Tim saying, "nice shoes" is what type of verbal operant?

Gene is implementing a punishment procedure targeting aggressive outbursts. After several sessions, Gene observes that the aggressive outbursts have decreased significantly. However, the client now exhibits increased signs of anxiety, such as crying and avoidance behaviors, during sessions where the punishment procedure is used. What should Gene now consider first?

A behavior technician is working with a client named Ben who frequently engages in screaming to get attention. The tech’s team decides to implement an extinction procedure where they no longer provide attention when Ben screams. After a few days, the data show that Ben’s screaming has temporarily increased in intensity and frequency. What is likely occurring based on this information?

You, a behavior analyst, are talking with one of your behavior technicians about their session that took place yesterday. The client is known to display aggressive behavior and task avoidance. The technician tells you that, at one point, the client balled up their fist and swung it at the technician's face. The client balling up their fist and swinging it would most precisely be a _________?

It is almost lunch time and Jake is starting to get hungry. He is debating with himself whether he should drive 20 minutes to his favorite taco shop, or if he should just take 5 minutes to make a sandwich at home. What type of schedule does this most resemble?

A child has learned to greet others by saying "hello" in a therapy setting. To increase generalization, the child’s parents are instructed to practice the same skill at home, and the teacher is asked to reinforce it in the classroom. What strategy is being implemented to promote generalization?

Your phone vibrates so you pick it up and read a text message that says, "sorry, I can't make it tonight." You start to feel yourself getting angry, so you reply, "what's your excuse this time?" You then wait for a response. Your reply represents a?

A behavior analyst is monitoring a client’s progress using a cumulative record to track the total number of independent task completions over a session. Over time, the analyst notices changes in the slope of the cumulative record at different points during the session. In particular, the slope is very steep at certain points. What does a steep slope indicate?

You are evaluating the effectiveness of a new social skills training program for a group of children. The intervention takes place over six months during which you observe a gradual improvement in the children's social interactions. However, during the same period, the children also receive additional support from a social skills specialist. What threat to internal validity does this represent?

You, a behavior analyst, want to use modeling to teach your client to interact socially with peers his age. You take the client to a trampoline park and engage in several variations of social interaction and activity while the client watches. What should you be looking for to see if your client is imitating successfully?

A behavior analyst is supervising a client and notices that the client's challenging behavior has started to increase. The behavior analyst decides to implement an intrusive punishment procedure without first asking the client's mom. The following day, the behavior technician tells the analyst that the client is in extreme emotional distress. What is now at risk for the analyst?

Whenever his classroom becomes too loud, Tom will cover his ears and start to cry. When Tom covers his ears and cries, his teacher lets him sit outside in the hall for 5-10 minutes to get away from the noise. Tom is always covering his ears and crying in the classroom. What is the most likely reason for this?

Tom is assigned to a client that comes from a cultural background that is significantly different from Tom's own background. The client's life is modeled around their culture's practices and values. Tom wants to ensure the best service possible for the client. What should Tom do?

Larry is working with a client who will yell loudly whenever they want access to an item. Larry teaches the client the phrase, "Can I have that, please?" Larry only reinforces the client when they use that phrase. What is Larry most likely using?

Donna is working with a client on putting away their clothes in the proper place after the clothes have been washed. Donna will instruct the client to put away the clothes and then, if necessary, gently direct the client in the right direction by touching their shoulders or elbows, but only briefly before fading. What is Donna specifically using?

Ralph is typically well-behaved, but he will throw his toys around the room during playtime. Ralph's teacher decides that Ralph will need to clean up the toys he threw and then also clean up the rest of the play area before going to recess if he throws toys. What punishment strategy is the teacher implementing?

A behavior analyst contracted through a school receives a request from a teacher for access to a client's treatment plan. The analyst does not work with this teacher and is unsure if the child is in this teacher's class. What should the behavior analyst do before giving access?

A functional analysis reveals a child's aggressive behavior trends upwards during the attention condition and the escape condition while remaining relatively flat during the tangible condition. The analysis has been done twice and revealed the same results each time. What is a possible explanation for the behavior?

