Reinforcement.................................................................................................................... 83
Chapter 26: Antecedent Interventions...................................................................................................................... 86
Chapter 27: Functional Behavior Assessment...........................................................................................................92
,Chapter 28: Token Economy, Group Contingencies, and Contingency Contracting............................................. 97
Chapter 29: Self-Management.................................................................................................................................. 100
Chapter 30: Generalization and Maintenance of Behavior Change....................................................................... 104
Chapter 31: Ethical and Professional Responsibilities of Applied Behavior Analysts.......................................... 108
Chapter 1: Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis
Chapter Summary
The word “science” is often used as a noun, conflated with its products—as in “What does science tell
us?”—but those products are outcomes of the behavior of large numbers of inquisitive individuals who
engage in a systematic approach for seeking and organizing information about the natural world. Science
really has one overall goal: to achieve a thorough understanding of the phenomena under study, which, in
the field of applied behavior analysis, is socially important behavior that is meaningfully associated with
an individual’s quality of life.
Different types of scientific investigation yield different degrees of understanding that represent
progressively greater ability to influence given phenomena. Description refers to a scientist collecting facts
about entities or events, which can raise interesting questions and establish hypotheses for further study.
Prediction is the outcome of more systematic observation when a scientist finds that two events often covary;
when correlations are demonstrated in this manner, the probability of one event occurring can be more
confidently predicted given the presence of the other event, although at this level the scientist cannot refer
to the relationship between the two events as a causal one. When a scientist actually manipulates events,
however, and shows that a change they make in one event (an “independent variable”) repeatedly results in
some change in a second event (a target or “dependent variable”)—and when they have accounted for and
reduced the likelihood that some other variable is responsible for that change— when, in other words, they
have demonstrated a functional relationship between these variables, they have achieved experimental
control of the phenomena being studied. Behavior analysts consider control to be the most desirable level of
understanding because functional relations are the potential basis for developing applied techniques for
behavior change. In this respect, behavior analysis is characterized by pragmatism, the philosophical
position that the “truth” of scientific findings is to be judged by the extent to which they lead to effective
action.
, The pursuit of scientific understanding of natural phenomena—including behavior—is characterized by an
overriding set of assumptions and values: determinism, empiricism, experimentation, replication, parsimony,
and philosophic doubt. Determinism—the notion that the universe is a lawful and orderly place in which all
events occur as the result of other events—is the assumption upon which scientific endeavors are predicated.
Indeed, if events were not determined in a reasonably orderly fashion—if phenomena randomly occurred
simply as a matter of chance—then there would be no basis for viable technologies of behavior change. The
development of useful behavior change techniques, in other words, rests on the belief that all behavior is the
result of specifiable conditions and that these conditions, once identified, can be managed in a way that will
influence the future probability of behavior. Other qualities that guide success in science include
thoroughness, curiosity, perseverance, diligence, ethics, and honesty.
John B. Watson—one of the first and best known individuals to identify as a “behaviorist” early in the 20th
century—departed from psychology’s focus at the time on introspection and mental processes, and
suggested that human behavior could be studied using the observational tactics of natural science. His
behaviorism, which came to be known as S-R psychology—and also came to be known for fantastic
claims—could not account for apparently “spontaneous” acts: for behavior, in other words, that lacked
obvious antecedents. Numerous efforts to fill these explanatory gaps once again elevated mental states and
constructs to causal status with respect to human behavior.
B. F. Skinner, in contrast, remained focused on environmental events and eventually showed, through
what he called the experimental analysis of behavior (EAB), that much behavior is
4
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
to accompany
Applied Behavior Analysis
Third Edition
John O. Cooper ● Timothy E. Heron ● William L. Heward
All, Ohio State University
Updated and Expanded for 3rd Edition by
Janelle Allison, Behavior Development Solutions ● Kim M. Kelly, Behavior
Development Solutions ● Nicole Davis, Northeastern University ● Jonathan
Kimball, Behavior Development Solutions ● Stephen Eversole, Behavior
Development Solutions
Originally Prepared by
Stephanie Peterson, Idaho State University ● Renée K. Van Norman, University of Nevada-Las Vegas ● Lloyd
Peterson, Idaho State University ● Shannon Crozier, University of Nevada-Las Vegas ● Jessica E. Frieder, Idaho
State University ● Peter Molino, Idaho State University ● Heath Ivers, Idaho State University ● Shawn
Quigley, Idaho State University Megan Bryson, University of Nevada-Las Vegas ● David Bicard, University of
Memphis
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
Columbus, Ohio
, Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 1
Chapter 2: Basic Concepts and Principles................................................................................................................... 5
Chapter 3: Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors.................................................................................................. 9
Chapter 4: Measuring Behavior................................................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 5: Improving and Assessing the Quality of Behavioral Measurement....................................................... 14
Chapter 6: Constructing and Interpreting Graphic Displays of Behavioral Data.................................................... 16
Chapter 7: Analyzing Behavior Change: Basic Assumptions and Strategies........................................................... 19
Chapter 8: Reversal and Multielement Designs........................................................................................................ 22
Chapter 9: Multiple Baseline and Changing Criterion Designs............................................................................... 25
Chapter 10: Planning and Evaluating Applied Behavior Analysis Research........................................................... 28
