BCBA Exam Prep Definitions Answered 100% Correct

Descriptive Knowledge - ANSWER-a collection of facts about the observed events that can be quantified, classified, and examined for possible relations with other known facts Prediction - ANSWER-in the presence of one event, another event occurs (or fails to occur) with some specified probability. 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) 6 Attitudes of Science - ANSWER-determinism, empiricism, experimentation, replication, parsimony and philosopic doubt - these guide the work of all scientists Determinism - ANSWER-scientists presume that the universe, is a lawful and orderly place in which all phenomena occur as the result of other events Accidentalism - ANSWER-When events occur by accident or without cause Fatalism - ANSWER-the belief that events are predetermined Empiricism - ANSWER-the practice of objective observation of the phenomena of interest (independent of feelings, predjudice, opinions etc) Experimentation - ANSWER-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 Experiment - ANSWER-a carefully conducted comparioson of some measure of the phenomenon of interest (dependent variable) under two or more different conditions in which only one factor at a time (independent variable) differs from one condition to another Replication - ANSWER-the repeating of experiments Parsimony - ANSWER-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 - ANSWER-requires the scietist to continually question the truthfulness of what is regarded as fact Science - ANSWER-a systematic approach to the understanding of natural phenomena Stimulus-Response - ANSWER-Watson, has little to no scientific support John B. Watson - ANSWER-stimulus-resposne, 12 healthy infants Mentalism - ANSWER-an approach to the study of behavior which assumes that a mental or "inner" dimension exits that differs from a behavioral dimension Explanatory Fiction - ANSWER-a ficticious variable that often is simply another name for the observd behavior that contributes nothing to an understanding of the variables responsible for developing or maintaining the behavior Methodological Behaviorism - ANSWER-using scientific manipulations to search for functional relations between events Private Events - ANSWER-thoughts and feelings - skinner was the first to observe these as behavior to be analyzed Radical Behaviorism - ANSWER-includes and seeks to understand all behavior - the acknowledgement of private events 7 Characteristics of ABA - ANSWER-Applied, Behavioral, Analytic, Technological, Conceptually Systematic, Effective, Generality Applied - ANSWER-must select behaviors that are socially significant for participants Behavioral - ANSWER-must be THE behavior in need of improvement Analytic - ANSWER-a functional relation must be demonstrated, the experimenter must be able to control the occurence and nonoccurence of the behavior Technological - ANSWER-when all the operative procedures are identified and described with sufficient detail and clarity Conceptually Systematic - ANSWER-procedures for changing behavior and any interpretations of how or why those procedures were effective should be described in terms of relevant principles from which they were derived Effective - ANSWER-must improve the behavior under investigation to a practical degree Generality - ANSWER-lasts over time, appears in environments other than the one in which intervention was intially produced it was implemented, and/or spreads to other behaviors not directly treated by the intervention Applied Behavior Analysis - ANSWER-is the science in which tactics derived from the principles of behavior are applied systematically to improve socially significant behavior and experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for behavior change 4 domains of behavior analysis - ANSWER-1.Behaviorism, 2. Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB), 3. Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and 4. Practices guided by behavior analysis. Temporal Locus - ANSWER-Every instance of behavior occurs at a certain point in time with respect o other events (i.e. when behavior occurs can be measured) Temporal Extent - ANSWER-every instance of behavior occurs during some amount of time (ie. the duration of behavior can be measured) Repeatability - ANSWER-the frequency with which a specified behavior occurs over time Response - ANSWER-a specific instance of a behavior Response Topography - ANSWER-physical shape or form of a behavior Response Class - ANSWER-a group of responses with the same function Repertoire - ANSWER-all of the behaviors that a person can do Environment - ANSWER-everything except the moving parts of the organism involved in the behavior Stimulus - ANSWER-an energy change that affects an organism through its receptor cells Exteroceptors - ANSWER-sense organs that detect external stimuli and enable vision, hearing, olfaction, taste and cutaneous touch Interoceptors - ANSWER-sensitive to stimuli that are happening internally - stomach ache Proprioceptors - ANSWER-Senses of movement and balance Stimulus Class - ANSWER-any group of stimuli sharing a predetermined set of common elements in one or more of these dimensions Antecedent - ANSWER-refers to environmental conditions or stimulus