A child in a classroom frequently shouts out answers without raising their hand. The behavior analyst supervising the classroom wants to decrease this behavior even though the answers are typically correct. Which of the following would be the most appropriate alternative behavior to teach and reinforce in this situation?

A pickleball player is frustrated with how they are hitting the ball so they hire a coach. The coach puts in a development plan for the player that should take a month. While on this plan, the player is also watching YouTube videos as well. The player starts to improve after 3 weeks. When would the YouTube videos be a threat to internal validity?

Three boys are standing on a beach when they suddenly hear the sound of fighter jets. The boys all look up and point at the sky. All 3 boys say they saw five jets overhead. Two minutes later, the same group of jets fly by, and all 3 boys say they only saw 4 jets. If the number of jets didn't change, this data for sure lacks _____?

Claire is a hard worker and a good student. She always completes her work when asked, and will work slowly to make sure she is getting answers correctly. The only time she works quicker is when it is near the end of the day. What aspect of Claire's working changes regularly?

Emily is working with a client who will bang on walls at seemingly random times throughout the day. A plan is written that says to provide reinforcement every 5 minutes that the client does not bang on the wall. Eventually, the interval is changed to 10 minutes and then 15 minutes. What type of differential reinforcement is described?

A behavior analyst is working with a student who has difficulty completing classroom tasks independently. Before creating an intervention, the analyst conducts an assessment that evaluates the student's ability to follow multi-step instructions, communicate needs, and remain focused for extended periods. What is the purpose of this assessment?

Tina is excited to start parent training with her new client. She believes a lot of progress can be made if the plan is implemented with fidelity. After 2 months of trying, Tina is discouraged to see that data show she has only completed two parent training sessions while parents have cancelled every other one. What are Tina's options?

Britton, a behavior analyst, writes out a treatment plan for decreasing self-injurious behavior. This treatment plan has been implemented easily by other analysts and technicians and has demonstrated a functional relationship between the plan and the behavior decrease. This decrease has also maintained in several different environments. What dimension is missing from this description?

You assess a client who engages in repetitive vocalizations throughout the day, both when interacting with others and when alone. The behavior occurs across various settings, including when no one is present and when there are no apparent external consequences. In some instances, the behavior decreases when the client is given a preferred activity. Based on this information, which of the following best explains what is likely maintaining the vocalizations?

A child is learning to identify different types of vehicles. The child identifies a car, a truck, and a boat as vehicles even though they all have different topographies. What concept is demonstrated by the three stimuli receiving the label of 'vehicle?'

Which of the following is not true about verbal behavior or verbal operants according to Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior?

Danny is refusing to eat his dinner at night. This previously had not been a problem up until two weeks ago. Danny's sister notices that Danny will go into the pantry about an hour before dinner time and eat a snack. Danny's sister tells her mom that they should stop Danny from snacking before dinner. What goal of behavior analysis is best described here?

Lisa, a behavior analyst, and Monica, a behavior technician, are very close friends. Lisa knows that Monica is a great behavior technician and loves to put her on cases. Last week, Lisa was given a very challenging case, but chose to give the case to Rachel instead of Monica because she knows Rachel is better than Monica with these type of clients even though she dislikes Rachel. What assumption is demonstrated here?

A client learns to tie her shoes independently using a task analysis and reinforcement. After demonstrating mastery in multiple sessions, Jake transitions to providing reinforcement on a variable schedule and gradually reduces the frequency of direct practice on this skill. Eventually, Jake only occasionally checks to see if the client can tie their shoes.

Rick recently moved to Louisiana and starts to sweat when he walks outside because of the humidity. Yesterday, Rick walked outside and as he started to sweat he heard a woodpecker in his backyard. Now, Rick starts to sweat every time he hears a woodpecker. What has occurred?

Luke has the opportunity to either play math games on the computer on break or watch his favorite show. Each break lasts approximately 10 minutes. Although Luke loves to watch his show, he usually picks math games instead because math games are on a thicker reinforcement schedule than his show. What explains Luke's behavior?

