# Behavior Analysis Glossary 258 terms from the Behavior Analysis terms list, alphabetized. Companion to: | Term | Definition | | ----------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Abolishing operation | An event that temporarily decreases the reinforcing or punishing function of other events (value-altering) and changes the frequency of relevant behavior (behavior-altering). | | Adventitious reinforcement | The modification or maintenance of behavior by accidental relations between responses and reinforcers. | | Alternating treatment design | Also known as a multielement design, this within-subject research design is characterized by rapid alternation between two or more variants of the independent variable [Often, when this nomenclature is used, two or more treatments are the variants. Typically, the treatment currently in effect is signaled through the use of distinct stimuli, making the design similar to a multiple schedule.] | | Antecedent | An environmental condition or stimulus change existing prior to a behavior of interest | | Applied behavior analysis | The scientific method, technology, and professional approach to changing behavior that is based on the principles identified by the experimental analysis of behavior and is philosophically grounded in radical behaviorism. [The field was first defined in the seminal article by Baer, Wolf, and Risley in 1968, which outlined seven dimensions of the field. Applied = socially significant behavior. Behavioral = observable behavior. Analytical = functional relationships are demonstrated. Technological = procedures are described clearly and thoroughly. Conceptually systematic = clear links to principles and procedures from the experimental analysis of behavior. Effective = changes behavior. Generality = extends behavior change through time, setting, responses, or organisms.] | | Arbitrary matching | A conditional discrimination procedure in which the choice of a stimulus from a set of comparison stimuli depends on a sample stimulus that has no physical correspondence to the comparison stimuli (e.g., the sample may be defined by its color and the comparisons by their shapes). Cf. "identity matching." | | Automatic reinforcement | Reinforcement of behavior because of the consequences produced by the behavior itself. [For example, the reinforcer for the behavior of humming a tune may be the sound of the tune.] | | Autoshaping | A respondent conditioning procedure that generates skeletal responses. [Example: a pigeon’s response key is lit white for 5s, followed by presentation of food. After several such pairings, the lighted key elicits a key peck.] | | Aversive control | Control of behavior through punishment or negative reinforcement. | | Aversive stimulus | A stimulus whose presentation serves as a positive punisher or whose removal serves as a negative reinforcer. | | Avoidance | Prevention (i.e., postponement or cancellation) of a stimulus by a response. | | Backward chaining | Teaching a behavioral chain by starting with the last response or link then the last two, etc., and progressing until the entire chain occurs as a single complex behavior. [Backward chaining retains the temporal order of the links in the chain (that is, the organism doesn't complete the steps of the chain from the end to the beginning), but rather denotes the order in which the steps are taught.] | | Backward conditioning | Respondent conditioning in which the CS follows, rather than precedes, the US. | | Baseline | Measurement of behavior that serves as a point of comparison for behavior after application of the independent variable. | | Behavior | Anything an organism does. | | Behavior analysis | Breaking complex behavior into its functional parts. | | Behavior chain | A series of two or more responses that occur in a set sequence, and for which each response in the chain serves as the reinforcer for the previous response and the discriminative stimulus for the following response. | | Behavior contract | A mutually agreed upon document between parties that specifies a relation between certain behavior(s) and consequences. | | Behavioral contrast | A change in the rate of one response that occurs when either the rate of a second response or the reinforcement rate of the second response changes in the opposite direction, where the reinforcement rate maintaining the first response remains constant. | | Behavioral momentum | Persistence of behavior usually measured by resistance to a change in environmental conditions. [In applied behavior analysis, the term is also used to describe procedures in which behavior persists when a series of requests for high-probability responses is followed by a request for a low-probability response.] | | Behavioral skills training | A procedure consisting of instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback that is used to teach new behavior. | | Bias (in the context of matching) | Choice of one response over another that cannot be explained by the known rate, amount, or immediacy of reinforcement for the responses. [Example: If the known reinforcement for two responses is identical, preference for one over the other would constitute bias. Comment: One of the free parameters of the Generalized Matching Law provides a measure of bias.] | | Breakpoint | The highest ratio completed on a progressive-ratio (PR) schedule | | Case study | A nonempirical evaluation of a single participant that typically includes a detailed description of the participant and qualitative data in narrative form | | Chained (chain) schedule | A compound schedule in which a reinforcer is produced by successive completion of two or more component schedules, each operating during a different stimulus. Completing the schedule in the first component produces the second component, and so on; completing the terminal component produces the reinforcer. [Cf. "tandem schedule." Component schedules are usually called links.] | | Changing criterion design | An experimental design in which the level of a behavior is changed systematically across successive changes in the criterion for a consequence. The changes in criterion occur gradually and behavior must closely track the criterion to demonstrate experimental control. | | Choice | Emission of one of two or more alternative responses. | | Component analysis | Analysis of a multicomponent procedure to