A-B design

A two-phase experimental design consisting of a pretreatment baseline condition (A) followed by a treatment condition (B).

A-B-A design

A three-phase experimental design consisting of an initial baseline phase (A) until steady state responding (or counter-therapeutic trend) is obtained, an intervention phase in which the treatment condition (B) is implemented until the behavior has changed and steady state responding is obtained, and a return to baseline conditions (A) by withdrawing the independent variable to see whether responding “reverses” to levels observed in the initial baseline phase.

A-B-A-B design

An experimental design consisting of (1) an initial baseline phase (A) until steady state responding (or counter-therapeutic trend) is obtained, (2) an initial intervention phase in which the treatment variable (B) is implemented until the behavior has changed and steady state responding is obtained, (3) a return to baseline conditions (A) by withdrawing the independent variable to see whether responding “reverses” to levels observed in the initial baseline phase, and (4) a second intervention phase (B) to see whether initial treatment effects are replicated.

ABC Recording aka: Anecdotal Observation

A form of direct continuous observation, in which the observer records a descriptive account for all behaviors of interest and antecedents and consequences of that behavior.

Abative Effect

A decrease in the current frequency of behavior that has been reinforced by some stimulus, object or event, whose reinforcing effectiveness depends on the same motivating operation.

Abolishing Operation

A motivating operation that decreases the reinforcing effectiveness of a stimulus, object, or event.

Accuracy

The extent to which observed values, the data produced by measuring an event, match the true values of an event as it exists in nature.

Add-in component analysis

A method for conducting a component analysis in which components are assessed individually or in combination before the complete treatment package is presented. The add-in method can identify sufficient components. Sequence and floor or ceiling effects may mask the effects of components added in toward the end of the analysis

Adjunctive Behavior

Behavior that occurs as a collateral effect of a schedule of reinforcement. Schedule-induced behavior brought about by schedules of reinforcement, when reinforcement is not likely to be delivered.

Affirmation of the Consequent

A three step form of reasoning that begins with a true antecedent-consequent (if- A-then-B) statement and proceeds as follows: (1)If A is true, then B is true; (2) B is found to be true; (3) therefore; A is true. Although other factors could be responsible for the truthfulness of A, a sound experiment affirms several if- A-then-B possibilities, each one reducing the likelihood of factors other than the independent variable being responsible for the observed changes in behavior.

Applied Behavior Analysis

The science in which tactics derived from the principles of behavior are applied to improve socially significant behavior. Experimentation is used to identify the variables for the improvement in behavior

Antecedent

An environmental condition or stimulus-change occurring before the behavior of interest.

Antecedent Intervention

A behavior change strategy that manipulates antecedent stimuli based on a) motivating operations) stimulus control, and c) contingency-independent interventions.

Alternating Treatment Design

An experimental design in which two or more conditions are presented in rapidly alternating succession independent of the level of responding. Differences in responding between or among conditions are attributed to the effects of the conditions.

Arbitrary Stimulus Class

Antecedent stimuli that evoke the same response but do not resemble each other in physical form or share a relational aspect.

Artifact

An outcome of result that appears to exist because of the way that it was measured but in fact, does not correspond to what has actually occurred.

Ascending Baseline

A data path that shows an increasing trend in the response measure over time.

Autoclitic

The autoclitic relation involves two interlocking levels of verbal behavior emitted in one utterance. Once level is its primary response, while the other type is the secondary autoclitic response. Autoclitic behavior benefits the listener by providing additional information regarding the primary response.

Automatic contingencies

Skinner (1957) used “automatic” to identify circumstances in which behavior is evoked, shaped, maintained, or weakened by environmental variables occurring without direct manipulation by other people. All behavioral principles (e.g., reinforcement, extinction, punishment) can affect our behavior automatically.

Automatic punishment

Punishment that occurs independent of the social mediation by others (i.e., a response product serves as a punisher independent of the social environment).

automatic reinforcement

Reinforcement that occurs independent of the social mediation of others (e.g., scratching an insect bite relieves the itch). automaticity (of reinforcement) Refers to the fact that behavior is modified by its consequences irrespective of the person’s awareness; a person does not have to recognize or verbalize the relation between her behavior and a reinforcing consequence, or even know that a consequence has occurred, for reinforcement to “work.” (Contrast with automatic reinforcement.)

Aversive stimulus

In general, an unpleasant or noxious stimulus; more technically, a stimulus change or condition that functions (a) to evoke a behavior that has terminated it in the past, (b) as a punisher when presented following behavior, and/or (c) as a reinforcer when withdrawn following behavior.

Avoidance Contingency

A contingency in which a response prevents or postpones the presentation of a stimulus.

B

B-A-B design

A three-phase experimental design that begins with the treatment condition. After steady state responding has been obtained during the initial treatment phase (B), the treatment variable is withdrawn (A) to see whether responding changes in the absence of the independent variable. The treatment variable is then reintroduced (B) in an attempt to recapture the level of responding obtained during the first treatment phase.

Backup reinforcers

Preferred items, activities, or privileges that participants obtain by exchanging earned tokens in a token economy.

Backward chaining

A teaching procedure in which a trainer completes all but the last behavior in a chain, which is performed by the learner, who then receives reinforcement for completing the chain. When the learner shows competence in performing the final step in the chain, the trainer performs all but the last two behaviors in the chain, the learner emits the final two steps to complete the chain, and reinforcement is delivered. This sequence is continued until the learner completes the entire chain independently.

Backward chaining with leaps ahead

A backward chaining procedure in which some steps in the task analysis are skipped; used to increase the efficiency of teaching long behavior chains when there is evidence that the skipped steps are in the learner’s repertoire.

Bar graph

A simple and versatile graphic format for summarizing behavioral data; shares most of the line graph’s features except that it does not have distinct data points representing successive response measures through time. (Also called a histogram.)

Baseline

A condition of an experiment in which the independent variable is not present; data obtained during baseline are the basis for determining the effects of the independent variable; a control condition that does not necessarily mean the absence of instruction or treatment, only the absence of a specific independent variable of experimental interest.

Baseline logic

A term sometimes used to refer to the experimental reasoning inherent in single-subject experimental designs; entails three elements: prediction, verification, and replication.

BACB’s Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts

Consolidates, updates, and replaces the BACB’s Professional Disciplinary and Ethical Standards and Guidelines for Responsible Conduct for Behavior Analysts. The Compliance Code includes 10 sections relevant to professional and ethical behavior of behavior analysts, along with a glossary of terms. Effective January 1, 2016, all BACB applicants, certificants, and registrants will be required to adhere to The Compliance Code.

Behavior chain

A sequence of responses in which each response produces a stimulus change that functions as conditioned reinforcement for that response and as a discriminative stimulus for the next response in the chain; reinforcement for the last response in a chain maintains the reinforcing effectiveness of the stimulus changes produced by all previous responses in the chain.

Behavior chain interruption strategy

An intervention that relies on the participant’s skill to initially perform all the critical elements of a chain independently, but the chain is then interrupted, or a link in the chain is made unavailable at a predetermined time, so that another behavior can be prompted or emitted.

Behavior chain with a limited hold

A contingency that specifies a time interval by which a behavior chain must be completed for reinforcement to be delivered.

Behavior change tactic

A technologically consistent method for changing behavior derived from one or more principles of behavior (e.g., response cost is derived from the principle of negative punishment); possesses sufficient generality across subjects, settings, and/or behaviors to warrant its codification and dissemination.

Behavior checklist

An itemized list that provides descriptions of specific skills (usually in hierarchical order) and the conditions under which each skill should be observed. Some checklists are designed to assess one particular behavior or skill area. Others address multiple behaviors or skill areas. Most use a Likert scale to rate responses.

