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BCBA Exam 6th Edition
A. Behaviorism and Philosophical Foundations
A-1 Identify the goals of behavior analysis as a science (i.e., description, prediction, control)
Basic concepts regarding the observation of behavior and events
Description – Facts about the event or behavior that are observable and
examinable Ex. What does the behavior look like? What happens before,
during, and after?
Ex. You describe your night to a friend. You tell them where you went, who was
there, and what you ate
Ex. You define hand flapping as “repeated movements of the hands up and down
lasting lasting longer than 5 seconds’
Prediction – Repeated observations show two events correlate with each other.
Suggest possible causal relations, but no functional relation because
no variables are manipulated
These events correlate with each other. You can predict these
events occurring.
Ex. You leave at 7am to get to work because traffic doesn’t get bad until 745am
Ex. You think that if you present your client with a task demand, they will
attempt to elope from the room
Control – The highest level of understanding. A functional relation between the IV
and DV You have control over the behavior occurring or not occurring
Ex. Reinforcement (IV) reliably increases behavior (DV). There is control.
Ex. Your boyfriend always eats your French fries. If you add pepper to your fries,
your boyfriend won’t touch them. You add pepper, and he doesn’t eat your fries.
A-2 Explain the Philosophical Assumptions Underlying the Science of Behavior Analysis
These are shared assumptions regarding “how the world works.”
Selectionism – Behaviors are selected (keep or get rid of) based on environmental
factors 3 Types
Phylogenic – Selection by natural evolution of species
Ontogenic – Selection due to interaction with the
environment
Cultural – Behavior is passed from one person to the next (imitation/modeling)
Determinism – The universe is lawful and orderly. Things do not happen accidentally.
Things happen for a reason.
Ex. There is an explanation for a vase falling off the shelf even though no one as around
, 2
Empiricism – Objective observation of events that are based on data, not thoughts or
feelings Ex. Recording duration data to empirically determine the length of a
behavior
, 3
Parsimony – The simplest and most logical explanations should always be
considered first Ex. There is a simple explanation for why your mom did not
call you back last night
Pragmatism – Analyze outcomes and procedures based on results. Where the results
useful or not? Interventions should produce meaningful outcomes, and
evaluated on those outcomes.
Ex. Treatment plans should be data-based and individualized. Don’t just use what
worked in the past. Evaluate the interventions, based on the client.
Philosophical Doubt- Question established outcomes and results. Question everything
while looking for better explanations whenever possible
A-3 Explain Behavior from the Perspective of Radical Behaviorism
Created by B.F. Skinner. Developed after methodological behaviorism.
Radical Behaviorism acknowledges private, internal events as behavior
These private, internal events share the same characteristics of public events (behavior)
Private Events – emotions, thoughts, feelings (these are behaviors)
Public Events - behaviors that are observable and measurable
We do not use private events in ABA because we cannot observe and measure them
Mentalisms: Include Hypothetical constructs, explanatory fictions, and circular
reasoning Hypothetical constructs: unobserved process that is said to be
present Explanatory fiction: a fictional variable used to explain behavior
“He was tired today, so he could not complete his work”
Circular reasoning: faulty logic. The effect is the cause, and the cause is the effect
“He misbehaves because of autism. He has autism so he misbehaves”
A-4 Distinguish Among Behaviorism, the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
Applied Behavior Analysis, and Professional Practice Guided by the Science of
Behavior Analysis
What are the differences between branches of behavior studies and applications?
Behaviorism – Guiding philosophy of behavior science. There is an explanation for
behavior as a result of interactions between individuals and the environment
Ex. The client didn’t tantrum because they were “mad.” The tantrum was a result of
Environmental/individual interaction
Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB) – The study of behavior principals to be later
used outside of the experimental setting. Not applied research.
Ex. You work in a lab with rats. You do operant behavior research on the rats, but don’t
apply that research outside of your lab.