identify which aspects of the procedure are responsible for behavior change. Involves presentation of fewer (or single) aspects of the broader treatment package. | | Compound schedule | A schedule that combines two of more component schedules. | | Compound stimuli | A complex stimulus that consists of simultaneous presentation of two or more stimuli. | | Concept | Generalization within a class of stimuli and discrimination between classes of stimuli. | | Concurrent (conc) schedules | Two of more schedules operating simultaneously, each for a different response. | | Concurrent-chain schedules | A procedure in which initial-link schedules provide the subject with a choice of signaled terminal-link schedules. [see Chain Schedules and Concurrent Schedules] | | Conditional discrimination | A discrimination in which reinforcement of responding during a stimulus depends on (is conditional on) other stimuli. [Example: touching a picture of a truck is reinforced when the instruction is “touch truck” but not when the instruction is “touch tractor”] | | Conditional probability | The probability of one event given another event | | Conditioned (secondary) reinforcer | A stimulus whose reinforcing function derives from some relation with an established reinforcer. | | Conditioned aversive stimulus | A stimulus whose aversive function derives from some relation with an established aversive stimulus. | | Conditioned emotional response | Suppression of operant behavior by the presentation of a stimulus that has been paired with an aversive stimulus. More objectively called "conditioned suppression." | | Conditioned punisher | A stimulus whose punishing function derives from some relation with an established punisher. | | Conditioned reinforcement | Process in which behavior is strengthened by a consequence whose reinforcing function derives from some relation with an established reinforcer. | | Conditioned response (CR) | A response elicited by a stimulus whose eliciting functions result from prior conditioning. | | Conditioned stimulus (CS) | A stimulus that elicits a response as a result of prior conditioning. | | Conditioning | Modification of behavior by stimulus-stimulus contingencies (respondent conditioning) or response-stimulus contingencies (operant conditioning). | | Consequence | A stimulus change that follows a behavior of interest. | | Consummatory response | The behavior occasioned by a reinforcer. [Example: eating a food pellet.] | | Contiguity | The juxtaposition of two or more events when they occur simultaneously or very close together in time. | | Contingency | In the operant case, the conditions under which a response produces a consequence. | | Contingency-governed behavior | Behavior under the control of a three-term contingency. The term is ordinarily used to contrast responding that is directly controlled by environmental contingencies with responding controlled by verbal antecedents (e.g., instructions). [see also rule-governed behavior] | | Continuous measurement | Measurement system that captures each instance of the target behavior during a session. | | Continuous reinforcement schedule (CRF) | Reinforcement of every response qualifying as a member of a descriptive operant class. | | Counterbalancing | In research in which a subject is exposed to two or more conditions, the practice of arranging the conditions in different orders for different subjects, or in different orders in replications of the sequence of conditions within each subject. [Comment: In single-subject research, this is a common design strategy for assessing order effects.] | | Counterconditioning | Respondent contingencies involving a new US are arranged so as to produce new CRs incompatible with those of the original conditioning. [In clinical applications, overcoming through new conditioning the effects of a CS that, by virtue of its relation to an aversive US, has become aversive.] | | Covert behavior | Behavior that is not observable to others. | | Cumulative record | A graph that shows total responses plotted as a function of time. [Originally made by a pen that moves a fixed distance with each response across a paper advancing at a constant speed. Thus, the faster the responding, the steeper the slope. Moment-to-moment changes in slope show the details of changing response rates over time.] | | Delay conditioning | Respondent conditioning in which the CS is presented for some fixed extended time before the US. | | Delay discounting | Decline in the present value of a stimulus with delay to its receipt. The value of a stimulus is greater when it is delivered immediately after a response relative to delivery at increasing delays. | | Delay of reinforcement | The time from a response to a reinforcer. | | Delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) | A conditional discrimination procedure in which the choice of a stimulus from a set of comparison stimuli depends on a sample stimulus that has been presented and removed. | | Dependent variable | What is measured by the investigator to see if changes depend on manipulations of the independent variable. [In behavior analysis, this is usually a dimension of responding.] | | Descriptive assessment | A form of behavioral assessment in which a client is observed in the typical environment without interference or manipulation from the behavior analyst. | | Determinism | The assumption that there is order in the universe, and that this order can be discovered. | | Differential reinforcement | Providing consequences for some classes or forms of behavior that differ from the consequences provided for other classes or forms. [Most commonly, the consequences differ because reinforcers are provided for some forms of behavior while other forms are extinguished or punished.] | | Direct measurement | Measurement practices in which the events measured are the same as those about which conclusions will be drawn. [Cf. indirect measurement] | | Direct replication | Repetition of an experimental method exactly as it was originally designed and executed. | | Discontinuous measurement | Measurement that occurs only at designated times or that captures binary data on the presence or absence of behavior across time, such as partial-interval recording, whole-interval recording, and momentary time sampling. [Discontinuous measurement systems may over- or underestimate actual frequency