BCBA Exam Review Study Guide - 6th Edition

A. Behaviorism and Philosophical Foundations

A-1 Identify the goals of behavior analysis as a science (i.e., description, prediction, control)

• Basic Concepts Regarding the Observation of Behavior and Events

  • Description: This involves facts about the event or behavior that are observable and examinable. It focuses on the topography and environment surrounding the behavior.

    • Example: Asking what the behavior looks like, or what happens before, during, and after the occurrence.

    • Example: Describing your night to a friend by telling them where you went, who was there, and what you ate.

    • Example: Defining hand flapping as "repeated movements of the hands up and down lasting longer than $5\,seconds$".

  • Prediction: Repeated observations show that two events correlate with each other. This level of science suggests possible causal relations, but it does not establish a functional relation because no variables are manipulated. You can predict events occurring based on these correlations.

    • Example: You leave at $7\,am$ to get to work because traffic does not get bad until $745\,am$.

    • Example: Thinking that if you present your client with a task demand, they will attempt to elope from the room.

  • Control: This is the highest level of scientific understanding. It is reached when a functional relation is demonstrated between the Independent Variable (IV) and the Dependent Variable (DV). At this level, you have control over whether the behavior occurs or not.

    • Example: Reinforcement (IV) reliably increases behavior (DV). There is control.

    • Example: Your boyfriend always eats your French fries. If you add pepper to your fries, your boyfriend won’t touch them. You add pepper, and he doesn’t eat your fries.

A-2 Explain the Philosophical Assumptions Underlying the Science of Behavior Analysis

• Selectionism: This is the assumption that behaviors are selected (either kept or discarded) based on environmental factors. There are three types:

  • Phylogenic: Selection by the natural evolution of the species.

  • Ontogenic: Selection due to an individual's interaction with their environment.

  • Cultural: Behavior that is passed from one person to the next through imitation or modeling.

• Determinism: The assumption that the universe is lawful and orderly. Things do not happen accidentally; everything happens for a reason.

  • Example: There is an explanation for a vase falling off a shelf even though no one was around.

• Empiricism: The practice of objective observation of events based on data, rather than thoughts or feelings.

  • Example: Recording duration data to empirically determine the length of a behavior.

• Parsimony: The principle that the simplest and most logical explanations should always be considered first.

  • Example: There is a simple explanation for why your mom did not call you back last night.

• Pragmatism: The practice of analyzing outcomes and procedures based on results. It asks: Were the results useful? Interventions should produce meaningful outcomes and be evaluated based on those outcomes.

  • Example: Treatment plans should be data-based and individualized. Do not just use what worked in the past; evaluate the interventions based on the specific client.

• Philosophical Doubt: The practice of questioning established outcomes and results. It involves questioning everything while looking for better explanations whenever possible.

A-3 Explain Behavior from the Perspective of Radical Behaviorism

• Origin: Created by B.F. Skinner. It was developed after methodological behaviorism.

• Core Philosophy: Radical Behaviorism acknowledges private, internal events as behavior. These private, internal events share the same characteristics as public events (behavior).

• Private Events: Include emotions, thoughts, and feelings. These are considered behaviors.

• Public Events: Behaviors that are observable and measurable.

• Clinical Note: We do not use private events in ABA because we cannot observe and measure them.

• Mentalisms: These include hypothetical constructs, explanatory fictions, and circular reasoning.

  • Hypothetical Constructs: An unobserved process that is said to be present.

  • Explanatory Fiction: A fictional variable used to explain behavior.

    • Example: "He was tired today, so he could not complete his work."

  • Circular Reasoning: Faulty logic where the effect is the cause and the cause is the effect.

    • Example: "He misbehaves because of autism. He has autism so he misbehaves."

A-4 Distinguish Among Behaviorism, the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, Applied Behavior Analysis, and Professional Practice

• Behaviorism: The guiding philosophy of behavior science. It posits that there is an explanation for behavior as a result of interactions between individuals and the environment.

  • Example: The client did not tantrum because they were "mad." The tantrum was a result of interaction between the environment and the individual.

• Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB): The study of behavior principles to be later used outside of the experimental setting. It is not applied research.

  • Example: Working in a lab with rats to do operant behavior research without applying that research outside the lab.

• Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA): Applying behavior principles to research in offices, clinics, schools, etc., on human subjects.

  • Example: Studying the effects of punishment on your RBTs.

  • Example: Examining the effects of extinction on your client’s screaming.

• Practice Guided by Behavior Analysis: The actual interventions used in the real world that result from behaviorism, EAB, and ABA.

  • Example: Implementing a specific treatment plan in a clinic.

