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ABA Final Exam

Terms in this set (58)

List the 3 dimensions of behavior that can be directly measured
-Temporal Extent
-Temporal Locus
-Repeatability
Provide an example of a stimulus that might be a conditioned reinforcer.
Smartphone / tablet
What has to exist in the current environment for negative reinforcement to be possible?
Establishing Operation
Provide an example of discriminative avoidance.
When a dog is presented with a tone (which usually follows a shock) the dog will press a button on the floor (that has been previously reinforcing by removing the tone).
Describe how a stimulus change may function as a punisher for the behavior of one individual and as a reinforcer for the behavior of another? How is this related to the definitions of punishment and reinforcement?
Recognize some stimuli for some people will reinforce some behaviors, and for others it will serve as a punisher: talk about watching golf. (many people would stop doing the behavior that triggers golf watching, some would increase the behavior to watch more golf)

or

A single stimulus can serve as a punisher for one individual and a reinforcer for another individual. For example, verbal praise may reinforce the behavior of one individual (increasing the likelihood that it occurs in the future) and punish another individual's behavior (decreasing the likelihood that it occurs in the future).
Why would you use a duration per occurrence measurement procedure prior to setting up a whole interval recording system? What could happen if you didn't do this?
The duration per occurrence procedure measures the amount of time that each instance of the target behavior occurs. This measure can be used to evaluate the intervention effects.
It is a good idea to measure duration per occurrence because it provides us with very useful information regarding the rate of occurrence and duration of the behavior.
If we do not measure the duration per occurrence of a behavior, we would not know if the behavior is ongoing and how long to make our intervals when collecting data.

Additionally, if your intervals are too long, the behavior would never be captured in the whole interval recording system.
How are punishment (primarily positive punishment) and negative reinforcement related
Positive punishment and negative reinforcement can be inversely related. For instance, when the addition of yelling from a parent decreases the frequency of a child's out of seat behavior (positive punishment), the frequency of the parent's yelling may increase due to the elimination of the child's out of seat behavior (negative reinforcement)
Concurrent schedules
(1pt)Describe the matching law in relation to concurrent schedules.
(1pt)Provide an example of concurrent schedules in practice.
(1pt)Why are concurrent schedules important for changing anti-social behavior?
1). Matching law is the allocation of responses to choices on a concurrent schedule of reinforcement

2). Concurrent schedules of reinforcement occur when 2 or more contingencies of reinforcement occur simultaneously. One example of this is when a pigeon in a Skinner box pecs 2 keys. One key is reinforced with the presentation of water, and the other key is reinforced with the presentation of food.