or duration of behavior.] | | Discrete-trial procedure | A procedure in which the opportunity to respond is restricted to isolated segments (trials) of the session. [Cf. free-operant procedure] | | Discriminated avoidance | Prevention (i.e., postponement or cancellation) of an aversive stimulus by a response in the presence of a discriminative stimulus that precedes the aversive stimulus. | | Discrimination | Difference in responding in the presence of different stimuli. | | Discriminative stimulus | Any stimulus with a discriminative function; according to an older usage, a stimulus correlated with reinforcement when another is correlated with extinction | | DRA | Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior. A procedure to reduce a target behavior by arranging more favorable reinforcement contingencies for a specific alternative response. | | DRH | Differential reinforcement of high-rate responding. [Example: reinforcing short interresponse times] | | DRL | Differential reinforcement of low-rate responding. [Example: reinforcing long interresponse times] | | DRO | Differential reinforcement of other behavior. A procedure to reduce a target behavior by delivering reinforcers following a period of time in the absence of the target response. | | Duration recording | A method of continuous data collection in which the amount of time a behavior occurs is measured over an observational period. [Typically reported as a raw unit (in minutes or seconds) or as a percentage of the observation time.] | | Echoic | An elementary verbal operant evoked by a vocal discriminative stimulus that has point-to-point correspondence and formal similarity with the stimulus. [Example: parent says “cat” and child repeats the word “cat”] | | Elicitation | Reliable production of a response by a stimulus in unconditioned or conditioned reflexes. | | Empiricism | The objective observation of the phenomena of interest, free from individual judgement, opinions, and taste. | | Equivalence class | A stimulus class that includes the emergent relations of reflexivity, symmetry, and transitivity among its members. | | Errorless discrimination | A discrimination between a positive and a negative discriminative stimulus that was established with few responses in the presence of the negative discriminative stimulus. | | Escape | Termination of a stimulus by a response. [Example: A listener escapes loud music by turning off the MP3 player.] | | Establishing operation | An event that temporarily increases the reinforcing or punishing function of other events (value-altering) and changes the frequency of relevant behavior (behavior-altering). | | Event recording | A method of continuous data collection in which the number of instances of a response are counted over an observational period. [Typically reported as count or count divided by time (rate or frequency). Also known as frequency recording.] | | Experimental analysis of behavior | Scientific discipline that focuses on the study of behavior in its own right, seeks the causes of behavior in the environment, and relies on experimental methods to discover and describe environment-behavior interactions. | | External validity | Generality of experimental outcomes across populations, settings, times, or variables. | | Exteroceptive stimulus | A stimulus occurring outside of the organism's skin. | | Extinction (EXT) in operant conditioning | (a) Procedure in which a response-reinforcer relation is discontinued. (b) Process in which behavior is weakened by discontinuing a response-reinforcer relation. | | Extinction (EXT) in respondent conditioning | (a) Procedure in which a CS-US contingency is discontinued. (b) Process in which behavior is changed by the discontinuation of a CS-US contingency, expressed in terms of the reduced strength of the CR or the reduced eliciting function of the CS. | | Extinction burst | A temporary increase in the rate, duration, or intensity of a response following the discontinuation of a response-reinforcer relation (extinction). | | Fading | Transferring stimulus control from one stimulus to another by gradually removing one and introducing the other one. | | First-order conditioning | Respondent conditioning procedures in which a neutral stimulus is related to a US. [Cf. higher-order conditioning] | | Fixed-interval (FI) schedule | A schedule in which some minimum time must elapse before a response is reinforced, and the time requirement is the same across intervals. | | Fixed-ratio (FR) schedule | A schedule in which the last of a specified number of responses is reinforced, and the number is constant across reinforcers. | | Fluency | Characteristic of responding that occurs rapidly and with little effort. [Fluent responding may be more likely to generalize and maintain over time relative to dysfluent responses.] | | Forced choice | A trial in which only one alternative is available, imbedded in a procedure involving choices between two or more alternatives. | | Forward chaining | Teaching a behavioral chain by starting with the first response or link then the first two, etc., and progressing until the entire chain occurs as a single complex behavior. | | Free-operant procedure | A procedure in which behavior can be emitted throughout a session, unconstrained by dividing the session into discrete trials. [Cf. discrete-trial procedure] | | Function-based intervention | In applied behavior analysis, an intervention procedure that is based on the function of the problem behavior. [Typically, provides the reinforcer previously maintaining the problem behavior dependent on a more appropriate response or independently of responding, but could also include modifications to the environment that otherwise reduce the establishing operation for the response/reinforcer.] | | Functional analysis | An analysis in terms of behavioral functions (effects of responses); alternatively, an analysis in terms of functional relations. [In applied behavior analysis, the term often refers a specific set of procedures designed to identify the reinforcers that maintain problem behavior.] | | Functional approach | Analysis of behavior based on the aspects of the environment that evoke or maintain the behavior. [Cf. structural approach] | | Functional class | A class in which members have common behavioral functions, either produced by similar histories or acquired