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| An analysis of behavior in terms of its products or consequences. Fucntionally, there are two basic types of behavior: operant and respondent. The term respondent defines behavior that increases or decreases because of the presentation of a stimulus (or event) that precedes the response. Such behavior is said to be elicited in the sense that it reliably occurs when the stimulus is presented. There is a large class of behavior that does not depend on an eliciting stimulus. This behavior is described as emitted and spontaneously occurs at some frequency. When emitted behavior is strengthened or weakened by the events that follow the response, it is called operant behavior. Thus, operants are emitted responses that increase or decrease depending on the consequences they produce. |
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| I the structural approach, behavior is classifified in terms of its form or topography. For example, many developmental psychologists are interested in the intellectual growth of children. These researchers often investigate what a person does at a given stage of development. The structure of behavior is emphasized because it is said to reveal the underlying stage of intellectual development. |
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| The physical form or characteristics of the response. The topography of response is related to the contingencies of reinforcement in the sense that the form of response can be broadened or restricted by the contingencies. The contingency of reinforcement may require only responses with the left paw rather than any response that activates the micro switch-under these conditions left paw responses will predominate. Generally, topography of form is a function of the contingencies of reinforcement. |
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| The reinforcement contingencies that an organism has been exposed to during its lifetime, including the changes in behavior due to such exposure |
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| This refers to behavior that increases or decreases by the presentation of a conditioned stimulus (CS) that precedes the conditioned response (CR). We say that the presentation of the CS regulates or controls the respondent (CR). Respondent behavior is elicited, tint he sense that it reliably occurs when the CS is presented. The notation system used with elicited behavior is CS >CR |
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| Respondent (CR) and reflexive (UR) behavior is elicited in the sense that the behavior is made to occur by the presentation of a stimulus (CS or US). |
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| Operant behavior is emitted in the sense that it occurs at some probability in the presence of a discriminative stimulus but the sD does not force its occurance |
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| An operant is behavior that operates on the environment to produce a change, effect, or consequence. These environmental changes select the operant appropriate to a given setting or circumstance. That is, particular responses increase or decrease in a situation as a function of the consequences that they produced in the past. Operant behavior is said to be emitted int he sense that the behavior may occur at some frequency before any known conditioning |
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| All the forms of performance that have a similar function. In some cases, the response s in a class show physical resemblance, but this is not always the case. For example, saying "please open the door" and physically opening the door are members of the same response class if bot result in an open door |
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| The functional environment is all of the events and stimuli that affect the behavior of an organism. This includes events "inside the skin." such as thinking hormonal changes, and pain stimulation. |
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| When the occurrence of an event changes the behavior of an organism, we may say that the event has a stimulus functions. During respondent conditioning an arbitrary event such as a tone comes to elicit a particular response, such as salivation. Once the tone is effective, it is said to have a conditioned -stimulus function history, the tone may have no specified function and does no affect the specified behavior. |
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| Conditioned-Stimulus function |
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| An event or stimulus that has acquired its function to elicit a response on the basis of respondent conditioning. When a tone is followed by food in the mouth, the tone becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) for salivation. |
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| Any event (or stimulus) that follows a response and increases its frequency is said to have a reinforcement function. If an infant's babbling increases due to touching by the mother, we can say that maternal touching has a reinforcement function. |
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| When an organism's behavior is reinforced, those events that reliably precede responses come to have a discriminative function. These events are said to set the occasion for behavior and are called discriminative stimuli. Discriminative stimuli aquire this function because they predict reinforcement. |
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| An event or stimulus that precedes an operant and sets the occasion for operant behavior. |
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| Stimuli that vary across physical dimensions but have a common effect on behavior or belong to the same stimulus class. |
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| A contingency that involves the presentation of an event or stimulus following an operant that increases the rate of response |
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| Any event or stimulus that increases the probability of an ooperant that removes or prevents it. |
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| This refers to the fact that environment-behavior relationships are always conditional-depending on other circumstances. |
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| Formally, an establishing operation is defined as any change in the environment that alters the effectiveness of some stimulus or event as reinforcement and simultaneously alters the momentary frequency of the behavior that has been followed by that reinforcement. Thus, an establishing operation has two major effects; it increases the momentary probability of operants that have produced such reinforcement.This procedure has two effects. First, food becomes an effective reinforcer for any operant that produces it. Second, behavior that has previously resulted in getting food becomes more likely. |
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| In contrast to the establishing operation, an abolishing operation (AO) decreases the effectiveness of behavioral consequences, and momentarily reduces behavior that has resulted in those consequences int he past. Thus, providing frequent social attention for a period (non contingency attention) functions as an abolishing operation. That is a period of noncontingent attention subsequently decreases the effectiveness of attention as a social reinforceer, and reduces self-injurious behavior maintained by adult attention. |