A restaurant staff is in debate over whether they should serve strawberry pie or blueberry pie. Some of the staff think strawberry would be better for tonight, but there is disagreement. The manager says they will serve half the guests strawberry and half the guests blueberry and then analyze the feedback. What does this most resemble?

A 19-year-old with a developmental delay wants to learn how to make his own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The 19-year-old’s parents decide they will use a task analysis to create a task chain for this skill. Which of the following chains would be most appropriate?

You, a behavior analyst, are explaining single-case designs to two trainees. One trainee, a psychologist, asks you why you might use a single-case design instead of a group design. What could you tell them?

A student is reprimanded in the classroom when they talk out of turn. This reprimand has proven effective as a punisher in the past, but has led to some aggressive behavior. Recently, a behavior technician who had good rapport with the client started working in the classroom with this student, but is now seeing an increase in aggression as well. What may have occurred?

Tom is using a self-management strategy that restricts his access to cookies. He only gets cookies if he goes to the gym five days in a row. On the third day of the current reinforcement schedule, Tom eats cookies someone brought at work for his birthday. The work cookies in this context are likely ______?

You successfully reduced a child's disruptive behavior through the use of different strategies including a token economy. As you start to fade out the token economy, the disruptive behavior starts to reemerge gradually. What would be the best option to mitigate the return of the disruptive behavior now and in the future?

With three seconds left in the game, the Eagles and Ravens game is tied at 23-23. The Eagles send out their field goal kicker to try and win the game at the last second. If the kicker makes the field goal, the Eagles win, but if the kicker misses, the Ravens win. What group contingency does this resemble?

Lisa has noticed a sudden upwards trend in the number of clients she sees that refuse to eat healthy foods. Lisa is a behavior analyst who wants what is best for her clients, but she is not comfortable giving out advice on feeding and eating to stakeholders. What steps can Lisa take to build competence?

Skinner's pigeon is cooing and sitting on its perch. After 6 minutes of cooing, Skinner gives the pigeon a pellet. Then, 9 minutes later, another pellet is delivered, finally, after another 6 minutes, the final pellet is delivered. What reinforcement schedule is represented here?

A university professor who is teaching an introduction to behavior analysis course to a group of masters students asks the students to consider their own personal views on behavior and then discuss how their views may influence their behavior philosophy. This exercise is most closely aligned with ____?

A lawn company just hired a new employee who will be responsible for weed eating around flower beds. At first, the new employee destroys a couple of flower beds, so the manager of the company instructs the trainer to prevent the new employee from coming into contact with the flower beds when they attempt to weed eat. This intervention could be described as ______?

A supervisor notices that a supervisee is consistently late in completing session documentation. After conducting a performance diagnostic, the supervisor identifies that the supervisee is unclear about the documentation procedures and finds the task too time-consuming. What is the most appropriate intervention to address this issue?

You are a behavior technician who is preparing to take their board certification exam next week. You feel fully prepared and know that you are going to pass. The night before the exam someone asks you what you do for work and you tell them, "I am a behavior analyst!" Is there anything wrong with this statement?

Luke begins a withdrawal design that will track a student's spontaneous social interactions during the day. Luke takes his baseline which achieves a steady state and then introduces his intervention which shows an upwards trend. Once Luke withdraws his intervention, the baseline trend does not revert to pre-intervention levels. What has this design failed?

A behavior analyst is working with a child to increase the time spent engaging in independent reading. Initially, the child only reads for 1 minute. The behavior analyst then begins reinforcing the child for reading for 2 minutes, and once the child meets that goal, the analyst raises the criterion to 4 minutes, gradually increasing the duration over time. What process is described here?

A behavior analyst is conducting an assessment to understand the factors maintaining a student's frequent out-of-seat behavior during math class. The analyst collects data on the instructions given, the leaving the seat behavior, and the teacher's response to the behavior across multiple sessions without manipulating any variables. What type of assessment is the analyst conducting?

