BCBA EXAM TERMS PART 1

BCBA EXAM TERMS PART 1 Chapter 1: Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis Task List Number / Item Basic Characteristic of Science / 3 levels of investigation of science (DPC) Description Systematic observation enhances the understanding of a given phenomenon by enabling scientists to describe it accurately. Descriptive knowledge consists of a collection of facts about the observed events that can be quantified, classified, and examined for possible relations with other known facts—a necessary and important activity for any scientific discipline. The knowledge obtained from descriptive studies often suggests possible hypotheses or questions for additional research. Prediction A second level of scientific understanding occurs when repeated observations reveal that two events consistently covary with each other. That is, in the presence of one event (e.g., approaching winter) another event occurs (or fails to occur) with some specified probability (e.g., certain birds fly south). When systematic covariation between two events is found, this relationship— termed a correlation—can be used to predict the relative probability that one event will occur, based on the presence of the other event. Control The ability to predict with a certain degree of confidence is a valuable and useful result of science; prediction enables preparation. However, the greatest potential benefits from science are derived from the third, and highest, level of scientific understanding—control. Evidence of the kinds of control that can be derived from scientific findings in the physical and biological sciences surrounds us in the everyday technologies we take for granted: pasteurized milk and the refrigerators we store it in; flu shots and the automobiles we drive to go get them; pain relievers and the televisions that bombard us with advertisements and news stories about the drugs. A functional relation exists when a well-controlled experiment demonstrates that a specific change in one event (the dependent variable) is reliably produced by specific manipulations of another event (the independent variable), and that the change in the dependent variable was unlikely to be the result of other extraneous factors (confounding variables). Attitudes of Science (DEER PP) Assumptions and Attitudes of Science Determinism Science is predicated on the assumption of determinism. All scientists presume that the universe is a lawful and orderly place in which all phenomena occur as the result of other events. In other words, events do not just happen willy-nilly; they are related in systematic ways to other factors, which are themselves physical phenomena amenable to scientific investigation. Empiricism Scientific knowledge is built on, above all, empiricism—the practice of objective observation and measurement of the phenomena of interest. Objectivity in this sense means “independent of the individual prejudices, tastes, and private opinions of the scientist. Results of empirical methods are objective in that they are open to anyone’s observation and do not depend on the subjective belief of the individual scientist” The scientist’s empirical attitude, however, demands objective observation based on thorough description, systematic and repeated measurement, and precise quantification of the phenomena of interest. Experimentation When events are observed to covary or occur in close temporal sequence, a functional relation may exist, but other factors may be responsible for the observed values of the dependent variable. To investigate the possible existence of a functional relation, an experiment (or better, a series of experiments) must be performed in which the factor(s) suspected of having causal status are systematically controlled and manipulated while the effects on the event under study are carefully observed. Replication Replication—repeating of experiments (as well as repeating independent variable conditions within experiments)— “pervades every nook and cranny of the experimental method” (Johnston & Pennypacker, 1993a, p. 244). Replication is the primary method with which scientists determine the reliability and usefulness of their findings and discover their mistakes (Johnston & Pennypacker, 1980; 1993a; Sidman, 1960). Replication—not the infallibility or inherent honesty of scientists—is the primary reason science is a self-correcting enterprise that ultimately gets it right (Skinner, 1953). Parsimony parsimony requires that all simple, logical explanations for the phenomenon under investigation be ruled out, experimentally or conceptually, before more complex or abstract explanations are considered. Philosophic Doubt The attitude of philosophic doubt requires the scientist to continually question the truthfulness of what is regarded as fact. Scientific knowledge must always be viewed as tentative. Scientists must be willing to set aside their most cherished beliefs and findings and replace them with the knowledge derived from new discoveries. RESPONDENT VS OPERANT Respondent behaviour Respondent behavior is reflexive behavior as in the tradition of Ivan Pavlov (1927). Respondents are elicited, or “brought out,” by stimuli that immediately precede them. The antecedent stimulus (e.g., bright light) and the response it elicits (e.g., pupil constriction) form a functional unit called a reflex. Respondent behaviors are essentially involuntary and occur whenever the eliciting stimulus is presented. Operant behaviour Operant behaviors are not elicited by preceding stimuli but instead are influenced by stimulus changes that have followed the behavior in the past. Skinner’s most powerful and fundamental contribution to our understanding of behavior was his discovery and experimental analyses of the effects of consequences on behavior. The operant three-term contingency as the primary unit of analysis was a revolutionary conceptual breakthrough. Skinner’s Radical Behaviourism Radical behaviourism Skinner created a radical behaviorism that includes and seeks to understand