Behavior trap

An interrelated community of contingencies of reinforcement that can be especially powerful, producing substantial and long-lasting behavior changes. Effective behavior traps share four essential features: (a) They are “baited” with virtually irresistible reinforcers that “lure” the student to the trap; (b) only a low-effort response already in the student’s repertoire is necessary to enter the trap; (c) once inside the trap, interrelated contingencies of reinforcement motivate the student to acquire, extend, and maintain targeted academic and/or social skills; and (d) they can remain effective for a long time because students show few, if any, satiation effects.

Behavior-altering effect

Either (a) an increase in the current frequency of behavior that has been reinforced by some stimulus, object, or event, called an evocative effect; or (b) a decrease in the current frequency of behavior that has been reinforced by some stimulus, object, or event, called an abative effect.

Behavioral assessment

A form of assessment that includes indirect and direct procedures such as interviews, checklists, and tests to identify and define the specific target behavior. In addition to identifying behavior(s) to change, comprehensive behavioral assessment can uncover functional relations between variables; it provides context on the resources, assets, significant others, competing contingencies, maintenance and generalization factors, and reinforcers or punishers that can be combined to improve the efficiency of an intervention. behavioral contract See contingency contract.

Behavioral contrast

The phenomenon in which a change in one component of a multiple schedule that increases or decreases the rate of responding on that is accompanied by a change in the response rate in the opposite direction, or the other unaltered component of the schedule.

Behavioral cusp

A behavior that has sudden and dramatic consequences that extend well beyond the idiosyncratic change itself because it exposes the person to new environments, reinforcers, contingencies, responses, and stimulus controls.

Believability

The extent to which the researcher convinces herself and others that the data are trustworthy and deserve interpretation. Measures of interobserver agreement (IOA) are the most often used index of believability in applied behavior analysis. (See also interobserver agreement [IOA].)

Bonus response cost

A procedure for implementing response cost in which the person is provided a reservoir of reinforcers that are removed in predetermined amounts contingent on the occurrence of the target behavior.

Brief functional analysis

An analysis in which only one or two 5- to 10-min sessions are conducted for each condition. A convincing demonstration of function may be achieved by either alternating a condition that produces problem behavior with one that does not or conducting a contingency reversal. Brief functional analysis may reveal a functional relation in fewer sessions than a full functional analysis.

C

Calibration

The process of comparing the data produced by a measurement system to a known standard or true value and, when sources of error are found, using that information to correct or improve the measurement system. causal relations If-then relationships (e.g., if A, then B; if B, then C) that are a central feature of understanding and doing science. With respect to stimulus relations, causal relations can define the structure of a stimulus class or define the behavior function through which stimuli in a class are transformed.

Celeration

The change (acceleration or deceleration) in rate of responding over time; based on count per unit of time (rate); expressed as a factor by which responding is accelerating or decelerating (multiplying or dividing); displayed with a trend line on a Standard Celeration Chart.

Celeration time period

A unit of time (e.g., per week, per month) in which celeration is plotted on a Standard Celeration Chart. (See also celeration and celeration trend line.)

Celeration trend line

The celeration trend line is measured as a factor by which rate multiplies or divides across the celeration time periods (e.g., rate per week, rate per month, rate per year, and rate per decade). (See also celeration.)

Chained schedule

A schedule of reinforcement in which the response requirements of two or more basic schedules must be met in a specific sequence before reinforcement is delivered; a discriminative stimulus is correlated with each component of the schedule. chaining Various methods for linking specific sequences of stimuli and responses to form new performances.

Changing criterion design

An experimental design in which an initial baseline phase is followed by a series of treatment phases consisting of successive and gradually changing criteria for reinforcement or punishment. Experimental control is evidenced by the extent the level of responding changes to conform to each new criterion.

Class expansion

A new member is added to a demonstrated stimulus equivalence class as the result of teaching a new conditional discrimination. class merger Independent equivalence classes are combined as the result of teaching a new but interrelated conditional discrimination. class-specific reinforcement A match-to-sample procedure in which not only is the correct comparison choice conditional on the sample stimulus, but the type of consequence delivered is, too; class-specific consequences themselves become members of the equivalence classes.

Clicker training

A term popularized by Pryor (1999) for shaping behavior using conditioned reinforcement in the form of an auditory stimulus. A handheld device produces a click sound when pressed. The trainer pairs other forms of reinforcement (e.g., edible treats) with the click sound so that the sound becomes a conditioned reinforcer.

Codic

A type of verbal behavior where the form of the response is under the functional control of a verbal stimulus with point-to-point correspondence, but without formal similarity. There is also a history of generalized reinforcement. combinatorial entailment A relation involving two stimuli that both participate in mutual entailment with some common third stimulus (See also mutual entailment)

Component analysis

Any experiment designed to identify the active elements of a treatment condition, the relative contributions of different variables in a treatment package, and/or the necessary and sufficient components of an intervention. Component analyses take many forms, but the basic strategy is to compare levels of responding across successive phases in which the intervention is implemented with one or more components left out.

Compound schedules

A schedule of reinforcement consisting of two or more elements of continuous reinforcement (CRF), the four intermittent schedules of reinforcement (FR, VR, FI, VI), differential reinforcement of various rates of responding (DRH, DRL), and extinction. The elements from these basic schedules can occur successively or simultaneously and with or without discriminative stimuli; reinforcement may be contingent on meeting the requirements of each element of the schedule independently or in combination with all elements.

Compound verbal discrimination

Involves two or more verbal SDs (convergent multiple control) that each independently evoke behavior, but when they both occur in the same antecedent configuration, a different SD is generated, and a more specific behavior is evoked.

Concept

A stimulus class whose members share a common set of features.

Concept formation

A complex example of stimulus control that requires stimulus generalization within a class of stimuli and discrimination between classes of stimuli.

Concurrent chains design

An experimental design in which participants are presented with two or more response options; each option is associated with a distinctive discriminative stimulus and leads to a different set of treatment procedures. (Also called concurrent schedule design.)

Concurrent schedule

A schedule of reinforcement in which two or more contingencies of reinforcement (elements) operate independently and simultaneously for two or more behaviors.

Conditional discrimination

Performance in a match-to-sample procedure in which discrimination between the comparison stimuli is conditional on, or depends on, the sample stimulus present on each trial.

Conditional probability

The likelihood that a target behavior will occur in a given circumstance; computed by calculating (a) the proportion of occurrences of behavior that were preceded by a specific antecedent variable and (b) the proportion of occurrences of problem behavior that were followed by a specific consequence. Conditional probabilities range from 0.0 to 1.0; the closer the conditional probability is to 1.0, the stronger the relationship is between the target behavior and the antecedent/consequence variables.

Conditioned motivating operation (CMO)

A motivating operation whose value-altering effect depends on a learning history.

Conditioned negative reinforcer

A previously neutral stimulus change that functions as a negative reinforcer because of prior pairing with one or more negative reinforcers.

Conditioned punisher

A previously neutral stimulus change that functions as a punisher because of prior pairing with one or more other punishers. (Sometimes called secondary or learned punisher; compare to unconditioned punisher.)

Conditioned reflex

A learned stimulus–response functional relation consisting of an antecedent stimulus (e.g., sound of refrigerator door opening) and the response it elicits (e.g., salivation); each person’s repertoire of conditioned reflexes is the product of his or her history of interactions with the environment (ontogeny). (See also respondent conditioning and unconditioned reflex.)

Conditioned reinforcer

A stimulus change that functions as a reinforcer because of prior pairing with one or more other reinforcers. (Sometimes called secondary or learned reinforcer.) conditioned stimulus (CS) The stimulus component of a conditioned reflex; a formerly neutral stimulus change that elicits respondent behavior only after it has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US) or another CS.

