ABA Mid-Term

Midterm Study Guide

All questions will be multiple choice. You will have an entire class session
to complete the exam. The following topics will be covered:

●Goals of ABA:

●Improve socially significant behavior

●Identify functional relations between behavior and controlling variable

●Socially significant behavior:

●Improving the life experience of an individual

●Determined by the individual for whom we provide behavior
analytic services

●1 of 3 determining factors of social validity

●Assessing social significance requires a precise understanding of:

○The broad social goal

○Categories of related behavior

●Description

●First level of scientific understanding

●We seek to quantify, classify, and examine facts for possible
relationships

●In ABA we make use of operational definitions to specifically and
accurately describe behavior.

Prediction

●Second level of scientific understanding

●Involves determining the relative probability that one of two
correlated events will occur based on the presence of the other
event

●In ABA we use contingency analysis to determine the likelihood that a
behavior will occur based on the presence of certain stimuli

Control

●Third level of scientific understanding

●Control is achieved when a change in a dependent variable can be reliably
produced through manipulation of the independent variable, with all other
variables eliminated or held constant

●In ABA, control is achieved when a change in behavior (DV) can be

●produced by manipulating a specific aspect of the environment (IV)

●Behaviorism: (Watson)

○focuses on the idea that all behaviors are learned through interaction with
the environment. This learning theory states that behaviors are learned

from the environment, and says that innate or inherited factors have very
little influence on behavior.

●Experimental Analysis of Behavior: (Skinner)

○is a science that studies the behavior of individuals across a variety of
species.

●Three-term contingency: (Skinner)

○The three-term contingency (also known as the ABC contingency) in
operant conditioning—or contingency management—describes the
relationship between a behavior, its consequence, and the environmental
context. The three-term contingency was first defined by B. F. Skinner in
the early 1950s.

●Dimensions of ABA
Applied~

● Close relationship between the behavior and stimuli
● Contextualism
● Experimental control
● Implementing interventions
● Social problems, social interest

Behavioral~

● Observable
○ Can be observed by others
● Measurable
● Obtainable
● Socially significant
○ All parties agree that behavior is socially significant
● Training
● Assessment
● Reinforcement
● 2nd of the big 3 (ABC)
● Clearly defined
○ What do we want to do with said behavior

Analytic~

●A functional relation between behavior and environmental variables.

Technological~
● Clearly defined interventions
● Steps are easily replicated/copied
● Anyone should be able to implement the steps effectively
● Well written, easy to comprehend and executable
● Offers individuals a solid foundation for skill-building

●Associative Example (Picture schedule, Task analysis)

●Philosophical assumptions of ABA

●(Examples Student not coming to class every day 2 teachers discussing.
One teacher says we need to look at all different things, the other says he
doesn’t like to come to class ` Parsimony)
DETERMINISM:

The presumption that the universe is a lawful and orderly place in which all
phenomena occur as the result of other events

EMPIRICISM:

The practice of objective observation of the phenomena of interest.

EXPERIMENTATION:

Carefully conducted comparison of some measure of the phenomenon of
interest under 2 or more conditions in which 1
factor at a time differs from one condition to the next.

REPLICATION:

Experiments and the independent variable conditions within an experiment
must be repeated, with the same basic patterns of results.

PARSIMONY:

All simple, logical explanations for the phenomenon under investigation
must be ruled out.

PHILOSOPHIC DOUBT:

The scientist must continually question the truthfulness of what is
regarded as fact.

PRAGMATISM:

The scientist must assess how useful an explanation is by looking at
whether it produces useful results.

SELECTIONISM:

The process by which behaviors are selected to continue or cease based
on experience.

Phylogenic-the process by which behaviors that help ensure the survival
of a species or group are maintained by contingencies.

Ontogenic-the process by which behaviors that help ensure the survival of
an individual are maintained by contingencies.

Cultural-the process by which behaviors among members of a group are
transferred, usually through modeling and imitation.

●Behavior:

○how someone acts. It is what a person does to make something happen,
to make something change or to keep things the same. Behaviour is a
response to things that are happening: internally - thoughts and feelings.
externally - the environment, including other people.

●Behavioral principle definitions:

○The four guiding truths of ABA that inform all of the many strategies
encompassed in this discipline.

i.Behavior is controlled by consequences.

ii.Reinforcement (reward) increases or strengthens behavior.

iii.Punishment decreases or weakens behavior.

iv.Extinction is the process of withholding reinforcement for a
previously reinforced behavior.

