Chapter 1. Behaviorism & History

What are the three interrelated domains of behavior analysis identified in the chapter?

Behaviorism, experimental analysis of behavior (EAB), and applied behavior analysis (ABA).

What is behaviorism?

The philosophy underlying the science of behavior.

What is EAB?

Experimental Analysis of Behavior - the basic research branch of behavior analysis, concerned with discovering, extending, and clarifying fundamental principles of behavior.

What is ABA?

Applied Behavior Analysis - the applied research branch of behavior analysis, focused on socially significant behavior and the environmental variables that influence it.

What did Watson's early behaviorism emphasize?

Observable behavior and relationships between environmental stimuli and responses—the stimulus-response (S-R) approach.

What was a major limitation of Watson's S-R approach?

It could not adequately explain much behavior that did not have an obvious preceding environmental stimulus.

What two types of behavior did Skinner's laboratory research distinguish?

Respondent behavior and operant behavior.

What is respondent behavior?

Reflexive behavior elicited by stimuli that immediately precede it.

What is operant behavior?

Behavior influenced by stimulus changes that have followed the behavior in the past.

What is the three-term contingency?

The S-R-S arrangement involving antecedent stimulus conditions, behavior, and consequences. The chapter emphasizes the role of consequences in the selection of learned behavior.

What was Skinner's major contribution to understanding operant behavior?

His discovery and experimental analysis of the effects of consequences on behavior and his development of the operant three-term contingency as a primary unit of analysis.

What is radical behaviorism?

The philosophy of behavior analysis associated with Skinner that seeks to understand all behavior, including private events such as thinking and feeling.

What are private events?

Events that are accessible only to the individual, such as thoughts and feelings.

How does radical behaviorism treat private events?

Private events are considered behavior and are analyzed using the same conceptual and experimental tools used for publicly observable behavior.

What three assumptions does Skinner's behaviorism make about private events?

1. Private events such as thoughts and feelings are behavior.

2. Private behavior differs from public behavior primarily in accessibility.

3. Private behavior is influenced by the same kinds of variables as publicly accessible behavior.

What is mentalism?

An approach that assumes an inner mental dimension differs from the behavioral dimension and that mental phenomena directly cause or mediate behavior.

What are hypothetical constructs?

Theoretical terms referring to possibly existing but currently unobserved processes or entities.

Give examples of hypothetical constructs identified in the chapter.

Free will, readiness, innate releasers, language acquisition devices, storage and retrieval mechanisms for memory, and information processing.

What is an explanatory fiction?

A fictitious variable that is often simply another name for the observed behavior and contributes nothing to identifying the variables responsible for developing or maintaining the behavior.

Scenario: “The student refuses to do math because he lacks motivation.” Why could this be considered an explanatory fiction?

Because “lack of motivation” may simply rename the behavior without identifying the environmental variables responsible for it.

What is methodological behaviorism?

A philosophical position that excludes events that cannot be publicly observed from the scientific analysis of behavior.

What is a major difference between methodological and radical behaviorism?

Methodological behaviorism excludes private events from the analysis, whereas radical behaviorism includes private events as behavior and seeks to understand them within the same natural-science framework.

Scenario: A behaviorist says, “Thoughts and feelings exist, but because no one else can directly observe them, they cannot be part of a scientific analysis.” What position does this resemble?

Methodological behaviorism.

What philosophical position emphasizes effective action as a criterion for judging the value of a statement?

Pragmatism.

What was Fuller's 1949 study significant for?

It was the first published report of applying operant conditioning to a human subject. An arm-raising response was conditioned in an adolescent with profound disabilities.

What did early human research in the 1950s and early 1960s primarily investigate?

Whether principles of behavior demonstrated in laboratory research with nonhuman subjects also operated with humans.

What 1959 publication is identified as marking the formal beginnings of ABA?

Ayllon and Michael's “The Psychiatric Nurse as a Behavioral Engineer.”

What two significant events in 1968 marked the formal beginning of contemporary ABA?

1. The first issue of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) was published.

2. Baer, Wolf, and Risley published “Some Current Dimensions of Applied Behavior Analysis.”

Why is Baer, Wolf, and Risley's 1968 paper important?

It identified the defining dimensions of ABA and became a standard description of the discipline.