through emergent relations. [If two stimuli are members of a functional class, then the behavior occasioned by one will also be occasioned by the other; such stimuli are functionally equivalent.] | | Functional communication training (FCT) | A variant on differential reinforcement of alternative behavior designed as an intervention for challenging behavior. The alternative response is a form of communication (e.g., vocal requests, sign language) and the consequence is in the same class as the one that maintains challenging behavior. [A well-established intervention for the challenging behavior displayed by individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities, including autism.] | | Functional relation | A lawful relation between variables. [In behavior analysis, this typically refers to systematic changes in behavior as the environment changes.] | | Generalization | Similar responding in the presence of different stimuli. | | Generalization gradient | A graph relating behavior to variations in a stimulus dimension. [Often, a graphed gradient obtained after reinforcement correlated with a single stimulus, when no discrimination has been trained between this and other stimuli along the continuum of the gradient.] | | Generalized reinforcer | A conditioned reinforcer based on several established reinforcers. [It is more likely to remain effective across different motivational or establishing operations than a conditional reinforcer based on just one reinforcer. Money is often offered as an example of a generalized reinforcer of human behavior.] | | Habituation | Learning process in which the strength of the response elicited by a stimulus decreases as a function of repeated presentations of, or continuous exposure to, the stimulus. | | Higher-order conditioning | Respondent conditioning procedures in which a neutral stimulus is related to a previously established CS. [Cf. first-order conditioning.] | | Higher-order schedule | A schedule that reinforces a complex operant consisting of completion of a schedule requirement. [For example, with FR 10 reinforced according to an FI schedule, every tenth response that occurs at least 50 s after the last reinforcer will be reinforced. In this example, FR 10 is the first-order schedule and FI 50-s the second-order schedule. Such schedules often include a stimulus presented upon each completion of the first-order schedule, (e.g. adding a brief flash of light after every tenth response to the above example).] | | Hypothetical construct | A conjectured entity, process, or event that is not observed directly but is assumed to explain an observable phenomenon. It is not merely a summary of the relations among observable variables but contains surplus meaning over and above such relationships. [Example: language acquisition device. Historically, genes and neurons were hypothetical constructs. Cf. intervening variable] | | Identity matching | A conditional discrimination procedure in which the choice of a stimulus from a set of comparison stimuli depends on a sample stimulus that is physically the same as the comparison stimuli [Example: if the sample is a red ball, the correct comparison is a red ball. Cf. arbitrary matching] | | Imitation | Behavior that duplicates some properties of the behavior of a model. | | Impulsive choice (in the context of reinforcement) | Choosing a smaller, sooner outcome over a larger, later outcome. | | Independent variable | Variable manipulated by the investigator to determine effects on the dependent variable. [In behavior analysis, the independent variable is normally an aspect of the environment.] | | Indirect measurement | Measurement of behavior based on data other than direct observation of the behavior, such as artifacts of the behavior or reports about that behavior (interviews, checklists, or surveys). | | Induction | The spread of effects of reinforcement to responses outside the limits of the reinforced operant class. | | Inhibition | A process inferred from a response decrement. [For example, if reinforcing one response reduces the rate of another, the reinforcement may be said to inhibit the second response.] | | Intermittent reinforcement | A general term referring to schedules in which some, but not all, instances of a response are reinforced. | | Internal validity | Attribute of experiments designed and executed so that clear inferences can be drawn about the causal relation between the independent and dependent variables. | | Interobserver agreement | A method for establishing that human-transduced data are believable by comparing the records of two independent observers. An interobserver agreement coefficient is calculated by mathematically comparing the records of the observers. [There are several methods of calculating interobserver agreement, with the best method depending on the type of recording system and distribution/rate of obtained data. The standard in applied behavior analysis is to obtain interobserver agreement for at least 25-33% of sessions, and for agreement coefficients to be at least 80%.] | | Interoceptive stimulus | A stimulus inside the organism. | | Interreinforcement interval (IRI) | The time between two reinforcers. | | Interresponse time (IRT) | The time between two responses. | | Intertrial interval (ITI) | A period of time between two trials during which experimental contingencies are not in effect. | | Interval recording | Method of discontinuous data collection in which the observer makes a binary (yes-no) distinction about the occurrence of a behavior during a period of time. [Typically, a larger observation time is separated into smaller bins, and data are collected about whether behavior occurred in each bin. Interval records yield the percentage of intervals containing behavior, rather than response rates or durations. Three common methods include partial-interval recording, whole-interval recording, and momentary time sampling. In partial-interval recording (PIR), observers record behavior as occurring if one or more instances of behavior occur during the interval. In whole-interval recording (WIR), observers record behavior as occurring only if the duration of the response spans the entire interval. In momentary time sampling (MTS), observers record behavior as occurring only if it occurs at specified moments, typically at the end of each interval.] | | Interval schedule | Procedure in which presentation of a consequence depends on the emission of the response after some period of time has elapsed. | | Intervening variable | A variable whose value is determined by its relation to observable variables; it serves as a summary of the relations among observable variables without implying the existence of unobserved entities. [Example: hunger; Cf. hypothetical construct] | | Intraverbal | An elementary verbal operant that is evoked by a verbal discriminative stimulus and does not have point-to-point correspondence with that verbal stimulus. | | Intrinsic reinforcer | A reinforcer that is naturally related to the responses that produce it. | | Latency | The time from an event, usually a stimulus onset, to a response. | | Law of effect | Thorndike's classic statement about the effect of consequences on behavior: behavior followed by satisfying consequences is likely to be repeated, and behavior followed by annoying consequences is likely to be stopped. | | Learned helplessness | Disruption in the acquisition of escape or avoidance produced by a history in which responding during aversive stimuli has had no consequences. | | Learning | Process by which relatively permanent changes are made in an organism's behavioral repertoire. | | Limited hold | Termination of reinforcer availability if the response to be reinforced does not occur soon enough after the onset of availability. | | Mand | An elementary verbal operant that is evoked by a particular establishing operation and followed by a specific reinforcer. | | Matching | In conditions with concurrent schedules of reinforcement, changes in the ratio of responding across the alternative schedules (“response ratio”) are perfectly proportional to changes in the ratio of reinforcement across the alternatives (“reinforcer ratio”). [In the generalized matching law, matching is expressed by a sensitivity parameter = 1.] | | Matching law | In conditions with concurrent schedules, a quantitative formulation that relates changes in the ratio of responding across the alternative schedules (“response ratio”) to changes in the ratio of reinforcement across the schedules (“reinforcer ratio”). [The generalized version of the matching law includes parameters that measure sensitivity of the response ratio to the reinforcer ratio and bias towards one of the alternatives. See also sensitivity and bias.] | | Matching-to-sample (MTS) | (a) A conditional-discrimination procedure in which a sample stimulus is followed by two or more comparison stimuli and selecting the matching stimulus is reinforced. (b) The performance maintained by this procedure. | | Maximizing | Given two or more responses, emitting the one with the higher probability of reinforcement over the long term. | | Mentalism | An approach that attributes the cause of behavior to the mind or other inner dimensions. | | Methodological behaviorism | Position that psychology should restrict its attention to overt behavior that can be measured directly. | | Mixed (mix) schedule | A compound schedule in which two or more component schedules alternate, with all components accompanied by the same stimulus. [Cf. multiple (mult) schedule] | | Modeling | Procedure in which behavior is emitted so that an observer may imitate it. | | Molar analysis | Analysis of behavior characterized by reliance on long-term measures such as response rates averaged over sessions. | | Molecular analysis | Analysis of behavior characterized by reliance on short-term measures such as interresponse times. | | Momentary maximizing | Given two or more responses, emitting the one with the higher probability of reinforcement in the short term. | | Momentary time sampling | A method of discontinuous data collection in which the observational period is divided into intervals and the target behavior is recorded if it is occurring during the moment at the end of each interval. | | Motivating operation | An event that temporarily alters the reinforcing or punishing effectiveness of other events (value-altering effect) and alters the frequency of relevant behavior (behavior-altering effect). | | Multiple (mult) schedule | A compound schedule in which two or more component schedules alternate, each correlated with a distinctive stimulus. | | Multiple-baseline design | Experimental design in which an intervention is imposed on two or more independent baselines, with the intervention imposed after staggered periods of time. [The baselines can be generated by studying different organisms (multiple baseline across subjects), by studying different behaviors within the same organism (multiple baseline across behaviors), or by studying a single organism's behavior in different settings (multiple baseline across settings).] | | Natural selection | Process in which populations change over time because organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring than lesser adapted organisms. | | Negative punishment | Operation or procedure in which the likelihood of a response is reduced by the response-contingent removal or reduction of a stimulus. | | Negative reinforcement | Operation or procedure in which the likelihood of a response is increased by the response-contingent removal or reduction of a stimulus. | | Observational learning | Modification of behavior based on observation of another organism's behavior and/or its consequences. | | Observing response | A response that produces or clarifies a discriminative stimulus. | | One-factor theory | A theory stating that avoidance is negatively reinforced by overall reductions in the frequency of an aversive event. | | Ontogeny | The developmental or life history of an individual organism. [Cf. phylogeny] | | Operant | When used as a noun, a class of behavior that can be modified by its consequences. | | Operant conditioning | Modification of behavior by its consequences. | | Operant level | The rate at which responses occur before they have been reinforced. [Operant levels are often used as a baseline.] | | Operational definition | Specification of a variable in terms of the procedures involved in arranging it (in the case of an independent variable) or measuring it (in the case of a dependent variable). | | Orienting response | A response that allows an organism to attend to a discriminative stimulus. | | Overcorrection | A contingency for inappropriate behavior requiring