Behavior Analysis Fundamentals

Vocabulary flashcards covering fundamental concepts, procedures, and principles of behavior analysis including operant and respondent conditioning, research designs, and verbal behavior.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

The branch of behavior analysis that applies principles to solve practical problems and improve socially significant behaviors in various contexts.

Behavior

Everything an organism does, including both overt actions and covert processes like thinking.

Behavior Analysis

The scientific study of behavior, including its principles, processes, and applications, with a focus on understanding and improving behavior.

Behaviorism

A term that refers to the scientific philosophy of behavior analysis.

Conditioned

A naturally occurring reflexive behavioral response previously in an organism's repertoire that comes under the control of a stimulus.

Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB)

A scientific method designed to discover the functional relation between behavior and the variables that control it.

Learning

The acquisition, maintenance, and change of an organism's behavior as a result of lifetime events.

Operant

Behavior that operates on the environment to produce a change, effect, or consequence.

Operant Conditioning

A type of learning where behavior is controlled by its consequences, such as reinforcement or punishment.

Private Behavior

Behavior that is only accessible to the person who emits it (e.g., thinking).

Reflex

When an unconditioned stimulus elicits an unconditioned response, the relationship is called a reflex.

Respondent

Behavior that is elicited by a specific stimulus.

Respondent Conditioning

Occurs when an organism responds to a new event based on a history of pairing with a biologically important stimulus.

Selection by Consequences

The principle that behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences, affecting future behavior patterns.

Trial-and-Error Learning

A term coined by Thorndike to describe results from learning experiments where animals make fewer errors over repeated trials.

A-B-A-B Reversal Design

The most basic single-subject research design illustrating how specific features of the environment regulate behavior.

Baseline

The phase of an experiment or intervention in which behavior is measured in the absence of an intervention.

Contingency of Reinforcement

The relationship between the occasion, the operant class, and the consequences that follow the behavior.

Three-Term Contingency

The basic unit of analysis in behavior analysis, consisting of the Discriminative Stimulus, the Behavior, and the Consequence.

Dependent Variable

The variable that is measured in an experiment, commonly called an effect.

Discriminative Stimulus (SD)

An event or stimulus that precedes an operant and sets the occasion for operant behavior.

Emitted

A term used to describe operant behavior that occurs at some probability in the presence of a discriminative stimulus.

Environment

All of the events and stimuli that affect the behavior of an organism.

Establishing Operation

Any change in the environment that alters the effectiveness of some stimulus or event as reinforcement.

Generality

Term used to describe when the results of an experiment are observable in different environments, organisms, etc.

History of Reinforcement

Reinforcement contingencies that an organism has been exposed to during its lifetime.

Independent Variable

Variable that is manipulated, changed, or controlled in an experiment.

Negative Reinforcer

Any event or stimulus that increases the probability of an operant when it is removed.

Positive Reinforcer

Any stimulus or event that increases the probability of an operant when it is added.

Response Class

All forms of performance that have a similar function.

Steady-State Performance

Behavior that is stable and does not change over time.

Stimulus Class

Stimuli that vary across physical dimensions but have a common effect on behavior.

Topography

Refers to the physical form or characteristics of the response.

Trend (as in baseline)

A relatively consistent change in a data set in a single direction.

Backward Conditioning

Respondent conditioning where the conditioned stimulus follows rather than precedes the unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Stimulus

An arbitrary stimulus associated with an unconditioned stimulus that elicits reflexive behavior after several pairings.

Delayed Conditioning

A respondent conditioning procedure in which the CS is presented a few seconds before the US occurs.

Elicited

Respondent (CR) or reflexive (UR) behavior is said to be elicited in the sense that it is forced by the presentation of a stimulus (CS or US).

Habituation

When a US repeatedly elicits a UR, the repeated presentation of the US produces a gradual decline in the magnitude of the UR.

Ontogenetic

Behavior due to events that occur over the lifetime of an individual, contributing to unique behavior.

Phylogenetic

Behavior relations based on the genetic endowment of an organism, present due to species history.

Respondent Acquisition

The procedure of pairing the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus over trials when respondent level for the CS is near zero.

Respondent Discrimination

Occurs when an organism shows a conditioned response to one stimulus but not to other similar events.

Respondent Extinction

The procedure of presenting the CS without the US after conditioning has occurred.

Respondent Generalization

Occurs when an organism shows a conditioned response to values of the CS that have not been specifically trained.

Respondent Level

The magnitude of the CR before any conditioning has taken place.

Second-Order Conditioning

Involves pairing two CSs (CS1 + CS2), rather than a CS and US (CS + US).

Simultaneous Conditioning

A respondent conditioning procedure where the CS and US are presented at the same moment.

Spontaneous Recovery

An increase in the magnitude of the conditioned response after respondent extinction has occurred and time has passed.

Trace Conditioning

A respondent conditioning procedure where the CS is presented for a brief period, followed by the US after some time passes.