3). Concurrent schedules generate more reinforcement for social behaviors because of the increased reinforcement contingencies in place. These reinforcement procedures could provide more reinforcement than the natural contingencies maintaining the antisocial behaviors.
Suppose you are working with Sammy who can be a sweet 10 year old kid but can also engage in a wide range of anti-social behaviors. You need to identify some useful reinforcers for Sammy. You decide to use some different types of candy.
(1pt) Operationalize how you would use a multiple stimulus without replacement procedure to rank order the different candies? Your instructions should be clear enough that your un-trained para-pro could follow them.
(2pts)Have you identified reinforcers or have you identified a hierarchy of preferred stimuli? Explain.
1). At the start of each session, multiple stimuli (Twix, skittle, starburst, M&M, Hershey's, Gummy) are placed in front of sammy, who can select one. Sammy's responses is then recorded. The selected item is not replaced, and the positions of the remaining items continue in this manner until all items have been selected or Sammy stops selecting items. Preferences hierarchies are established by calculating the percentage of approach responses per stimulus across all sessions.
2). A hierarchy of preferred stimuli is identified using the multiple stimuli without replacement method because in order to identify a reinforcer, the candy would have to increase the frequency of a targeted response/behavior it follows.
Assume you are using momentary time sampling to collect data on a student's on task behavior. Operationalize what this would look like. Your instructions should be clear enough that your untrained parapro could follow them.
The person taking data would take data on whether "on-task behavior" occurred at the end of each interval.
-Ex. The parapro would have a timer set to a 2 minute interval (assuming the intervals are 2 minutes long). Once the timer rings, the parapro would look up and write down whether the student met the operational definition for "on task behavior". Then the parapro would reset her timer and wait to collect the next response at the end of the next interval. This would continue until the end of the session.
Reliability: Calculate
(1pt)point-by-point reliability AND
(1pt)gross reliability for the data set below. Show your work for both calculations (all of your work) and label which is which.
(1pt)Describe why you might put more faith in one estimate of reliability over the other.
1). 7/10 x 100 = 70
2). 7/8 x 100 = 87.5
3). Point by point would be a better measure for time interval and time sampling data. This approach would likely overestimate the actual agreement between observers measuring behaviors that occur at either very low or very high rates, because it is subject to random agreement between observers.
Gross reliability is typically used with event recording and is the simplest indicator of IOA; however caution should be taken because it provides no assurance that observers where measuring the same behavior
You and your paraprofessional are gathering data on total duration of Tommy's off task behavior. You each start a stop watch when the off task behavior begins and stop it when it ends. You do not reset the stopwatch. At the end of the observation period you each write down each instance and the total duration he was off task. You recorded 15min of off task behavior. Your para recorded 10min. You recorded 7 instances of off task behavior and your para recorded 8 instances.
(1pt) Calculate gross reliability for both count and time.
(1pt) What are two reasons why you could have different totals?
1). Count: 10/15 x 100 = 66.6
Time: 7/8 x 100 = 87.5
2). One of us could have expectations or knowledge about the behavior (or desired results) that could have altered the accuracy and reliability of the data.
-Observer Drift could have occured: One of us was not made unintended changes in the way we use the measurement system.
What experimental design is represented in this graph?
Study
-Multielement / Alternating Treatment
-Reversal / withdrawal
-Multiple Probe
-Multielement
A multiple baseline or probe design can be conducted across ___________
behaviors, participants, settings
What is the sequence of stimulus presentation you would use to condition a neutral stimulus as a reinforcer?
response, neutral stimulus, existing reinforcer
Discriminate stimulus preference from reinforcer assessment.
A stimulus preference Assessment determines a hierarchy of stimuli that could potentially serve as reinforcers (stimuli that are preferred). A reinforcer assessment presents one or more stimuli contingent on a target response, this way we are able to measure their effectiveness as reinforcers.
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one identifies preference, another identifies reinforcers that will increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring
Differentiate restitutional overcorrection from positive practice overcorrection.
In Restitutional overcorrection, the learner is required to repair the damage or return the environment to its original state and then to engage in additional behavior to bring the environment to a better condition than it was before the misbehavior. In positive practice overcorrection the learner is required to repeat a correct form of the behavior (or an incompatible behavior) a certain number of times. These both occur contingent on the occurrence of the target behavior
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one improves the condition of the environment, the other is repeated practice of the correct response
a. (1 pt) Why should a behavior analyst or teacher practicing behavior analysis focus more attention on direct observation of a student's problem behavior in art class then on the art teacher, Mr. Pollock's, report?
b. (1 pt) Explain how the "dead man test" relates to how you would define a specific behavior you want to target after your observation.
c. (1 pt) Suppose Mr. Pollock describes the child as always "being angry." How could a teacher or therapist frame a conversation with Mr. Pollock to extract useful information for defining "anger" from a behavior analytic perspective?
1). The behavior analyst should be directly observing the behaviors that we want to decrease/ increase in the client/student. By directly observing the student we can obtain ABC data, which can help us identify any of the teachers behaviors that may be affecting the student's behaviors as well. We should also be looking out for behaviors that could have a direct effect on the child's health, such as SIB.

2). The dead man test states how "if a dead man can do it, then it is not a behavior". For instance, instead of measuring "not doing work" we might measure "frequency of work completion"

