Aba Whitebook Ch. 1

Front 1

applied behavior analysis (ABA)

Back 1

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.

Front 2

Behaviorism

Back 2

The philosophy of a science of behavior; there are various forms of behaviorism. (See methodological behaviorism, radical behaviorism)

Front 3

Determinism

Back 3

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

Front 4

Empiricism

Back 4

The objective observation of the phenomena of interest; objective observations are "independent of the individual prejudices, tastes, and private opinions of the scientist...Results of empirical methods are objective in that they are open to anyone's observation and do not depend on the subjective belief of the individual scientist"

Front 5

Experiment

Back 5

A carefully controlled comparison of some measure of the phenomena of interst (the DV) under 2 or more different conditions in which only one factor at a time (the IV) differs from one condition to another

Front 6

Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB)

Back 6

A natural science approach to the study of behavior as a subject matter in its own right, founded by B.F. Skinner; methodological features include rate of response as a basic DV, repeated or continuous measurement of clearly defined response classes, within subject experimental comparisons instead of group design, visual analysis of graphed data instead of statistical inference, and an emphasis on describing functional relations between behavior and controlling variables in the environment over formal theory testing

Front 7

Explanatory fiction

Back 7

A fictitious or hyptothetical 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" as explanations for why an organism pushes the lever when the light is on and food is available, but does not push the lever when the light is off and no food is available

Front 8

Functional relation

Back 8

A verbal statement summarizing the results of an experiment (or group of related experiments)that describes the occurrence of the phenomena under study as a function of the operation of one or more specified and controlled variables in the experiment in which a specific change in one event (the DV) can be produced by manipulating the other event (the IV), and that the change in the DV was unlikely the result of other factors (confounding variables)

Front 9

Hypothetical construct

Back 9

A presumed but unobserved process or entity (e.g., Freud's id, ego, and superego)

Front 10

Mentalism

Back 10

An approach to explaining behavior that assumes that a mental, or "inner," dimension exists that differs from a behavioral dimension and that the phenomena in this dimension either directly cause or at least mediate some forms of the behavior, if not all

Front 11

Methodological behaviorism

Back 11

A philosophical position that views behavioral events that cannot be publicly observed as outside the realm of science

Front 12

Parsimony

Back 12

The practice of ruling out simple, logical explanations, experimentally or conceptually, before considering more complex or abstract explanations

Front 13

Philosophic doubt

Back 13

An attitude that the truthfulness and validity of all scientific theory and knowledge should be continually questioned

Front 14

Radical behaviorism

Back 14

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)

Front 15

Replication

Back 15

(a) Repeating conditions within an experiment to determine the reliability of effects and increase internal validity
(b) Repeating whole experiments to determine the generality of findings of previous experiments to other subjects, settings, and/or behaviors

Front 16

Science

Back 16

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