Behavior Analysis and Strategies: A Comprehensive Guide

Chapter 1-7

Baseline: the period of an experiment without the treatment.

Behavior: anything that a person does.

• This implies that the activity is physical.
• This includes obvious, subtle, internal and private events.

Behavior analysis: the study of environmental events that change behavior.

• The founder of behavior analysis is Skinner.
• Behavior analysis exploded in popularity in 1970.
• Behavior analysis studies thoughts and feelings as behavior.
• Behavior analysis sees most behavior as voluntary behavior.

Behavioral definition: a statement that specifies exactly what behavior to observe.

• Creating a behavioral definition is the first step in studying behavior.
• It makes communication clearer; it maintains consistency of observations.

Behavioral strategy: the strategy of defining human problems as behavioral problems.

It involves five tactics:

• Specify the behavior with a behavioral definition.
• Gather information using the approach of direct observations.
• Check the reliability and social validity of your observation.
• Use a single subject experiment to test your treatment.
• Do a visual analysis of your data.

Comparison design: an experimental design comparing the baseline condition with the treatment condition.

• It rules out individual differences but not time coincidences.

Convincing differences: every pair of adjacent conditions must be divided; every condition must be stable.

Direct observation: the observer personally sees and immediately records the behavior.

Divided conditions: the ranges of the last three points of two conditions are mutually exclusive.

Event recording: you record a response when you see an instance of the behavior.

• You use this method when the instances of a series of continuous intervals.

Interval recording: you record a response if the behavior occurs in one of a series of continuous intervals.

Multiple baseline design: An experimental design that introduces the treatment at different times for two or more behavioral variables.

• This design rules out alternative explanations.

Outcome recording: you record a response when you see the result of the behavior.

Principle of direct observation using trained observer for the direct observation of behavior.

• When a person observes their own behavior with a behavioral definition and immediately record it, behavior analysts regard this approach as direct observation.

Principle of public events: seeking the causes of behavior in environmental events.

• The problem with using private events to explain behavior is that you still must explain the private events.

Principle of single-subject experiments: to expose the same person to the baseline and treatment.

Principle of visual analysis: finding differences that look convincing.

• Differences are convincing if conditions are divided and stable.

Reliability: the percentages of agreement between two independent observers.

• Both observers must observe the same responses and use the same behavioral definition.
• The formula for reliability is 100%XA/(A+D).
• Trial reliability is where you compare each observation. You can always use trial reliability with interval and time sample recording. You can only use trial reliability with outcome or event recording of complex behaviors with a checklist.
• Frequency reliability is where you compare overall frequencies. You can use frequency reliability with outcome or event recording of simple behaviors.
• Old definitions should reach 90% while new definitions only 80%.

Reversal design: an experimental design that looks at a behavior during baseline, treatment and reversal.

• It can rule out alternative explanations.

Ruling our alternative explanations: showing that events other than the treatment are unlikely to have caused an observed difference.

• One alternative is that any effect is caused by individual differences.
• Another alternative is that any effect is caused by time coincidences.

Self-report observation: the observer relies on their memory of the behavior.

• The problem with self-reports such as questionnaires and interviews is that they are usually inaccurate or of unknown accuracy.

Social validity: the correlation between ratings by outside judges and observations by trained observers.

Stable conditions: the last three numbers of one condition are not moving closer to the numbers in the other condition.

Chapter 22-25

Aversive control strategy: the strategy of using aversive control if positive control fails

This strategy consists of two tactics:

• Decrease undesirable behavior through punishment as a last resort.
• Increase desirable behavior through negative reinforcement as a last resort.

Avoidance: behavior that prevents a negative reinforce from occurring.

Conditioned punisher: a punisher that loses its effectiveness through unpaired presentations.

Discriminative stimulus for punishment: a stimulus that precedes a behavior and is present only if punishment will occur for the behavior.

Escape: behavior that terminates a negative reinforce.

Generalized punisher: any conditioned punisher that is associated with many other punishers.

Negative reinforcement: the procedure of following a behavior with a negative reinforce.

• Any procedure or principle that applies to positive reinforcement may also be applied to negative reinforcement.

Negative reinforce: any event that, when terminated or prevented by a behavior, increase the rate of that behavior.

• A negative reinforce is simply another form of a reinforce and thus can be used in shaping, discrimination training, and conditioned reinforcement.
• Both positive and negative reinforces increase the rate of a behavior, but a positive reinforce is an event that is delivered, whereas a negative reinforce is an event that is terminated or prevented.

Primary punisher: any punisher that loses its effectiveness only through satiation.

• Primary punisher are usually basic physical events such as hitting, shock, pinching, and so on.

Punishment: the procedure of following a behavior with a punisher.

• Punishment by contingent stimulation: involves delivery of a punisher and producing a decrease in the rate of the behavior.
• Punishment by contingent withdrawal: Involves withdrawal of a reinforcing event and producing a decrease in the rate of the behavior.
• When a person is removed from a reinforcing activity, that form of punishment by contingent withdrawal is called time out.

Punisher: any event that follows a response and decrease the rate of that behavior.

• This definition of a punisher also applies to the withdrawal of an event following a behavior such that the rate of the behavior decreases for instance, fining people or timing them out of a reinforcing activity.