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| To capture both the establishing and abolishing effects of events that precede reinforced behavior (or punishment), it is useful to introduce a more inclusive concept. The motivating operationg (MO) referes to any event that alters the reinforcement effectiveness of behavioral consequences and changes the frequency of behavior maintained by those consequences. |
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| X - The variable that is manipulated, changed, or controlled in an experiment commonly called a cause. In behavior analysis, it is a change in the contingencies of reinforcement, the arrangement of events that precede and follow the behavior of an organism. |
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| Y - The variable that is measured in an experiment, commonly called an effect. In behavior analysis, the dependent variable is a measure of the behavior of an organism, one common dependent variable is the rate of occurrence of an operant. |
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| This is the most basic single-subject research design. Also called a reversal design, it is ideally suited to show that specific features of the environment regulate an organism's behavior. The A phase, or baseline, is used to measure behavior before the researcher introduces an environmental change. During baseline, the experimenter takes repeated measures of the behavior under study, and this establishes a criterion against which any changes may be assessed. Following the baseline phase, an environmental condition is changed and behavior is measured repeatedly. If the independent variable, or environmental condition, has an effect then the behavioral measure will change. Next, the baseline phase is reintroduced and behavior is again measured. Since the treatment is removed, behavior should return to baseline levels. Finally, the independent variable is introduced again and behavior is reassessed. According to the logical of the design, behavior should return to a level observed in the first B phase. This second application of the independent variable helps to ensure that the behavioral effect is caused by the manipulated condition. |
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| The base rate of behavior against which an experimental manipulation is measured. An uncontrolled baseline is the rate of an operant before any known conditioning. A controlled baseline may be established to assess the effects of an experimental manipulation. |
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| Schedule-controlled behavior that is stable and does not change over time. |
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| The phenomenon whereby a low dose of a drug can cause substantial changes in baseline behavior. More generally, a behavioral baseline that varies with small increases in the independent variable is said to show sensitivity. |
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| Experimental research that is concerned with discovering principles and conditions that govern the behavior of single or individual organisms. Each individual's behavior is studied to assess the impact of a given experimental variable. In behavioral research, a change in the contingencies of reinforcement is assessed for each bird, rat, or human. |
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| Repeating the procedures and measures of an experiment with several subjects of the same species. If each pigeon is exposed to a fixed-interval 30-s schedule of food reinforcement, and each bird shows a scalloping pattern of pecking the key, then the experimental procedure shows direct replication. |
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| An experimental result has generality, when it is observed in difference environments, organisms, and so on. For example, the principle of reinforcement generalizes over species, settings, responses, and reinforcers. |
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| Refers to increasing the generality of an experimental finding by conducting other experiments in which the procedures are different but logically related to the original research. An experiment is conducted with rats to find out what happens when food pellets are presented contingent on lever pressing. In systematic replication elephants step on a treadle to produce peanuts. |
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| Contingency of Reinforcement |
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| A definition of the relationship between the occasion, the operant class, and the consequences that follow the behavior. We change the contingencies by altering one of the components and observing the effect on behavior. Contingencies of reinforcement can include more than three terms, as in conditional discrimination; also the effectiveness of reinforcement contingencies depends on motivational events called establishing operations. |
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| Replication of results is sued to enhance both the internal and external validity of an experiment. If the results replicate over time and place, it is likely that the original findings were due to the experimental variable and not to extraneous conditions. Replication also establishes that the findings have generality in the sense that the effects are not limited to specific procedures, behaviors, or species |
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| One of the inspection criteria for visual assessment of behavior change, the change in level is the difference in the average from baseline to treatment. |
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| Changes in level produced by the treatment must be assessed in relation to the visual inspection of the range of variability of the dependent variable. The range of variability is the difference between the highest and lowest values of the dependent measures int he baseline and treatment phases of the experiment. |
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| When visually inspecting behavioral data we assume that the cause of a change in behavior must immediately precede the change. In behavior analysis, immediacy is assessed using the last three data points of the baselines and the first three data points for the treatment phases. Immediacy of change is also assessed from the treatment phase to the return to baseline. For the high impact results, the change in the dependent variable is almost immediate with the changes int he independent variable. |
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| A systematic decline or rise int he baseline values of the dependent variable. A drift in the baseline measures can be problematic when the treatment is expected to produce a change in the same direction as the trend. |
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| An unobserved event or process that is postulated to occur and that is said to explain behavior. From a behavioral perspective, the difficulty is that the mental constructs are easily invented, are inferred from the behavior they are said to explain, and are inherently unobservable with direct observation. That is, there is no objective way of obtaining information about such events except by observing the behavior of people or other organisms. |
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