Concepts 6222
free will, governmental, effective, determined
According to Moore (2015), our system of laws assumes that individuals have __ and know right from wrong as a moral issue at the time of any action. If the individuals nevertheless break the law, they are deemed responsible for their behavior, and subject to punishment by a __ authority. However, this brings up several questions for behavior analysts. First, if the goal is to reduce the rate of punished behavior, how do we know that punishment will be an __ procedure (as opposed to reinforcement contingencies). Also, if behavior is __ then the individual's behavior was not the result of free will.
value
According to Skinner (as cited in Moore, 2015) the term __ may be understood as the type of reinforcer that is effective for a particular person.
accidental
By obeying laws we avoid punishment, without ever having to contact that specific punishment Superstitious behavior arises from - __ contingencies, but it illustrates that reinforcement is effective even if it isn't related to the behavior it follows.
Ogden Lindsley
__ created precision teaching that adhered to BF Skinner's rate of response and cumulative response recording to measure behavior.
science, lawful relations
__ is more than the mere description of events as they occur. It is an attempt to discover order, to show that certain events stand in __ to other events (Skinner, 1953, p.6)."
conditioned
Drug tolerance can cause the user to increase to dosages that are fatal. Or, if the person uses the drug in a new environment, but at the same level, the __ stimulus is removed and the body does not adequately prepare for the ingestion of drugs.
language
Unique to humans is the ability for __ to further influence superstitious behavior.
phylogeny
is behaviors that have been passed down over the lifetime of the entire species.
ontogeny
is the learned behaviors of a particular animal during its lifetime.
reinforcing, knowledge
"A well-designed lesson can be highly __ not because students are getting rewards, but simply because they are frequently able to demonstrate their __ ".
philosophy
"Behaviorism is not the science of human behavior; it is the __ of that science" (Skinner, 1974)
self, external, function
"The __ is most commonly used as a hypothetical cause of action. So long as __ variables go unnoticed or are ignored, their __ is assigned to an originating agent within the organism. If we cannot show what is responsible for a man's behavior, we say that he himself is responsible for it" (Skinner, 1953, p. 283).
attention, generalized reinforcer
"When we focus our attention on each other, another role becomes evident: __ is a powerful consequence in itself. Among friends, attention is a __ associated with all sorts of other good things."
behavior, affecting, private
"When we say that __ is a function of the environment, the term "environment" means any event in the universe capable of __ the organism . . .a small part of this universe is __ (Skinner, 1953, p.257).
phantom limb
A __ is an arm or a leg that lingers indefinitely in the minds of patients long after it has been lost.
prediction, control, accessible
According to Skinner, contingencies of reinforcement have an edge over contingencies of survival because contingencies of reinforcement "Have the edge with __ and __ and the conditions under which a species acquires behavior are relatively __ and can often be manipulated".
errors, frequency
Although the process of learning may appear to be trial and error, we must be careful not to assume that non-responses are __. Skinner further ridiculed the term "learning", as it is still an unobservable, incorrect account of what has occurred. Instead, Skinner said, "(when) we make a given consequence contingent upon certain physical properties of behavior", the __ of that behavior will increase (p.64).
covert, taught, improved
Application of a behavioral analysis to other __ behaviors such as discrimination, decision-making, and concept formation not only elucidates process by which these behaviors are learned, it also allows for further investigation into how such behaviors might be __ and __ .
fixed, brain
As Schneider reiterated, __ schedules are rare in the natural environment. This is one explanation as to why mentalistic properties (such as intrinsic motivation) continue to be used by psychologists. Because they cannot "see" the schedules of reinforcement, they often assume that there is some magical entity within the __ responsible for the behaviors that are observed
negative, pleasurable
Avoiding an __ stimulus can be more rewarding than receiving preferred items. We must be careful not to equate our emotions as an accurate account of whether or not a particular behavior will be reinforced. For example, sometimes working to avoid a negative can actually be __.
rules, contingencies
Because __ can usually be learned faster than an individual can contact the contingencies responsible for shaping new behavior, rules have become an important part of social, verbal communities. Commands, directions, instructions, proverbs, laws, customs, and folktales all convey a statement of __ of rules regarding expected behavior and the reinforcement or punishment that may follow certain behaviors.
response
Because we cannot predict a __ that has already occurred, we posit that similar responses in the future will occur. Hence, operant response class was born.
evidence
Being scientifically skeptical means that until there is __ available, assumptions should not be made.
antecedent, high-p, easy, generalized
Fryling et al. established an __ -based intervention for food selectivity using the __ sequence. Benefits of this intervention included that it was __ to implement, that parents were much more comfortable implementing this intervention, and that increased food acceptance __ to other environments.
