EDF 6222 Exam Questions with Verified Answers

science, lawful relations - Answer- __ is more than the mere description of events as they occur. It is an attempt to discover order, to show that certain events stand in __ to other events (Skinner, 1953, p.6)." evidence - Answer- Being scientifically skeptical means that until there is __ available, assumptions should not be made. bias, evidence, replication - Answer- In order to be excellent stewards of science, as behavior analysts, we can follow a few guidelines when gathering and evaluating evidence. This includes reducing __ by ensuring interobserver agreement, examining for actual __ (as opposed to effects that could have produced changes without the intervention), __ and self-correction. parsimony - Answer- With __ we look for the simplest explanation possible, not extensive mentalistic explanations. philosophy - Answer- "Behaviorism is not the science of human behavior; it is the __ of that science" (Skinner, 1974) introspection - Answer- Structuralism relied on __ which looked inward to describe sensations, images, and feelings. methodological - Answer- behaviorism might be thought of as a psychological version of logical positivism or operationism. psychophysical parallelism - Answer- While some methodological behaviorists accept that there are mental states, they have ruled them completely out of consideration. This is not a new concept and was once referred to as __ mentalistic, explanatory - Answer- In Pavlov's early research, he did not jump to conclusions to suggest that the dog was "thinking" of food, and therefore salivating. Instead, he carefully controlled conditions that allowed him to show that particular stimuli can "acquire" the ability to elicit secretion. His careful analysis of the scientific method allowed him to avoid both __ and __ fictions debilitating - Answer- The evolutionary explanation for reflexes indicates that they are for the survival of the organism. However, we know all too well that sometimes responses can be conditioned that serve no purpose - even add a __ purpose - to our complex lives. conditioning, stimulus control, novel - Answer- Skinner (1953) informed us "Although the process of __ greatly extends the scope of the eliciting stimulus, it does not bring all the behavior of the organism within such __ "(p. 56). Conditioning can add numerous different eliciting stimuli, but it will never fashion a __ response. prediction, control, accessible - Answer- According to Skinner, contingencies of reinforcement have an edge over contingencies of survival because contingencies of reinforcement "Have the edge with __ and __ and the conditions under which a species acquires behavior are relatively __ and can often be manipulated". ontogeny - Answer- is the learned behaviors of a particular animal during its lifetime. phylogeny - Answer- is behaviors that have been passed down over the lifetime of the entire species. chain, learned - Answer- It can be difficult to distinguish between ontogenetic and phylogenic established behaviors. For a person viewing a complex __ for the first time, it may seem mysterious. But each step of the chain can be traced back to the shaping process. Just because the shaping process was not observed, it does not mean that it was not __ . However, when we view a spider spin a web "no comparable history can be invoked" to determine the phylogenic contingencies at work (Skinner, 1966, p.1208). genes, environment, cause - Answer- Moore (2015) stated " __ predispose an individual's susceptibility to influence from the __ (p. 27). We must be careful not to assert that genes "__ " behavior; rather, they set up the physical basis for the processes and structures that participate in behavior. Behavior still occurs in the context of the environment. model - Answer- Imitative responses necessarily require the learner to orient toward the __ rather than the topographical correspondence of their behavior with respect to the model. discriminative control - Answer- The use of the mirror provides the additional feedback required to receive __ of the model. think - Answer- The most substantial origins of our understanding of operant behavior derived from Darwin's controversial idea that humans were not unique in their ability to law of effect, pleasant, decrease - Answer- Thorndike's __ succinctly explained that organisms tend to learn new things when behaviors are followed by __ stimuli and that behaviors tend to __ when followed by negative stimuli. free will - Answer- It is also widely misunderstood that operant conditioning suggests that organisms cannot control their own behavior due to a lack of __. This is untrue, as once the environment is understood, it can be altered in our favor (Epstein, 1997). extinction, punishment, skill acquisition - Answer- When reinforcement is no longer present, the behavior undergoes __ . __ reduces future instances of a behavior, but it is never responsible for __ tendency, intrinsic interest, observable - Answer- Instead of " __, Skinner proposed that we measure behavior in terms of frequency: "he must be able to execute and repeat a given act, and other behavior must not interfere appreciably" (p.63). With this method, we do not have to assume any level of __ - there are many __ variables in the environment that can be observed to explain an increase or decrease in behavior. errors, frequency - Answer- Although the process of learning may appear to be trial and error, we must be careful not to assume that non-responses are __. Skinner further ridiculed the term "learning", as it is still an unobservable, incorrect account of what has occurred. Instead, Skinner said, "(when) we make a given consequence contingent upon certain physical properties of behavior", the __ of that behavior will increase (p.64). response - Answer- Because we cannot predict a __ that has already occurred, we posit that similar responses in the future will occur. Hence, operant response class was born. extinction, sooner - Answer- Resistance to __ cannot be determined without an accurate account of the reinforcement history. So, responses that were not reinforced for very long will be extinguished __ than those with a longer history of reinforcement. functional relationship - Answer- We can define purpose behaviorally by suggesting that there is a __ between the behavior and the environment and the consequences can chain together in numerous ways indefinitely. Purpose, is not a mental phenomenon that influences future behavior. effective, increases - Answer- Lattal reminded us that " __ reinforcers" is redundant. The very nature of the definition is that if it __ behavior, it is therefore a reinforcer. An "ineffective" reinforcer does not exist. repertoire, socially appropriate, spontaneously - Answer- Various verbal communities will influence the __ of the speaker. This is not only how we acquire different languages and various dialects, but also what is __. Although the verbal repertoire is shaped by the audience, once established, verbal behavior can occur __ without any environmental support. communication, vocal - Ans