changes that exist or occur prior to the behavior of interest Consequence - ANSWER-a stimulus change that follows a behavior of interest Reflex - ANSWER-part of the organism's genetic endowment, a product of natural evolution because of its survival value to the species - unconditioned Respondent Behavior - ANSWER-behavior that is elicited by antecedent stimuli, induced or brought out by a stimulus that precedes the behavior Habituation - ANSWER-the gradual diminishing response strength Respondent Conditioning - ANSWER-a new stimuli can acquire the ability to elicit respondents - Pavlov Stimulus-Stimulus Pairing - ANSWER-a procedure in which two stimuli are presented at the same time, usually repeatedly for a number of trials, which often results in one stimulus acquiring the function of the other stimulus. Unconditioned Stimulus - ANSWER-the stimulus component of an unconditioned reflex; a stimulus change that elicits respondent behavior without any prior learning. Neutral Stimulus - ANSWER-a stimulus change that does not elicit respondent behavior Conditioned Stimulus - ANSWER-the stimulus component of a conditioned reflex; a formerly neutral stimulus change that elicits respondent behavior only after it has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus or another conditioned stimulus Conditioned Reflex - ANSWER-a learned stimulus-response functional relation consisting of an antecedent stimulus and the response it elicits; each person's repertoire of conditioned reflexes is the product of his or her own history of interactions with the environment Respondent Extinction - ANSWER-the procedure of repeatedly preseinting a conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus until the conditioned stimulus no longer elicits the conditioned response Higher Order Conditioning - ANSWER-conditioned refelxes can be established by stimulus-stimulus pairing of a neutral stimulus with a conditioned stimulus Operant Behavior - ANSWER-any behavior whos future frequency is determined pirmarily by its history of consequences. Selection by Consequences - ANSWER-the behaviors that produce the most favorable outcomes are selected and "survive" which leads to a more adaptive repertoire Operant Conditioning - ANSWER-the process and selective effects of consequences on behavior Automaticity of Reinforcement - ANSWER-behavior is modified by its consequences regardless of whether the individual is aware that they are being reinforced Reinforcement - ANSWER-the increase in a target behavior Punishment - ANSWER-the decrease in a target behavior Positive reinforcement - ANSWER-occurs when a behavior is immediately followed by the PRESENTATION of a stimulus and, as a result, occurs more often in the future. Negative reinforcement - ANSWER-occurs when a behavior is immediately folled by the REMOVAL of a stimulus and, as a result, occurs more often in the furture Aversive Stimulus - ANSWER-an unpleasant stimulus Extinction - ANSWER-if reinforcement is withheld for all members of a previously reinforced response class Unconditioned Reinforcer - ANSWER-a stimulus change that can increase the future frequency of behavior without prior pairing Principle of Behavior - ANSWER-a functional relation between behavior and one or more of its controlling variables that has thorough generality across individual organisms, species, settings and behaviors. Behavior Change Tactic - ANSWER-a research-based, technologically consistent method for changing behavior that has been derived from one or more basic principles of behavior and that possesses sufficient generality across subjects, settings and/or behaviors to warrant its codification and dissemination Motivating Operations - ANSWER-an environmental variable that alters the reinforcing or punishing effectiveness of some stimulus, object or event; and alters the current frequency of all behavior that has been reinforcemed or punished by that stimulus, object or event Deprivation - ANSWER-the withholding a persons access to a reinforcer for a period of time prior to the session Satiation - ANSWER-the presentation of copious amounts of an item that it no longer is reinforcing Unconditioned Punisher - ANSWER-a stimulus change that can decrease the future frequency of any behavior that precedes it without prior pairing Conditioned Reinforcer - ANSWER-a stimulus that can increase future frequency of any behavior that precedes it due to prior paring Conditioned Punisher - ANSWER-a stimulus that can decrease future frequency of any behavior that precedes it due to prior pairing Discriminated Operant - ANSWER-a behavior that occurs more frequently under some antecedent conditions than it does in others Stimulus Control - ANSWER-occurs at a higher frequency in the presence of a given stimulus than it does in the absence of that stimulus Discriminative Stimulus - ANSWER-A stimulus in the presence of which responses of some type have been reinforced and in the absence of which the same type of responses have occurred and not been reinforced. Three-Term Contingency - ANSWER-Antecedent - Behavior - Consequence Contingency - ANSWER-various types of temporal and functional relations between behavior and antecedent and consequence variables Dependency - ANSWER-a particular consequence