all human behavior. “What is inside the skin, and how do we know about it? The answer is, I believe, the heart of radical behaviorism” (Skinner, 1974, p. 218). The proper connotations of the word radical in radi- cal behaviorism are far-reaching and thoroughgoing, connoting the philosophy’s inclusion of all behavior, public and private Methodological behaviourism Methodological behaviorists acknowledge the existence of mental events but do not consider them in the analysis of behavior (Skinner, 1974). Methodological behaviorists’ reliance on public events, excluding private events, restricts the knowl- edge base of human behavior and discourages innovation in the science of behavior. Methodological behaviorism is restrictive because it ignores areas of major importance for an understanding of behavior. Mentalism In general terms, mentalism may be defined as an approach to the study of behavior which assumes that a mental or “inner” dimension exists that differs from a behavioral dimension. This dimension is ordinarily referred to in terms of its neural, psychic, spiritual, subjective, conceptual, or hypothetical properties. Structuralism Structuralism and methodological behaviorism do reject all events that are not operationally defined by objective assessment. Structuralists avoid mental- ism by restricting their activities to descriptions of behavior. They make no scientific manipulations; accordingly, they do not address questions of causal factors. Mentalistic explanations of the behaviour Hypothetical constructs and explanatory fictions are the stock and trade of mentalism Hypothetical constructs Hypothetical constructs—“theoretical terms that refer to a possibly existing, but at the moment unobserved process or entity” (Moore, 1995, p. 36)—can be neither observed nor experimentally manipulated (MacCorquodale & Meehl, 1948; Zuriff, 1985). Free will, readiness, innate releasers, language acquisition devices, storage and retrieval mechanisms for memory, and information processing are all examples of hypothetical constructs that are inferred from behavior. Explanatory fiction The “knowledge” that is said to account for the rat’s performance is an example of an explanatory fiction, 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. Explanatory fictions are the key ingredient in “a circular way of viewing the cause and effect of a situation” (Heron, Tincani, Peterson, & Miller, 2005, p. 274) that lead to a false sense of understanding. Circular Reasoning Circular reasoning is a form of faulty logic in which the name used to describe an observed effect is mistaken as the cause for the effect. This confusion of cause and effect is circular because the observed effect is the sole basis for identifying the presumed cause. In circular reasoning, the suspected cause is not independent of its effect—they are one and the same. Environmental Human behavior is continuously shaped and maintained by its consequences – and understanding this process is important to most fields of psychology and neuroscience. The role of the learning explanations of behaviour organism’s environment has long been contentious, 7 DIMENSIONS OF ABA 1) Generality A behavior change has generality if it lasts over time, appears in environments other than the one in which the intervention that initially produced it was implemented, and/or spreads to other behaviors not directly treated by the intervention. 2) Effective An effective application of behavioral techniques must improve the behavior under investigation to a practical degree. “In application, the theoretical importance of a variable is usually not at issue. Its practical importance, specifically its power in altering behavior enough to be socially important, is the essential criterion” (Baer et al., 1968, p. 96). Whereas some investigations produce results of theoretical importance or statistical signifi- cance, to be judged effective an applied behavior analysis study must produce behavior changes that reach clinical or social significance. 3) Technological A study in applied behavior analysis is technological when all of its operative procedures are identified and described with sufficient detail and clarity “such that a reader has a fair chance of replicating the application with the same results” 4) Applied The applied in applied behavior analysis signals ABA’s commitment to effecting improvements in behaviors that enhance and improve people’s lives. To meet this criterion, the researcher or practitioner must select behaviors to change that are socially significant for participants: social, language, academic, daily living, self-care, vocational, and/or recreation and leisure behaviors that improve the day-to-day life experience of the participants and/or affect their significant others (parents, teachers, peers, employers) in such a way that they behave more positively with and toward the participant. 5) Conceptually Systematic conceptually systematic, meaning that the procedures for changing behavior and any interpretations of how or why those procedures were effective should be described in terms of the relevant principle(s) from which they were derived. 6) Analytic A study in applied behavior analysis is analytic when the experimenter has demonstrated a functional relation between the manipulated events and a reliable change in some measurable dimension of the targeted behavior. 