PYSC 210 - Psychology of Learning: Exam #1

Chapters 1-3

Behavior

an organism’s public or private activity, influenced by internal or external stimulation

Response

a single instance of behavior

Stimulus Events

sensory input inside OR outside of an organism

Occam’s Law of Parsimony

the best explanations for behavior are the simplest ones

Public behavior

an action that can be observed

Private Behavior

action CANNOT be observed

Functional Variable

reliably and systemically influences behavior

Positively Influence a Behavior

to change a behavior

Scientific Method

objective, quantitative, systemic, and empirical

Nature

biological variable like evolution or an individuals genome

Nurture

all events experienced throughout an individual’s life

Environmental Events

all things experienced through the senses

Experimental Analysis of Behavior

in a lab; goal of discovering more about how environmental events influence behavior

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

in a lab; finding a effective change in behavior for an individual

Behavior Service Delivery

application of discoveries from research and ABA analysts for patients

Organizations Behavior Management

ABA for to improve employee performance or a business

Dependent Variable

data; measured variable

Independent Variable

changed variable; intended to influence behavior

Self-Reports

asking an individual if they engaged in a behavior

Direct Observation

recording a behavior in action or a product left from behavior

Behavioral Definition

specific form of a behavior so it can easily be identified

Social Validity

experts say a behavioral definition is accurate

Interobserver Agreement

how much observers agree on a behavior occurring

Four Dimensions of Behavior

Frequency, Latency, Duration, Magnitude

Reactivity

changed in an individual’s behavior when watched

Outcome Recording

recording lasting products of behavior

Event Recording

recording each instance of behavior when it happens

Partial Interval Recording

recording if a behavior happens at any time in an interval

Whole Interval Recording

recording if a behavior happens during an entire interval

Duration Recording

measuring how long a behavior takes

Group Experimental Designs

comparing the behavior from a treatment group with a control group

Inferential Statistics

data from a small sample to makes predictions about a larger population

Single-Subject Experimental Designs (S-S)

compares a baseline to an experimental phase

Replication

repeating an experiment

Internal Validity

functional relation between ind variable and behavior change

Confounds

variables outside an experiment influencing a behavior

Comparison Experimental Design (A-B)

compares baseline phase (A) to an experimental phase (B)

Reversal Experimental Design (A-B-A)

switching between baseline and experimental phases in order to improve internal validity

Alternating Treatments Design

independent variable is turned on and off QUICKLY to determine if treatment is effective

Multiple Baseline Design

time-staggered A-B comparisons for different behaviors, situations, or individuals

Stable

little bounce between observations; no trend in data

Bounce

variability in data; frequently changing behavior

Trends

systematic increasing or decreasing in variability over time

Four Defining Features of S-S Designs

focus on the individual, experimental phases, measured repeatedly, internal validity

Three Types of Replication in S-S Designs

within individual, across individual, across labs/clinics

Visual Analysis

used instead of inferential stats; analyzing a graph to determine if a convincing change occured when the ind v was ON/OFF

Guidelines for Conducting Visual Analysis

draw a trendline through baseline data, evaluate bounce, draw trendline through intervention data

Level

prevalence of a behavior during a stable phase