Chapter 1 (Textbook)

Classical (respondent) conditioning

Type of automatic learning where a neutral signal gets paired with a natural reflex, causing the signal to trigger that same automatic response on its own

Behavior

What people do and say

• Involves a person’s actions

• Not a static characteristic of the person

How can behaviors be measured?

Behaviors can be measured in terms of dimensions:

• Frequency (how many times a behavior occurs)

• Duration of a behavior (how long from start to stop)

• Intensity (the physical force involved in the behavior)

• Latency (the speed of the behavior)

Dimension

A measurable aspect of the behavior

Can behavior be observed?

Behavior can be: observed, described, and recorded

• It has an impact on the environment, as well as the physical and social environment (others and ourselves)

• Occurance of a behavior is influenced by the environment and its events

Overt behaviors

Actions that can be observed and recorded by another person

Covert behaviors

Private events or actions not observed by others

• Thinking= covert behavior

How is typing an email an example of a behavior?

Typing an email:

• Is an action with physical dimensions (frequency and duration)

• Observable and measurable

• Has an impact on the environment (letters are produced)

• Lawful (due to previous learning that keys produce letters on the screen)

Behavior Modification

Practice concerned with analyzing and modifying human behavior

What is analyzing in terms of behavior?

It’s finding the relationship between the environment and the behavior to understand the reason for the behavior

Modifying behavior

It’s developing and implementing procedures to help people change their behavior

Target behavior

Behavior you want to change

Behavioral excess

Undesirable target behavior that the person wants to decrease in frequency, duration, or intensity

• Ex. Smoking

Behavioral deficit

Desirable target behavior the person wants to increase in frequency, duration, or intensity

• Ex. Exercise

Behaviorism

States that behavior is lawful and controlled by environmental events closely related to the behavior

• Framework behind behavior modification

Experimental analysis of behavior (behavior analysis)

The scientific study of behavior

Applied behavior analysis

Scientific study of human behavior to help people change behavior in meaningful ways

What does behavioral modification involve?

Behavioral modification involves modifying environmental events that are related to the behavior

• Controlling variables in the environment are identifed and altered to modify the behavior