Question | Answer |
systematic application of behavioral principles to change socially significant behavior to a meaningful degree. Research tools enable users of these principles to verify a functional relationship between a behavior and an intervention. | applied behavior analysis |
a statement that communicates a proposed change in behavior. A behavioral objective must include statements concerning the learner, the behavior, the conditions under which the behavior will be performed, and the criteria for evaluation. | behavioral objective |
a stimulus that has acquired a reinforcing function through pairing with an unconditioned or natural reinforcer; includes most social, activity, and generalized reinforcers. | conditioned reinforcer |
behaviors with a clearly discriminable beginning and ending. | discrete behaviors |
denying access to reinforcement by removing a student from an ongoing activity. | exclusionary time-out |
procedures (usually reversal design or multielement design) that test a hypothesized relationship by manipulating the variables thought to occasion or maintain a behavior in order to verify a functional relationship. | functional analysis |
gathering information in order to form a hypothesis as to variables occasioning or maintaining a behavior. May be done by interview, checklist, or direct observation. | functional assessment |
a reinforcer associated with a variety of behaviors or with access to a variety of other primary or secondary reinforcers; may simply be called generalized reinforcer. | generalized conditioned reinforcer |
a behavior that resembles the terminal behavior (the ultimate goal of the intervention) along some significant dimension and that the student is already capable of performing (used with shaping) | initial behavior |
any change in a person's environment that is designed to change that person's behavior. | intervention |
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demonstrating a desired behavior in order to prompt an imitative response. | modeling |
the contingent removal of an aversive stimulus immediately following a response. Negative reinforcement increases the future rate and/or probability of the response. | negative reinforcement |
the delivery of reinforcers at predetermined intervals regardless of student behavior | noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) |
time-out procedure where the student is not removed from the instructional setting in which reinforcers are being dispensed. The teacher denies access to reinforcement andmanipulates the environment tosignal a period of time during which access is denied. | nonseclusionary time-out |
the arragnement of environmental variables to establish a functional relationship between a voluntary behavior and its consequences | operant conditioning |
the contingent presentation of a stimulus immediately following a response, which increases the future rate and/or probability of the response. Written as S^R+ | positive reinforcement |
a consequent stimulus (S^R) that increases or maintains the future rate and/or probability of occurrence of a behavior. | reinforcer |
the process of pairing stimuli so that an unconditioned stimulus elicits a response. Most such responses are reflexive; they are not under voluntary control. | respondent conditioning |
a time-out procedure that removes the student from the instructional setting as the means of denying access to reinforcement. | seclusionary time-out |
teaching new behaviors through differential reinforcement of successive approximations to a specified target behavior. | shaping |
a category of secondary reinforcers that includes facial expressions, proximity, contact, privileges, words, and phrases. | social reinforcers |
making reinforcement gradually available less often or contingent on greater amounts of appropriate behavior. | thinning |
an observational recording system in which an observation period is divided into equal intervals; the target behavior is observed at the end of each interval | time sampling |
a stimulus that results in physical pain or discomfort to an individual (also called universal, natural, or unlearned aversive stimulus). | unconditioned aversive stimulus |