Chapter 1 of 95% of exam

Behaviorism and Philosophical Foundations

Domain A covers what behavior analysis is trying to do as a science, the assumptions it rests on, and how the philosophy, the basic science, the applied science and professional practice relate. Items tend to ask you to name the assumption or dimension a short scenario illustrates.

Goals of the science

The outline names three goals: description, prediction and control. Each is a stronger level of understanding than the last, and only control shows that one variable is responsible for a change in another. A scenario item usually hinges on whether a variable was actually manipulated.

Description

Systematic observation that produces quantifiable facts about behavior, such as when and how often it occurs.

BACB BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) A.1

Prediction

Knowing that two events reliably co-vary, which allows one to be predicted from the other; correlation alone does not show cause.

BACB BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) A.1

Control

Showing that behavior changes when a specific environmental variable is manipulated, and only then: a functional relation.

BACB BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) A.1; Skinner, Science and Human Behavior (1953)

Philosophical assumptions

The outline lists selectionism, determinism, empiricism, parsimony and pragmatism. Questions usually describe a reasoning step and ask which assumption it reflects, so learn each as something a practitioner does, not only as a definition. Mentalistic explanations, which appeal to inner causes, are what these assumptions steer away from.

Selectionism

Operant behavior is selected by its consequences over a lifetime, in parallel with natural selection of species and selection of cultural practices.

Skinner, Selection by consequences, Science 213 (1981)

Determinism

Behavior is lawful: it is the result of identifiable causes rather than random or self-initiated.

BACB BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) A.2

Empiricism

Knowledge comes from objective observation and measurement rather than opinion or authority.

BACB BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) A.2

Parsimony

Rule out the simplest, already-established explanations before turning to more complex or hypothetical ones.

BACB BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) A.2

Pragmatism

Ideas are judged by whether they lead to effective action and prediction.

BACB BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) A.2

Radical behaviorism and the branches of the field

Radical behaviorism treats private events such as thinking and feeling as behavior governed by the same variables as public behavior. The outline also asks you to separate the philosophy from the basic science, the applied science and practice. The same person can work in more than one branch, so classify the activity, not the job title.

Private events

Thinking and feeling are behavior, not inner causes; excluding them because only one person can observe them is methodological, not radical, behaviorism.

Skinner, The operational analysis of psychological terms (1945); About Behaviorism (1974)

Mentalism rejected

Explaining behavior by inner states (drives, will, the mind) is circular unless those states are themselves explained by environmental variables.

Skinner, About Behaviorism (1974)

Four branches

Behaviorism is the philosophy; the experimental analysis of behavior is basic research; applied behavior analysis studies socially significant behavior; professional practice delivers services guided by the science.

BACB BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) A.4

Dimensions of applied behavior analysis

Baer, Wolf and Risley's seven dimensions are the defining standard for applied work: applied, behavioral, analytic, technological, conceptually systematic, effective and generality. Expect scenarios asking which one a study meets or lacks. A study can be effective without being analytic, so check each dimension separately.

Applied and behavioral

Targets are socially significant for the person, and what is changed and measured is behavior itself.

Baer, Wolf & Risley, JABA 1 (1968)

Analytic

A believable demonstration that the intervention, and not something else, produced the change.

Baer, Wolf & Risley, JABA 1 (1968)

Technological and conceptually systematic

Procedures are described fully enough to replicate, and are tied to basic principles.

Baer, Wolf & Risley, JABA 1 (1968)

Effective and generality

The change is large enough to matter in practice, and it lasts over time or spreads to other settings or behaviors.

Baer, Wolf & Risley, JABA 1 (1968)

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