Bcba Terms

A natural science approach to the study of behavior as a subject matter and its own right founded by B.F.Skinner; methodological features include rate of response as a basic dependent variable, repeated or continuous measurement of clearly defined response classes, within subject experimental comparisons instead of group design, visual analysis of graphed data instead of statistical inference, and an emphasis on describing functional relations between behavior and controlling variables in the environment over formal theory testing.

A fictitious or hypothetical variable that often takes the form of another name for the observed phenomenon it claims to explain and contributes nothing to a functional account or understanding of the phenomenon, such as "intelligence" or "cognitive awareness" as explanations for one organism pushes the lever when the light is on and food is available but does not push the lever when the light is off and no food is available.

A carefully controlled comparison of some measure of the phenomenon of interest (the dependent variable) under two or more different conditions in which only one factor at a time (the independent variable) differs from one condition to another.

A thoroughgoing form of behaviorism that attempts to understand all human behavior, including private events such as thoughts and feelings, in terms of controlling variables in the history of the person (ontogeny) and the specifies (phylogeny).

A systematic approach to the understanding of natural phenomena (as evidenced by description, production, and control) that relies on determinism is fundamental assumption, empiricism as its primary rule, experimentation as its basic strategy, replication as a requirement for believability, parsimony as a value, and philosophic doubt as its guiding conscience.

(A) Repeating conditions within an experiment to determine the reliability of effects and increase internal validity. (B) Repeating whole experiments to determine the generality of findings of previous experiments to other subjects, settings, and/or behaviors.

A philosophical position that views behavioral events that cannot be publicly observed as outside the realm of science.

The practice of ruling out simple, logical explanations, experimentally or conceptually, before considering more complex or abstract explanations.

A verbal statement summarizing the results of an experiment (or group of related experiments) that describes the current of the phenomenon understudy of the study of the function of the operation of one or more specified a controlled variables in the experiment in which a specific changing one event (the dependent variable) can be produced by manipulating another event (the independent variable), and that the change in the dependent variable was unlikely the result of other factors (confounding variables).

The assumption that the universe is a lawful and orderly place in which phenomena occur in relation to other events and not in an accidental fashion.

A presume but unobserved process or entity (example Freud's ID, ego, and superego).

The objective observation of the phenomena of interest; objective observations are "independent of the individuals prejudices, tastes and private opinions of the scientist... Results of empirical methods are objective in that they are open to anyone's observation and do not depend on the subjective belief of the individual scientist."

The philosophy of a science of behavior.

An attitude that the truthfulness and validity of all scientific theory and knowledge should be continually questioned.

The science in which tactics derived from the principles of behavior are applied to improve socially significant behavior and experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for the improvement of behavior.

And approach to explain behavior that assumes that a mental, or "inner," dimension exists that differs from a behavioral dimension and that phenomena in this dimension either directly cause or at least mediate some forms of behavior, if not all.