Confidentiality

Describes a situation of trust insofar as any information regarding a person receiving or having received services may not be discussed with or otherwise made available to another person or group, unless that person has provided explicit authorization, usually written and signed, for release of such information.

Conflict of interest

A situation in which a person in a position of responsibility or trust has competing professional or personal interests that make it difficult to fulfill his or her duties impartially. confounding variable An uncontrolled factor known or suspected to exert influence on the dependent variable.

Conjunctive schedule

A schedule of reinforcement that is in effect whenever reinforcement follows the completion of response requirements for two or more schedules of reinforcement.

Consequence

A stimulus change that follows a behavior of interest. Some consequences, especially those that are immediate and relevant to current motivational states, have significant influence on future behavior; others have little effect.

Constant time delay

A procedure for transferring stimulus control from contrived response prompts to naturally existing stimuli. After the student has responded correctly to several 0-sec delay trials, after which presentation of the response prompt follows the instructional stimulus by a predetermined and fixed delay (usually 3 or 4 seconds) for all subsequent trials.

Contextual control

The situation or context in which a stimulus (or stimulus class) occurs determines its function. More specifically: a type of stimulus control requiring three levels of antecedent stimuli, such that the functions of the stimuli in a conditional discrimination vary depending on the context. Contextual control training requires a five-term contingency. It allows for the same stimuli to be members of more than one equivalence class, depending on the context.

Contextual stimulus

Signals the type of relational responding that will be reinforced. Contingency Refers to dependent and/or temporal relations between operant behavior and its controlling variables.

Contingency contract

A mutually agreed-upon document between parties (e.g., parent and child) describing a contingent relationship between the completion of specified behavior(s) and access to specified reinforcer(s). (Also called behavioral contract.)

Contingency reversal

Exchanging the reinforcement contingencies for two topographically different responses. For example, if Behavior A results in reinforcement on an FR 1 schedule of reinforcement and Behavior B results in reinforcement being withheld (extinction), a contingency reversal consists of changing the contingencies such that Behavior A now results in extinction and Behavior B results in reinforcement on an FR 1 schedule.

Contingency-shaped behavior

Behavior acquired by direct experience with contingencies. contingent Describes reinforcement (or punishment) that is delivered only after the target behavior has occurred.

Contingency space analysis

A graphic display of the probability of one event (e.g., a particular consequence) given the occurrence (or not) of another event (e.g., the presence or absence of a particular behavior). Contingencies are considered positive (i.e., a specific consequence is more likely to occur), negative (i.e., a specific consequence is less likely to occur), or neutral (i.e., a specific consequence is neither more or less likely to occur).

Contingent observation

A procedure for implementing time-out in which the person is repositioned within an existing setting such that observation of ongoing activities remains, but access to reinforcement is lost.

Continuous measurement

Measurement conducted in a manner such that all instances of the response class(es) of interest are detected during the observation period. continuous reinforcement (CRF) A schedule of reinforcement that provides reinforcement for each occurrence of the target behavior.

Contrived contingency

Any contingency of reinforcement (or punishment) designed and implemented by a behavior analyst or practitioner to achieve the acquisition, maintenance, and/or generalization of a targeted behavior change. (Contrast with naturally existing contingency.)

Contrived mediating stimulus

Any stimulus made functional for the target behavior in the instructional setting that later prompts or aids the learner in performing the target behavior in a generalization setting.

Copying text

An elementary verbal operant involving a written response that is evoked by a written verbal discriminative stimulus that has formal similarity and a history of generalized reinforcement.

Count

A simple tally of the number of occurrences of a behavior. The observation period, or counting time, should always be noted when reporting count measures.

Countercontrol

Behavior evoked by coercion or aversive forms of external control; takes many forms, including escape, attack, passive resistance; “an emotional reaction of anger or frustration including operant behavior which injures or is otherwise aversive to the controller” (Skinner, 1953, p. 321).

Cumulative record

A type of graph on which the cumulative number of responses emitted is represented on the vertical axis; the steeper the slope of the data path, the greater the response rate.

Cumulative recorder

A device that automatically draws cumulative records (graphs) that show the rate of response in real time; each time a response is emitted, a pen moves upward across paper that continuously moves at a constant speed.

D

Data

The results of measurement, usually in quantifiable form; in applied behavior analysis, it refers to measures of some quantifiable dimension of a behavior. The word data is the plural form of datum.

Data path

The level and trend of behavior between successive data points; created by drawing a straight line from the center of each data point in a given data set to the center of the next data point in the same set.

Deictic relation

A relation between the self, as one stimulus, and other stimuli from the external world.

Delay discounting

A phenomenon in which delayed rewards, regardless of their significance and magnitude (e.g., enough money for a secure retirement), exert decreasing influence over choice-making behavior as a function of their temporal distance from present circumstances. Both humans and nonhuman laboratory animals discount the value of delayed rewards; the greater the delay to the reward, the greater the discount (i.e., the less value or influence the reward has on current behavior).

Delayed multiple baseline design

A variation of the multiple baseline design in which an initial baseline, and perhaps intervention, begin for one behavior (or setting, or subject), and subsequent baselines for additional behaviors begin in a staggered or delayed fashion.

Dependent group contingency

A contingency in which reinforcement for all members of a group is dependent on the behavior of one member of the group or the behavior of a select group of members within the larger group. dependent variable The measured behavior in an experiment to determine if it changes as a result of manipulations of the independent variable; in applied behavior analysis, it represents some measure of a socially significant behavior.

Deprivation

The state of an organism with respect to how much time has elapsed since it has consumed or contacted a particular type of reinforcer; also refers to a procedure for increasing the effectiveness of a reinforcer (e.g., withholding a person’s access to a reinforcer for a specified period prior to a session).

Derived stimulus relations

Responding indicating a relation (e.g., same as, opposite, different from, better than) between two or more stimuli that emerges as an indirect function of related instruction or experience. (Also called emergent stimulus relations.)

Descending baseline

A data path that shows a decreasing trend in the response measure over time. (Compare to ascending baseline.)

Descriptive functional behavior assessment

Direct observation of problem behavior and the antecedent and consequent events under naturally occurring conditions.

Determinism

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.

Differential reinforcement

Reinforcing only those responses within a response class that meet a specific criterion along some dimension(s) (i.e., frequency, topography, duration, latency, or magnitude) and placing all other responses in the class on extinction.

Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA)

A procedure for decreasing problem behavior in which reinforcement is delivered for a behavior that serves as a desirable alternative to the behavior targeted for reduction and withheld following instances of the problem behavior.

Differential reinforcement of diminishing rates (DRD)

A schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement is provided at the end of a predetermined interval contingent on the number of responses emitted during the interval being fewer than a gradually decreasing criterion based on the individual’s performance in previous intervals (e.g., fewer than five responses per 5 minutes, fewer than four responses per 5 minutes, fewer than three responses per 5 minutes).

Differential reinforcement of high rates (DRH)

A schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement is provided at the end of a predetermined interval contingent on the number of responses emitted during the interval being greater than a gradually increasing criterion based on the individual’s performance in previous intervals (e.g., more than three responses per 5 minutes, more than five responses per 5 minutes, more than eight responses per 5 minutes).

Differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior (DRI)

A procedure for decreasing problem behavior in which reinforcement is delivered for a behavior that is topographically incompatible with the behavior targeted for reduction and withheld following instances of the problem behavior (e.g., sitting in seat is incompatible with walking around the room).

Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL)

A schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement (a) follows each occurrence of the target behavior that is separated from the previous response by a minimum interresponse time (IRT), or (b) is contingent on the number of responses within a period of time not exceeding a predetermined criterion. Practitioners use DRL schedules to decrease the rate of behaviors that occur too frequently but should be maintained in the learner’s repertoire.

Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO)

A procedure for decreasing problem behavior in which reinforcement is contingent on the absence of the problem behavior during or at specific times.

Direct measurement

Occurs when the behavior that is measured is the same as the behavior that is the focus of the investigation.

Direct replication

An experiment in which the researcher attempts to duplicate exactly the conditions of an earlier experiment.

Disciplinary standards

Statements describing corrective, disciplinary, and revocation actions, depending on the circumstances for violations of a professional; see the BACB Compliance Code.

Discontinuous measurement

Measurement conducted in a manner such that some instances of the response class(es) of interest may not be detected.

Discrete trial

Any operant whose response rate is controlled by a given opportunity to emit the response. Each discrete response occurs when an opportunity to respond exists. Discrete trial, restricted operant, and controlled operant are synonymous technical terms.

Discriminated avoidance

A contingency in which responding in the presence of a signal prevents the onset of a stimulus from which escape is a reinforcer.

Discriminated operant

An operant that occurs more frequently under some antecedent conditions than under others. (See also discriminative stimulus[SD] and stimulus control.)

Discriminative stimulus (SD)

A stimulus in the presence of which a given behavior has been reinforced and in the absence of which that behavior has not been reinforced; as a result of this history, an SD evokes operant behavior because its presence signals the availability of reinforcement.

Discriminative stimulus for punishment (SDp)

A stimulus in the presence of which a given behavior has been punished and in the absence of which that behavior has not been punished; as a result of this history, the behavior occurs less often in the presence of the SDp than in its absence.

Distinction relation

Responding jointly to two stimuli on the basis of their differences. double-blind control A procedure that prevents the subject and the experimenter(s) from detecting the presence or absence of the treatment variable; used to eliminate confounding of results by subject expectations, parent and teacher expectations, differential treatment by others, and observer bias.

DRI/DRA reversal technique

An experimental technique that demonstrates the effects of reinforcement; it uses differential reinforcement of an incompatible or alternative behavior (DRI/DRA) as a control condition instead of a no-reinforcement (baseline) condition. During the DRI/DRA condition, the stimulus change used as reinforcement in the reinforcement condition is presented contingent on occurrences of a specified behavior that is either incompatible with the target behavior or an alternative to the target behavior. A higher level of responding during the reinforcement condition than during the DRI/DRA condition demonstrates that the changes in behavior are the result of contingent reinforcement, not simply the presentation of or contact with the stimulus event.

DRO reversal technique

An experimental technique for demonstrating the effects of reinforcement by using differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) as a control condition instead of a no-reinforcement (baseline)condition. During the DRO condition, the stimulus change used as reinforcement in the reinforcement condition is presented contingent on the absence of the target behavior for a specified time period. A higher level of responding during the reinforcement condition than during the DRO condition demonstrates that the changes in behavior are the result of contingent reinforcement, not simply the presentation of or contact with the stimulus event.

Drop-out component analysis

A method for conducting a component analysis in which the investigator presents the treatment package and then systematically removes components. If the treatment’s effectiveness wanes when a component is removed, the researcher has identified a necessary component.

Duplic

A type of verbal behavior where the form of the response is under the functional control of a verbal stimulus with formal similarity, and a history of generalized reinforcement.

Duration

The total time that behavior occurs; measured by elapsed time from the onset of a response to its end point.

E

Echoic

An elementary verbal operant involving a vocal response that is evoked by a vocal verbal SD that has formal similarity between an auditory verbal stimulus and an auditory verbal response product, and a history of generalized reinforcement.

Ecological assessment

An assessment protocol that acknowledges complex interrelationships between environment and behavior. An ecological assessment is a method for obtaining data across multiple settings and persons.

Elementary verbal operants

Michael’s (1982) term for Skinner’s (1957) taxonomy of five different types of speaker behavior (i.e., expressive language) distinguished by their antecedent controlling variables and related history of consequences: mand, tact, intraverbal, duplic,and codic.

Emergent stimulus relations

Stimulus relations that are not taught directly but emerge as an indirect function of related instruction or experience. (Also called derived stimulus relations.)

Empiricism

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” (Zuriff, 1985, p. 9).

Enriched environment

An intervention that provides noncontingent access to preferred sources of reinforcement (e.g., toys, games, social and recreation activities). This noncontingent access to preferred reinforcers arranges a competition between the enriched environment and the stimulation provided by the problem behavior.

Environment

The conglomerate of real circumstances in which the organism or referenced part of the organism exists; behavior cannot occur in the absence of environment.

Environmental enrichment (EE)

An antecedent intervention that provides noncontingent access to preferred sources of reinforcement (e.g., toys, games, social and recreation activities). This noncontingent access to preferred sources of reinforcement arranges a competition between the EE intervention and the stimulation provided by the problem behavior

Equal-interval scale

A scale in which equal distances on the axis represent equal absolute amounts of the variable plotted on the axis (e.g., behavior change on an equal-interval vertical axis).

Equivalence test

A probe for the emergence of untrained stimulus–stimulus relations that evaluates both symmetry and transitivity simultaneously.

Equivalence-class formation

The emergence of accurate responding to untrained and nonreinforced stimulus–stimulus relations following the reinforcement of responses to some stimulus–stimulus relations. Requires successful performances on three types of probe trials—reflexivity, symmetry, and transitivity—in the absence of reinforcement. (Sometimes called stimulus equivalence.)

Errorless learning

A variety of techniques for gradually transferring stimulus control with a minimum of errors.

Escape contingency

A contingency in which a response terminates (produces escape from) an ongoing stimulus. (Compare to avoidance contingency.)

Escape extinction

Behaviors maintained with negative reinforcement are placed on escape extinction when those behaviors are not followed by termination of the aversive stimulus; emitting the target behavior does not enable the person to escape the aversive situation.

Establishing operation (EO)

A motivating operation that increases the effectiveness of some stimulus, object, or event as a reinforcer.

Ethical codes of behavior

Documents generated or adopted by professional organizations that provide clear guidelines for their members when deciding a course of proper action in conducting their professional duties. ethics Behaviors, practices, and decisions that address such basic and fundamental questions as the following: What is the right thing to do? What’s worth doing? What does it mean to be a good behavior analytic practitioner? The Behavior Analyst Certification Board’s (BACB’s) Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts details ethical practice for behavior analysts.

Event recording

Measurement procedure for obtaining a tally or count of the number of times a behavior occurs.

Evocative effect

An increase in the current frequency of behavior that has been reinforced by some stimulus, object, or event whose reinforcing effectiveness depends on the same motivating operation. For example, food deprivation evokes (increases the current frequency of) behavior such as opening the fridge that has been reinforced by food.

Exact count-per-interval IOA

The percentage of total intervals in which two observers recorded the same count; the most stringent description of IOA for most data sets obtained by event recording.

Exclusion (training)

A procedure for building new arbitrary conditional discriminations based on the robust finding that learners will select a novel comparison stimulus over a known one in the presence of a novel sample.

Exclusion time-out

A procedure for implementing time-out in which, contingent on the occurrence of a target behavior, the person is removed physically from the current environment for a specified period.

Experiment

A carefully controlled comparison of some measure of the phenomenon of interest (the dependent variable) under two or more different conditions in which only one factor at a time (the independent variable) differs from one condition to another.

Experimental analysis of behavior (EAB)

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 dependent variable, 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.

Experimental control

Two meanings: (a) the outcome of an experiment that demonstrates convincingly a functional relation, meaning that experimental control is achieved when a predictable change in behavior (the dependent variable) can be reliably produced by manipulating a specific aspect of the environment (the independent variable); and (b) the extent to which a researcher maintains precise control of the independent variable by presenting it, withdrawing it, and/ or varying its value, and also by eliminating or holding constant all confounding and extraneous variables.