Chapter 11: Positive Reinforcement............................................................................................................................ 33
Chapter 12: Negative Reinforcement.......................................................................................................................... 37
Chapter 13: Schedules of Reinforcement................................................................................................................... 40
Chapter 14: Positive Reinforcement........................................................................................................................... 44
Chapter 15: Negative Punishment.............................................................................................................................. 47
Chapter 16: Motivating Operations............................................................................................................................. 51
Chapter 17: Stimulus Control...................................................................................................................................... 55
Chapter 18: Verbal Behavior....................................................................................................................................... 58
Chapter 19: Equivalence-Based Instruction.............................................................................................................. 63
Chapter 20: Engineering Emergent Learning with Nonequivalence Relations..................................................... 66
Chapter 21: Modeling, Imitation, and Observational Learning................................................................................70
Chapter 22: Shaping.................................................................................................................................................... 72
Chapter 23: Chaining.................................................................................................................................................. 76
Chapter 24: Extinction................................................................................................................................................ 79
Chapter 25: Differential Reinforcement.................................................................................................................... 83
Chapter 26: Antecedent Interventions...................................................................................................................... 86
Chapter 27: Functional Behavior Assessment...........................................................................................................92
,Chapter 28: Token Economy, Group Contingencies, and Contingency Contracting............................................. 97
Chapter 29: Self-Management.................................................................................................................................. 100
Chapter 30: Generalization and Maintenance of Behavior Change....................................................................... 104
Chapter 31: Ethical and Professional Responsibilities of Applied Behavior Analysts.......................................... 108
Chapter 1: Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis
Chapter Summary
The word “science” is often used as a noun, conflated with its products—as in “What does science tell
us?”—but those products are outcomes of the behavior of large numbers of inquisitive individuals who
engage in a systematic approach for seeking and organizing information about the natural world. Science
really has one overall goal: to achieve a thorough understanding of the phenomena under study, which, in
the field of applied behavior analysis, is socially important behavior that is meaningfully associated with
an individual’s quality of life.
Different types of scientific investigation yield different degrees of understanding that represent
progressively greater ability to influence given phenomena. Description refers to a scientist collecting facts
about entities or events, which can raise interesting questions and establish hypotheses for further study.
Prediction is the outcome of more systematic observation when a scientist finds that two events often covary;
when correlations are demonstrated in this manner, the probability of one event occurring can be more
confidently predicted given the presence of the other event, although at this level the scientist cannot refer
to the relationship between the two events as a causal one. When a scientist actually manipulates events,
however, and shows that a change they make in one event (an “independent variable”) repeatedly results in
some change in a second event (a target or “dependent variable”)—and when they have accounted for and
reduced the likelihood that some other variable is responsible for that change— when, in other words, they
have demonstrated a functional relationship between these variables, they have achieved experimental
control of the phenomena being studied. Behavior analysts consider control to be the most desirable level of
understanding because functional relations are the potential basis for developing applied techniques for
behavior change. In this respect, behavior analysis is characterized by pragmatism, the philosophical
position that the “truth” of scientific findings is to be judged by the extent to which they lead to effective
action.
, The pursuit of scientific understanding of natural phenomena—including behavior—is characterized by an
overriding set of assumptions and values: determinism, empiricism, experimentation, replication, parsimony,
and philosophic doubt. Determinism—the notion that the universe is a lawful and orderly place in which all
events occur as the result of other events—is the assumption upon which scientific endeavors are predicated.
Indeed, if events were not determined in a reasonably orderly fashion—if phenomena randomly occurred
simply as a matter of chance—then there would be no basis for viable technologies of behavior change. The
development of useful behavior change techniques, in other words, rests on the belief that all behavior is the
result of specifiable conditions and that these conditions, once identified, can be managed in a way that will
influence the future probability of behavior. Other qualities that guide success in science include
thoroughness, curiosity, perseverance, diligence, ethics, and honesty.
John B. Watson—one of the first and best known individuals to identify as a “behaviorist” early in the 20th
century—departed from psychology’s focus at the time on introspection and mental processes, and
suggested that human behavior could be studied using the observational tactics of natural science. His
behaviorism, which came to be known as S-R psychology—and also came to be known for fantastic
claims—could not account for apparently “spontaneous” acts: for behavior, in other words, that lacked
obvious antecedents. Numerous efforts to fill these explanatory gaps once again elevated mental states and
constructs to causal status with respect to human behavior.
B. F. Skinner, in contrast, remained focused on environmental events and eventually showed, through
what he called the experimental analysis of behavior (EAB), that much behavior is
4
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