the individual to engage in an effortful response that more than corrects the effects of the inappropriate behavior. | | Overmatching | In conditions with concurrent schedules of reinforcement, changes in the ratio of responding across the alternative schedules (“response ratio”) are disproportionately greater than changes in the ratio of reinforcement across the alternatives (“reinforcer ratio”). [In the generalized matching law, overmatching is expressed by a sensitivity parameter greater than 1.] | | Overshadowing | Respondent conditioning process in which acquisition of associative value by a conditioned stimulus is weakened by the presence of another stimulus. | | Parsimony | Principle of scientific explanation that favors the simplest explanation that fits the evidence. | | Partial-interval recording | A method of data collection in which the observational period is divided into intervals and the target behavior is recorded if it occurs at any point during each interval. [Observers score a "yes" if behavior occurs at any point during the interval and a "no" if behavior does not occur at all during the interval. Overestimates behavior.] | | Partial-reinforcement effect | The empirical finding that a response has greater resistance to extinction if it was established with a procedure in which some instances of the response were reinforced (“partial reinforcement”) compared to a response established with a procedure in which all instances were reinforced (“continuous reinforcement”). | | Peak procedure | Omitting some proportion of the reinforcers arranged by a fixed-interval schedule and thereby allow responding to continue for some time after the usual end of the interval. [In the omission trials, the point at which response rate reaches its peak provides information about temporal control by the schedule.] | | Permanent-product recording | A recording method in which durable products of a behavior are measured. | | Phylogeny | Development or evolutionary history of a species. [Cf. ontogeny] | | Positive punishment | Operation or procedure in which the likelihood of a response is reduced by the response-contingent presentation of a stimulus. | | Positive reinforcement | Operation or procedure in which the likelihood of a response is increased by the response-contingent presentation of a stimulus. | | Postreinforcement pause | A period of no responding following a reinforcer delivery, especially in fixed-ratio and fixed-interval schedules. | | Preference assessment | A procedure to determine the relative value of items or activities based on an individual’s selections. | | Premack Principle | Using a more probable response to reinforce a less probable response. | | Private event | Stimulus events or behavior that take place within the organism's skin and are not accessible to others. | | Probe | A condition or stimulus briefly introduced into an ongoing experimental phase. | | Progressive-ratio (PR) schedule | A schedule in which the number of responses required for reinforcement is increased after each reinforcer. | | Prompt | A supplemental stimulus that increases the probability of a particular response. | | Prompt delay | A procedure in which discriminative stimulus for a response is presented and then, after a specific interval of time without the response, a prompt for the response is presented. | | Prompt fading | A procedure in which a prompt for a response is gradually withdrawn across trials, so that the response comes under the control of a discriminative stimulus. | | Proprioceptive stimulus | An interoceptive stimulus produced by the effects of movements and postures on receptors in muscles, tendons, or joints. | | Punisher | A stimulus or event that reduces the likelihood of the response that precedes it. | | Punishment | Process in which the likelihood of a response is reduced by its consequences. | | Radical behaviorism | Position emphasizing: (a) behavior as an object of study in its own right, and (b) the search for causes of behavior in the environment of either the individual organism or the species. | | Random-interval (RI) schedule | A schedule in which some minimum time must elapse before a response is reinforced, and the time requirement varies across intervals on a probabilistic basis. [Example: To arrange an RI 10-s schedule, a reinforcer is made available with p =.1 every 1 s.] | | Random-ratio (RR) schedule | A schedule in which each response has an equal probability of being reinforced. [Example: To arrange an RR-25 schedule, each response would have .04 probability of being reinforced so that an average of 25 responses are required per reinforcer.] | | Rate | Count per unit time. | | Ratio strain | Disruption in responding when the requirements of a ratio schedule are high or are raised abruptly. | | Reinforcement | Process in which the likelihood of a response is increased by its consequences. | | Reinforcer | A stimulus or event that increases the likelihood of the response that precedes it. | | Reinforcer assessment | Experimental procedure in which a stimulus hypothesized to function as a reinforcer is presented dependent on a response (usually an arbitrary response like switch closures) to determine the extent to which the stimulus functions as a reinforcer. | | Reinstatement | The recurrence of a previously extinguished response when the reinforcer that previously maintained the response is delivered independently of responding. | | Renewal | The transient reemergence of a previously reduced response following a change in context. | | Replication | Repetition of an experimental method. | | Resistance to change | Persistence of an operant response under new environmental conditions that would tend to reduce the likelihood of the response, as in resistance to extinction. | | Respondent | A class of responses defined in terms of stimuli that reliably produce them. | | Respondent conditioning | The modification of respondent behavior by stimulus-stimulus contingencies, so that a previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response. [Also called Pavlovian conditioning or classical conditioning.] | | Respondent discrimination | Conditioned response that occurs to one stimulus but not others. | | Response | An instance of behavior. | | Response cost | A procedure designed as negative punishment in which a reinforcer is removed following responding