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What is behavior analysis?
The study of fundamental relationships between behavior and context
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What is adaptive behavior "controlled" by?
The environment
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What does the environment include?
Objects, people, events, etc
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What are the two characteristics of behavior?
- Overt: physically visible
- Covert: cannot be seen directly
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What are the three branches of behavior analysis?
- Experimental
- Theoretical/Conceptual
- Behavior Modification (Applied Behavior Analysis)
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What is the goal of the experimental branch of behavior analysis?
To understand how it is that behavior relates to environment
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What is the goal of the theoretical/conceptual branch of behavior analysis?
To put things together to come up with a theory of how behavior works
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What is the goal of the behavior modification (applied behavior analysis) branch of behavior analysis?
- To apply fundamental principles to practical issues
- To discover the environmental causes in individual cases
- To develop or change behavior by changing environment
- To contribute to understanding
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What are the three functional relationships between behavior and environment?
- Primitive Adaptions
- Coordinated Adaptions
- More Complex Adaptions
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What are examples of primitive adaptions?
- They are genetically determined and reflexive
- Kinesis: movement in response to environmental stimulation (rolypolies become more active in dry areas and less active in humid areas)
- Taxis: directed movement in response to environmental stimulation (trout automatically swim upstream for food)
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What are examples of coordinated adaptations?
- Fixed Action Pattern (FAP): a sequence of unlearned, innate behavior. It's stereotyped; once initiated, it's usually carried to completion; it's triggered by an external sensing stimulus ("the sign-stimulus")
- ex: nest-building
- ex:male stickleback fish have a red underside & attack when they see anything with a red underside
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What are examples of more complex adaptations?
- Classical Conditioning (Respondent/Pavlovian)
- Instrumental Learning
- Operant Conditioning
- Observational Learning
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What are the steps of behavioral assessment?
- Step 1: Define the target behavior
- Step 2: Choose Observers
- Step 3: Choose Settings
- Step 4: Choose Methods
- Step 5: Avoid Problems
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What do you do when you define the target behavior?
- Use operational definitions; They are:
- specific
- observable
- quantifiable
- objective & unambiguous
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Who are the possible observers in a behavioral assessment?
- Self
- Others (parents, teachers, clinicians, etc)
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What are the possible settings in a behavioral assessment?
- Natural or contrived
- At times and places the behavior is likely to occur naturally
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What are the possible methods in a behavioral assessment?
- Direct Observation
- Indirect Observation
- Combinations
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How is direct observation conducted?
- Continuous Recording
- Product Recording
- Interval Recording
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What does interval recording consist of?
- Event Recording: mark whenever it occurs; better for countable behavior
- Duration Recording: mark only if it occurred throughout the interval; better for uncountable behavior (ex. crying)
- Terminal Event Recording: mark only if it occurs at the end of the interval
- Time Sampling: observation of subject in every other interval
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How is indirect observation conducted?
- Gather information about the behavior
- Trait ratings - ask the target person or observer to give a number to rate a trait
- Self-report questionnaires
- Informant reports
- Interviews
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How are combinations of direct and indirect observations conducted?
- Frequency counts within intervals
- Duration recording within time-sampled intervals
- Trait ratings across different observation periods
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What problems should be avoided in a behavioral assessment?
- Problems with indirect observation
- Problems with direct observation
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What are possible problems with indirect observation?
- Memory
- Exaggeration
- Response bias
- Observer bias
- Observer's basis for comparison
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What are possible problems with direct observation?
- Developing a coding instrument
- Training observers
- Checking reliability (agreement that the behavior occurred - intraobserver and interobserver)
- Subject reactivity
- Ethics (privacy, confidentiality, and use of information)
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What is the difference between privacy and confidentiality?
- Privacy: people should be able to have private behaviors that aren't usually publicly observed
- Confidentiality: the observed are assured that the recorded stuff will not be made public
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When it is appropriate to create research designs?
When things happen in a study over an interval
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What is a variable?
- A characteristic that differs across people, settings, and times
- They can be: manipulated (assigned), measured, pre-existing (subject variables), controlled or held constant, "confounded" (an alternative explanation of results; ways that the group differs)
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What is the goal of research?
- To discover the relationships between variables
- In behavioral interventions: does the type of treatment affect the frequency, duration, or latency of the behavior?
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What are the categories of research designs?
- Experimental
- Non-experimental
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What variables are involved in experimental research designs?