Hart and Risley (1995)
Hart and Risley (1995) demonstrated that although children from different backgrounds typically develop language around the same age, the rate of vocabulary growth is related to the number of words spoken to the children by their parents. By age four, a child from a welfare-recipient family could have heard 32 million fewer words than a classmate from a professional family.
tension, frequency, private event
Hefferline and Keenan (as cited in Moore, 2015) described a scenario in which rewards were given to participants based on the __ of their thumb muscle. This tension was so miniscule, the movement was not visible by the naked eye. Nonetheless, the __ of this tension increased in participants. This was an example of a __ that the participants were unable to describe what the contingencies were.
impaired,
Henkel says her students' memories were __ because relying on an external memory aid means you subconsciously count on the camera to remember the details for you. Behaviorally, this means that our attention was placed on the camera, instead of the image we were trying to capture
model
Imitative responses necessarily require the learner to orient toward the __ rather than the topographical correspondence of their behavior with respect to the model.
mentalistic, explanatory
In Pavlov's early research, he did not jump to conclusions to suggest that the dog was "thinking" of food, and therefore salivating. Instead, he carefully controlled conditions that allowed him to show that particular stimuli can "acquire" the ability to elicit secretion. His careful analysis of the scientific method allowed him to avoid both __ and __ fictions
bias, evidence, replication
In order to be excellent stewards of science, as behavior analysts, we can follow a few guidelines when gathering and evaluating evidence. This includes reducing __ by ensuring interobserver agreement, examining for actual __ (as opposed to effects that could have produced changes without the intervention), __ and self-correction.
tendency, intrinsic interest, observable
Instead of " __, Skinner proposed that we measure behavior in terms of frequency: "he must be able to execute and repeat a given act, and other behavior must not interfere appreciably" (p.63). With this method, we do not have to assume any level of __ - there are many __ variables in the environment that can be observed to explain an increase or decrease in behavior.
chain, learned
It can be difficult to distinguish between ontogenetic and phylogenic established behaviors. For a person viewing a complex __ for the first time, it may seem mysterious. But each step of the chain can be traced back to the shaping process. Just because the shaping process was not observed, it does not mean that it was not __ . However, when we view a spider spin a web "no comparable history can be invoked" to determine the phylogenic contingencies at work (Skinner, 1966, p.1208).
escape-extinction, respondent conditioning
It has been estimated that typically developing children might need between 10 to 20 presentations of food, while a child on the spectrum may need 50 - 100 presentations (other researchers estimate more!). Unfortunately, a lot of interventions so far have included __ (i.e., the presentation of the food only goes away when they accept a bite). This aversive intervention is a recipe for disaster if you consider food aversion and __ .
free will
It is also widely misunderstood that operant conditioning suggests that organisms cannot control their own behavior due to a lack of __. This is untrue, as once the environment is understood, it can be altered in our favor (Epstein, 1997).
past
Jay Moore stated that we can make introspective statements about our feelings, but "(we make) statements about what caused them to engage in some form of behavior in the __, what is causing them to engage in some form of behavior currently and what is likely to cause them to engage in some form of behavior in the future" (p.54).
effective, increases
Lattal reminded us that " __ reinforcers" is redundant. The very nature of the definition is that if it __ behavior, it is therefore a reinforcer. An "ineffective" reinforcer does not exist.