A-5 Identify and Describe Dimensions of Applied Behavior Analysis

• Applied: Changes are positive and socially significant in the person’s life. The change is meaningful.

  • Example: Someone learns to dress themselves.

• Analytic: A functional relation is demonstrated between what is changed in the environment and the behavior targeted for change. It assesses if we are controlling the behavior.

  • Example: A DRA intervention controls the occurrence and non-occurrence of certain behaviors.

• Behavioral: The behavior in question must be observable and measurable.

  • Example: Observing and then measuring someone's writing behavior.

• Conceptually Systematic: Interventions should be consistent with established behavior principles.

  • Example: Designing an imitation intervention so that it is consistent with basic behavior principles.

• Effective: There must be a significant and socially important level of change to the behavior.

  • Example: Increasing a client’s ability to dress themselves to the point of full independence.

• Generality: The target behavior change should persist not only in the learning environment but outside of it as well. It should persist across environments, people, and times.

• Technological: An intervention should be described clearly enough to be replicable by anyone who reads it.

  • Example: A BCBA transferring a case to a new BCBA; the new professional should be able to implement the interventions exactly as current the one does.

B. Concepts and Principles

B-1 Identify and Distinguish Among Behavior, Response, and Response Class

• Behavior: Anything an organism does. Behavior includes actions that change the environment in some way.

  • Examples: Talking, eating, writing, reading.

  • Dead Man’s Test: If a dead man could do it, it isn’t behavior.

  • Pivotal Behaviors: Behaviors that lead to new, untrained behaviors.

    • Examples: Functional communication training (FCT), joint attention.

  • Behavior Cusps: Behaviors that allow the learner to contact new reinforcers or additional parts of the environment.

    • Examples: Reading, learning to use transportation.

• Response: A single instance of a behavior.

  • Example: Answering $4$ in response to "$2+2$"; screaming to gain a snack.

• Response Class: A group or set of responses that serve the same function or have the same impact on the environment.

  • Example: Writing, saying, or showing $4$ in response to "$2+2$".

  • Example: Screaming, hitting, or head banging to gain a snack.

B-2 Identify and Distinguish Between Stimulus and Stimulus Class

• Stimulus: A change in the environment that evokes a functional reaction.

  • Example: The entire class is talking loudly until the teacher walks in.

  • Example: You are looking forward to a date until you receive a text message cancelling it.

• Stimulus Class: A group or set of stimuli that share similar characteristics.

  • Physical/Formal/Feature: Stimuli look or sound alike (e.g., red objects, types of vegetables).

  • Functional: Stimuli affect behavior the same way.

    • Example: Different types of music that all make you dance.

    • Example: Stimuli that signal "stop" (stop sign, holding a hand up, saying "stop").

  • Temporal: Categorized by when the stimulus occurs in relation to a behavior (e.g., antecedents or consequences to the same behavior).

  • Arbitrary: Antecedent stimuli that evoke the same response but do not resemble each other.

    • Example: Kit Kats and Dr. Pepper both evoke the response "they contain sugar".

• Probing: Asking a client to perform a task to assess whether they can currently perform that task.

B-3 Identify and Distinguish Between Respondent and Operant Conditioning

• Respondent Conditioning: A neutral stimulus (NS) is paired with an unconditioned (US) or conditioned stimulus (CS) and acquires the properties of that stimulus needed to elicit behavior.

  • Also known as: Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning.

  • Formula: Stimulus-Response ($S-R$).

  • Mechanism: Elicits a Reflex.

  • Example: Reading a magazine (NS) while hearing a loud bang ($US$) which increases heart rate ($UR$). Later, seeing the magazine ($CS$) increases heart rate ($CR$).

• Operant Conditioning: Consequences affect the future probability of a behavior occurring or not occurring through reinforcement and punishment.

  • Formula: Stimulus-Response-Stimulus ($S-R-S$).

  • Mechanism: Evokes a Response.

  • Example: Selecting blue when told "pick blue," receiving a Skittle, and selecting blue more frequently in the future.

  • Example: Calling your mom on Sunday, she picks up, and you continue to call every Sunday.

B-4 and B-5 Reinforcement and Punishment Contingencies

• Reinforcement: Behavior INCREASES.

• Punishment: Behavior DECREASES.

• Positive Reinforcement: A stimulus is presented following a response that increases or maintains that response in the future.

  • Example: A token is given following a target behavior, increasing it later.

• Negative Reinforcement: A stimulus is removed following a response that increases or maintains that response in the future.

  • Example: Taking Advil removes a headache, leading to more Advil use in the future.