- Independent variables (IV)
- Dependent variables (DV)
- Control variables
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What variables are involved in non-experimental research designs?
- "Predictor" variable
- "Outcome" variable
- Problem: "confounds"
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What are possible problems with experimental controls?
- Subject characteristics
- Maturation/Change over time
- Demand Characteristics (Subject Reactivity)
- Expectancy Effects (Experimenter Bias)
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What do group comparison research designs consist of?
- Characteristics: Each group is assigned to a different condition; DV is measured during or after treatment
- Methods of Experimental Control: Randomly assign subjects to groups or equalize groups
- Example: Juvenile delinquents are randomly assigned to one of three treatments; DV: Recidivism
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What do small-n and single-subject research consist of?
- Reversal/Withdrawal Designs (ABA, ABAB)
- Multiple Baseline Designs
- Combinations
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What do reversal designs consist of?
- A: Baseline measurement of DV
- B: Treatment phase
- A: Return to baseline conditions
- Methods: Return to baseline controls for maturation effects; subject is own control
- ex: Child is observed for "crying behavior"; treatment of "no attention"; return to baseline conditions of "attention" for crying
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What do multiple baseline designs consist of?
- Staggered onset of treatment across: subjects, settings, behaviors
- Methods: Compare treated subject with not-yet treated subject; Compare subject's treated behavior with not-yet treated behavior
- Ex: Treatment for "hitting behavior" introduced at a later time than treatment for "crying behavior"
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What do combinations of reversal and multiple baseline designs consist of?
- Multiple methods control for many extraneous variables
- Ex: Return to baseline for each subject; treatment
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What are the basic graph components?
- X-axis (IV)
- Y-axis (DV)
- Axis titles and labels
- Phase labels
- Graph title
- Line and bar graphs
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Who is associated with instrumental conditioning?
Edward Thorndike
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What are the components of instrumental conditioning?
- Theory: Behavior that is rewarded will be repeated (Law of Effect)
- Method: Cats learn to escape a puzzle box; measure of latency
- Conclusion: behavior is strengthened by favorable consequences
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Who is associated with operant conditioning?
B.F. Skinner
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What are the components of operant conditioning?
- Theory: Behavior depends on both antecedents and consequences (ABC's)
- Method: "Skinner boxes" with pigeons/rats/humans; cumulative frequency graphs
- Conclusion: Behavior is strengthened in situations in which the behavior has previously been rewarded & behavior is hindered in situations in which the behavior has previously been punished
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What are Skinner's ABC's of behavior?
- Antecedent: stimuli preceding a specific behavior
- Behavior: the individual's response
- Consequence: stimuli that follow and are contingent on the behavior
- Outcome: as a result of the consequence, the behavior is either more likely or less likely to occur again
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How do you know if a consequence is contingent?
- A specific environmental consequence occurs only after a specific behavior
- The consequence doesn't occur after the absence of the behavior or after other behaviors
- Contingent behaviors are categorized into different outcomes
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What is reinforcement?
A specific behavior is followed by a specific contingent consequence, and the future outcome is increased in likelihood of behavior
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What is punishment?
A specific behavior is followed by a specific contingent consequence, and the future outcome is decreased in likelihood of behavior
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Who is associated with observational learning?
Albert Bandura
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What are the components of observational learning?
- Theory: social/cognitive learning; behavior, thoughts, emotions can be learned vicariously; reciprocal determinism
- Method: humans in laboratory settings; "Bobo dolls" and aggression
- Conclusions: Modeled behavior may be imitated by observers; "personality" results from an ongoing, reciprocal interaction of environment, behavior, and cognition
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What factors influence reinforcement and punishment?
- Immediacy
- Contingency
- Motivating operations (establishing operations; abolishing operations)
- Characteristics of the consequences
- Schedules of reinforcement (continuous; intermittent)
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What are the types of intermittent schedules of reinforcement?
- Fixed Interval (FI)
- Variable Interval (VI)
- Fixed Ratio (FR)
- Variable Ratio (VR)
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What does a cumulative frequency graph of a fixed interval schedule look like?
it has a scalloped graph
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What does a cumulative frequency graph of a variable interval schedule look like?
it has a diminished scalloped effect on the graph
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What does a cumulative frequency graph of a fixed ratio schedule look like?
it has a leveling effect on the graph
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What does a cumulative frequency graph of a variable ratio schedule look like?
it had a much steeper leveling effect on the graph
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What are the possible approaches to reversing the effects of contingent consequences?