10, 100
Lindsley (see also Johnston & Pennypacker, 1980) stressed that frequency data was __ to __ times more sensitive to programming changes than percentage correct.
universal datum, dimension
Lindsley reviewed the impression that the rate of response (or - more simply and allowable - frequency) had on him, indicating that it was "much more than Skinner's __ " it was actually "a __ of behavior" (p.254).
the issue, control
Luckily, __ are rarely crucial in the practical __ of human behavior
responses, listener
Meanings of words are actually contingencies that have been shaped by the listener and their __ . The repertoires between the speaker and the listener are different unlike psychological views of "meaning" in which we "impart" our knowledge to the __
genes, environment, cause
Moore (2015) stated " __ predispose an individual's susceptibility to influence from the __ (p. 27). We must be careful not to assert that genes "__ " behavior; rather, they set up the physical basis for the processes and structures that participate in behavior. Behavior still occurs in the context of the environment.
stimulus control
More complex language (sentences, etc.) can simply be explained by __ , as opposed to referent. Referents often mean that every term must have an entity to which it corresponds (Moore, p. 35). This is problematic, as it unleashes a plethora of [mentalistic] explanations. Again, sticking with parsimony, we see that the stimuli in the environment fashion under which circumstances particular verbal behavior will occur.
communication, vocal
Often in the field of behavior analysis, practitioners will call a client "nonverbal". To indicate this would eradicate the possibility of any mode of communication, including gestures, signs, picture exchange communication, etc. __ should be defined by whether or not the behavior of the speaker is reinforced by the listener. A child can ask for "cookie" by vocalizing, signing, gesturing, grabbing, etc. What practitioners usually mean when they say "non-verbal" is "non- __ ", meaning spoken language is not used to communicate.
curricula, science, logarithmic
Precision teaching is a method that adjusts the __ for each learner to maximize learning based on their own celeration chart. Lindsley aimed to put "__ in the hands of students and teachers" and created the standard celeration chart, a __ chart that visually aligns learner goals and progress with fluency (Binder, 1989, p.12).
verbal responses
Private events do come with skepticism - as they should. We mistrust __ to private events because we cannot always establish their truth.
constructive, coercion, instruction
Punishment is a destructive process, rather than a __ process. Punishment becomes an instrument of exploitation and __ rather than education and __
unpunished
Punishment may disrupt many different forms of behavior, including __ forms, and be counterproductive in the long term.
Skinner's, response, change, histories
Recall is another complex behavior addressed in Skinner's writings that has addressed by __ It is incorrect to presume that the __ we eventually emit is somehow "stored" somewhere inside of us. In addition, "the contingencies which affect an organism are not stored by it; they simply __ it" (1974, p. 121). Instead, the response exists in our -[response] and the contingencies exist in our learning __, and we are able to emit the response when we manipulate conditions relevant to it. "
extinction, sooner
Resistance to __ cannot be determined without an accurate account of the reinforcement history. So, responses that were not reinforced for very long will be extinguished __ than those with a longer history of reinforcement.
environment, physiological, conditioned
Respondent conditioning can be responsible for fatalities related to drug use, especially if the drug is ingested in the same __ . When the drug user goes to a regular place to ingest drugs, the body makes __ changes to prepare for the drug. This allows for tolerance because the environment becomes a __ stimulus.
low rates
Schneider also defines differential reinforcement for __ of responding with an excellent example - asking for favors. If one does so infrequently, we may be more inclined to grant the favor. But for the person that is always asking for something, we may find ourselves generating excuses (escape behavior) as to why we cannot assist.
controlling, reasoning
Self-knowledge and self-awareness are two related themes worthy of investigating via a behavior analytic perspective. Self-knowledge is the awareness of one's own behavior as well as the analysis of the __ variables of one's own behavior. This analysis is also considered " __" about one's own behavior
conditioning, stimulus control, novel
Skinner (1953) informed us "Although the process of __ greatly extends the scope of the eliciting stimulus, it does not bring all the behavior of the organism within such __ "(p. 56). Conditioning can add numerous different eliciting stimuli, but it will never fashion a __ response.
inventions, behaving, mind
Skinner (1974) stated, "mental life and the world in which it is lived are __ . Thinking is __.The mistake is in allocating the behavior to the __(p. 115).
private, accessibility
Skinner asserted that __ events only differ from overt events based on their __ . They are not special in structure or nature.
