EDF 6225 module 2

purpose of systematic approach to science

discover real truths without bias

three levels of understanding science

description, prediction, control

description

collecting facts to suggest hypothesis

prediction

demonstrates correlation of events, causal relationship cannot be determined yet

control

highest level! functional relations can be derived

dependent variable

specific change in one event

independent variable

specific manipulation of an event which causes change in another

determinism

everything occurs as a result of another event

accidentalism

everything is random/accidental

fatalism

everything is predetermined

empiricism

objective observations (aka no bias)

experimentation

controlled comparison to see effect of indep variable on dependent variable

replication

repeating the experiment

parsimony

all simple explanations are ruled out

philosophical doubt

keeping an open mind, continuous questioning

respondent behavior

behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus (involuntary)

operant behavior

behavior that is shaped/learned

Radical Behaviorism

attempts to understand ALL behavior (including private events- thoughts)

founding fathers of ABA

baer, wolf and risley

applied

meaningful to the client

behavioral

clients behavior is the one that changed

analytic

shows we are controlling behavior (interventions are working)

technological

clearly defined description of the program

conceptually systematic

interventions are derived from basic principles of behavior

effective

has practical results

generalized outcomes

is applied across settings and time