- If the behavior is being reinforced, change the consequence to a punishment.
- If the behavior is being punished, change the consequence to reinforcement.
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What is the best approach to reversing the effects of contingent consequences?
Extinction: a previously reinforced or punished behavior is no longer followed by the specific contingent consequence, and the future outcome is changed in likelihood of behavior
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What are the types of extinction?
- A previously reinforced behavior: the reinforcer no longer follows the behavior; likelihood of behavior decreases
- A previously punished behavior: the punisher no longer follows the behavior; likelihood of behavior increases
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What are the factors to consider when reversing the effects of contingent consequences?
- Extinction burst: things get worse before they get better
- Schedule of reinforcement or punishment: a behavior on a variable schedule is harder to extinguish
- Spontaneous recovery: sometimes, long after a behavior has been extinguished, the behavior will occur again
- Concurrent schedules of reinforcement: there might be something else that is reinforcing the behavior
- Ignoring: is appropriate only if the behavior was originally reinforced with attention
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What are the operant principles?
- Reinforcement (+/-)
- Punishment (+/-)
- Extinction
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What is stimulus control?
- It's a redefinition of Skinner's ABC's
- SD: Discriminative Stimulus (Antecedent)
- R: Response (Behavior)
- SR/SP: Reinforcer/Punisher (Consequence)
- A target behavior is under stimulus control when the probability of the behavior is increased in the presence of the specific antecedent or of stimuli from the same category
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What is stimulus discrimination training?
The process of reinforcing a behavior only when the S D is present, not when other antecedents (S  ) are present
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How does extinction occur in a behavior that is under stimulus control?
- The contingent reinforcer or punisher that was previously available in the presence of a specific antecedent is no longer available in the presence of that antecedent
- ex: grandma used to give the boy candy, but not anymore (just like mom)
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How does generalization occur in a behavior that is under stimulus control?
The reinforced behavior becomes more likely to occur in the presence of SD or in the presence of stimuli that are similar to SD
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How did Professor Ballard establish stimulus control in her cats?
- Notice behaviors cats normally do
- Give a signal before behavior naturally occurs, then give the reinforcer
- When the signal is given, don't give the reinforcer unless the behavior occurs
- If the behavior occurs after the signal is given, give the reinforcer
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Who is associated with classical/respondent conditioning?
Ivan Pavlov
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What are the components of classical/respondent conditioning?
- Theory: learned associations; natural responses to one stimulus may become learned responses to a paired stimulus
- Method: Dogs, digestive system, and serendipity
- Conclusion: Behavior results from learned associates between stimuli
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What is the process of classical conditioning?
- US (naturally) → UR
- NS → No UR
- US (with NS) → UR
- NS becomes CS
- CS (alone) → CR
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What is discrimination in classical conditioning?
When the CR occurs only in response to a specific CS
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What is generalization in classical conditioning?
When the CR occurs in response to the CS or to similar stimuli
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What does the generalization gradient suggest?
- Stimuli that are close to the CS:
- will elicit a similar response
- but the strength of the response depends on how similar the stimulus is
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How did John B. Watson apply classical conditioning?
- He focused on the development of fears
- Little Albert developed a fear of white furry objects
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How did Mary Cover-Jones apply classical conditioning?
- She was the first behavior therapist
- She focused on "unlearning"
- She used counter conditioning: extinction (no longer letting the NS get paired with the US)
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How did John Wolpe apply classical conditioning?
- He used systematic desensitization
- He focused on the treatment of fears
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What is higher order conditioning?
- When a NS is paired with a previously conditioned stimulus
- The NS becomes a new CS and elicits all by itself
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What is a conditioned emotional response?
It's when the natural response (UR) is an emotion
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What factors influence classical/respondent conditioning?
- Strength of the uncontrolled stimulus
- "Natural" connection between US and CS
- Temporal relation between US and CS
- Contingency
- Number of pairings
- Previous exposure to CS
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What are some examples of classical/respondent conditioning?
- Pavlov's Dogs
- Watson: Little Albert
- Garcia: Taste aversion
- Ader: Conditioned immune responses
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What are the differences between classical/respondent and operant conditioning?
- Classical/Respondent Conditioning: Behavior is elicited by stimuli; primarily involves involuntary responses
- Operant Conditioning: Behavior is controlled by its consequences; antecedent does not control behavior
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