Unconditioned Response

Behavior elicited by the US, which is invariant and biologically based.

Unconditioned Stimulus

The eliciting event in a reflex, which can be any environmental stimulus that produces an automatic response.

US -> UR

The relationship describing a reflex, where an unconditioned stimulus elicits an unconditioned response.

Functional Analysis

A standard assessment tool in ABA research that involves directly manipulating environmental factors to identify the causes and consequences of a specific problem behavior.

Single-Subject Research

A research method focused on observing and analyzing the behavior of individual subjects to draw conclusions about the effects of interventions.

Stimulus Control

The concept that behavior is influenced by the presence or absence of specific environmental stimuli which change the likelihood of responses.

Reinforcement

The process of increasing the probability of a behavior by presenting or removing a stimulus following the behavior.

Punishment

The process of decreasing the probability of a behavior by presenting an aversive stimulus or removing a reinforcing stimulus following the behavior.

Extinction

The process of decreasing the frequency of a behavior by ceasing to provide reinforcement or presenting an aversive stimulus.

Shaping

A method of reinforcing successive approximations of a desired behavior, gradually guiding it closer to the target.

Generalization

The transfer of learned behavior across different settings, stimuli, or situations.

Maintaining Behavior

The continued performance of a behavior over time, often achieved through ongoing reinforcement.

Conditioned Reinforcer

An event or stimulus that has acquired its effectiveness to increase operant rate on the basis of an organism's life or ontogenetic history.

Continuous Reinforcement (CRF)

When each response produces reinforcement.

Cumulative Record

A real-time graphical representation of the rate of operant behavior where time is indexed on the $x$-axis and responses on the $y$-axis.

Differential Reinforcement

Any procedure that combines extinction and reinforcement to change the frequency of a target behavior.

Extinction Burst

A rapid burst of responses when an extinction procedure is first implemented.

Intermittent Reinforcement Schedule

A schedule of reinforcement in which some, but not all, of the occurrences of a response are reinforced.

Negative Punishment

The removal of an event or stimulus following behavior that has the effect of decreasing the rate of responses.

Positive Punishment

A procedure that involves the presentation of an event or stimulus following behavior that has the effect of decreasing the rate of response.

Premack Principle

A higher frequency behavior will function as reinforcement for a lower frequency behavior.

Rate of Response

The number of responses that occur in a given interval (e.g., a bird pecking a key $2$ times per second).

Resistance to Extinction

The perseverance of operant behavior when it is placed on extinction, substantially increased by intermittent schedules.

Satiation

Repeated presentations of a reinforcer weaken its effectiveness, causing the rate of response to decline.

S-Delta ($S^{\Delta}$)

When an operant does not produce reinforcement, the stimulus that precedes the operant and decreases its probability.

Successive Approximation

Any behavior similar to a target behavior, reinforced in a program of shaping to produce the target behavior.

Schedules of Reinforcement

Rules determining how and when reinforcement is delivered following a behavior.

Aversive Stimulus

An event or stimulus that an organism escapes or avoids.

Avoidance

Behavior reducing stimuli previously followed by punishment, preventing the punishment.

Conditioned Aversive Stimulus (SAVE)

An aversive stimulus based on conditioning history.

Escape

A contingency increasing operant behavior by removing an ongoing event or stimulus.

Punisher

A stimulus decreasing the frequency of an operant that produces it.

Fixed-Ratio Schedule

Reinforcement provided after a set number of responses, like rewarding every $5^{th}$ response.

Variable-Ratio Schedule

Reinforcement provided after an unpredictable number of responses.

Fixed-Interval Schedule

Reinforcement provided for the first response after a fixed time interval.

Variable-Interval Schedule

Reinforcement provided for the first response after an unpredictable time interval.

Mand

A verbal operant evoked by an establishing operation, resulting in specific reinforcement.

Tact

A verbal operant evoked by a non-verbal stimulus, involving labeling or describing that stimulus.

Intraverbal

A verbal operant responding to another's verbal behavior without direct reinforcement.

Echoic

A verbal operant where the speaker repeats a verbal stimulus heard.

Matching Law

The principle that response proportion matches reinforcement proportion.

Stimulus Discrimination

The ability to differentiate between stimuli and respond appropriately.

Stimulus Generalization

The tendency for a response to be elicited by similar stimuli.

Response Generalization

The occurrence of a new response similar to a learned response.

Response Discrimination

The ability to make different responses to different stimuli.

Behavior Contrast

A phenomenon where changing reinforcement rates for one behavior affects another behavior oppositely.

Token Economy

A system where tokens earned for desired behaviors can be exchanged for reinforcers or privileges.

Motivating Operation (MO)

A variable altering reinforcer or punisher effectiveness, changing behavior frequency.

Rule-Governed Behavior

Behavior controlled by verbal or written rules rather than direct experience with contingencies.

Contingency-Shaped Behavior

Behavior developing through direct interaction with environmental contingencies.