INCA concepts

Pro-determinism points

• History dictates behavior.

• All behavior has a function, creating a causal relationship.

• There is evidence that the brain behaves before the body.

• Environmental factors cause behaviors - biological, psychological, social, and spiritual.

pro free will

• External stimuli can change behavior.

• Unexpected stimuli can override predetermined behavior.

• Humans with the same genetics do not have the same behavior; genetics influence people differently.

• Behavior is variable.

• Changing one's own behavior is not predetermined.

which worldview (determinism or pro free will) lends itself o the practice of science?

determinism; behavior has to be determined if we are to use science to understand it

During Watson’s time, what was the major issue with psychology?

Psychology was dominated by introspectionism (data derived from mental states: mind/thoughts/ feelings) and behaviorsists wanted to abandon this idea as they believed it made psychology a “pseudoscience”

What is psychology as the behaviorist views it? How is it different from psychology of the day?

Psychology, as the behaviorist views it, is a real science, meaning it is purely objective. The goal of psychology for the behaviorist is to observe and measure clearly defined behaviors and learn to predict and control them. This differs from what psychology was at the time, which included the study of unobservable events like thoughts and feelings.

What does the behavior of ameba help us to understand the behavior of man

• Watson argues that even ameba, which do not have brains, are able to respond to environmental stimuli.

• The responses to stimuli that these simple organisms produce are directly observable and measurable behaviors.

• Watson argues that because we measure animal behavior without regard to thoughts or feelings, we should be able to measure human behavior in the same way.

What does a behaviorist think about consciousness? Why should consciousness be eliminated from a behavioral account?

• Behaviorists argued that consciousness (inner thoughts, feelings, or mental events) is not an objective measurement that could contribute to making psychology a “real science.”

• Because these events cannot be directly observed or measured, they cannot be verified to be true, which in turn can cause unreliable results and conclusions.

What was the main idea of Beaulieu et al?

ABAs need to incorporate culturally responsive practices as there are profound health and educational disparities for minoritized groups

What was Skinner’s selection by consequences article about?

Selection by consequences is a fundamental mode of explaining evolution of species (natural selection/phylogeny), behavior of individuals (operant conditioning/ontogeny), and cultural practices (social evolution)

Baer Dimension: APPLIED

• centered on social problems and the importance of a behavior to a client

• the idea of social problems was always considered vague.

• We have now come to understand that “social problems” include social behaviors that must change in a practical manner that leads to social acceptance or some kind of benefit socially.

Baer Dimension: APPLIED example

• teaching a child who struggles with emotional regulation to share his toys, so as not to cause tantrums and distract his classmates.

Baer dimension: Behavioral

• implies that the behavior chosen for observation or intervention needs to be directly observable and measurable.

• ABA does not concern itself with mental events or broad definitions.

• Behavior must be able to be operationally defined so that it can be measured and documented scientifically.

Baer dimension: BEHAVIORAL example

• If a student were being disruptive in class by interrupting the teacher with loud noises, I would not describe the behavior to be measured as “disruptions.”

• In order to operationally define the behavior and remain consistent with documenting events, I would be measuring how many times the boy interrupts the teacher by yelling.

Baer dimensions: ANALYTIC

• originally meant “a convincing experimental design.”

• Now, ABA is considered ______ if it successfully demonstrates a change in behavior, and the researcher is able to prove that the change in behavior was the result of the intervention in place

Baer dimensions: ANALYTIC example

• target yelling behavior by allowing the child to take breaks every 10 minutes.

• In order to make sure the decrease in yelling behaviors was a direct result of the break intervention, there would need to be a control condition where the child is not provided breaks.

Baer dimension: TECHNOLOGICAL

• refers to the language and methods used in ABA.

• intervention plan needs to be written in a way that can be followed and replicated.

• The methods involved in the intervention need to be standardized in order to be able to achieve the same results.