on the occurece of a behavior Contingent - ANSWER-a particular behavior must occur for the consequence to occur. Contingency Adduction - ANSWER-a process whereby a behavior that was intitally selected and shaped under one set of conditiones is recruited by a different set of contingencies and takes on a new function in the persons repertoire Joint Control - ANSWER-two discriminative stimuli can combine to evoke a common response class History of Reinforcement - ANSWER-the repertoire of behaviors each person brings to any situation has been selected, shaped and maintained by their unique history Behavioral Assessment - ANSWER-direction observations, interveiws, checklists, and tests to identify and define targets for behavior change Target Behavior - ANSWER-the specific behavior selected for change Indirect Assessment - ANSWER-data obtained from recollections, reconstructions, or subjective ratings - interviews and checklists Direct Assessment - ANSWER-provide information about a persons behavior as it occurs - observations and tests Behavior Checklist - ANSWER-provides descriptions of specific behaviors and the conditions under which each behavior should occur Anecdotal Observation - ANSWER-the observer records descriptive, temporally sequenced account of all behaviors of interest and the antecedent conditions and consequences for those behaviors as those events occur in the clients natural environment Ecological Assessment - ANSWER-information is gathered about the person and the various environments in which that person lives and works Reactivity - ANSWER-refers to the effects of an assessment procedure on the behavior being assessed - occurs when the client knows they are being observed Habilitation - ANSWER-the degree to which the person's repertoire maximizes short and long term reinforcers for that individual and for others, and minimizes short and long term punishers Relevance of Behavior Rule - ANSWER-ask whether the proposed behavior change will be reinforced in the persons daily life Behavioral cusp - ANSWER-a behavior that has consequences beyond the change itself. exposes the individual's repertoire to new environments, especially new reinforcers and punishers Pivotal Behavior - ANSWER-a behavior that once learned produces corresponding modifications or covariations in other adaptive untrained behaviors Normalization - ANSWER-the use of progressively more typical environments, expectations, and procedures to "establish and or maintain personal behaviors which are as culturally normal as possible" Function Based Definition - ANSWER-designates responses as members of the targeted response class solely by their common effect on the environment Topography Based Definition - ANSWER-identifies instances of the target behavior by the shape or form of the behavior. Measurement - ANSWER-the process of assigning numbers and units to particular features of objects or events Count - ANSWER-a simple tally of the number of occurrences of behavior Rate - ANSWER-defined as the number of responses per unit of time Free Operant - ANSWER-behaviors that have discrete beginning and ending points, require minimal displacement of the organism in time and space, can be emitted at nearly any time, do not require much time for completion and can be emitted over a wide rate of response rates. Discrete Trials - ANSWER-any operant whose response rate is controlled by a given opportunity to emit the response. Celeration - ANSWER-a measure of how rates of response change over time Celeration trend line - ANSWER-shows a factor by which rate of response is multiplying (accelerating) or dividing (decelerating) across the celebration time period Celeration Time period - ANSWER-1/20th of the horizontal axis of all standard celebration charts Duration - ANSWER-the amount of time in which the behavior occurs Response Latency - ANSWER-is a measure of the elapsed time between the onset of a stimulus and the initiation of a subsequent response Interresponse Time (IRT) - ANSWER-the amount of time that elapses between two consecutive instances of a response class. Percentage - ANSWER-a ratio formed by combining the same dimensional qualities such as count or time Trials-to-criterion - ANSWER-is a measure of the number of response opportunities needed to achieve a predetermined level of performance Topography - ANSWER-refers to the physical form or shape of behavior Magnitude - ANSWER-refers to the force or intensity with which a response is emitted Event Recording - ANSWER-detecting and recording the number of times a behavior of interest occurs Time Sampling - ANSWER-refers to a variety of methods for observing and recording behavior during intervals or at specific moments in time Whole-interval recording - ANSWER-records whether the target behavior occurred throughout the ENTIRE interval. Partial-interval recording - ANSWER-records whether the target behavior occurred at ANY TIME throughout the interval. Momentary Time Sampling - ANSWER-records whether the target behavior occurred at the END of each interval Planned Activity Check (placheck) - ANSWER-uses head counts to measure "group behavior" Artifact - ANSWER-something that appears to exist because of the way it is examined or measured Measurement by permanent product - ANSWER-measure behavior AFTER it has occurred by measuring the effects that the behavior PRODUCED on the environment Validity - ANSWER-the extent to which data obtained from measurement are directly relevant to the target behavior of interest and to the reason(s) for measuring it. Accuracy - ANSWER-the extent to which observed values, the data produced while measuring the event, match the true values of the event as it exists in nature. True Value - ANSWER-the actual number of instances that occurred in nature Measurement Bias - ANSWER-refers to nonrandom measurement error, that is, error in measurement that is likely to be in one direction Reliability - ANSWER-Repeated measurement of the same event yields the same result Direct Measurement - ANSWER-occurs when the phenomenon that is the focus of the experiment is exactly the same as the phenomenon being measured (observation) Indirect Measurement - ANSWER-occurs when what is actually measured is in some way different from the target behavior of interest (questionnaire) Continuous Measurement - ANSWER-is a measurement conducted such that all instances of the response class of interest are detected during the observation period Discontinuous Measurement - ANSWER-is a measurement in which some instances of the response class of interest may not be detected Observer Drift - ANSWER-Observers sometimes alter, often unknowingly, the way they apply a measurement system Naive observer - ANSWER-is a trained observer who is unaware of the study's purpose and/or the experimental conditions in effect during a given phase or observation period Observer Reactivity - ANSWER-observers awareness that others are evaluating the data he reports Calibration - ANSWER-Any procedure used to evaluate the accuracy of a measurement system and, when source of error are found, to use that information to correct or improve the measurement system. Interobserver Agreement (IOA) - ANSWER-the degree to which two or more independent observers report the same observed values after measuring the same events Believability - ANSWER-seeing the data as trustworthy and deserving of interpretation Total count IOA - ANSWER-percentage of total number of responses recorded smaller count/larger count x 100 Mean Count-Per-Interval IOA - ANSWER-calculated by adding all interval IOA data divided by total number of intervals. int 1 IOA + int 2 IOA + int N IOA / n intervals x 100 Exact Count-per-interval IOA - ANSWER-calculated by adding number of intervals of 100% IOA and dividing by number of total intervals # of intervals of 100% IOA / total # of intervals x 100 Trial by Trial IOA - ANSWER-calculated by dividing the number of trials in agreement by the total number of trials # of trials in agreement / total # of trials x 100 Total Duration IOA - ANSWER-calculated by dividing the shorter of the two durations by the longer of the two durations shorter duration / longer duration x 100 Mean Duration Per Occurrence IOA - ANSWER-calculated by adding all mean durations of responses divided by number of responses Dur IOA R1 + Dur IOA R2 + Dur IOA Rn / n responses x 100 Interval by Interval IOA - ANSWER-is calculated by dividing the number of intervals agreed by the number of intervals agreed + number of intervals disagreed # of int. agreed / # of int. agreed + # of int. disagreed x 100 Scored Interval IOA - ANSWER-is calculated by using only the intervals in which either or both observers recorded the occurrence of the target behavior. # of agreed occurrences / # of agreed occurrences + # of disagreed occurrences Unscored Interval IOA - ANSWER-is calculated by using only the intervals in which either or both observers recorded the nonoccurrence of the target behavior. # of agreed nonoccurrences / # of agreed nonoccurrences + # of disagreed nonoccurrences Line Graph - ANSWER-each point on this graph shows the level of some quantifiable dimension of the target behavior in relation to a specified point in time and/or environmental condition in effect when the measure was taken Horizontal Axis on Line Graph - ANSWER-this axis represents the passage of time and the presence, absence, and/or value of the independent variable Vertical Axis on Line Graph - ANSWER-this axis most often represents a range of values of the dependent variable Data Path - ANSWER-this represents the level and trend of behavior between successive data points Bar Graph - ANSWER-this graph allows for quick and easy comparisons of performance across participants and/or conditions. Bar Graph - ANSWER-this graph is used for displaying and comparing discrete sets of data that are not related to one another by a common underlying dimension by which the horizontal axis can be scaled Bar Graph - ANSWER-this graph gives a visual summary of the performance of a participant or group of participants during the different conditions of an experiment Cumulative Record (or graph) - ANSWER-in this graph the y axis value of any data point represents the total number of responses recorded since the beginning of data collection Overall response rate - ANSWER-the average rate of responding over a given period of time Local Response Rate - ANSWER-refers to the rate of response during periods of time smaller that that for which an overall rate has been given