Experimental design

The particular type and sequence of conditions in a study so that meaningful comparisons of the effects of the presence and absence (or different values) of the independent variable can be made. explanatory fiction A fictitious or hypothetical 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.

External validity

The degree to which a study’s findings have generality to other subjects, settings, and/or behaviors. (Compare to internal validity.)

Extinction

The discontinuing of a reinforcement of a previously reinforced behavior (i.e., responses no longer produce reinforcement); the primary effect is a decrease in the frequency of the behavior until it reaches a pre-reinforced level or ultimately ceases to occur. (See also extinction burst and spontaneous recovery; compare to respondent extinction.)

Extinction burst

An increase in the frequency of responding when an extinction procedure is initially implemented.

Extinction-induced variability

A phenomenon in which diverse and novel forms of behavior are sometimes observed during the extinction process.

Extinction-induced aggression

A phenomenon in where more challenging behaviors other than the target behavior come about as a result of an extinction procedure.

Extraneous variable

Any aspect of the experimental setting (e.g., lighting, temperature) that must be held constant to prevent unplanned environmental variation.

F

Fading

A procedure for transferring stimulus control in which features of an antecedent stimulus (e.g., shape, size, position, color) controlling a behavior are gradually changed to a new stimulus while maintaining the current behavior; stimulus features can be faded in (enhanced) or faded out (reduced).

Feature stimulus class

Stimuli that share common physical forms or structures (e.g., made from wood, four legs, round, blue) or common relative relationships (e.g., bigger than, hotter than, higher than, next to). (Compare to arbitrary stimulus class.)

Fixed interval (FI)

A schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement is delivered for the first response emitted following the passage of a fixed duration of time since the last response was reinforced (e.g., on an FI 3-min schedule, the first response following the passage of 3 minutes is reinforced).

Fixed ratio (FR)

A schedule of reinforcement requiring a fixed number of responses for reinforcement (e.g., an FR 4 schedule of reinforcement follows every fourth response).

Fixed-interval DRO (FI-DRO)

A DRO procedure in which reinforcement is available at the end of intervals of fixed duration and delivered contingent on the absence of the problem behavior during each interval. (See also differential reinforcement of other behavior [DRO].)

Fixed-momentary DRO (FM-DRO)

A DRO procedure in which reinforcement is available at specific moments in time, which are separated by a fixed amount of time, and delivered contingent on the problem not occurring at those moments. (See also differential reinforcement of other behavior [DRO].)

Fixed-time schedule (FT)

A schedule for the delivery of noncontingent stimuli in which a time interval remains the same from one delivery to the next. formal similarity Occurs when the controlling antecedent stimulus and the response or response product (a) share the same sense mode (e.g., both stimulus and response are visual, auditory, or tactile) and (b) physically resemble each other. Verbal relations with formal similarity are echoic, copying a text, and imitation as it relates to sign language.

Forward chaining

A method for teaching behavior chains that begins with the learner being prompted and taught to perform the first behavior in the task analysis; the trainer completes the remaining steps in the chain. When the learner shows competence in performing the first step in the chain, he is then taught to perform the first two behaviors in the chain, with the training completing the chain. This process is continued until the learner completes the entire chain independently.

Fraudulent conduct

Intentional, willful, and deceitful behavior; such behavior can cause harm to others.

Free operant

Any operant behavior that results in minimal displacement of the participant in time and space. A free operant can be emitted at nearly any time; it is discrete, it requires minimal time for completion, and it can produce a wide range of response rates.

Free-operant avoidance

A contingency in which responses at any time during an interval prior to the scheduled onset of an aversive stimulus delays the presentation of the aversive stimulus.

Frequency

How often a behavior occurs. Use frequency as a synonym for count.

Full-session DRL

A procedure for implementing DRL in which reinforcement is delivered at the end of the session if the total number of responses emitted during the session does not exceed a criterion limit. (See also differential reinforcement of low rates [DRL].)

Function-altering effect

A change in an organism’s repertoire of MO, stimulus, and response relations, caused by reinforcement, punishment, an extinction procedure, or a recovery from punishment procedure. Respondent function-altering effects result from the pairing and unpairing of antecedent stimuli.

Function-based definition

Designates responses as members of the targeted response class solely in terms of their common effect on the environment.

Functional analysis

A term with two meanings in contemporary behavior analysis literature. In its original and most fundamental usage, functional analysis denotes demonstrations of functional relations between environmental variables and behavior. In the context of determining the purposes (functions) of problem behavior for an individual, functional analysis entails experimentally arranging antecedents and consequences representing those in the person’s natural routines so that their separate effects on problem behavior can be observed and measured.

Functional behavior assessment (FBA)

A systematic method of assessment for obtaining information about the purposes (functions) a problem behavior serves for a person; results are used to guide the design of an intervention for decreasing the problem behavior and increasing appropriate behavior.

Functional communication training (FCT)

An antecedent intervention in which an appropriate communicative behavior is taught as a replacement behavior for problem behavior usually evoked by an establishing operation (EO); involves differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA).

Functional relation

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 dependent variable) can be produced by manipulating another event (the independent variable), and that the change in the dependent variable was unlikely the result of other factors (confounding variables); in behavior analysis expressed as b = f (x1), (x2),c, where b is the behavior and x1, x2, etc., are environmental variables of which the behavior is a function.

Functionally equivalent

Serving the same function or purpose; different topographies of behavior are functionally equivalent if they produce the same consequences.

G

General case analysis

A systematic process for identifying and selecting teaching examples that represent the full range of stimulus variations and response requirements in the generalization setting(s).

Generalization

A generic term for a variety of behavioral processes and behavior change outcomes.

Generalization across subjects

Changes in the behavior of people not directly treated by an intervention as a function of treatment contingencies applied to other people. generalization probe Any measurement of a learner’s performance of a target behavior in a setting and/or stimulus situation in which direct training has not been provided.

Generalization setting

Any place or stimulus situation that differs in some meaningful way from the instructional setting and in which performance of the target behavior is desired.

Generalized behavior change

A behavior change that has not been taught directly. Generalized outcomes take one, or a combination of, three primary forms: response maintenance, stimulus/setting generalization, and response generalization.

Generalized conditioned reinforcer

A conditioned reinforcer that as a result of having been paired with many other reinforcers does not depend on an establishing operation for any particular form of reinforcement for its effectiveness.

Generalized imitation

A term often used when a learner imitates a wide variety of unprompted, untrained, non-reinforced modeled behaviors in different settings and situations.

Generalized imitation

could be considered a higher order response class in which participants imitate novel models without training and that are not predictive of reinforcement.

Generative learning

A behavioral effect whereby previously acquired speaker and listener skills enable or accelerate the acquisition of other speaker and listener skills, without dependence on direct teaching or a history of reinforcement.

Generic (tact) extension

A tact evoked by a novel stimulus that shares all of the relevant or defining features associated with the original stimulus. Good Behavior Game An interdependent group contingency in which a group is divided into two or more teams that compete against each other and/or a specified criterion. The team with fewest marks at the end of the game earns a reinforcer. Each team is also told that it can earn a reinforcer if it has fewer than a specified number of marks. graph A visual format for displaying data; reveals relations among and between a series of measurements and relevant variables. group contingency A contingency in which reinforcement for all members of a group is dependent on the behavior of (a) a person within the group, (b) a select group of members within the larger group, or (c) each member of the group meeting a performance criterion.