incorrect, perceptual, current, covert, private, public
Skinner discussed many other conditions in which the community can shape responses to - at the risk of being __ at times. These include: probable behavior, __ behavior (where we rely on current events and our senses that allow verification. For example, when you state, "Did you feel that?" referring to an earthquake), past behavior (where we use vocabulary acquired from __ behavior but the speaker must have had the experience of being present in the past. For example, when asked, "Where did you go yesterday?" the person can reply, "I went to the movies"), __ behavior (covert behavior is discussed in depth in Science and Human Behavior, but is essentially describing __ conditions associated with -__ behavior, but not necessarily generated by it. For example the question, "What are you thinking?"), and future behavior (future behavior is another difficult realm, as it could mean a report on a [covert] behavior such as, "I am going to give this to him when I see him",
interoceptive, proprioceptive, exteroceptive
Skinner mentions three different kinds of internal stimuli. __ which are stimuli related to the digestive, respiratory, and circulatory systems. This would include a racing heart or a growling stomach. -__ stimuli, which are identified by the position and movement of the body in space and by the position and movement of parts of the body with respect other parts. Typically, we respond to these stimuli in combination with __ stimuli, which are concerned with seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling in respect to the world around us, but it also helps shape how we discuss and observe our own body.
behavior analysis
Something peculiar occurs when we record or write our language - the entire __ is unavailable. Examining written sentences and linguistic limericks are irrelevant, because they are not reflective of a relevant analysis
variability, environment
The concept of "self" is better considered as a [functionally unified]set of responses. Conceiving of "the self" or "personality" as a set of responses more readily allows for the __ in responding that may result from variability in the __.
introspection
Structuralism relied on __ which looked inward to describe sensations, images, and feelings.
1/5th
The US Office of Technology Assessment estimates that only __ of modern medical treatments in common use have been proved as effective .
emitted, terminal, probable
The essential nature of a problem is that a response exists in some strength but it cannot be emitted. The solution to a problem is a response which alters a situation so that a response can be __ . Problem solving is not emitting the __ response, however, it is the manipulation that occurs that makes that response more __ . Such manipulation can include examining the problem thoroughly, stating the problem in its clearest terms, or trying tentative solutions and examining the results.
debilitating
The evolutionary explanation for reflexes indicates that they are for the survival of the organism. However, we know all too well that sometimes responses can be conditioned that serve no purpose - even add a __ purpose - to our complex lives.
quantitative, concurrent
The matching law is __ relationship between rates of response and the rates of reinforcement in __ schedules.
think
The most substantial origins of our understanding of operant behavior derived from Darwin's controversial idea that humans were not unique in their ability to
verbal response, stimulus, response generalization
The notion of "having an idea" has a similar behavioral analysis: a __exists with some strength in the repertoire of the individual, and is emitted via manipulation of some features of the environment that make the response more likely, in combination with __ and __ that make the response appear novel.
discriminative control
The use of the mirror provides the additional feedback required to receive __ of the model.
law of effect, pleasant, decrease
Thorndike's __ succinctly explained that organisms tend to learn new things when behaviors are followed by __ stimuli and that behaviors tend to __ when followed by negative stimuli.
interval, ratio, reinforcement
Time based schedules are equivalent to __ schedules. You can simply wait around after a behavior and still receive reinforcement. Work based schedules are equivalent to __ schedules. You must work to obtain reinforcement and the faster, harder, and more frequent you work, the more __ that will come your way
repertoire, socially appropriate, spontaneously
Various verbal communities will influence the __ of the speaker. This is not only how we acquire different languages and various dialects, but also what is __. Although the verbal repertoire is shaped by the audience, once established, verbal behavior can occur __ without any environmental support.
functional relationship
We can define purpose behaviorally by suggesting that there is a __ between the behavior and the environment and the consequences can chain together in numerous ways indefinitely. Purpose, is not a mental phenomenon that influences future behavior.
traditional, behavior
We now can understand why behavior analysts disagree with the __ view that mental causes mediate the relationship between the environment and the __.
extinction, punishment, skill acquisition
When reinforcement is no longer present, the behavior undergoes __ . __ reduces future instances of a behavior, but it is never responsible for __
food aversion, saccharin
While exploring __ in mice, Dr. Ader used a substance called cyclophosphamide to induce vomiting. Slowly, he added saccharin to the mixture. After the quantity of saccharin increased, he slowly started to remove the cyclophosphamide. Not only did __ alone induce vomiting, but it surprisingly also caused suppression of the immune system - another side effect of long term usage of cyclophosphamide!
psychophysical parallelism
While some methodological behaviorists accept that there are mental states, they have ruled them completely out of consideration. This is not a new concept and was once referred to as __
parsimony
With __ we look for the simplest explanation possible, not extensive mentalistic explanations.
methodological
behaviorism might be thought of as a psychological version of logical positivism or operationism.