ABAT EXAM STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
◉ IEP: Individualized Education Plan. Answer: A written legal
document that is tailored to a public school child who qualifies for
special education.
◉ IDEA: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Answer: To
provide students with disabilities the same opportunity for
education as those students who do not have a disability; Providing
free appropriate public education (FAPE) with no cost and Special
Education specifically designed to meet the needs of the students
unique needs.
◉ Basic assumptions in behaviorism and behavior modification.
Answer: Behaviorism: Behaviorism is the scientific study of human
behavior. It's goal is to provide the basis for prediction and control of
human beings. Behavior is strengthened or weakened by
consequences, such as reinforcement and punishment.
Reinforcement works better than punishment. All behavior is
learned from the environment
BM: The techniques used to decrease or increase a particular type of
behavior or reaction. This is done by replacing undesirable
,behaviors with more desirable ones through positive or negative
reinforcement .
◉ Classical Conditioning. Answer: involves associating an
involuntary response and a stimulus
(dog salivating when hearing whistle (learns that means they get
food))
◉ Operant Conditioning. Answer: is about associating a voluntary
behavior and a consequence. (the learner is also rewarded or
punished)
◉ Conditioned Reinforcement. Answer: Conditioned reinforcers,
referred to as secondary reinforcers, are dependent on an
association with primary reinforcers.
◉ Unconditioned reinforcement. Answer: Unconditioned reinforcers
are innately reinforcing. They are called primary reinforcers as they
are not dependent on an association with another reinforcer.
◉ 3-part contingency: antecedents, behaviors, consequences (ABC).
Answer: Antecedents (AKA Proactive) are events or environments
that TRIGGER behavior. This occurs BEFORE the behavior (i.e., who,
what, where, when)
, Behavior is an action that is BOTH observable and measurable-
described in a way an outside observer can easily identify the action.
It occurs as a result of the antecedent.
Consequence (AKA Reactive) is the response to the consumer's
behavior that will either strengthen or weakening the future
likelihood of the consumer engaging in the same behavior in the
future
◉ Extinction. Answer: When reinforcement that is provided for
problem behavior (often unintentionally) is discontinued in order to
decrease or eliminate occurrences of these type negative behaviors
◉ Extinction Burst. Answer: the phenomenon of a previously
reinforced or learned behavior temporarily increasing when the
reinforcement for the behavior is removed
◉ Spontaneous Recovery. Answer: occurs after the behavior starts to
go away and can happen even without reinforcement. You could be
doing everything right and all of a sudden the behavior will pop back
up.
◉ Deprivation. Answer: The absence or reduction of a reinforcer for
a period of time in order to increase the effectiveness of the
reinforcer and the rate of behavior that produced that reinforcer in
the past.
ANSWERS
◉ IEP: Individualized Education Plan. Answer: A written legal
document that is tailored to a public school child who qualifies for
special education.
◉ IDEA: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Answer: To
provide students with disabilities the same opportunity for
education as those students who do not have a disability; Providing
free appropriate public education (FAPE) with no cost and Special
Education specifically designed to meet the needs of the students
unique needs.
◉ Basic assumptions in behaviorism and behavior modification.
Answer: Behaviorism: Behaviorism is the scientific study of human
behavior. It's goal is to provide the basis for prediction and control of
human beings. Behavior is strengthened or weakened by
consequences, such as reinforcement and punishment.
Reinforcement works better than punishment. All behavior is
learned from the environment
BM: The techniques used to decrease or increase a particular type of
behavior or reaction. This is done by replacing undesirable
,behaviors with more desirable ones through positive or negative
reinforcement .
◉ Classical Conditioning. Answer: involves associating an
involuntary response and a stimulus
(dog salivating when hearing whistle (learns that means they get
food))
◉ Operant Conditioning. Answer: is about associating a voluntary
behavior and a consequence. (the learner is also rewarded or
punished)
◉ Conditioned Reinforcement. Answer: Conditioned reinforcers,
referred to as secondary reinforcers, are dependent on an
association with primary reinforcers.
◉ Unconditioned reinforcement. Answer: Unconditioned reinforcers
are innately reinforcing. They are called primary reinforcers as they
are not dependent on an association with another reinforcer.
◉ 3-part contingency: antecedents, behaviors, consequences (ABC).
Answer: Antecedents (AKA Proactive) are events or environments
that TRIGGER behavior. This occurs BEFORE the behavior (i.e., who,
what, where, when)
, Behavior is an action that is BOTH observable and measurable-
described in a way an outside observer can easily identify the action.
It occurs as a result of the antecedent.
Consequence (AKA Reactive) is the response to the consumer's
behavior that will either strengthen or weakening the future
likelihood of the consumer engaging in the same behavior in the
future
◉ Extinction. Answer: When reinforcement that is provided for
problem behavior (often unintentionally) is discontinued in order to
decrease or eliminate occurrences of these type negative behaviors
◉ Extinction Burst. Answer: the phenomenon of a previously
reinforced or learned behavior temporarily increasing when the
reinforcement for the behavior is removed
◉ Spontaneous Recovery. Answer: occurs after the behavior starts to
go away and can happen even without reinforcement. You could be
doing everything right and all of a sudden the behavior will pop back
up.
◉ Deprivation. Answer: The absence or reduction of a reinforcer for
a period of time in order to increase the effectiveness of the
reinforcer and the rate of behavior that produced that reinforcer in
the past.
