Behavior Analysis: Respondent Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and Differential Reinforcement

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering respondent conditioning, operant contingencies, positive and negative reinforcement, extinction processes and side effects, behavioral functions, and differential reinforcement procedures.

Ontogenic Behavior

Behavior based on the life history of an individual that is learned during their lifetime (nurture).

Phylogenic Behavior

Innate, genetically programmed behavior common to all members of a species that is based on evolutionary history (nature) and increases survival in a stable environment.

Reflex

An automatic relation between an unconditioned stimulus and an unconditioned response; it is neither the stimulus nor the response alone, but the relation between them.

Elicit

To directly cause a reflexive respondent behavior through the presentation of a specific stimulus.

Evoke

To influence or trigger a non-reflexive operant behavior through the presentation of an antecedent stimulus.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

A stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response without any prior conditioning or learning history.

Unconditioned Response (UR)

A reflexive, involuntary response elicited by an unconditioned stimulus without prior conditioning.

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

A stimulus that initially does not elicit or evoke the target response before conditioning occurs.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that acquires the ability to elicit a conditioned response as a result of repeated pairing with an unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Response (CR)

A learned response elicited by a conditioned stimulus following prior conditioning, typically identical or similar in topography to the unconditioned response.

Respondent Generalization

The elicitation of a conditioned response by an untrained stimulus that shares similar physical properties to the original conditioned stimulus.

Pavlovian Extinction

The reduction and eventual elimination of a conditioned response through repeated presentations of the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus.

Habituation

The gradual reduction in the magnitude or frequency of an unconditioned response caused by repeated exposure to the unconditioned stimulus.

Taste Aversion

A form of respondent conditioning where a food flavor or scent (CS) paired with illness or nausea (US) causes subsequent nausea and avoidance (CR), frequently established after only a single pairing.

Systematic Desensitization

A respondent behavior therapy combining relaxation skills with exposure to a graduated hierarchy of fear-producing stimuli from least to most frightening.

In Vivo Desensitization

A desensitization procedure where the client practices relaxation skills during real-life, physical contact with the feared stimulus.

In Vitro Desensitization

A desensitization procedure where the client practices relaxation skills while imagining fear-inducing situations.

Operant Behavior

Behavior that is selected, maintained, and modified by antecedent and consequence events, characterized by a response-stimulus relationship.

Three-Term Contingency

The fundamental ABC framework of operant behavior comprising the Antecedent (stimulus occurring before), Behavior (activity of organism), and Consequence (stimulus change occurring after).

Dead Man's Test

A heuristic test used to define behavior: if a dead man can do it, it is not a behavior.

Reinforcement

An operant conditioning process in which a consequence following a response increases the future probability or frequency of that behavior above baseline levels.

Reinforcer

A stimulus or event delivered contingent on a response that demonstrably increases the future occurrence of that behavior above its baseline level.

Reward

A stimulus or event delivered after a behavior that is assumed or intended to increase the behavior, but has not yet been demonstrated to do so.

Contingent Consequence

A post-response stimulus change that occurs reliably and is directly caused by the response ($100\%$ of the time the response occurs, the consequence immediately follows).

Superstitious Behavior

Behavior that occurs when an organism acts as though a response-consequence relation exists when the consequence is actually noncontingent, often arising from accidental reinforcement or verbal rules.

Positive Reinforcement

An operant conditioning procedure wherein the presentation or addition of a stimulus contingent upon a behavior increases the future likelihood of that behavior.

Negative Reinforcement

An operant conditioning procedure wherein the removal, reduction, or prevention of an aversive stimulus contingent upon a behavior increases the future likelihood of that behavior.

Negative Reinforcement - Escape

An operant contingency where a response terminates or removes an ongoing, currently present aversive stimulus, increasing the future probability of that response.

Negative Reinforcement - Avoidance

An operant contingency where a response prevents or delays the onset of an impending aversive stimulus, increasing the future probability of that response.

Social Significance

The clinical standard ensuring that targeted behavioral interventions achieve meaningful changes that directly improve the individual's life and the lives of those close to them.

Loss Aversion

The behavioral phenomenon wherein avoiding or preventing the loss of a stimulus (negative reinforcement) exerts a stronger control over behavior than simply gaining a stimulus (positive reinforcement).

Operant Extinction

The withholding of reinforcement for a previously reinforced response, resulting in the decrease of that behavior back to baseline levels.

Partial Reinforcement Extinction Effect (PREE)

The principle that behavior maintained on an intermittent schedule of reinforcement takes longer to decrease and is more resistant to extinction than behavior maintained on continuous reinforcement.

Extinction Burst

A temporary initial increase in the frequency, duration, or magnitude of an operant response immediately following the discontinuation of reinforcement.

Spontaneous Recovery

The temporary reappearance of a previously extinguished operant response after a period of time has elapsed, typically at the start of a subsequent extinction session.

Increased Response Variability

A generative side effect of extinction characterized by modifications in the topography or form of the unreinforced operant response.

Resurgence

The reappearance of a previously reinforced and extinguished response when a more recently reinforced alternative behavior is placed on extinction.

Functional Variable

An environmental variable that, when systematically altered, produces reliable and predictable changes in target behavior.

Access Function

A function of operant behavior maintained by obtaining a physical object, edible, tangible item, or preferred activity.

Attention Function

A function of operant behavior maintained by social interaction, physical attention, or verbal reactions from other people, including reprimands.

Escape/Avoidance Function

A function of operant behavior maintained by escaping, removing, delaying, or terminating non-preferred tasks, demands, or aversive conditions.

Automatic/Sensory Function

A function of operant behavior maintained by direct nonsocial reinforcement that is produced internally or physically by the behavior itself.

Functional Analysis (FA)

An experimental assessment method applying the scientific method by systematically testing different environmental conditions (attention, demand, alone, play) to identify the maintaining reinforcer of a problem behavior.

Differential Reinforcement

A procedure in which reinforcement is provided contingent on one specific response while being withheld (extinguished) for another response.

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA)

A procedure where reinforcement is delivered for a specific functionally equivalent alternative response while reinforcement is withheld for the problem behavior.

Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior (DRI)

A procedure where reinforcement is delivered for a behavior that cannot physically occur simultaneously with the problem behavior while extinguishing the problem behavior.

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO)

A procedure where reinforcement is delivered following an interval of time during which zero instances of the target problem behavior occurred.

Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates (DRL)

A schedule where reinforcement is delivered only when the target behavior occurs at or below a specified frequency threshold within a given time period.

Differential Reinforcement of High Rates (DRH)

A schedule where reinforcement is delivered only when the target behavior meets or exceeds a specified high frequency threshold within a given time period.

Differential Reinforcement of Variability

A procedure where reinforcement is contingent on emitting a novel or unrepeated response topography, while repeated or previously emitted responses are placed on extinction.