Terms
This goal of behavior analysis involves objectively observing and reporting behavior without explaining why it occurs.
What is description?
This goal identifies relationships between events that allow future behavior to be anticipated.
What is prediction?
This is the highest level of scientific understanding, demonstrated when manipulating an independent variable reliably changes a dependent variable.
What is control?
An RBT notices that a client frequently elopes following task demands but has not manipulated any variables. This level of scientific understanding is demonstrated.
What is prediction?
A researcher systematically introduces and withdraws an intervention, repeatedly demonstrating corresponding changes in behavior. This level of understanding has been established.
What is control?
An RBT records that a client engaged in five episodes of hand flapping, each lasting more than five seconds. This scientific goal is demonstrated.
What is description?
This assumption states that behavior and other events occur in an orderly, lawful manner rather than randomly.
What is determinism?
This assumption emphasizes objective observation and data rather than personal opinions or feelings.
What is empiricism?
This assumption favors the simplest adequate explanation before considering more complex explanations.
What is parsimony?
This assumption requires scientists to continuously question findings and remain open to new evidence
What is philosophical doubt?
A BCaBA evaluates an intervention based on whether it produces meaningful improvements for the client rather than simply following tradition.
What is pragmatism?
This principle explains how behavior is shaped and maintained through selection processes across evolutionary, individual, and cultural histories.
What is selectionism?
A newborn's inherited reflexes illustrate this level of selection by consequences.
What is phylogenic selection?
A child learns to request assistance because requesting has repeatedly produced help. This illustrates selection at the individual level.
What is ontogenic selection?
A child learns a traditional greeting by observing and imitating family members. This illustrates selection at this level.
What is cultural selection?
This philosophy considers thoughts and feelings to be behavior subject to the same natural principles as publicly observable actions.
What is radical behaviorism?
Thoughts, feelings, and emotions are examples of these events, accessible directly only to the individual experiencing them.
What are private events?
This approach explains behavior by appealing to assumed inner causes rather than identifying relevant behavioral and environmental relations.
What is mentalism?
A clinician explains aggression by saying the client has an invisible 'aggression drive' without independently establishing its existence. This is an example of this mentalistic concept.
What is a hypothetical construct?
A teacher states, 'He refuses because he is noncompliant,' using a label for the behavior to explain that same behavior.
What is circular reasoning?
A supervisor attributes poor performance to an assumed internal trait called 'laziness' instead of examining training and environmental conditions. This illustrates this kind of unsupported explanation.
What is an explanatory fiction?
This branch provides the philosophical foundation for understanding behavior through interactions between organisms and their environments.
What is behaviorism?
This branch conducts basic research to discover fundamental principles of behavior.
What is the experimental analysis of behavior (EAB)?
This branch uses behavior-analytic principles in systematic research to improve socially significant behavior.
What is applied behavior analysis (ABA)?
A researcher systematically evaluates a classroom intervention to determine whether it improves students' academic engagement. This branch is illustrated.
What is applied behavior analysis (ABA)?