• Positive Punishment: A stimulus is added following a response that decreases that response.

• Negative Punishment: A stimulus is removed following a response that decreases that response.

• Contingency: An "If-then" statement (e.g., IF you do homework, THEN you get a reward).

• Automaticity: Behavior is modified by consequences whether the person is aware of the consequence or not.

B-6 Identify and Distinguish Between Automatic and Socially Mediated Contingencies

• Automatic: Produces consequences without needing another individual to change the environment.

  • Example: Sensory/automatic function, scratching an itch, "stimming".

• Socially Mediated: The consequence is delivered through another individual.

  • Example: A teacher rewarding a student; a parent punishing a child.

B-7 and B-8 Unconditioned, Conditioned, and Generalized Reinforcers/Punishers

• Unconditioned Reinforcement: Primary reinforcers requiring no learning history (e.g., food, water, sleep, sex).

• Conditioned Reinforcement: A neutral stimulus becomes a reinforcer through learning history (e.g., token boards, money).

• Generalized Reinforcer: A reinforcer paired with many other reinforcers and used in various contexts (e.g., social praise, attention).

• Unconditioned Punishment: Primary punishers requiring no learning history (e.g., pain, excessive heat, electric shock).

• Conditioned Punishment: A neutral stimulus becomes a punisher through learning (e.g., time out, reprimands).

• Generalized Punisher: A punisher paired with other punishers and used in many contexts.

B-9 Identify and Distinguish Among Simple Schedules of Reinforcement

• Continuous Reinforcement (CRF): Reinforcement provided for each occurrence ($FR1$). Typically used to learn new behavior.

• Intermittent Reinforcement (INT): Reinforcement provided for some occurrences. Typically used to maintain established behavior.

• Fixed Ratio (FR): Reinforce at a set number of responses (e.g., $FR3$).

• Variable Ratio (VR): Reinforce after a varying number of responses.

• Fixed Interval (FI): Reinforce the first response after a set amount of time.

• Variable Interval (VI): Reinforce the first response after a varying amount of time.

B-10 Identify and Distinguish Among Complex Schedules of Reinforcement

• Concurrent Schedule: Two or more basic schedules for two or more behaviors at the same time. Relates to Matching Law/Choice (choosing the best/quickest reinforcement).

• Multiple Schedule: Two or more basic schedules in an alternating sequence (can be random) with an SD signaling the active schedule.

• Mixed Schedule: Two or more basic schedules in an alternating sequence with NO SD signaling the schedule.

• Chained (Successive) Schedule: Two or more basic schedule requirements that must occur in a specific row. SD is present.

  • Example: Sprint for $30\,seconds$ ($FI30$), then walk for $90\,seconds$ ($FI90$) to receive reinforcement.

B-11 Identify and Distinguish Between Operant and Respondent Extinction

• Operant Extinction: Withholding a consequence from a previously reinforced behavior.

• Respondent Extinction: Unpairing a conditioned stimulus with the stimulus it was previously paired with.

  • Example: If a picture of a Corvette was paired with pepper to make you sneeze, presenting the Corvette without the pepper over time will stop the sneezing response.

• Extinction Burst: A predictable, temporary increase in the intensity/frequency of behavior.

• Spontaneous Recovery: A sudden reemergence of a previously extinct behavior.

• Resurgence: An extinct behavior reemerges once a replacement behavior is put on extinction.

• Response Blocking: Physically blocking a learner from emitting a problem behavior; not an effective means of extinction.

B-12 and B-13 Stimulus Control and Discrimination

• Stimulus Control: Behavior occurs or doesn't occur only in the presence (or more/less often) of a stimulus.

  • Example: Stopping at red lights; drinking more when a certain college friend is in town.

• Stimulus Discrimination: Identifying the difference between stimuli. This is achieved through differential reinforcement (reinforcing target behavior, putting others on extinction).

  • Example: Reinforcing the client when they touch "red" and using extinction when they touch green.

B-14 and B-15 Generalization and Maintenance

• Stimulus Generalization: The same response occurs across multiple similar stimuli.

  • Example: A child screams when seeing a white rat and also when seeing a white stuffed animal.

• Response Generalization: A person performs a variety of different functional responses in the presence of the same stimuli.

  • Example: Saying "Hi," "What's up," or waving to a friend.

• Maintenance: A learned response persists after teaching has stopped.

• Mediation Strategies: Use multiple settings/people/stimuli, variety of schedules, teach self-management, and reinforce generalization when it occurs.

B-16 and B-17 Motivating Operations (MO)

• MO Definition: Alters the value of a consequence and the frequency of behavior reinforced by that consequence.

