Behavior Analysis Concepts Quiz

ABA Terms Overview

• ABA Reversal: A research design comparing baseline (A) and treatment (B) phases to determine treatment effects through alternating conditions.
• Adjunctive Behavior: Excessive actions occurring between trials or reinforcers, potentially arbitrary in nature.
• Analytical Pragmatism: Emphasizes practical behavioral assessment and analysis methods to inform interventions.
• Appetitive Stimulus: Stimuli that are inherently rewarding and reinforce behavior positively.
• Applied Behavior Analysis: The practical application of behavioral principles to solve real-world problems.
• Aversion Therapy: A treatment method pairing inappropriate behaviors with unpleasant stimuli to create negative responses.

Behavior Conditioning Principles

• Aversive Stimulus: An unpleasant or noxious stimulus used in behavior modification.
• Backward Chaining: Training method where the last step of a behavior sequence is taught first, building backward through the steps.
• Baseline: The initial rate of behavior prior to any intervention, used for comparison.
• Behavior Analysis: Investigates the principles governing behavior by breaking down complex behavior-environment interactions.
• Behavior Trapping: Teaching behaviors that are maintained through natural reinforcements in the environment.

Behavioral Interventions

• Behavioral Medicine: Focuses on changing health-related behaviors, including compliance and lifestyle changes.
• Behavioral Repertoire: The complete range of behaviors an organism is capable of exhibiting.
• Changing Criterion Design: A research approach where the target behavior rate is gradually altered to assess changes over time.
• Classical Conditioning: Learning process where a neutral stimulus begins to elicit a conditioned response through association with an unconditioned stimulus.
• Compound Stimulus: A stimulus consisting of multiple components influencing response.

Response Dynamics

• Concurrent Behavioral Contingency: Multiple reinforcement contingencies operating simultaneously affecting behavior.
• Conditioned Emotional Response: A previously neutral stimulus evoking emotional responses after association with an aversive stimulus.
• Conditioned Reinforcer: A stimulus that gains reinforcement capability through its association with primary reinforcers.
• Constructional Approach: Focuses on skill-building to replace inappropriate behavior with appropriate alternatives.

Behavioral Context and Design

• Context of Behavior: The combination of an organism’s history and the environmental stimuli present during learning.
• Contingency Trap: A situation where unwanted behaviors are inadvertently reinforced, complicating behavioral interventions.
• Contingency-Shaped Behavior: Behavior directly controlled by reinforcing contingencies rather than rules.
• Continuous Reinforcement: Reinforcing every instance of a target response to establish behavior.

Learning Processes

• Correspondence Training: Training method to align verbal commitments with actual behaviors to enhance accountability.
• Dependent Variable: The measured outcome in behavior analysis, primarily focusing on participant behavior.
• Deprivation: Limiting access to a reinforcing stimulus to enhance its value as a reinforcer.
• Differential Reinforcement: Reinforcement strategies aimed at increasing appropriate behaviors or decreasing unwanted ones.

Experimental and Applied Techniques

• Discrete Trials Procedure: Isolates a specific behavior for focused teaching through repeated trials with reinforcement.
• Discrimination: Differentiating between stimuli based on relevant characteristics.
• Errorless Discrimination Training: A method minimizing errors during learning by gradually introducing signals.
• Establishing Operation: Changes to the environment that affect stimulus effectiveness as a reinforcer.

Advanced Concepts in ABA

• Experimental Analysis of Behavior: In-depth examination of behavior using systematic methods to identify controlling variables.
• Extinction: Diminishing a behavior by withholding reinforcement previously associated with it.
• Fluency Training: A method to improve the speed and accuracy of responses using a changing criterion method.
• Functional Behavior Analysis: Analyzes target behavior antecedents and consequences to identify their function.

Miscellaneous Terms

• Generalized Reinforcer: A secondary reinforcer linked to multiple primary reinforcers, enhancing its effectiveness.
• Habituation: Decreased response to a stimulus after repeated exposure.
• Intermittent Reinforcement: Reinforcing responses on a less than continuous schedule, promoting persistence.
• Negative Reinforcement: Increases behavior through the removal of an aversive stimulus.

Behavior Modification Strategies

• Overcorrection: Entails requiring subjects to engage in incompatible behaviors to correct unwanted behaviors.
• Prompting: Utilizing additional cues or stimuli to elicit a desired response and establish control.
• Response Cost: Decreases behavior through the removal of a positive reinforcer following unwanted behavior.
• Self-Injurious Behavior: Harmful behaviors directed towards oneself, indicating a need for behavioral intervention.

Summary of Learning Behaviors

• Positive Reinforcement: Increases behavior by presenting a wanted stimulus following a response.
• Premack Principle: Leveraging more preferred behaviors to enhance likelihood of less preferred behaviors occurring.
• Satiation: Diminished effectiveness of a stimulus as a reinforcer due to frequent exposure.
• Self-Control: The ability to wait for a more substantial reward rather than opting for an immediate, smaller one.