Good Behavior Game

An interdependent group contingency in which a group is divided into two or more teams that compete against each other and/or a specified criterion. The team with fewest marks at the end of the game earns a reinforcer. Each team is also told that it can earn a reinforcer if it has fewer than a specified number of marks. graph A visual format for displaying data; reveals relations among and between a series of measurements and relevant variables.

Good Student Game

Combines an interdependent group contingency with add self-monitoring tactics. The Good Student Game is intended for implementation during independent seatwork periods when problematic behaviors surface. In the Good Student Game the teacher (a) chooses target behaviors to modify, (b) determines goals and rewards, and (c) determines whether group or individual monitoring (or both) will occur.

Group contingency

A contingency in which reinforcement for all members of a group is dependent on the behavior of (a) a person within the group, (b) a select group of members within the larger group, or (c) each member of the group meeting a performance criterion.

H

Habilitation

(adjustment) occurs when a person’s repertoire has been changed such that short- and long-term reinforcers are maximized and short- and long-term punishers are minimized.

Habit reversal

A multiple-component treatment package for reducing unwanted habits such as fingernail biting and muscle tics; treatment typically includes self-awareness training involving response detection and procedures for identifying events that precede and trigger the response; competing response training; and motivation techniques including self-administered consequences, social support systems, and procedures for promoting the generalization and maintenance of treatment gains.

Habituation

A decrease in responsiveness to repeated presentations of a stimulus; most often used to describe a reduction of respondent behavior as a function of repeated presentation of the eliciting stimulus over a short span of time; some researchers suggest that the concept also applies to within-session changes in operant behavior.

Hero procedure

A term sometimes used for a dependent group contingency (i.e., a reward for the group is contingent upon the behavior of an individual group member).

Hierarchical relation

A nested stimulus relation in which a category, subsuming multiple stimuli, is itself a member of a higher-order category subsuming multiple stimuli.

High-probability (high-p) Request Sequence

An antecedent intervention in which two to five easy tasks with a known history of learner compliance (the high-p requests) are presented in quick succession immediately before requesting the target task, the low-p request. (Also called interspersed requests, pretask requests, or behavioral momentum.)

Higher-order Conditioning

Development of a conditioned reflex by pairing of a neutral stimulus (NS) with a conditioned stimulus (CS). (Also called secondary conditioning.)

Higher-order Operant Class

Behavior defined in terms of general relations between antecedents and responses, rather than in terms of specific stimuli and responses; examples include generalized imitation, manding, instruction following, naming, and relational framing.

History of Reinforcement

An inclusive term referring in general to all of a person’s learning experiences and more specifically to past conditioning with respect to particular response classes or aspects of a person’s repertoire. (See also ontogeny.)

Hypothetical Construct

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

I

Imitation

Behavior that (a) is occasioned by another person’s model of the behavior (or symbolic representation thereof), (b) has formal similarity with the model, (c) follows the modeled behavior closely in time, and (d) the model is the primary controlling variable for the imitative behavior. An imitative behavior is a new behavior emitted following a novel antecedent event (i.e., the model). (See also formal similarity; contrast with echoic.)

Imitation training

A systematic, research-based set of procedures for teaching a nonimitative learner to imitate models of novel behaviors.

Impure tact

A verbal operant involving a response that is evoked by both an MO and a nonverbal stimulus; thus, the response is part mand and part tact.

Independent group contingency

A contingency in which reinforcement for each member of a group is dependent on that person’s meeting a performance criterion that is in effect for all members of the group.

Independent variable

The variable that is systematically manipulated by the researcher in an experiment to see whether changes in the independent variable produce reliable changes in the dependent variable. In applied behavior analysis, it is usually an environmental event or condition antecedent or consequent to the dependent variable. (Sometimes called the intervention or treatment variable; compare to dependent variable.)

Indirect Functional Assessment

Structured interviews, checklists, rating scales, or questionnaires used to obtain information from people who are familiar with the person exhibiting the problem behavior (e.g., teachers, parents, caregivers, and/or the individual himself or herself); used to identify conditions or events in the natural environment that correlate with the problem behavior.

Indirect Measurement

Occurs when the behavior that is measured is in some way different from the behavior of interest; considered less valid than direct measurement because inferences about the relation between the data obtained and the actual behavior of interest are required.

Indiscriminable Contingency

A contingency that makes it difficult for the learner to discriminate whether the next response will produce reinforcement. Practitioners use indiscriminable contingencies in the form of intermittent schedules of reinforcement and delayed rewards to promote generalized behavior change.

Informed Consent

Formal permission—usually written, signed, and dated— given by a potential recipient of behavioral services or participant in a research study; requires that full disclosure of all pertinent information be provided to the individual prior to a granting of permission. To give consent, the person must (a) demonstrate the capacity to decide, (b) do so voluntarily, and (c) have adequate knowledge of all salient aspects of the treatment.

Instructional setting

The environment where instruction occurs; includes all aspects of the environment, planned and unplanned, that may influence the learner’s acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of the target behavior. (Contrast with generalization setting.)

Interdependent group contingency

A contingency in which reinforcement for all members of a group is dependent on each member of the group meeting a performance criterion that is in effect for all members of the group. intermittent schedule of reinforcement (INT) A contingency of reinforcement in which some, but not all, occurrences of the behavior produce reinforcement.

Internal validity

The extent to which an experiment shows convincingly that changes in behavior are a function of the independent variable and not the result of uncontrolled or unknown variables.

Interobserver Agreement (IOA)

The degree to which two or more independent observers report the same observed values after measuring the same events.

Interresponse time (IRT)

A measure of temporal locus, defined as the elapsed time between two successive responses.

Interrupted chain procedure

A procedural variation of the behavior chain interruption strategy, entails arranging the environment such that the learner is unable to continue the chain at a predetermined point until responding to a prompt (e.g., “What do you want?”).

Interval DRL

A procedure for implementing DRL in which the total session is divided into equal intervals and reinforcement is provided at the end of each interval in which the number of responses during the interval is equal to or below a criterion limit.

Interval-by-interval IOA

An index of the agreement between observers for data obtained by interval recording or time sampling measurement; calculated for a given session or measurement period by comparing the two observers’ recordings of the occurrence or nonoccurrence of the behavior in each observation interval and dividing the number of intervals of agreement by the total number of intervals and multiplying by 100.

Interview-informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis

A variation of functional analysis designed to increase efficiency. In the test condition, multiple contingencies are implemented simultaneously (e.g., attention and escape) when the problem behavior is demonstrated. In the control condition, those same contingencies are presented noncontingently and continuously.

Intraverbal

An elementary verbal operant involving a response that is evoked by a verbal discriminative stimulus that does not have point-to-point correspondence with that verbal stimulus. The intraverbal is the opposite of the echoic, in that the words emitted by one speaker do not match the words of another speaker. Intraverbal behavior constitutes the basis for social interaction, conversations, and much of academic and intellectual behavior. Questions are mands, and answers are intraverbal.

Intraverbal Control

Some verbal stimuli only supplement other more critical antecedents, but nonetheless they play a causal role in evoking behavior.

Irreversibility

A situation that occurs when the level of responding observed in a previous phase cannot be reproduced even though the experimental conditions are the same as they were during the earlier phase.

J

Joint Control

A phenomenon in which two separate, but interrelated forms of a person’s own verbal behavior, combine to acquire stimulus control of a response that would not have occurred in the absence of either.

L

Lag Reinforcement Schedule

A schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement is contingent on a response being different in some specified way (e.g., different topography) from the previous response (e.g., Lag 1) or a specified number of previous responses (e.g., Lag 2 or more).

Latency

The time that elapses between the SD and the onset of the response.(see Response Latency).

