SAFMEDS Terms and Definitions - SPCE 609: Introduction to Applied Behavior Analysis

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and definitions from the SAFMEDS notes on ABA concepts.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

The process of analyzing and improving socially significant behaviors through the scientific method.

Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB)

A natural science approach to the study of behavior as a subject matter with an emphasis on describing functional relations between behavior and controlling variables in the environment.

Automatic Reinforcement

Reinforcement that occurs in the absence of social consequences. This terminology is preferred over 'sensory reinforcement'.

Automatic Punishment

Punishment that occurs in the absence of social consequences.

Behavioral Functions

A functional relation between a stimulus and response.

Behavior

The portion of an organism's interaction with the environment that involves some movement of the organism.

Behavior Altering Effect

An increase or decrease in behavior due to the reinforcement history.

Behavioral Assessment

A form of assessment that includes indirect and direct procedures such as interviews, checklists, and tests to identify and define a behavior targeted for change.

Behavioral Cusp

A behavior that accesses quick and dramatic consequences that result in long lasting changes because it exposes the individual to new reinforcers, environments, contingencies, responses, and stimulus controls.

Radical Behaviorism

The study of all human behavior including public and private events.

Calibration

A comparison of data produced from a measurement system to a true value or known standard. If errors are found then this information is used to correct the measurement system.

Celeration

The change in rate of responding over time.

Discrete Trial

Any operant whose response rate is controlled by a given opportunity to emit the response.

Discriminated Operant

An operant that occurs more frequently under certain antecedents.

Discriminative Stimulus

A stimulus in the presence of which a given behavior has been reinforced and in the absence of which that behavior has not been reinforced.

Empiricism

The objective observation of phenomena.

Environment

The surroundings and circumstances in which an individual exists that change from instance to instance, including setting, antecedents, and consequences.

Event Recording

Measurement procedure for determining how many times a behavior occurs.

Explanatory Fiction

A fictitious or hypothetical variable that often takes the form of another name for the observed phenomenon it claims to explain and contributes nothing to a functional account or understanding of the phenomenon.

Fixed Interval

This schedule of reinforcement requires a specified period of time to elapse before reinforcement is available without specification of how many responses are made.

Fixed Ratio

Behavior is reinforced when it has occurred a specified number of times. This schedule of reinforcement is utilized most often when establishing a new behavior.

Fixed Schedule

Indicates that a reinforcer is delivered after a precise amount of time or number of responses with the time/number not changing across reinforcement opportunities.

Formal Dimensions of stimuli

Size, color, intensity, weight, and spatial position relative to other objects.

Four Functions of Behavior

Attention, Escape, Tangible, and Automatic Reinforcement.

Free Operant

Any operant behavior that results in minimal displacement of the participant in time and space. The operant behavior can be emitted at nearly any time, is discrete, requires minimal time for completion, and can produce a wide range of response rates.

Functional Response Class

A group of responses which share the same function.

Generalized Punisher

A conditioned punisher which has been associated with a number of other punishers. Example: The word "no".

Generalized Reinforcer

A conditioned reinforcer which has been associated with a number of other reinforcers. Example: Money.

Interobserver Agreement (IOA)

Represents the extent to which two observers report the same values after measuring the same events.

Limited Hold

A response must occur within a specified amount of time after the end of the interval, or the interval is reset. May be a component of a variable interval (VI) or fixed interval (FI) schedule.

Mentalism

An approach to understanding behavior that assumes that a mental, or "inner," dimension exists that differs from a behavioral dimension.

Methodological Behaviorism

A philosophical position that views behavioral events that cannot be publicly observed as outside the realm of science.

Negative Punishment

A stimulus is REMOVED from the environment following a behavior which results in a DECREASE in future occurrences of that behavior.

Negative Reinforcement

A stimulus is REMOVED from the environment following a behavior which results in an INCREASE in future occurrences of that behavior.

Noncontingent Reinforcement (NCR)

Reinforcement is delivered on a schedule independent of behavior.

Operant Behavior

Behavior that is selected, maintained, and brought under stimulus control as a function of its consequences.

Operant Conditioning

The process by which operant learning occurs; consequences result in an increased or decreased frequency of the same type of behavior under similar future conditions.

Parsimony

The process of ruling out the simplest explanation first.

Philosophic Doubt

An attitude that the validity and truthfulness of scientific findings should be continually questioned.

Positive Punishment

A stimulus is ADDED to the environment following a behavior which results in a DECREASE in future occurrences of that behavior.

Positive Reinforcement

A stimulus is ADDED to the environment following a behavior which results in an INCREASE in future occurrences of that behavior.

Pragmatism

A philosophical position asserting that the true value of a statement is determined by how well it promotes effective action.

Response Class

A group of responses with varying topography that all have the same effect on the environment.

Stimulus\text{Delta}

A stimulus that signals the non-availability of reinforcement.

Topography

The physical form or shape of behavior (i.e., what it looks like).

Variable Interval

This schedule of reinforcement requires a varying amount of time to elapse before reinforcement is delivered.

Variable Ratio

This schedule of reinforcement requires a varying number of responses before reinforcement is delivered. It promotes maintenance and generalization, as well as steady and high rates of responding.

Antecedent

A stimulus or event that occurs before a behavior, influencing its occurrence.