3). A therapist could engage with Mr. Pollock by asking him what usually occurs when the child becomes angry. This would allow for a more specific description of behaviors. Then the therapist could ask more specific questions, such as, "Does he throw items, run around the classroom, elope from his seat, etc. ). An analyst could also ask for an example of a specific time when the child was angry, to see if more information about the topography of the behaviors are mentioned.
Watch the video. https://youtu.be/61OKQSrYwW0
You will see a kid engage in a series of aberrant behaviors. As usual with my video samples you will not have all of the information you want. There are several topographies of behavior you might want to address. Select one behavior that needs to be reduced in frequency, and use that to respond to the following questions. "Not following directions" isn't really a behavior, so be sure to select something else. Operationally define 1 target maladaptive behavior that you would target for reduction.
Aggression (Hitting): Any instance when Megan swings her arm in the direction of another person's body or skin from more than 6 inches away. This can be accompanied by load vocalizations and/or crying. This can also occur if Megan makes contact with an individual's clothes from 6 inches away.
Based on the same video, operationalize a measurement system that would be suitable for collecting data on this target behavior. Defend why this system is the best for the measurement of your behavior AND most practical given the situation if the parents are going to be the one collecting data on a day-to-day basis in the home. There are many correct answers to this.
I believe the best way to measure Megan's hitting behavior would be frequency because the behavior occurs at a steady rate. This would mean that frequency would provide us with an accurate number of responses emitted per day.
This would also be the most practical because the observer could simply tally when an instance of hitting occurs without having to worry about timing each interval throughout the day or measuring duration.
Though you selected the best data collection system, identify potential weakness for this data system for gathering valid AND accurate data.
When measuring with frequency may not provide enough data needed to make useful program decisions or analysis. The observation period should always be noted when using this measurement.
The data collected using frequency we need to assure that we establish validity by assuring that the data is directly relevant to what is being measured. This could be done by providing IOA.
We also need to establish accurate data by assuring that the observed value of hitting is actually measuring hitting behavior.
Sequence a probable 4-term contingency for one of the behaviors you identified.
Megan has not had the toy for a while -> Mom says Megan cannot play with the toy -> Megan hits mom -> Mom says Megan can play with the toy
What is the difference between a conditioned and unconditioned reinforcer? Provide an example of each.
*The difference between conditioned and unconditioned reinforcers is that conditioned reinforcers need to be paired with other reinforcers in order to become reinforcing, and unconditioned reinforcers are inherently reinforcing.

Ex: Conditioned = social praise
Ex. Unconditioned = water or food
Provide an example of respondent behavior and differentiate it from operant behavior
Ex. Sweating while running

*Respondent behavior occurs involuntarily and operant behavior is created through something's interaction with its environment. (dogs salivating when they hear a bell)
You have a student who engages in 3 functionally unrelated but disruptive behaviors during school (screaming, self-harm, and property destruction). How would you prioritize these for intervention and why?
I would first prioritize self-harm because it is physically harmful to the client themselves. I would then target property destruction because of the monetary and emotional effects that can have on the school, family, etc. I would target screaming last because, although it is a disruptive behavior, the behavior itself is not causing harm or damage to any person or property.
Differentiate direct from indirect assessment
According to Cooper et. al., direct assessment consists of directly observing behavior in a natural setting.
Ex. Observation of the client

According to Cooper et. al., indirect assessments get their information from other sources other than the observation of the behavior in its natural environment
Ex. Interviews, questionnaire
If a child engages in bouts of screaming and crying when they have to put away toys. What dimensions of behavior are you interested in and why? How would you propose measuring this?
I would be most interested in measuring the duration of these behaviors so we could target the length of time that elapses between when the behavior starts and when it stops in order to decrease the duration
Behavioral dimensions used for measurement
-Frequency or rate
-duration
-latency
-topography
-locus
-force
What are the disadvantages of using discontinuous measurement systems?
With discontinuous measurement, you have a lower probability of reliably predicting the occurrence of behavior because it measures whether behavior occurs during some or all of set intervals, instead of measuring the occurrence of behavior during the entire duration of time
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1). Whole interval recording tends to underestimate the frequency of behavior
2). Partial interval recording tends to overestimate the frequency of behavior
3). Momentary time sampling can either overestimate or underestimate the frequency of behavior
You observe 20min of on task behavior and your para reports 15 min, of on task behavior. What is the gross IOA, and what are two plausible reasons for IOA to be poor.
15/20 *100 = 75%

2 reasons for poor IOA could be
(a) Observer drift: An unintended change in the way an observer uses a measurement system that results in measurement error.
(b)Measurement bias: Nonrandom measurement error
What is the difference between a cumulative record and a "regular" line graph. In what cases would a cumulative record be useful?
(a) Cumulative record is a type of graph on which the cumulative number of responses emitted is reported on the vertical axis. The steeper the slope of the data path, the greater the response rate.
-A line graph shows us the frequency of something over time