Baer dimension: TECHNOLOGICAL example

• If we were to use a token system with the child who interrupted his teacher by yelling, we would lay out a clear process for distributing those tokens.

• For example, the methods would instruct the observer to deliver a token every 5 minutes that the child stays quiet; once the child receives 10 tokens, he can be offered a break.

Baer dimension: CONCEPTUAL

• refers to the principles that an intervention plan is modeled after

• an intervention must be based on the guiding ideas behind behavior analysis, including reinforcement and punishment.

• Practices need to be evidence-based

Baer dimension: CONCEPTUAL example

• Using tokens in the example above would be considered “_____” because it relies on the idea of reinforcement. Each time the child shows desirable behavior, the behavior is reinforced to improve the likelihood of the desirable behavior continuing in the future.

Baer dimension: EFFECTIVE

• intervention succeeds in changing the target behavior. The change needs to be socially significant, not just statistically significant.

• This means that the behavior change has positively impacted the client's life or quality of living.

Baer dimension: EFFECTIVE example

• If our token system were to be considered _____, it would mean that our client is successfully partaking in class without yelling and disrupting his classmates.

• This would be considered socially significant for several reasons: the teacher is no longer having to stop instruction due to outbursts, the child is exhibiting socially acceptable classroom behavior and is able to learn, and the child’s classmates are not having their learning disrupted.

Baer dimension: GENERALIZABILITY

• This dimension refers to the setting in which the intervention took place.

• A behavior intervention plan would be considered “____” if the effects of the intervention were to persist in settings different than the one in which the intervention took place.

Baer dimension: GENERALIZABILITY example

• Our token system would be considered _______ if the effects of the intervention carried over to the student’s other classes and even at home.

• For example, if the student was known to cause disruptions in music class, the intervention would demonstrate ______ if the student no longer interrupted with yelling in that class or at home.

What was the invisible knapsack article about?

white privilege is an unacknowledged and invisible system of unearned assets and advantages that white people in society benefit from daily, similar to how men benefit from male privilege.

respondent behavior (stimulus-stimulus pairing)

• Unlearned automatic behavior that is elicited by antecedent stimuli

• Includes reflexes, behaviors inherent in nature (survival instincts, etc)

• Neutral stimulus is continuously paired with an unconditioned stimulus until it becomes a conditioned stimulus capable of eliciting the unconditioned response.

what is true about respondent behavior?

UCR must be elicited and phylogenic, caused by UCS as an evolutionary behavior (no learning history required)

Must be Reflexes, elicited responses

Operant behavior

• Behavior that is determined by the consequences it was given in the past. 

• Behaviors can be increased through reinforcement or decreased through punishment. 

• Three-term contingency: antecedent (discriminative stimulus), behavior, consequence

how is operant behavior different from respondent behavior?

• Not elicited by antecedents, it is shaped and maintained by consequences like reinforcement and punishment

• The behavior is learned through prior pairings with consequences, it is not inherent like a reflex

what elements are involved in respondent/pavlovian conditioning

• Neutral stimuli are paired with unconditioned stimuli to become conditioned stimuli.

• The neutral stimulus is continuously paired with an unconditioned stimulus until it becomes a conditioned stimulus capable of eliciting the unconditioned response. 

what elements are involved in the “three-term contingency”?

• made up of an antecedent (or discriminative stimulus), the behavior itself, and a reinforcing or punishing consequence.

• Punishment and reinforcement are examples

positive reinforcement

adding a stimulus increases the behavior

positive punishment

adding an aversive stimulus decreases the behavior

negative reinforcer

removing an aversive stimulus increases behavior

negative punishment

removing desirable stimulus decreases behavior

function-based operational definition

• behavior is defined by its effect on the environment. “Why?”

• Kicking feet off the car to escape from Mom’s demand of having to leave the play area. 

topography-based operational definition

• The shape or form of the behavior being observed (does not include the reason why the behavior is occuring), used when we can’t access the function. “What?”