You are supervising a team implementing a new behavior intervention plan. You notice that the intervention is being inconsistently applied across different staff members. To assess this, you collect data on how accurately each staff member follows the steps in the BIP. What is the primary reason for collecting this data?

Four weeks ago, Dana implemented a plan for decreasing tantrums for an 11-year-old client. Currently, the data show a flat trend in tantrum behavior. What is the best next step for Dana?

An ABA company provides on-going supervision for its staff who deliver treatment in clinical and home settings. The company's staff typically delivers high quality service and collect accurate, reliable, and valid data. What is the primary benefit of this type of behavior-analytic supervision?

A child is learning to distinguish between objects. First, two different colored cups and a block are presented with the instruction, "Touch the cup," and the child is reinforced when they correctly select the cup. Later, the analyst introduces a second instruction, "Touch the red cup," and reinforces the child for selecting the correct item. What type of procedure is the behavior analyst using?

A parent is rewarding their children for completing chores. The parent uses money only to reward doing the laundry, but will use tokens for things like mopping, sweeping, and doing dishes. What best describes money and what best describes tokens in this specific situation?

A child has started to cough whenever they hear a loud sound. Since this has become disruptive, the loud sound is played repeatedly without the accompanying hot sauce that caused the initial cough. Eventually, the child stops coughing at the sound. What is this an example of?

You are reviewing data from an ABAB design. During the first A phase the target behavior occurred at high rates. After moving to the first B phase, the behavior decreased significantly. When you went back to A, the behavior returned to high rates, and once B was reintroduced, the behavior decreased again. What can be concluded from this design?

A girl sees a cookie on the counter and says, "I want a cookie," prompting their mom to give them one. This verbal behavior is influenced by the girl's hunger, the sight of the cookie, and the previous history of receiving cookies upon making requests. What concept best explains the relationship between these variables?

In behavior analysis, what is considered the act of delaying gratification by engaging in responses that produce a larger reward on a delayed schedule or in a certain way to change future behavior?

You are discussing the day with one of your behavior technicians. They tell you that the client was disruptive in class all day and it was really an issue. You ask them to give an operational definition of that disruption. What would be the best response from them?

Last night, you went out with a couple of friends and had more drinks than you expected too. This morning, you woke up feeling awful, so you went to Waffle House for a big breakfast. After you ate the breakfast, the awful feeling went away which made you want more Waffle House after drinking. What was the likely consequence of eating the big breakfast?

Ms. Roberts teaches a child to match the word she says to the corresponding picture card. Separately, at home, the child's father teaches the child to match written words to spoken words. One day, without additional teaching, the child is matching written words to picture cards at school. What concept is this scenario most likely demonstrating?

A gymnast believes she has perfected her floor routine for her upcoming competition. Her coach, however, says that her foot placement could be improved, and she should add an additional rotation to her twist. What type of teaching is the instructor looking to do?

Which of the following answer choices best represents operant conditioning?

Brennan wants to evaluate the impact of a reading intervention on three students, but due to scheduling constraints, the intervention is introduced to each student at different points in time which disallows overlapping baselines, but baseline is collected for each student before intervention. What type of research design is the analyst using?

Jones is searching for a new stove. He cooks a lot of pasta which requires water to boil quickly. He asks the sales representative about each stove and how long it takes from turning the heat on to the water starting to boil. What is Jones asking about specifically?

A college baseball coach reaches out to a behavior analyst for consultation on improving his practices. The analyst's wife happens to work at this college which leads to concern that this may cause a conflict of interest. What should the analyst do in order to manage the potential risks of this situation?

How would you distinguish an echoic from an intraverbal if you were measuring verbal behavior?

A behavior analyst is collecting data on how often a student blurts out during class. The analyst wants to measure the exact number of times this behavior occurs in a 30-minute period. Which data collection method should the behavior analyst use to accurately measure the occurrence of the behavior?

Gordon arrives at an intake assessment to discover his client is non-verbal and whose family only speaks Spanish at home. Gordon does not speak Spanish, and neither do his technicians. If Gordon wants to proceed ethically, what should he reasonably do?