(b) Cumulative records are better at conveying a large plot of frequency of behavior over a period of time. A line graph does not divide time periods into discrete sessions
Differentiate between a stimulus preference assessment and a reinforcer assessment.
*A stimulus preference assessment does not give us reinforcers, they only give us a hierarchy of presumed reinforcers. A reinforcer assessment will give us reinforcers
How can you use a response deprivation model help establish an activity based reinforcer?
The response deprivation model can predict whether an activity will function as a reinforcer for another behavior. Restricting access to one behavior (jumping rope, which is reinforcing) could create a state of deprivation (EO) and make that behavior more reinforcing. Then this potential reinforcer could be used to increase the frequency of another behavior (doing homework), assuming the frequency of doing homework increases from baseline levels.
Differentiate between escape and avoidance contingencies
Escape and avoidance contingencies are both negative reinforcement contingencies; however, escape terminates an ongoing stimulus and avoidance prevents or postpones the presentation of a stimulus
Describe how negative reinforcement often maintains problem behavior in classroom environments
Negative reinforcement often maintains problem behavior in classroom environments through the inadvertent reinforcement of the teacher or student's behavior

-For example, when a student screams or disrupts class in another way in order to escape from work and go to the front office. The teacher may continue sending the student to the office because the behavior is being reinforced by the removal of the screaming

-Another example would be the removal of the students work that is increasing the frequency in which he screams during class
Differentiate effect of fixed and variable schedules of reinforcement
Fixed schedules of reinforcement deliver reinforcement after a specific number of responses or length of time

Variable schedules of reinforcement deliver reinforcement after an average number of responses or an average amount of time
-Maintain high rates of desired behavior
-Resistant to extinction
During silent reading time the teacher sets the contingency that a student has to read 5 pages AND read continuously for 20 minutes in order to earn a homework pass. What schedule of reinforcement is this? How do you know?
FR5 & FR20
This is a tandem schedule of reinforcement because reinforcement is delivered contingent on the completion of 2 simple reinforcement schedules in succession
If a therapist thins a reinforcement schedule from FR-2 to FR-10 and the child's responding decreases, we would characterize this schedule change and subsequent decrease in responding as ___ and tell the therapist they should have done what differently?
(a) Ratio Strain

(b) The therapist should have thinned the schedule of reinforcement to a slightly higher reinforcement schedule (Ex. FR-4). They should use a more gradual method of thinning.
Differentiate positive from negative punishment and provide an unconditioned example of each
Positive punishment is a response followed immediately by the presentation of a stimulus that decreases the future frequency of the behavior.
Ex. Physical punishment (spanking a child when they are screaming)

Negative punishment is a response behavior followed immediately by the removal of a stimulus that results in similar responses less often
Ex. Have food -> scream -> no food
If punishment is programmed into a behavior change plan, what else should ethically be incorporated?
When using punishment in a behavior change plan, you should include all of the reinforcement contingencies that were attempted throughout the behavior change plan, an operational definition of the behavior being targeted, results of functional analysis, and specific steps as to how the punishment intervention will be implemented, acknowledgement of risks, and minimization of risks should also be considered.
-You will also need consent from the client (informed consent) in order to implement the intervention
What effect do Motivating operations have on reinforcers?
Motivating operations can either increase (EO) of decrease (AO) he value of a reinforcer and frequency in behavior that provided access to that reinforcer

For example: An EO for water will increase the value of water as a reinforcer and will probably increase the frequency of drinking water

An AO for water, on the other hand, will decrease the value of water as a reinforcer and will probably decrease the frequency of drinking water
How might NCR operate on motivating operations to decrease problem behavior?
NCR aims to decrease problem behavior by making reinforcers that maintain the problem behavior available freely and frequently

For example, if head-to-surface is occurring, and the reinforcer is attention the therapist could give attention noncontingent on any behaviors
If you show a student a picture of a dog and she says "dog" and then you show her a picture of a cat and she says "dog", is the vocal response "dog" under stimulus control of the image of a dog? If yes, how do you know. If no, how do you know and what might "dog" be under stimulus control of?
(a) No, the vocal responding "dog" is not under stimulus control of the image of a dog because the student wasn't discriminating between pictures of dogs and cats

