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ABA Chapter 1
Bold terms from the Cooper ABA book
16
Psychology
Graduate
09/27/2012

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Term
applied behavior analysis
Definition
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 in behavior
Term
behaviorism
Definition
the philosophy of a science of behavior; there are various forms of behaviorism
Term
determinism
Definition
the assumption that the universe is a lawful and orderly place in which phenomena occur in relation to other events and not in a willy-nilly, accidental fashion
Term
empiricism
Definition
the objective observation of the phenomena of interest; objective observations are "independent of the individual prejudices, tastes, and private opinions of the scientist..."
Term
experiment
Definition
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
Term
experimental analysis of behavior
Definition
a natural science approach to the study of behavior as a subject matter in its own right founded by BF Skinner; methodological features include rate of response as a basic dependent variable, repeater or continuous measurement of clearly defined response classes, within-subject experimental comparisons instead of group design, visual analysis of graphed data, and emphasis on describing functional relations between behavior and controlling variables in the environment
Term
explanatory fiction
Definition
a fictitious 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"
Term
functional relation
Definition
a verbal statement summarizing the results of an experiment that describes the occurrence of the phenomena under study as a function of the operation of one or more specified and controlled variables in which a specific change in one event can be produced by manipulating another event
Term
hypothetical construct
Definition
a presumed but unobserved process or entity (ie Frued's id, ego, and superego)
Term
mentalism
Definition
an approach to explaining 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
Term
methodological behaviorism
Definition
a philosophical position that views behavioral events that cannot be publicly observed as outside the realm of science
Term
parsimony
Definition
the practice of ruling out simple, logical explanations, experimentally or conceptually, before considering more complex or abstract explanations
Term
philosophic doubt
Definition
an attitude that the truthfulness and validity of all scientific theory and knowledge should be continually questioned
Term
radical behaviorism
Definition
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 species (phylogeny)
Term
replication
Definition
repeating conditions within an experiment to determine the reliability of effects and increase internal validity. repeating whole experiments to determine the generality of findings of previous experiments to other subjects, settings, and/or behaviors
Term
science
Definition
a systematic approach to the understanding of natural phenomena (as evidenced by description, prediction, and control) that relies on determinism as its 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
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