Latency-Based Functional Analysis

An analysis in which each session is terminated as soon as a problem behavior occurs.The index of problem behavior is the latency from onset of the establishing operation to the first occurrence of the problem behavior.

Least-to-Most Response Prompts

A technique of transferring stimulus control in which the practitioner gives the participant an opportunity to perform the response with the least amount of assistance on each trial. The participant receives greater degrees of assistance with each successive trial without a correct response. The procedure for least-to-most prompting requires the participant to make a correct response within a set time limit (e.g., 3 seconds) from the presentation of the natural SD. If the response does not occur within the specified time, the applied behavior analyst presents the natural SD and a response prompt of least assistance, such as a verbal response prompt. If after the same specified time limit (e.g., another 3 seconds) the participant does not make a correct response, the analyst gives the natural SD and another response prompt, such as a gesture. The participant receives partial or full physical guidance if the less intrusive prompt does not evoke a correct response.

Level

The value on the vertical axis around which a series of behavioral measures converge. level system A component of some token economy systems in which participants advance up (or down) through a succession of levels contingent on their behavior at the current level. The performance criteria and sophistication or difficulty of the behaviors required at each level are higher than those of preceding levels; as participants advance to higher levels, they gain access to more desirable reinforcers, increased privileges, and greater independence.

Limited Hold

A situation in which reinforcement is available only during a finite time following the elapse of an FI or VI interval; if the target response does not occur within the time limit, reinforcement is withheld and a new interval begins (e.g., on an FI 5-min schedule with a limited hold of 30 seconds, the first correct response following the elapse of 5 minutes is reinforced only if that response occurs within 30 seconds after the end of the 5-minute interval).

Line graph

Based on a Cartesian plane, a two-dimensional area formed by the intersection of two perpendicular lines. Any point within the plane represents a specific relation between the two dimensions described by the intersecting lines. It is the most common graphic format for displaying data in applied behavior analysis.

Listener

Someone who provides reinforcement for a speaker’s verbal behavior. A listener may also serve as an audience evoking verbal behavior. The distinction between listener and speaker is often blurred by the fact that much of a listener's behavior may involve becoming a speaker at the covert level (e.g., thinking about what was said). A speaker may also serve as her own listener.

Listener Discriminations

When verbal SD evokes a specific nonverbal behavior, due to a history of reinforcement.

Local Response Rate

The average rate of response during a smaller period of time within a larger period for which an overall response rate has been given.

M

Magnitude

The force or intensity with which a response is emitted; provides important quantitative parameters used in defining and verifying the occurrence of some response classes. Responses meeting those criteria are measured and reported by one or more fundamental or derivative measures such as frequency, duration, or latency. (Sometimes called amplitude.)

Maintenance

Two different meanings in applied behavior analysis: (a) the extent to which the learner continues to perform the target behavior after a portion or all of the intervention has been terminated (i.e., response maintenance), a dependent variable or characteristic of behavior; and (b) a condition in which treatment has been discontinued or partially withdrawn, an independent variable or experimental condition.

Mand

An elementary verbal operant involving a response of any form that is evoked by an MO and followed by specific reinforcement.

Manding

allows a speaker to get what she wants or refuse what she does not want. massed practice A self-directed behavior change technique in which the person forces herself to perform an undesired behavior (e.g., a compulsive ritual) repeatedly, which sometimes decreases the future frequency of the behavior.

Matching Law

The allocation of responses to choices available on concurrent schedules of reinforcement; rates of responding across choices are distributed in proportions that match the rates of reinforcement received from each choice alternative.

Matching-to-Sample Procedure

A discrete trial procedure for investigating conditional relations and stimulus equivalence. A matching-to-sample trial begins with the participant making a response that presents or reveals the sample stimulus; next, the sample stimulus may or may not be removed, and two or more comparison stimuli are presented. The participant then selects one of the comparison stimuli. Responses that select a comparison stimulus that matches the sample stimulus are reinforced; no reinforcement is provided for responses selecting the nonmatching comparison stimuli.

Mean Count-Per-Interval IOA

The average percentage of agreement between the counts reported by two observers in a measurement period composed of a series of smaller counting times; a more conservative measure of IOA than total count IOA.

Mean Duration-Per-Occurrence IOA

An IOA index for duration per occurrence data; also a more conservative and usually more meaningful assessment of IOA for total duration data calculated for a given session or measurement period by computing the average percentage of agreement of the durations reported by two observers for each occurrence of the target behavior.

Measurement

The process of applying quantitative labels to describe and differentiate objects and natural events. Measurement in applied behavior analysis involves three steps: (a) identifying the behavior to be measured, (b) defining the behavior in observable terms, and (c) selecting an appropriate observation and data-recording method.

Measurement Bias

Nonrandom measurement error; a form of inaccurate measurement in which the data consistently overestimate or underestimate the true value of an event.

Measurement by Permanent Product

A method of measuring behavior after it has occurred by recording the effects that the behavior produced on the environment.

Mentalism

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

Metaphorical (tact) Extension

A tact evoked by a novel stimulus that shares some, but not all, of the relevant features of the original stimulus.

Methodological Behaviorism

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

Metonymical (tact) Extension

A tact evoked by a novel stimulus that shares none of the relevant features of the original stimulus configuration, but some irrelevant yet related feature has acquired stimulus control.

Mixed schedule

A compound schedule of reinforcement consisting of two or more basic schedules of reinforcement (elements) that occur in an alternating, usually random, sequence; no discriminative stimuli are correlated with the presence or absence of each element of the schedule, and reinforcement is delivered for meeting the response requirements of the element in effect at any time.

Modeling

A behavior change strategy in which learners acquire new skills by imitating demonstrations of the skills by live or symbolic models. The model shows, demonstrates, or conveys exactly the behavior the learner is expected to perform. Models can be live demonstrations or symbolic representations of the desired behavior.

Momentary Time Sampling

A measurement method in which the presence or absence of behaviors is recorded at precisely specified time intervals.

Most-to-least Response Prompts

A technique of transferring stimulus control in which the practitioner physically guides the participant through the entire performance sequence, and then gradually reduces the level of assistance in successive trials. Customarily, most-to-least prompting transitions from physical guidance to visual prompts to verbal instructions, and finally to the natural stimulus without prompts.

Motivating Operation (MO)

An environmental variable that (a) alters (increases or decreases) the reinforcing or punishing effectiveness of some stimulus, object, or event; and (b) alters (increases or decreases) the current frequency of all behavior that has been reinforced or punished by that stimulus, object, or event.

Motor Imitation

A type of duplic verbal behavior in which the form of a motor response is under the functional control of a visual verbal SD that has formal similarity between a verbal stimulus and a verbal response product, and a history of generalized reinforcement.

Multielement Design

An experimental design in which two or more conditions (one of which may be a no-treatment control condition) are presented in rapidly alternating succession (e.g., on alternating sessions or days) independent of the level of responding; differences in responding between or among conditions are attributed to the effects of the conditions. (Also called alternating treatments design, concurrent schedule design, and multiple schedule design.)

Multiple baseline Across Behaviors Design

A multiple baseline design in which the treatment variable is applied to two or more different behaviors of the same subject in the same setting.

Multiple Baseline Across Settings Design

A multiple baseline design in which the treatment variable is applied to the same behavior of the same subject across two or more different settings, situations, or time periods.

Multiple Baseline Across Subjects Design

A multiple baseline design in which the treatment variable is applied to the same behavior of two or more subjects (or groups) in the same setting.

Multiple Baseline Design

An experimental design that begins with the concurrent measurement of two or more behaviors in a baseline condition, followed by the application of the treatment variable to one of the behaviors while baseline conditions remain in effect for the other behavior(s). After maximum change has been noted in the first behavior, the treatment variable is applied in sequential fashion to each of the other behaviors in the design. Experimental control is demonstrated if each behavior shows similar changes when, and only when, the treatment variable is introduced.