• ex: Screaming and yelling, as well as hitting the car, kicking his feet, and throwing his body away from the car.

Example of when to use repeatability: count/rate

Head slaps per minute (free operant: not bound by SD or instruction)

example of when to use repeatability: celeration

Math facts per minute (fluency: bound to time)

when do we not use repeatability as a dimension of behavior?

• Continuous behaviors (behaviors that don’t have a clear start and stop)

• When your need to know “when” or “how long” a behavior is happening

example of temporal extent: duration

• How long a tantrum lasts (starts at the presence of the first topography)

• How long child is “body rocking”

• Mostly used for problem behaviors (crying, screaming, tantrums)

when do we not use temporal extent?

• When we want to know how often a behavior occurs

• For high-frequency short-duration behaviors

• If tracking the duration behavior is not a reasonable thing to do

examples of temporal locus: latency

• Time between telling the client to “sit down” and the client sitting down (latency between Sd and behavior)

example of when to use temporal locus: IRT (inter-response time)

Time between taking bites of food

when not to use temporal locus

• Behaviors that are continuous

• Behaviors that have no clear start or stop

examples of derivative measures: percentage

• Accuracy on exam, how many correct answers out of how many total questions

• No established criterion

examples of derivative measures: trials to criterion

• 20/20 on vocab words for 2 consecutive sessions

• Having to get an 80% or higher on 3 exams

when not to use derivative measures

Free operants (raising hand in class) (can occur an infinite number of times)

what is event recording?

Procedure for detecting and recording the number of times a behavior of interest occurs

When do we use event recording?

• Discrete behaviors that have a clear start and end

• Drinks consumed, posts on Instagram

considerations for event recording

• Not suitable for continuous behaviors

• Not suitable for high-frequency behaviors that are difficult to count accurately (because the reliability is compromised)

• Inaccurate for behaviors that occur for extended periods

what is timing measurement (duration, latency, IRT)?

• Measuring how long a behavior occurs or the duration between behaviors

what do we use timing measurement for?

• Quantifying time (between behaviors or duration of behaviors)

considerations for timing measurement

• Useful for behaviors that are too long or too short

• Interested in how long the behavior is

what is time sampling?

Observing and recording behavior during an interval or specific moment in time

what is whole interval time sampling?

Target behavior occurred throughout the whole interval

what do we use whole interval time sampling for?

Continuous or high-rate behaviors where individual responses are hard to distinguish

considerations for whole interval time sampling

Underestimation because we don’t count intervals where behaviors were occurring during only parts of an interval

what is partial interval time sampling?

Behavior occurred at any time during the interval

what do we use partial interval time sampling for?

• Behaviors that aren’t high severity

• When you’re not concerned with frequency - just that the behavior is happening

considerations for partial interval time sampling

An underrepresented number doesn’t accurately track how many times the behavior occurred throughout the interval

what is momentary time sampling?

target behavior occurs at the exact moment the interval ends

what is momentary time sampling used for?

Continuous activities

“On task” behaviors

considerations for momentary time sampling

Much behavior will be missed as it only captures a moment. Not recommended for low-count, short-duration behaviors

what is planned activity check time sampling?

• A variation of momentary time sampling is used to measure group behavior.

• Only check at the end of the interval if the target activity is being engaged in

what is planned activity check time sampling used for?

Group participations

measures the percentage of students engaged

considerations for planned activity check time sampling

• Meant for big groups (classroom settings)

• Be able to observe a clear start and stop

• Can be misleading (maybe students weren’t working until they knew the timer was going to go off

what is permanent product measurement (indirect method)?

completed product from a behavior

what is permanent product used for?

• Use for the outcome of behavior

• Completed homework, completed math problems,

considerations for permanent product measurement

Only looking at the outcome of behavior (not observing behavior) so it needs to be valid and reliable

Activity 3