according to a schedule. | | Response deprivation | A procedure in which a response is restricted below its baseline or operant levels. [The response-deprivation hypothesis states that access to a restricted response can function as a reinforcer for another response.] | | Resurgence | The transient reemergence of a previously reduced response following a worsening of reinforcement conditions for an alternative response. | | Reversal design | A research design in which experimental conditions are replicated across phases. [Typically involves at least an experimental and control condition in which one or both conditions are repeated at least once.] | | Rule-governed behavior | Behavior controlled by verbal stimulus such as rules or instructions, as opposed to behavior directly controlled by its consequences. | | Running rate | The rate of responding calculated over a period that excludes some time in which the response could have occurred but did not. [The term commonly is applied to the period of responding that follows a postreinforcement pause.] | | Satiation | A type of abolishing operation in which prior exposure to the event reduces the extent to which the event functions as a reinforcer and reduces behavior associated with the event. | | Say-do correspondence | The extent to which behavior aligns with the subject’s previous, usually verbal, behavior. [With humans, the previous behavior is typically a verbal report of what the person plans to do.] | | Schedule | A specification of the criteria by which responses produce consequences. | | Self-control choice (in the context of reinforcement) | Choosing a larger, later outcome over a smaller, sooner outcome. | | Self-management | Procedure in which an individual modifies the environment to change their own behavior. | | Sensitivity (in the context of matching) | In conditions with concurrent schedules of reinforcement, the degree to which changes in the response ratio [ratio of responding across the alternative schedules] track changes in the reinforcer ratio [ratio of reinforcement across the alternatives]. [See also Matching, Overmatching, and Undermatching.] | | Sensitization | Learning process in which (a) the strength of the response elicited by a stimulus increases as a function of repeated presentations of the stimulus, or (b) the intensity of a stimulus required to elicit a response decreases as a function of repeated presentations of the stimulus. | | Shaping | Procedure in which successive approximations of a target response are differentially reinforced, such that each successive approximation more closely resembles the target. | | Simultaneous conditioning | A respondent conditioning procedure in which the CS and US are presented at the same time. | | Single-subject research designs | Experimental designs characterized by repeated measurements of an individual’s behavior, comparisons across experimental conditions imposed on that individual, and assessment of the reliability of the measurements within and across the conditions. | | Social validity | In the context of applied behavior analysis, the measurement of the extent to which stakeholders find the goals, procedures, and outcomes of behavior change to be acceptable. | | Species-specific behavior | Behavior observed in all or most members of a species. [This behavior may occur in only one or of both sexes, and perhaps only over limited times in each organism’s life. Different usages may include: emitted behavior before its selection by consequences; unconditioned respondent behavior; and, in fairly consistent environments, stereotyped operant behavior maintained by species-specific primary reinforcers or conditioned reflexes that depend on species-specific unconditioned reflexes.] | | Spontaneous recovery | The reemergence of a previously extinguished response following some period of time away from the extinction context, and in the absence of reinforcement. | | Stability criterion | A rule for deciding whether a response is in a steady state. [Most stability criteria define a steady-state in terms of the kind and amount of behavioral variation that is acceptable over a series of observations.] | | State-dependent learning | Learning that is most likely to be demonstrated when the learner is in the same context as during the original learning. [The term is often reserved for learning under specific physiological conditions such as drug states. For example, the learner who learned an item while drunk is more likely to remember it when drunk again than when sober.] | | Steady state | A state in which an environment-behavior relation reaches equilibrium. [In steady state, the behavior under study is similar from one session to the next.] | | Stereotyped response | A response with properties (especially topography) that are relatively invariant over successive occurrences. | | Stimulus control | Control by a stimulus over behavior that results from response-consequence relations experienced in the presence of the stimulus. | | Stimulus discrimination | A difference in responding resulting from differential consequences of responding in the presence of different stimuli. | | Stimulus equivalence | A situation in which an individual learns to respond to all stimuli in a category as if they are interchangeable, even though the individual has been taught only a few (and not all) relations between the stimuli. | | Stimulus fading | Gradually changing some aspect of a stimulus until a new stimulus continues to evoke the response. | | Stimulus generalization | The spread of the effects of reinforcement, or other operations such as extinction or punishment, during one stimulus to other stimuli differing from the original stimulus along one or more dimensions. [To the extent that responding is similar during two different stimuli, behavior is said to generalize between them; the stimuli are said to be generalized. If responding is identical during different stimuli, generalization between them is said to be complete; this outcome may also be described as the absence of discrimination.] | | Stimulus/stimuli | Any physical event. | | Structural approach | Categorization of behavior based on the form of the behavior. [Cf. functional approach] | | Successive approximation | In shaping, any response that is closer to the terminal behavior along a particular dimension, including variations of