, 4
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) – Applying behavior principles to research in offices,
clinics, schools, etc. on human subjects
Ex. You are studying the effects of punishment on your RBTs
BCBA Exam 6th Edition
A. Behaviorism and Philosophical Foundations
A-1 Identify the goals of behavior analysis as a science (i.e., description, prediction, control)
Basic concepts regarding the observation of behavior and events
Description – Facts about the event or behavior that are observable and
examinable Ex. What does the behavior look like? What happens before,
during, and after?
Ex. You describe your night to a friend. You tell them where you went, who was
there, and what you ate
Ex. You define hand flapping as “repeated movements of the hands up and down
lasting lasting longer than 5 seconds’
Prediction – Repeated observations show two events correlate with each other.
Suggest possible causal relations, but no functional relation because
no variables are manipulated
These events correlate with each other. You can predict these
events occurring.
Ex. You leave at 7am to get to work because traffic doesn’t get bad until 745am
Ex. You think that if you present your client with a task demand, they will
attempt to elope from the room
Control – The highest level of understanding. A functional relation between the IV
and DV You have control over the behavior occurring or not occurring
Ex. Reinforcement (IV) reliably increases behavior (DV). There is control.
Ex. Your boyfriend always eats your French fries. If you add pepper to your fries,
your boyfriend won’t touch them. You add pepper, and he doesn’t eat your fries.
A-2 Explain the Philosophical Assumptions Underlying the Science of Behavior Analysis
These are shared assumptions regarding “how the world works.”
Selectionism – Behaviors are selected (keep or get rid of) based on environmental
factors 3 Types
Phylogenic – Selection by natural evolution of species
Ontogenic – Selection due to interaction with the
environment
Cultural – Behavior is passed from one person to the next (imitation/modeling)
Determinism – The universe is lawful and orderly. Things do not happen accidentally.
Things happen for a reason.
Ex. There is an explanation for a vase falling off the shelf even though no one as around
, 2
Empiricism – Objective observation of events that are based on data, not thoughts or
feelings Ex. Recording duration data to empirically determine the length of a
behavior
, 3
Parsimony – The simplest and most logical explanations should always be
considered first Ex. There is a simple explanation for why your mom did not
call you back last night
Pragmatism – Analyze outcomes and procedures based on results. Where the results
useful or not? Interventions should produce meaningful outcomes, and
evaluated on those outcomes.
Ex. Treatment plans should be data-based and individualized. Don’t just use what
worked in the past. Evaluate the interventions, based on the client.
Philosophical Doubt- Question established outcomes and results. Question everything
while looking for better explanations whenever possible
A-3 Explain Behavior from the Perspective of Radical Behaviorism
Created by B.F. Skinner. Developed after methodological behaviorism.
Radical Behaviorism acknowledges private, internal events as behavior
These private, internal events share the same characteristics of public events (behavior)
Private Events – emotions, thoughts, feelings (these are behaviors)
Public Events - behaviors that are observable and measurable
We do not use private events in ABA because we cannot observe and measure them
Mentalisms: Include Hypothetical constructs, explanatory fictions, and circular
reasoning Hypothetical constructs: unobserved process that is said to be
present Explanatory fiction: a fictional variable used to explain behavior
“He was tired today, so he could not complete his work”
Circular reasoning: faulty logic. The effect is the cause, and the cause is the effect
“He misbehaves because of autism. He has autism so he misbehaves”
A-4 Distinguish Among Behaviorism, the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
Applied Behavior Analysis, and Professional Practice Guided by the Science of
Behavior Analysis
What are the differences between branches of behavior studies and applications?
Behaviorism – Guiding philosophy of behavior science. There is an explanation for
behavior as a result of interactions between individuals and the environment
Ex. The client didn’t tantrum because they were “mad.” The tantrum was a result of
Environmental/individual interaction
Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB) – The study of behavior principals to be later
used outside of the experimental setting. Not applied research.
Ex. You work in a lab with rats. You do operant behavior research on the rats, but don’t
apply that research outside of your lab.
, 4
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) – Applying behavior principles to research in offices,
clinics, schools, etc. on human subjects
Ex. You are studying the effects of punishment on your RBTs
