ABA Terminology

ABA Terminology Flashcards from Week 9 Introduction

Selectionism

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

Empiricism

The objective observation of the phenomena of interest.

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.

Pragmatism

Inductive reasoning that is based on observation.

Replication

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

Explanatory Fiction

A hypothetical variable that takes the form of another name for the phenomenon that it does little to explain.

Experimental Analysis of Behavior

A natural science approach to the study of behavior as a subject matter in its own right founded by B.F. Skinner.

Methodological Behaviorism

A philosophical position that views behavioral events that cannot be publicly observed as outside the realm of science.

Principle of Behavior

A statement describing a functional relation between behavior and one or more of its controlling variables with generality across organisms, species, settings, behavior, and time.

Applied Behavior Analysis

The science in which tactics derived from the principles of behavior are applied to improve socially significant behavior, and experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for the improvement of behavior.

Selection by Consequences

The principle that all forms of learned behavior are the result of interactions with consequences during one’s lifetime.

Philosophical Doubt

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

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.

Ontogeny

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

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.

Hypothetical Construct

A presumed but unobserved process or entity.

Operant Conditioning

Occurs when a behavior in a particular situation is followed by a reinforcing consequence, thus making the behavior more likely to occur in similar circumstances in the future.

Phylogeny

The history of the natural evolution of a species.

Respondent Conditioning

A process in which a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus, which elicits an unconditioned response.

Radical Behaviorism

A thoroughgoing form of behaviorism that attempts to understand all human behavior-including private events such as thoughts and feelings-in terms of controlling variables in the history of the person and species.

Parsimony

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

Science

A systematic approach to the understanding of natural phenomena that relies on determinism as its fundamental assumption, empiricism as its primary rule, experimentation as its basic strategy, replication as a requirement for believability, parsimony as a value, and philosophical doubt as its guiding conscience.

Stimulus-Response Psychology

An approach to psychology focused on the relationship between stimuli and responses and the objective study of behavior, also known as Watsonian behaviorism.

Behaviorism

The philosophy of a science of behavior.