Multiple Control (of verbal behavior)

There are two types of multiple control. Convergent multiple control occurs when a single verbal response is a function of more than one variable (i.e., what is said has more than one antecedent source of control). Divergent multiple control occurs when a single antecedent variable affects the strength of more than one response.

Multiple-Exemplar Training

Instruction that provides the learner with practice with a variety of stimulus conditions, response variations, and response topographies to ensure the acquisition of desired stimulus control response forms; used to promote both setting/situation generalization and response generalization.

Multiple Probe Design

A variation of the multiple baseline design that features intermittent measures, or probes, during baseline. It is used to evaluate the effects of instruction on skill sequences in which it is unlikely that the subject can improve performance on later steps in the sequence before learning prior steps.

Multiple Schedule

A compound schedule of reinforcement consisting of two or more basic schedules of reinforcement (elements) that occur in an alternating, usually random, sequence; a discriminative stimulus is correlated with the presence or absence of each element of the schedule, and reinforcement is delivered for meeting the response requirements of the element in effect at any time.

Multiple Treatment Interference

The effects of one treatment on a subject’s behavior being confounding by the influence of another treatment administered in the same study.

Multiple Treatment Reversal Design

Any experimental design that uses the experimental methods and logic of the reversal tactic to compare the effects of two or more experimental conditions to baseline and/or to one another (e.g., A-B-A-B-C-B-C, or A-B-A-C-A-D-A-C-A-D).

Mutual Entailment

A bidirectional stimulus relation in which one direction (e.g., if A, then B) is directly learned and the other (if B, then A) is derived.

N

Naive observer

An observer who is unaware of the study’s purpose and/ or the experimental conditions in effect during a given phase or observation period. Data obtained by a naive observer are less likely to be influenced by observers’ expectations.

Naturally Existing Contingency

Any contingency of reinforcement (or punishment) that operates independent of the behavior analyst’s or practitioner’s efforts; includes socially mediated contingencies contrived by other people and already in effect in the relevant setting. (Contrast with contrived contingency.)

Negative Punishment

A response behavior followed immediately by the removal of a stimulus (or a decrease in the intensity of the stimulus) that results in similar responses occurring less often. (Contrast with positive punishment.)

Negative Reinforcement

A contingency in which the occurrence of a response is followed immediately by the termination, reduction, postponement, or avoidance of a stimulus, and which leads to an increase in the future occurrence of similar responses.

Negative reinforcer

A stimulus whose termination (or reduction in intensity) functions as reinforcement. (Contrast with positive reinforcer.)

Negligence

Failure to demonstrate professional integrity on the part of the provider that threatens the client’s health and safety; typically exhibited as nonfeasance—not doing what ought to be done.

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

A stimulus change that does not elicit respondent behavior. (Compare to conditioned stimulus [CS] and unconditioned stimulus [US].)

Nodal Stimulus (node)

A stimulus set that must be held in common across a minimum of two conditional discriminations to provide a basis for all equivalence properties.

Nonequivalence Relations

Derived stimulus relations in which stimuli are related on some basis other than “sameness.”

Noncontingent Reinforcement (NCR)

A procedure in which stimuli with known reinforcing properties are presented on fixed-time (FT) or variable-time (VT) schedules completely independent of behavior; often used as an antecedent intervention to reduce problem behavior. (See also fixed-time schedule [FT], variable-time schedule [VT].)

Noncontingent Reinforcement (NCR) Reversal Technique

An experimental control technique that demonstrates the effects of reinforcement by using noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) as a control condition instead of a no-reinforcement (baseline) condition. During the NCR condition, the stimulus change used as reinforcement in the reinforcement condition is presented on a fixed or variable time schedule independent of the subject’s behavior. A higher level of responding during the reinforcement condition than during the NCR condition demonstrates that the changes in behavior are the result of contingent reinforcement, not simply the presentation of or contact with the stimulus event. (Compare to DRI/DRA reversal technique and DRO reversal technique.)

Nonconcurrent Multiple Baseline Across Participants Design

An experimental design that consists of a related series of A-B (baseline-intervention) sequences conducted across participants at different points in time; often used to assess treatment effects when concurrent measurement of participants’ behavior is not possible.

Nonexclusion Time-Out

A procedure for implementing time-out in which, contingent on the occurrence of the target behavior, the person remains within the setting, but does not have access to reinforcement, for a specified period.

Normalization

As a philosophy and principle, the belief that people with disabilities should, to the maximum extent possible, be physically and socially integrated into the mainstream of society regardless of the degree or type of disability. As an approach to intervention, the use of progressively more typical settings and procedures.

O

Observed Value

A measure produced by an observation and measurement system. Observed values serve as the data that the researcher and others will interpret to form conclusions about an investigation.

Observer Drift

Any unintended change in the way an observer uses a measurement system over the course of an investigation that results in measurement error; often entails a shift in the observer’s interpretation of the original definitions of the target behavior subsequent to being trained.

Observer Reactivity

Influence on the data reported by an observer that results from the observer’s awareness that others are evaluating the data. (See also measurement bias and observer drift.)

Ontogeny

The history of the development of an individual organism during its lifetime. (See also history of reinforcement; compare to phylogeny.)

Operant Behavior

Behavior that is selected, maintained, and brought under stimulus control as a function of its consequences; each person’s repertoire of operant behavior is a product of his history of interactions with the environment (ontogeny).

Operant Conditioning

The basic process by which operant learning occurs; consequences (stimulus changes immediately following responses) result in an increased (reinforcement) or decreased (punishment) frequency of the same type of behavior under similar motivational and environmental conditions in the future.

Overall Response Rate

The rate of response over a given time period. (See also local response rate.)

Overcorrection

A behavior change tactic based on positive punishment in which, contingent on the problem behavior, the learner is required to engage in effortful behavior directly or logically related to fixing the damage caused by the behavior. Forms of overcorrection are restitutional overcorrection and positive practice overcorrection.

Overselective Stimulus Control

A condition in which the range of discriminative stimuli, or stimulus features controlling behavior, is extremely limited; often interferes with learning. (Also called stimulus overselectivity.)

Overshadowing

Occurs when the most salient component of a compound stimulus arrangement controls responding and interferes with the acquisition of stimulus control by the more relevant stimulus.

P

Parametric Analysis

An experiment designed to discover the differential effects of a range of values of an independent variable.

Parsimony

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

Partial-interval Recording

A time sampling method for measuring behavior in which the observation period is divided into a series of brief time intervals (typically from 5 to 10 seconds). The observer records whether the target behavior occurred at any time during the interval. Partial-interval recording is not concerned with how many times the behavior occurred during the interval or how long the behavior was present, just that it occurred at some point during the interval; tends to overestimate the proportion of the observation period that the behavior actually occurred.

Partition time-out

A variation of time-out from positive reinforcement in which contingent on the occurrence of the target behavior, the participant remains in the time-in setting, but his view of the setting is restricted by a panel or cubicle, or a select space is arranged to serve as the time-out area (i.e., a carpet, a corner). Sometimes called select space time-out.

Percentage

A ratio (i.e., a proportion) formed by combining the same dimensional quantities, such as count (number , number) or time (duration , duration; latency , latency); expressed as a number of parts per 100; typically expressed as a ratio of the number of responses of a certain type per total number of responses (or opportunities or intervals in which such a response could have occurred). A percentage presents a proportional quantity per 100.

Perspective Shifting

Responding as if from the vantage point of another person, place, or time than the personal here and now. philosophic doubt An attitude that the truthfulness and validity of all scientific theory and knowledge should be continually questioned.