ABA RBT Terminology

• Parsimony requires that all simple, logical explanations for the phenomena under investigation be ruled out experimentally before more complex or abstract explanations are considered.
• Philosophical doubt requires the scientist to continually question the truthfulness of what is regarded as fact. Scientific knowledge must always be viewed as tentative, and the scientist must constantly be willing to replace with new discoveries even those facts of which they are most certain.
• Behaviorism is the theory or doctrine that human or animal psychology can be accurately studied only through the examination and analysis of objectively observable and quantifiable behavioral events, in contrast with subjective mental states.
• Radical behaviorism is a thoroughgoing form of behaviorism that attempts to understand all human behavior, including private events such as thoughts and feelings, terms of controlling variables in the history of the person (ontogeny) and the species (phylogeny).
• Mentalism is an approach to explaining behavior that assumes that a mental, or "inner" dimension exists that differs from a behavior dimension and that phenomena in this dimension either directly cause or at least mediate some forms of behavior, if not all.
• Explanation fiction is a fictitious or hypothetical variable that often takes form of another name for the observed phenomenon it claims to explain and contributes nothing to a functional account or understanding of the phenomenon, such as "intelligence" or "cognitive awareness" as explanations for why an organism punches the lever when the light is on and food is not available but does not push the lever when the light is off and no food is available.
• Hypothetical construct is a presumed but not observed process or entity. For example, Frued's mental device "ego" is a hypothetical construct.
• Experimental design refers to the arrangement of conditions in a study so that meaningful comparisons of the effects for the presence, absence, or different values of the independent variable can be made. (difference between an FBA and FA)
• Correlations can be used to predict the probability that one event will occur. Correlation is not causation.
• Single-subject design is a wide variety of research design that use a form of experimental reasoning called baseline logic to demonstrate the effects of the independent variable on the behavior of the individual subjects.
• Baseline is a condition of an experiment in which the independent variable is not present, data obtained during baseline are the basis for determining the effects of the independent variable.
• A-B Design is a two-phase experimental design consisting of a pre-treatment baseline condition (A) followed by a treatment condition (B).
• Reversal design/ A-B-A design is any experimental design in which the researcher attempts to verify the effect of the independent variable by "reversing" responding to a level obtained in a previous condition; encompasses experimental designs in which the independent variable is withdrawn.
• A-B-A-B design is an experiment reintroducing the B condition enables the replication of the treatment effects, which strengthens the demonstration of an experimental control.
• B-A-B design begins with application of the independent variable: the treatment. Used in cases where treatment cannot be delayed.
• Interobserver agreement (IOA) is the degree to which two or more independent observers report the same values after measuring the same events.
• independent variable is the variable that is systematically manipulated by the researcher in an experiment to see whether changes in the independent variable produce reliable changes in the dependent variable. In applied behavior analysis, it is usually an environmental event or condition antecedent or consequences to the dependent variable. Sometimes called the intervention or treatment variable.
• Dependent variable is the variable in an experiment measured to determine if it changes of manipulations of the independent variable, in applied behavior analysis, it represents some measures of a socially significant behavior.
• Confounding variables uncontrolled variables known or suspected to exert an influence one dependent variable.
• Extraneous variables is any aspect of the experimental setting that must be held constant to prevent unplanned environmental variation.
• Multi-element designs are the treatment design that provides an experimentally sound and efficient method for comparing the effects of two of more treatments.
• behavior is the activity of living organisms, includes everything people do. the portion of an organism's interaction with its environment that results in a measurable change in at least one aspect of the environment. Must pass dead man's test
• Functional Analysis of Behavior (FAB) is an analysis of behavior in terms of its products or consequences. Focuses on experimental design and purposeful manipulation of stimuli to observe changes in behavior.
• Target behavior is the response class selected for intervention; can be defined either functionally or topographically.
• Pivotal Behavior is a behavior that when learned produces corresponding modifications or co-variation in other untrained behaviors.
• Social Validity refers to the extent to which target behaviors are appropriate, intervention procedures are acceptable to the client and client community.
• Operational definition is the product of breaking down a broad concept, such as "aggressiveness", into its observable and reliably measured component behaviors. This includes:

  • a title or brief description of the behavior
  • the topography (physical movements involved) of the behavior
  • frequency of the behavior
  • length or duration of the behavior
  • description of the behavior's intensity
• Function of a behavior is the reason people behave in a certain way.
• Topography is the physical form or shape of a behavior.
• Rule-governed behavior is behavior controlled by a rule; enables human behavior to come under the indirect control of temporally remote or improbable but potentially significant consequences.
• Pairing is a common term that ABA professionals often use to describe the process of building or maintaining rapport with a client. Pairing themselves with reinforcers.
• Functions of Behavior:

  S - Sensory/Automatic: the individual behaves in a specific way because it feels good

  E - Escape/Avoidance: the individual behaves in order to get out of doing something they do not want

  A - Attention: the individual behaves to get focused attention from people

  T - Tangibles: the individual behaves in order to get a preferred item or in an enjoyable activity
• Socially mediated functions of behavior are a socially mediated means "requiring the involvement of another person": attention, escape from demand, access to tangibles.
• Automatic functions of behavior are automatic means that a behavior creates an outcome without the involvement of another person.
• Stimulus Preference Assessment refers to a variety of procedures to determine a) stimulus that a person prefers b) the relative preference values (high or low) of those stimuli c) the conditions under which those preference values remain in effect and their presumed value as reinforcers. Types of SPAs include:

  • single stimulus
  • free operant observations
  • paired stimulus
  • multiple stimulus with replacement (MSW)
  • multiple stimulus without replacement (MSWO)
• Single stimulus preference assessment/ Free operant observations is when a stimulus is presented and a person's reactions to it is noted. May best be suited for individuals with trouble selecting from two or more stimuli-duration based.
• Multiple stimuli preference assessment with replacement (MSW): multiple stimuli are presented, and the learner chooses a stimulus, and it is replaced back and the items not chosen are replaced with new ones.
• Paired choice preference assessment is when each trial in the paired choice assessment consists of the simultaneously presented of two stimuli. Each stimulus is matched with all other stimuli in the set. The observer notes which stimulus the earner chooses. The stimuli are rank ordered in terms of high, medium and low preference based on how many times a stimulus is chosen. AKA: Forced choice
• Multiple stimuli preference assessment without replacement is when multiple stimuli are presented, and the learner chooses a stimulus and is not replaced, and the remaining stimuli are rearranged, and the next trail begins. The items are ranked on preference of which was selected first, second, third, etc.
• Reinforcer assessment refers to variety of direct, empirical methods for representing one or more stimuli contingent on a target response and measuring their effectiveness as reinforcer.