ABA Terminology Week 7

Replication

Repeating conditions within an experiment to determine the reliability of effects and increase internal validity.

Functional Relation

When a well‐controlled experiment demonstrates that a specific change in one event (the dependent variable) is reliably produced by specific manipulations of another event (the independent variable), and that the change in the dependent variable was unlikely to be the result of other extraneous factors (confounding variables).

Effective

A dimension of ABA that means that the behaviors changed improve to produce practical results for the client.

Explanatory Fiction

A hypothetical variable that often takes the form of another name for the observed phenomenon it claims to explain and contributes nothing to a functional account or understanding of the phenomenon.

Determinism

The assumption that the universe is a lawful and orderly place in which phenomena occur in relation to other events and not in a willy-nilly, accidental fashion.

Conceptually Systematic

A dimension of ABA that means that the procedures used to change behaviors are derived from basic principles of behavior.

Experimentation

To define, systematically observe, and accurately and reliably measure occurrences and nonoccurrences of the behavior of interest.

Experiment

A carefully controlled comparison of some measure of the phenomenon of interest under two or more different conditions in which only one factor at a time differs from one condition to another.

Technological

A dimension of ABA that means that the written descriptions for all ABA procedures used in a study are described in enough detail that they can be replicated.

Public Event

Behavior that is observable by others.

Environment

The conglomerate of real circumstances in which the organism or referred part of an organism exists.

Generality

A dimension of ABA that means that behavior changes last over time, appear in novel environments, and spread to other behavior.

Ontogeny

The history of the development of an individual during its lifetime.

Private Event

Behavior that is not observable to others.

Parsimony

The practice of ruling out simple, logical explanations, experimentally or conceptually, before considering more complex or abstract explanations.

Behavior

The activity of living organisms, or what a person does and says.

Behavioral

A dimension of ABA that means that precise measurement is collected on the actual behaviors that require improvement, and documentation needs to be taken to show that it was the client’s behavior that changed.

selectionism

The principle that all forms of life, from single cells to complex cultures, evolve as a result of selection with respect to function.

Circular Reasoning

A form of faulty logic in which the name used to describe an observed effect is mistaken as the cause for the effect.

Philosophical Doubt

An attitude that the truthfulness or validity of all scientific theory and knowledge should be continually questioned.

Mentalism

An approach to explaining behavior that assumes that an "inner" dimension exists that differs from a behavioral dimension, and that phenomena in this dimension either directly cause or at least mediate some forms of behavior.

Pragmatism

Inductive reasoning that draws general rules based on specific observation. It is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations and seems to often go hand in hand with behaviorism.

Description

A goal of scientific understanding that consists of a collection of facts about the observed events that can be quantified, classified, and examined for possible relations with other known facts.

Analystic

A dimension of ABA that means that analysts work to demonstrate experimental control over the occurrence and nonoccurrence of the behavior, or functional relations.

Prediction

A level of scientific understanding that occurs when repeated observations reveal that two events consistently covary with each other.

Applied

A dimension of ABA that means that analysts focus on changing behaviors that are socially significant and have immediate importance to the client.

Empiricism

The objective observation of the phenomena of interest.

Control

A level of scientific understanding which causes an event to occur or to assume certain characteristics.

Selection by consequences

The fundamental principle underlying operant conditioning. The basic tenet is that all forms of behavior, from simple to complex, are shaped, selected, and maintained by their consequences during an individual's lifetime.

hypothetical construct

A presumed but unobserved process or entity.

phylogeny

The history of the natural evolution of a species.