• Value Altering Effect:

  • Establishing Operation (EO): Increases effectiveness of a reinforcer (Deprivation).

  • Abolishing Operation (AO): Decreases effectiveness of a reinforcer (Satiation).

• Behavior Altering Effect:

  • Evocative: Increases current frequency of behavior.

  • Abative: Decreases current frequency of behavior.

• Difference with Stimulus Control: MOs change the value; stimulus control signals the availability of reinforcement.

B-18 Rule-Governed and Contingency Shaped Behavior

• Rule-Governed: Behavior under the control of a verbal three-term contingency (e.g., not eating expired food because you know it makes you sick).

• Contingency Shaped: Behavior under the direct control of consequences (e.g., arriving at $8\,am$ because you found fresh coffee there yesterday).

B-19 and B-20 Verbal Behavior and Multiple Control

• Mand: Request evoked by an MO; reinforced by the item requested.

• Tact: Labeling something evoked by a non-verbal SD; social reinforcement.

• Impure Tact: Evoked by both an MO and nonverbal stimulus.

• Echoic: Repeating what is heard; verbal SD with point-to-point correspondence and formal similarity.

• Intraverbal: Responding in conversation; verbal SD with no point-to-point correspondence.

• Textual: Reading text; verbal SD with point-to-point but no formal similarity.

• Transcription: Writing down spoken words; point-to-point but no formal similarity.

• Autoclitic: Modifies other verbal behavior (e.g., "I think…").

• Convergent Multiple Control: One response controlled by more than one antecedent.

• Divergent Multiple Control: One antecedent evokes multiple responses.

B-21 Emergent Relations

• Stimulus Equivalence: Untrained relationships formed between stimuli.

• Reflexivity: $A=A$ (Match exact sample).

• Symmetry: If $A=B$, then $B=A$ (e.g., word "dog" to picture of dog).

• Transitivity: If $A=B$ and $B=C$, then $A=C$ (e.g., word "dog" to real dog).

B-22 Behavioral Momentum

• High-Probability (High-p) Request Sequence: Presenting multiple easy requests before a difficult one. Targets response persistence and resistance to change.

• Premack Principle: Using access to a high-preferred activity as a reinforcer for a low-preferred behavior.

B-23 Matching Law

• Definition: Responses are proportionate to the amount of reinforcement available across choices.

  • Example: If a child is praised every $5\,minutes$ for play and every $10\,minutes$ for work, they will spend double the time playing.

B-24 Imitation and Observational Learning

• Imitation: Learner copies a model immediately. Evoked by nonverbal SD.

• Observational Learning: Learner acquires patterns by observing others without immediate replication; involves understanding consequences.

C. Measurement, Data Display, and Interpretation

C-1 Operational Definitions of Behavior

• Requirements: Must be objective, clear, and complete. Must be directly observable and measurable.

• Content: Topography (what it looks like) and function (Escape, Attention, Tangible, Automatic).

• Constraint: Do not use subjective language like "felt angry."

C-2 Direct, Indirect, and Product Measures

• Direct: Observing behavior as it happens (e.g., frequency data).

• Indirect: Interviews, checklists, rating scales (subjective).

• Product (Permanent Product): Measuring the outcome an event had on the environment (e.g., a completed test, a hole in the wall).

C-3 through C-6 Measurement Procedures

• Count: Number of occurrences.

• Rate: Frequency per unit of time (e.g., $10\,peanuts\,per\,minute$).

• Percentage: Number per $100$ (derivative measure).

• Duration: How long a behavior lasts.

• Latency: Time from SD to start of response.

• Interresponse Time (IRT): Time from end of one response to start of the next ($R1 \rightarrow R2$).

• Continuous Measurement: Records every instance (Rate, Duration, Latency, IRT).

• Discontinuous Measurement: Samples behavior.

  • Partial Interval: Response if behavior occurs at all during interval.

  • Whole Interval: Response only if behavior occurs for the entire interval.

  • Momentary Time Sampling: Response if behavior occurs at the exact end of the interval.

  • PLACHECK: Counting engaged participants at the end of an interval.

C-7 and C-8 Efficiency, Validity, and Reliability

• Trials to Criterion: Opportunities needed to reach mastery (e.g., $10\,trials$ to get $6\,correct$).

• Cost-Benefit: Comparing intervention benefits against time, resource, and ethical costs.

• Accuracy: Data reflects the true value.

• Validity: Data measures the intended behavior.

• Reliability: Same results are produced repeatedly.

C-10 and C-11 Graphing and Interpretation

• Line Graph: Most common; shows time ($x-axis$) vs behavior ($y-axis$).

