SPCE 611 COMPREHENSIVE EXAM STUDY
GUIDE COMPLETE QUESTIONS AND
SOLUTIONS
●● behaviorism
Answer: A theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific
psychology should study only observable behavior
●● determinism
Answer: The universe is a lawful and orderly place in which all
phenomena occurs as the result of other events.
●● empiricism
Answer: the practice of objective observation and measurement of the
phenomena of interest
●● experiment
Answer: a controlled comparison of some measure of the phenomena of
interest under two or more different conditions in which only one factor
at a time differs from one condition to another
●● experimental analysis of behavior (EAB)
, Answer: a natural science approach to the study of behavior as a subject
matter in its own right founded by BF Skinner
●● explanatory fiction
Answer: a fictitious variable that often is simply another name for the
observed behavior that contributes nothing to an understanding of the
variables responsible for developing or maintaining the behavior (ex:
saying someone doesn't read well because they are an "underachiever"
●● functional analysis
Answer: 1. denotes demonstrations of functional relations between
environmental variables and behavior
2. experimental methodology for determining environmental variables
and contingencies maintaining problem behavior
●● functional relation
Answer: exists when a well-controlled experiment reveals that a specific
change in one event (dependent variable) can reliably be produced by
specific manipulations of another event (independent variable) and that
the change in the dependent variable was unlikely to be the result of
other extraneous factors (confounding variables)
●● hypothetical construct
Answer: theoretical terms that refer to a possibly existing, but at the
moment unobserved process or entity; cannot be manipulated or
GUIDE COMPLETE QUESTIONS AND
SOLUTIONS
●● behaviorism
Answer: A theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific
psychology should study only observable behavior
●● determinism
Answer: The universe is a lawful and orderly place in which all
phenomena occurs as the result of other events.
●● empiricism
Answer: the practice of objective observation and measurement of the
phenomena of interest
●● experiment
Answer: a controlled comparison of some measure of the phenomena of
interest under two or more different conditions in which only one factor
at a time differs from one condition to another
●● experimental analysis of behavior (EAB)
, Answer: a natural science approach to the study of behavior as a subject
matter in its own right founded by BF Skinner
●● explanatory fiction
Answer: a fictitious variable that often is simply another name for the
observed behavior that contributes nothing to an understanding of the
variables responsible for developing or maintaining the behavior (ex:
saying someone doesn't read well because they are an "underachiever"
●● functional analysis
Answer: 1. denotes demonstrations of functional relations between
environmental variables and behavior
2. experimental methodology for determining environmental variables
and contingencies maintaining problem behavior
●● functional relation
Answer: exists when a well-controlled experiment reveals that a specific
change in one event (dependent variable) can reliably be produced by
specific manipulations of another event (independent variable) and that
the change in the dependent variable was unlikely to be the result of
other extraneous factors (confounding variables)
●● hypothetical construct
Answer: theoretical terms that refer to a possibly existing, but at the
moment unobserved process or entity; cannot be manipulated or
