Definitions and Characteristics of ABA 1. List and describe the goals of behavior analysis as a science. Goal: to achieve a thorough understanding of socially sig beh under study Description: collection of facts about observed events that can be quantified, classified, and examined Prediction: when repeated observations reveal two events consistently ovary wit each other Control: highest level of understanding; ability to manipulate confounds; enables functional relationship 2. List and describe the philosophical assumptions underlying behavior analysis. Determinism: assumption that the universe is lawful and orderly; all phenomena occur as result of other events Empiricism: practice of objective observation and measurement Experimentation: controlled comparison of DV to two or more IV Replication: repeating exp. to determine reliability and usefulness Parsimony: all simple, logical explanations should be ruled out before considering complicated, complex ones. KISS Philosophic doubt: continually questioning truthfulness to find new discoveries 3. Describe how Skinner improved upon Watson’s behaviorism. Skinner expanded Watson’s view from S—R to two kinds: respondent beh and operant beh. Resp beh: reflexive, happens after stimulus; involuntary Operant beh: not elicited by preceding stimuli; voluntary, influenced by what is anticipated to happen after Created three term contingency (SRS which became ABC) 4. State the distinguishing features of mentalistic and environmental explanations of behavior. Mentalism: belief that inner dimension exists separate from behavioral dimension; neural, psychic, spiritual, etc. creates circular explanations Methodological: denies existence of “inner variables” that cannot be observed, ignored “private events: Radical beh: includes and seeks to understand ALL human beh; includes cognitive processes and thinking 5. List and describe the four primary domains of contemporary behavior analytic practice. Radical: theoretical, conceptual, widest scope, least precise Experimental (EAB): determines if results demonstrated in laboratory with nonhuman subjects could be replicated with humans Applied (ABA): applied principles of beh to improve socially important beh Professional: helps people be more successful; narrow scope, most precise 6. List and describe each of the dimensions of applied behavior analysis as discussed by Baer, Wolf, and Risley in 1968. Applied: improving socially sig beh Behavioral: must choose correct target behavior; measurable; changed beh must be of target person Analytic: functional relationship: experiment or must be able to control the occupancy and non occurrence of beh Technological: all operative procedures must be identified and described with sufficient detail and clarity for replication Conceptually systematic: procedure for changing beh should be described in terms of the relevant principles from which they were derived Effective: practical; reach clinical or social significance Generality: lasts over time, appears in different environments, and spreads to other behaviors not directly treated by interventioon 7. Describe what is meant by a functional relation, and provide a concrete example for a human organism. A functional relationship is causal, meaning we can tell they are correlated and predict one another, and can determine a time sequence in which we can say for certain that the IV influences the DV. One example in humans would be eating and satisfaction: when hungry, the act of eating (or not eating) predicts and CAUSES the end result of feeling satisfied or not satisfied, respectfively.