(b) We know this because we have no way of knowing if "dog" is the student's response to every picture of an animal, or not.
The vocal response "dog" might be under faulty stimulus control of furry four legend animal
A student sees their favorite substitute teacher walk into the classroom. The student immediately begins engaging in disruptive behavior. What two word behavior analytic term would describe the substitute teacher essentially signaling the availability of reinforcement (ex. The fun associated with being disruptive)
Stimulus Control
If you show a student a picture of a dog and she says "dog" that is an example of what verbal operant?
Tact
Differentiate behavior analytic conceptualizations of verbal behavior from more traditional models used in speech communication.
Behavior analytic conceptualizations of verbal behavior are not the same as vocal behavior. In ABA, verbal behavior are vocalizations, picture exchange, written text, etc. and vocal behavior is one type of verbal behavior.
___ Refers to reinforcing closer and closer approximations of a response to a terminal behavior
Shaping
In the above example, when we reinforce some responses and not others, we are using ______ for the closer approximations and _____ for the responses that are not closer
Differential reinforcement

Extinction
In a 3 step task analysis Step 1 , Step 2, Step3, which do you begin instructing (prompting and reinforcing) in backward chaining?
In backward chaining procedure, you would begin instructing (prompting and reinforcing) step 3, the step 2, and finally step 1
Why is a functional analysis important for using extinction?
Functional analysis is important for using extinction because the functional analysis will tell us what is reinforcing the behavior. Without knowing what is reinforcing that behavior, we cannot place that behavior on extinction.
How can the MO impact an extinction procedure?
The MO has a direct effect on the value and frequency of a behavior
For instance, if there is an AO for attention, the extinction procedure may not be necessary to decrease the value of the stimulus of the frequency of the behavior.
Differentiate between DRA and DRO. Why would one be preferable over the other.
DRA (Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior) is a reinforcement procedure used to reduce problem behavior by reinforcing desirable alternative behavior.

DRO (Differential reinforcement of Other behavior) is a reinforcement procedure which reinforces any other behavior other than the targeted behavior.

*DRA would be more preferable over DRO because DRA identifies and reinforces an alternative behavior, that the client or student can learn in order to engage with the preferred stimulus
Why is functional analysis important for using DRA based procedures?
Functional analysis tells us what is reinforcing a target behavior. In order to choose an effective alternative behavior that will be equally or more reinforcing than the targeted behavior, we must know what is reinforcing the targeted behavior.
What advantages does functional analysis have over ABC recording?
Functional analysis directly measures target behavior and experimentally manipulates antecedents and consequences
ABC recording does not reflect occasions when SD's or MO are present but behavior does not occur
Do you need to know the function of a problem behavior in order to use an unconditioned punisher in intervention? Would that be ethical?
Yes, you always need to know the function of the behavior you are targeting in order to assure that you are reinforcing or punishing the correct behavior.

Yes, using an unconditioned punisher without knowing the function of the behavior would be unethical because the therapist is using an intervention without knowing what is really reinforcing the behavior, and attempting to differentially reinforce other behaviors before implementing punishment
If you are teaching 4th grade and a significant amount of disruptive behavior in your classroom is maintained by poor attention, you might implement a group contingency where points are earned for ignoring "bad" peer behavior. If students are divided into teams, and every team that earns X points earns the reinforcer. This is an example of a ________________ contingency
Dependent group contingency
You are writing a program for a student in your classroom and are reinforcing a protocol from an article by the renowned scientist Dr. Jessica Herrod. Because of her detailed procedures, you are able to replicate the protocol with your student, which dimension of ABA made this possible and why?
Technological, because the marvelous Dr. Jessica was able to write in a clear and detailed manner, which allowed others to replicate her work
Name and describe the 7 dimensions of ABA
1). Applied: Teach meaningful behavior
2). Analytic: Record and analyze data
3). Technological: Make sure what you write is easy to understand and demonstrated clearly.
4). Conceptually Systematic: Use evidence based strategies
5). Generality: Make sure skills generalize to natural environment
6). Effective: Make sure interventions work, and if they dont change them
7). Behavioral: Focus on observable and measurable behavior
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