topography. | | Superstition | Behavior modified or maintained by accidental (also adventitious, incidental or spurious) relations between responses and reinforcers, as opposed to those either explicitly or implicitly arranged [Cf. contingency. The term has lost popularity with accumulating data demonstrating that behavior is not ordinarily maintained by response-independent reinforcers.] | | Systematic replication | Repetition of an experimental method under circumstances that differ from the original experiment. [For example, conditions might be imposed in a different order; the range of an independent variable might be extended, or the kind of organism might be changed.] | | Tact | An elementary verbal operant under the control of nonverbal antecedents and generalized conditioned reinforcement. | | Tandem (tand) schedule | A compound schedule in which reinforcers are produced by successive completions of two or more component schedules, each operating in the presence of the same stimulus. Completing the schedule in the first component produces the second component, and so on; completing the terminal component produces the reinforcer. [Cf. chained schedule. Component schedules are usually called links.] | | Task analysis | Identification of the discriminative stimulus and response for each component of a behavior chain. | | Three-term contingency | A model for analyzing operant behavior that considers (1) the stimulus conditions in which a response-consequence relation is operating, (2) the response itself, and (3) the consequence of the response and its relation to the response. [A common example is SD · R -> SR+ where SD = the stimulus conditions, R = the response, SR+ = a positive reinforcer, and -> = the relation between the response and the positive reinforcer.] | | Time-based schedule | Schedule of stimulus delivery in which the deliveries are based on the passage of time independently of responding. [A fixed-time (FT) schedule delivers the stimuli after fixed periods; e.g., an FT 30-s food schedule would deliver food every 30 s. A variable-time (VT) schedule delivers the stimuli after periods that vary across deliveries; e.g., a VT 30-s food schedule would deliver food after variable periods with a mean of 30 s. Cf. fixed-interval (FI) schedule, variable-interval (VI) schedule] | | Timeout | A period during which a behavioral contingency is suspended. [Without qualifications, "timeout" usually refers to a period of nonreinforcement arranged either by extinction during a stimulus or by removal of an opportunity to respond - in other words, "timeout from positive reinforcement."] | | Token economy | A treatment package in which responding produces tokens, which may be exchanged for access to established reinforcers at a later time. | | Topography of response | The physical form of behavior. | | Trace conditioning | A respondent conditioning procedure in which the US is presented some fixed time after the CS has been presented and removed. | | Transition state | Behavior that is changing from one steady-state to another. | | Treatment integrity | The extent to which procedures are implemented as designed. [Also called treatment fidelity or procedural fidelity.] | | Trend | Systematic variation over a series of observations. | | Two-factor theory | A theory stating that avoidance is negatively reinforced by termination of conditioned aversive stimuli established through respondent conditioning. | | Unconditioned punisher | A stimulus whose punishing function does not depend on a relation to another punisher. [Same as "primary punisher."] | | Unconditioned reinforcer | A stimulus whose reinforcing function does not depend on a relation to another reinforcer. [Same as "primary reinforcer."] | | Unconditioned response (UR) | Movement of lips, tongue, etc. that modulates air flow and produces sound. | | Unconditioned stimulus (US) | A stimulus that elicits a response without prior conditioning. | | Undermatching | In conditions with concurrent schedules of reinforcement, changes in the ratio of responding across the alternative schedules (“response ratio”) are disproportionately lower than changes in the ratio of reinforcement across the alternatives (“reinforcer ratio”). [In the generalized matching law, undermatching is expressed by a sensitivity parameter < 1.] | | Variable-interval (VI) schedule | A schedule in which some minimum time must elapse before a response is reinforced, and time requirement varies across intervals. [A VI schedule is identified in terms of the mean interval.] | | Variable-ratio(VR) schedule | A schedule in which the last of a specified number of responses is reinforced, and the number varies across reinforcers. [A VR schedule is identified in terms of the mean response requirement.] | | Verbal behavior | Behavior reinforced through the mediation of other organisms [who] must be responding in ways which have been conditioned precisely in order to reinforce the behavior of the speaker. | | Visual inspection | A systematic approach for interpreting behavioral data that entails inspection of graphed data for variability, level, and trend within and between experimental conditions. | | Vocal behavior | Movement of lips, tongue, etc. that modulates air flow and produces sound. | | Whole-interval recording | A method of data collection in which the observational period is divided into intervals and the target behavior is recorded if it occurs for the full duration of a given interval. [Observers score a "yes" if behavior occurs throughout the entire interval and a "no" if behavior occurs intermittently or not at all during the interval. Underestimates behavior.] | | Yoking | Procedure in which the behavior and behavioral consequences of one organism (the “master” subject) determine some aspect of the behavior-consequence relations arranged for another organism (the “yoked” subject). [For example, with a Yoked VI-VR arrangement, a master subject responds on a VI schedule of reinforcement. The number of responses the master subject emits in each interval then determines the response requirements of a VR schedule arranged for the yoked subject. In this way, the response-reinforcer ratios are identical for both subjects even though the controlling schedules (interval vs ratio) differ. The yoked subject and master subject can be the same organism at different points in time.] |