• Cumulative Record: Data path always increases; steeper slope means higher response rate.

• Scatterplot: Shows distribution of data points across time of day.

• Standard Celeration Chart: Semi-logarithmic; used for fluency.

• Visual Analysis Elements:

  • Level: Position relative to $y-axis$ (High, Moderate, Low).

  • Variability: Range/variation around the average.

  • Trend: Direction (Increasing, Decreasing, No Trend).

D. Experimental Design

D-1 and D-2 Variables and Validity

• Independent Variable (IV): The variable manipulated (e.g., salt in a recipe).

• Dependent Variable (DV): The variable being measured (e.g., the soup).

• Internal Validity: Certainty that the IV caused the change in DV.

• External Validity: Generalizability of results.

• Threats to Internal Validity: History, Maturation, Testing, Instrumentation, Regression to the Mean, Attrition.

D-4 through D-7 Experimental Designs

• Single-Subject Features: Baseline, Prediction, Verification, Replication. Individuals serve as their own control.

• A-B-A (Reversal): Baseline, Treatment, Withdrawal. Shows experimental control but has ethical/reversibility issues.

• Multiple Baseline: Analyzes IV across settings, behaviors, or participants. No withdrawal needed.

• Alternating Treatment: Rapid, random alternation of two or more conditions.

• Changing Criterion: Successive phases with different criteria for a single behavior.

• Analyses:

  • Comparative: Comparing two treatments.

  • Component: Analyzing parts of a treatment package (Drop-out or Add-in).

  • Parametric: Finding the most effective value/dosage of a treatment.

E. Ethics

• Core Principles: Beneficence, compassion, dignity, respect, and integrity.

• Competence: Stay current with research and seek mentorship for new areas.

• Confidentiality: Comply with HIPAA/FERPA; use encrypted platforms.

• Public Statements: Must be accurate; avoid unverified claims or sharing client info on social media.

• Relationships: Avoid multiple relationships that compromise objectivity. Practice cultural humility and self-reflect on personal biases.

• Discontinuation: Occurs when goals are met or progress stalls; requires a transition plan.

F. Assessment

• Record Review: Educational (IEPs), Medical (medications, ruling out pain), and Historical (prior ABA) records.

• Preference Assessments:

  • Free Operant: Timing engagement in a natural setting.

  • Forced Choice: Selecting between two items.

  • MSWO: Selecting from an array; items are not replaced once chosen.

• Functional Analysis (FA) Conditions: Alone (Automatic), Attention, Escape, and Play (Control).

• FBA Levels: Indirect (Interviews), Direct (ABC data), and FA (Manipulation).

G. Behavior-Change Procedures

• Differential Reinforcement:

  • DRI: Incompatible behavior.

  • DRA: Alternative behavior.

  • DRO: Omitting the behavior (Other behavior).

  • DRL/DRH: Lower or Higher rates.

• Prompting Hierarchy: Most-to-Least, Least-to-Most, Graduated Guidance, Prompt Delay.

• Chaining:

  • Forward: Reinforce step $1$, prompt the rest.

  • Backward: Prompt until the last step, then reinforce that.

  • Total Task: Teach only necessary steps.

• Group Contingencies:

  • Dependent: "Hero" (one person for everyone).

  • Independent: Everyone earns their own.

  • Interdependent: Everyone must meet the goal for anyone to get reinforced.

• Shaping: Differential reinforcement of successive approximations across or within topographies.

• Punishment Types: Time-out (Exclusionary/Non-exclusionary), Response Cost, Overcorrection (Positive practice, Negative practice, Restitution).

H. Selecting and Implementing Interventions

• Goal Setting: Must be objective, observable, measurable, and clear.

• Fair-Pair Rule: Always replace a decreased behavior with a functionally equivalent one.

• Interobserver Agreement (IOA) Formulas:

  • Total Count: $\frac{\text{smaller}}{\text{larger}} \times 100$

  • Mean Count-per-interval: Average of interval IOAs.

  • Exact Count: $\frac{\text{Exact Intervals}}{\text{Total Intervals}} \times 100$

  • Trial-by-Trial: $\frac{\text{Agreement Trials}}{\text{Total Trials}} \times 100$

I. Supervision and Management

• Issues: Treatment drift (deviation from design), Observer drift (change in measurement standard), Reactivity (behaving differently when watched).

• Supervision Approach: Competency-based (Describe, Written plan, Model, Role play, Observe, Feedback). Use function-based assessment to solve supervisee performance issues.

• Fidelity: Implementation as written is essential for client outcomes.

• Equity: Individualize support based on culture and learning style; recognize personal bias using objective data.