Ch. 1-3 Behavioral Analysis

Behavior is determined

Determined=behavior has causes/multiple causes

P.F. Skinner

Had a large impact on behavior analysis and other areas of modern psychology (has multiple famous books).

Charles Darwin

Origin of species and natural selection theory. His work laid the foundation for evolutionary psychology.

Edward Thorn Dike

Psychologist known for his work on animal behavior and the law of effect, which states that behaviors followed by satisfying outcomes are more likely to be repeated (and puzzle boxes).

Ivan Pavlov

Respondent conditioning and has multiple famous experiments (dogs + bell+ salivating).

John Watson

Behavioral analysis without mental processes (methodological behaviorism).

Behavior

Everything an organism does (can be observable or internal responses).

Private Behavior (covert)

behavior that only one person can observe.

Public behaviors (Overt)

behavior is a behavior someone else can observe.

Deads Man Test

Behavior can be determined by applying the dead mans test (if a dead man can do it, it is not behavior).

Response

something that occurs to a single instant or behavior.

Stimulus

Any event, external or internal to the organism that can affect behavior (any physical change, anything you sense).

Two goals of behavioral anlaysis

Accurately predict behavior and discover functional variables

Behavioral Explanations

Behavior explained by observable environmental factors (stimuli)

Mentalistic Explanations

Behavior explained by internal mental states

Nature

Biological determinants of behavior

Nurture

Environmental determinants of behavior

Epigenetics

How nurture can shape nature.

Behaviorism

The philosophy science of behavior

Experimental Analysis of Behavior

Developed behavior analytic research methodology used in applied work today.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

Applies the principle of behavior to socially significant behavior

Avoiding Circularity

If the only evidence for the cause is the effect, that’s a problem.

The scientific method-(Objective)

Behavior analysis is an objective, unbiased, scientific approach to discovering how behavior works.

Biases

A belief or other influence that may favor a person towards a specific conclusion, regardless of the evidence for that conclusion.

The scientific method (empirical)

behavior analysts require observable evidence to support their conclusions.

The scientific method (falsifiable)

predictions behavior analysts make should be able to be disproven.

The scientific method (Quantitative)

behavior analysts clearly define and measure behavior so that they can distinguish between instances and non-instances of the behavior of interest.

Operational definition

Precise definition of behavior that facilitates measurement.

The scientific method (experimentation)

behavior analysts measure the behavior of the individual, make a change (independent variable), and evaluate any changes in the behavior oft he individual (dependent variable) in the presence (and absence) of that independent variable.

Dependent variable

Variable in an experiment that is hypothesized to change in response to the IV.

Dependent variable

Variable in an experiment that is hypothesized to change in response to the IV.

Correlation

Two variables are related

Causation

One variable systematically and reliably changes another.

The scientific method (Systematic)

when behavior analysts conduct an intervention or experiment, they implement it exactly as prescribed.

Peer Review

behavior analysts submit their work to scientific expert review before they are published to help ensure only trusted, sound studies are published.

The scientific method (replication)

behavior analysts repeatedly present an independent variable to evaluate wether a change in the dependent variable is relaible.

Self-Report

Ask people to report on their own behavior

Direct Observation

Recording behavior as it occurs or as an enduring product.

Benefits of Direct Observation

Allows direct measurement of the DV and most consistent “empirical” component of the scientific method

Frequency

Each instance a behavior occurs

Frequency v.s. Rate

Frequency is the count of behavior and the rat is the count of behavior over a specified period of time.

Latency

The interval of time between a stimulus and the beginning of a response

Duration

The interval of time between the start and the end of the behavior.

Magnitude

the force or intensity of behavior

Topography

The physical form or shape of behavior

Continuous

Recording behavior in a way that captures every instance/moment it occurs.

Discontinuous

Recording behavior at certain intervals or under ceertain conditions.

Continuous (event recording)

Record each instance of behavior the moment it occurs

Continuous (Duration Recording)

Recording timing of response (Duration, latency, inter responsible)

Outcome/Permanent Product Recording

Record the distinct, observable, and lasting product(s) of behavior, instead of the behavior itself

Discontinuous Recording Methods (Interval Recording)

Split Observation period into intervals and record occurence of behavior imn each interval.

Partial interval recording

Record wether a behavior occurs at all during specified intervals of time.

Whole interval recording

Record wether a behavior occurs during the entirety of specified intervals of time.

Momentary Time sampling

Record wether behavior occurs at theend of specified intervals of time.

Advantages of continuous

more accurate and good fro behaviors that are easily observable and quantifiable

Disadvantages of continuous

Time/Resource-intensive and doesn’t work well with behaviors that occur at high frequencies or are difficult to observe.

Experimental Design

Arrangement of conditions to evaluate experimental control.

Internal Validity

The extent to which we can say the change in the IV caused a change in the DV.

Group designs

typically involve a large # of participants; uyses inferential statistics to evaluate group diff.

Single Subject Designs

Focuses on conducting experiment w/ individuals; evaluates an individuals behavior in the presence and absence of the IV.

Group Designs

Treatment group is compared to control groups

Single-Subject desgins

Treatment conditions is compared to control condition

Comparison (A-Baseline B-Treatment)

Behavior change is demonstrated by a change from baseline to treatment (lowest internal validity SSD)

Reversal

Involves direct replication of one or more phases (the highest internal validity SSD)

Multiple-Baseline

Has to be staggered!

Individuals (1 behavior, 1 setting, 2+ individuals)

Behaviors (1 person, 1 setting, 2+ behaviors)

Settings/situations (1 behavior, 1 person, 2+ settings)

Multi-element Design (alternating treatments)

involves the rapid alternation of two or more conditions

Changing Criterion

Often included a baseline condition and then treatment condition; each new treatment phase associated w/ a step wise change in criterion for the target behavior.

Visual Analysis

looking at a graph of time series single subject behavior to evaluate if a convincing change occurred when the independent variable was introduced/removed.

x-axis

measure of time in single subject time-series graphs (Eg. Days, weeks, months, etc.)

Y-axis

Measure of the DV; tells us what the DV is and how it’s measured (Eg. Percentage of trials, frequency of behavior, duration of behavior).

DV legend/label

Label to indicate what the DV is (if more than 1); Not included in all graphs; may also be included as a legend rather than a label.

IV Legend/Label

Label to indicate what the IV is (if more than 1); Not included in all graphs; may also be included rather than a label.

Condition Label

Tells us what the IV is and when it is implemented; Not included in all graphs; May also be included as a legend rather than a label (Eg. Baseline, treatment, intervention, etc.)

Data Path

Change in DV over time; Each set of connected data points is a different data path.

Phase change line

indicates a change in the IV

Trend

What way is the graph going (increasing, decreasing, and no trend)

Variability

How far away are the data points from each other/the mean? We evaluate variability across a dingle data path.

Level

What is the general prevalence of the behavior? We evaluate level across a single data path.

Steady state responding

In baseline, we want steady state responding before we introduce the IV; (Steady state responding means 1) No trend 2)Low variability 3)level does not matter).

Visual analysis is ultimately subjective

Two rater may yield different conclusions; less likely to be subjective when changes in the DV are large; peer review helps reduce the chances of coming to a erroneous conclusion