7) Behavioural At first it may seem superfluous to include such an obvious criterion— of course applied behavior analysis must be behavioral. However, Baer and colleagues (1968) made three import- ant points relative to the behavioral criterion. First, not just any behavior will do; the behavior chosen for study must be the behavior in need of improvement, not a similar behavior that serves as a proxy for the behavior of interest or the subject’s verbal description of the behavior. Behavior analysts conduct studies of behavior, not studies about behavior. Second, the behavior must be measurable; the precise and reliable measurement of behavior is just as critical in applied research as it is in basic research. Third, when changes in behavior are observed during an investigation, it is necessary to ask whose behavior has changed. Task List Number / Item Chapter 2: Basic Concepts FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTIC OF BEHAVIOUR Definition of Behavior, like coffee tables and all entities in the physical world, also behaviour has features that can be measured. Because behavior occurs within and across time, it has three fundamental and measurable dimensional quantities. Johnston and Pennypacker (2009) described these dimensional quantities as: 1. Temporal locus 2. Temporal extent 3. Repeatability Rate, Latency, Duration, and IRT are derived from these. Temporal Locus • Temporal locus: Every instance of behavior occurs at a certain point in time with respect to other events (i.e., when behavior occurs can be measured). 1. A single response occurs in time. 2. A response occurs at a certain point in time in relation to a preceding environmental event. Temporal Extent • Temporal extent: Every instance of behaviour occurs during some amount of time (i.e., the duration of behaviour can be measured). Refers to the fact that every instance of behavior occurs during some amount of time (Cooper). Repeatability Repeatability (also called countability): Instances of a behavior can occur repeatedly through time (i.e., behavior can be counted). Refers to the fact that a response can reoccur. BEHAVIOUR VS RESPONSE Behaviour 1. Everything that an organism does. 2. The movement of an organism or its parts in a frame of reference provided by the organism or by various external objects or fields. 3. That portion of an organism’s interaction with its environment that involves movement or some part of the organism. 4. The interaction of the muscles and glands of a live organism and the environment. Interaction of a person and his/her environment. Action of the muscles and/or glands Response A specific instance of behaviour. FUNCTIONAL VS TOPOGRAPHYCAL DEFINATION OF BEHAVIOUR Response topography 1. The physical nature of the response. 2. The exact form, configuration or shape of the response, the appearance of the response, the force involved, and the actual movements involved. Form of response (e.g. kicking, hitting,) Behavior can also be described by its form, or physical characteristics. Response topography refers to the physical shape or form of behavior. For example, the hand and finger movements used to open a bag of peanuts can be described by their topographical elements. However, careful observation will reveal that the topography differs somewhat each time a person opens a bag of snacks. The difference may be slight, but each “bag opening response” will vary somewhat from all others. Functional Includes the topography of response as well as the functional antecedents and/or consequences. The function of a behavior describes why the behavior occurs, or the purpose of the behavior; whereas, the topography of the behavior describes its form. Describing the topography of the behavior is much more objective—you are simply stating objectively what happened. The function of the behavior tends to be much more subjective—you are trying to explain why a student exhibited a certain behavior. A functional definition defines the response class of behaviors by their common effect on the environment (the function). You use this form of operational definition to describe a group of behaviors that serve the same function. Here are a couple of examples. RESPONSE CLASS VS STIMULUS CLASS Response Class A response class is a group of responses of varying topography, all of which produce the same effect on the environment. A response class is a group of responses with the same function (that is, each response in the group produces the same effect on the environment). Some response classes comprise responses of widely varying form—imagine the tremendous variability in responses to the request to “do something unpredictable” (Neuringer, 2009)—whereas the topographical variation among members of other response classes is limited (e.g., a person’s signature, proper grip for a four-seam fastball). Stimulus Class Stimulus events can be described formally (by their physical features), temporally (by when they occur with respect to a behavior of interest), and functionally (by their effects on behavior). Behavior analysts used the term stimulus class to refer to any group of stimuli sharing a predetermined set of common elements in one or more of these dimensions. A stimulus class is a group of stimuli that share specified common elements along formal, temporal, and/or functional dimensions. Repertoire Behavior analysts use the term repertoire in at least two ways. Repertoire is sometimes used to refer to all of the behaviors a person can do. More often the term denotes a per- son’s collection of knowledge and skills relevant to particular settings or tasks. In the latter sense, each of us has learned mul- tiple repertoires. For example, each of us has a repertoire of behaviors appropriate for informal social situations that differs somewhat (or a lot) from the behaviors we use to navigate for- mal situations. And each person has repertoires with respect to language skills, academic tasks, everyday routines, recreation, and so on. After studying this text, your repertoire of knowledge and skills in applied behavior analysis will be advanced. Environment Environment refers to the full set of physical circum- stances in which the organism exists. The term is comprehensive in that any facets of the physical world may be considered for their contribution to behavior. The term is specific in that for any particular behavior, the focus is usually on only those environmental events that are function- ally related to individual responses. Stimulus A stimulus is “an energy change that affects an organism through its receptor cells” (Michael, 2004, p. 7). Humans have receptor systems that detect stimulus changes occurring outside and inside the body.