Behavior Basics
What is the difference between a response and a response class?
A response is a single instance of behavior. A response class consists of responses that share a common effect on the environment.
A BCBA interviews a caregiver to identify situations in which aggression is most likely to occur. What type of assessment is being conducted?
An Indirect Assessment.
In a single-case experimental design, who serves as the control?
The participant serves as their own control through repeated measurement across conditions.
A learner screams to obtain a preferred toy. The BCBA teaches the learner to request the toy appropriately and reinforces the request while withholding reinforcement for screaming. Which procedure is being used?
Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA).
Before selecting an intervention, what should guide a BCBA's decision-making?
Assessment results, scientific evidence, client preferences, and contextual fit.
A learner receives praise after independently putting away toys, making it more likely they will clean up again in the future. What behavioral principle is occurring?
Positive Reinforcement.
A BCBA observes a learner across several routines and records antecedents, behaviors, and consequences. What type of assessment is this?
A Descriptive Assessment.
Which experimental design is most appropriate when a behavior cannot be ethically reversed?
A Multiple Baseline Design.
A BCBA reinforces successive approximations toward tying shoes independently. Which teaching procedure is being implemented?
Shaping.
A BCBA plans to reduce aggression. What type of behavior should be selected for acquisition?
A socially valid replacement behavior that serves the same function.
What is the difference between a motivating operation (MO) and a discriminative stimulus (SD)?
An MO alters the effectiveness (value) of a consequence as reinforcement or punishment and changes the current frequency of behavior associated with that consequence. An SD signals the availability of reinforcement contingent on a particular response.
A BCBA systematically manipulates antecedents and consequences to determine the function of a behavior. What assessment is being conducted?
A Functional Analysis.
Which experimental design rapidly alternates two or more interventions to compare their effects on behavior?
A Multielement (Alternating Treatments) Design.
A learner is taught each step of handwashing individually until the complete chain is mastered. Which behavior-change procedure is being used?
Chaining.
A learner's behavior initially worsens after extinction is introduced. What phenomenon is most likely occurring?
An extinction burst.
A learner sees a dog and says "dog." Five minutes later, the learner asks, "Can I pet the dog?" Which verbal operants occurred?
The first response is a tact.
The second response is a mand.
A caregiver reports aggression occurs daily, but direct observations show no aggression across multiple visits. What should the BCBA do next?
Collect additional assessment data before drawing conclusions about behavioral function.
A BCBA gradually increases the number of math problems a learner must complete before earning reinforcement. Which experimental design is being used?
A Changing Criterion Design.
A learner becomes dependent on physical prompts during instruction. Which programming strategy should the BCBA implement?
Systematic prompt fading.
A learner has mastered requesting preferred items in therapy but never requests them at home. What should the BCBA program next?
Generalization across people, settings, materials, and naturally occurring contingencies.
A learner requests water only after eating salty pretzels but never immediately after drinking a large bottle of water. Which behavioral principle best explains this?
Motivating Operations (Establishing Operation and Abolishing Operation)
Following a comprehensive assessment, what information should guide the selection of intervention goals?
Assessment results, socially significant behaviors, client priorities, contextual variables, and scientific evidence.
DAILY DOUBLE
A BCBA wants to demonstrate a functional relation using a reversal design. What are the three key demonstrations that establish experimental control?
Prediction, Verification, and Replication.
A learner only completes work when edible reinforcers are delivered after every response. What programming change should the BCBA make to promote maintenance?
Thin the schedule of reinforcement and transfer control to naturally occurring and conditioned reinforcers.
Data indicate an intervention is not producing meaningful behavior change despite high procedural integrity. What should the BCBA do?
Make a data-based modification to the intervention based on ongoing assessment and analysis.