A functional behavior assessment reveals a child's aggression is maintained by escape from non-preferred tasks and activity. The analyst, during the assessment, also notices signs of high anxiety in the client, but cannot reasonably measure this anxiety behaviorally. What should the analyst do?

Mr. Tim is teaching a student to button their coat. Mr. Tim will prompt the client physically, but only as necessary, while increasing the time before giving any prompts, allowing the student more time to respond independently. Which prompting strategy is being applied in this scenario?

Frederick is deciding what suit he should wear to the event tonight. His partner holds up a suit and Frederick says, "yes" or "no." Any suit that gets a "yes" is put into a "maybe" pile to be further evaluated. What type of preference assessment does this most resemble?

You are supervising two supervisees: one with extensive experience in applied behavior analysis and another who is new to the field and requires more guidance. You notice that the more experienced supervisee is advancing quickly, while the less experienced supervisee is struggling with the basics. You decide to provide the struggling supervisee with additional mentorship, varied training opportunities, and flexible feedback mechanisms. What key idea are you implementing?

Brian is conducting a 6-month study to decrease tantrums in a 4-year-old child. Over the course of the study, the child’s tantrums decrease significantly, but Brian notices that the child has also naturally improved their self-regulation skills as they have grown older. Which threat to internal validity might explain this change?

You are working with a child who has limited verbal skills. During sessions, you start by modeling simple sounds like "ba" or "da" and reinforce the child only when the vocal imitation closely matches the modeled sound. After consistent success with single sounds, you introduce more complex syllable combinations and extend the time before reinforcement is delivered. What is the primary focus of this intervention?

After a functional behavior assessment, the behavior analyst determines that the function of a child's aggression is to gain access to tangible items. The analyst decides to teach the child how to request access to preferred activities. Which of the following considerations should the analyst most prioritize when selecting this socially valid alternative behavior?

A multiple-baseline design is used to assess the impact of an intervention on reducing aggression, property destruction, and self-injury. The intervention is applied sequentially and data are collected before and after the intervention is implemented. Which of the following best describes a key feature of this single-case experimental design?

A behavior analyst wants to collect data on how often a student is off-task during a 30-minute math class. The analyst decides to observe the student at the end of every 5-minute interval to record whether the student is on-task or off-task. What type of discontinuous measurement procedure is the analyst using?

A behavior analyst is gathering information to understand the factors influencing a child’s behavior at school. The analyst asks the teacher and parents questions about the circumstances surrounding the behavior and uses rating scales to collect data about potential triggers and consequences. The child is also asked about their likes and dislikes. What should the analyst do now?

Alan is much more likely to be thirsty for water after playing outside on a hot day opposed to sitting inside his house watching television. Alan will only ask for water if he sees a water bottle nearby. How do you explain the relationship between Alan's behavior and the environment?

Lisa puts together a research design that involves 4 participants. She reaches out to each participant to ask when they would be able to start. Some of the participants are available as early as next week, but some can't start for another couple of weeks. Lisa decides she will start one participant now, and then the next one in a week or so at what point she might move the first participant to intervention. What design does this resemble?

A case review highlights the fact that the client in question has been kicked out of multiple schools and is a possible victim of abuse from one or more stakeholders. The client is very combative around adults, will lash out if given feedback, and will sometimes engage in property destruction. How did this behavior likely come about?

Claire has practiced singing "happy birthday" all week for her dad. This morning, when her dad walked in the kitchen, Claire was unable to sing happy birthday when her mom asked her to in the presence of her dad. What effect might dad be having on the singing behavior if singing "happy birthday" is in Claire’s repertoire?

A child frequently hits their sibling during playtime. In response, the parent takes away the child's video game privileges for the rest of the day whenever this behavior occurs. Over time, the child's hitting behavior decreases. Which of the following choices explains this phenomenon the best?

You, a behavior analyst, are developing a behavior plan for a 13-year-old whose family is from East Asia. You've never been to Asia and are very unfamiliar with the culture. The family expresses concern that some of your interventions are not aligned with their cultural practices. What is the first thing you should do to remain culturally responsive?