●Response:

i.A specific instance of behavior.

ii.A response follows a stimulus.

iii.A response must have an effect on the environment in order to be
observed.

iv.A larger set or class of responses is what is generally referred to as
behavior.

●Response Topography:

i.Refers to the physical shape or form of a behavior.

●Response class:

i.Behavior analysis involves a functional analysis of the effect of
behavior on the environment.

ii.A response class is a group of responses that have the same
function.

●Stimulus:

i.An energy change that affects an organism through its receptor
cells (Michael, 2004, p.7)

ii.A specific event or combination of events that in some way affect
behavior.

iii.Multiple stimuli make up the environment.

●Stimulus Class:

i.A group of stimuli that share specified commonalities along forma,
temporal, and/or functional dimensions.

ii.Feature stimulus class – share common physical characteristics

iii.Arbitrary stimulus class –evoke the same response but do not
share common features

●Stimulus control:

i.the relation between a stimulus and response when the stimulus
sets the occasion on which the response will likely have a
consequence

ii.a stimulus in which the frequency, latency, duration or amplitude of
a behavior is altered by the presence or absence of antecedent
stimulus (Cooper) essential to l earning

iii.directs and focuses behavior

●Discriminative stimuli:

○Discriminative stimulus for reinforcement (SD) – Signals the

probability that a given response will be reinforced based on a
learning history in which that stimulus repeatedly and immediately
preceded a reinforced response.

○Discriminative stimulus for extinction (S∆) – Signals that a
particular\response will probably not result in reinforcement based on
learning history.

○Discriminative stimulus for punishment (SDp) – Signals the probability that
a given response will be punished based on a learning history in which
that stimulus repeatedly and immediately preceded a punished response.

●Functional behavior assessment: An assessment tool that enables us to
develop hypotheses about the function of a problem behavior

○Indirect: -direct observation of the behavior under naturally occurring
conditions.

i.Advantages: May yield objective and quantifiable information,
identify correlational or potentially causal relationships, provide
information regarding the design and implementation of treatment,
do not disrupt the subject’s natural routine

ii.Limitations: May overlook intermittent response-consequence
relationships, correlatioin and causation are not the same thing, can
be more subjective depending on the observer

○Descriptive: relies on the separation and manipulation of antecedent and
consequent variables representing those in the subject’s natural
environment. Involves different test conditions: control (play), contingent
attention, contingent escape, alone

i.Advantages: Clear demonstration of a functional relation between
the behavior of concern and the consequences, helps to isolate

intermittent or subtle variables maintaining the behavior, provides
clear basis for developing a treatment protocol

ii.Limitations: ethical concerns regarding the intentional provocation
of behavior, requires training, risk of establishing a new
dysfunctional relation

●Functional analysis:

○Treatment development and evaluation
1. Select a replacement behavior.

i.-Should be functionally equivalent, within the student’s repertoire,
and allow access to a sufficient level of reinforcement.

2. Select an intervention

ii.- Antecedent modifications – How can we change the environment
to lessen the likelihood of problematic behavior.

iii.- Consequent strategies – How will we reinforce occurrences of
replacement behavior? What do we do when the problem behavior
occurs?

3. Collect data to monitor change.

●Measures of behavior:

○7 Common ABA Data Collection Methods

i.Frequency/Event & Rate Recording. ...

ii.Duration Recording. ...

iii.Latency Recording. ...

iv.ABC (Antecedent-Behaviour-Consequence) Data. ...

v.Scatterplot Analysis. ...

vi.Interval Recording.

●Dependent variable:

○is the target behavior, the one that is set to be changed.equals the
behavior and the intervention.

●Independent Variable:

○is the environment, with all the conditions and events taking place
behavior or after the behavior, that we can manipulate and alter to modify
behavior.

●Validity of Assessment tools:

○the extent to which it measures what it was designed to measure, without
contamination from other characteristics. For example, a test of reading
comprehension should not require mathematical ability.

●Reliability of assessment tools:

○whether an assessment instrument gives the same results each time it is
used in the same setting with the same type of subjects. Reliability
essentially means consistent or dependable results.

You should not only be able to define these terms, but also recognize examples.

Breathe, relax, it will be ok!