applied behavior analysis ** the application of the science of learning to
socially significant human behavior
behaviorism ** the philosophy of the science of behavior
determinism ** a philosophical aspect of ABA that holds that behavior
follows general rules and laws and does not happen randomly
empiricism ** the practice of objective observation of the phenomena of
interest
experiment ** a type of research activity that involves changing only one
component of an individuals environment (IV) to see its effect on some
specified behavior (DV)
experimental analysis of behavior (EAB) ** a natural science approach to
he study of behavior as a subject matter in its own right founded by BF
Skinner
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. They
are the key ingredient in a "circular way of viewing the cause and effect of a
situation".
functional relation ** exists when a well-controlled experiment reveals
that a specific change in one event (DV) can reliably be produced by specific
manipulations of another event (IV) and that the change in the dependent
variable was unlikely to be the result of other extraneous factors (CV).
hypothetical construct ** a presumed but unobserved process or entity
(e.g. Freud's id, ego, superego)
mentalism ** an approach to explaining behavior that assumes that a
mental, or "inner," dimension exists that differs from a behavioral dimension