Chapter 2:

Basic Concepts

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 Definition of Behavior
• “the behavior of an organism is that
portion of an organism’s interaction with
the environment that is characterized by
detectable displacement in space
through time of some part of the
organism and that results in measurable
change in at least one aspect of the
environment”
– Johnston & Pennypacker (1980, 1993a)
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 Definition of Behavior
• Behavior of an organism
• Portion of the organism’s interaction with the
environment
• Displacements in space through time
– Temporal locus
– Temporal extent
– Repeatability
• Results in a measurable change in some
aspect of the environment
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 Behavior or Response
• Behavior in reference to a larger set or
class of responses sharing certain
– Physical characteristics
– Functions
• Response
– Specific instance of behavior

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 Descriptions of behavior
Structural and functional
• Response topography
– Form
– Physical characteristics
• Functional
– Effects of behavior on environment

Saying the word fire while looking at the letters f-i-r-e different than
saying FIRE! When smelling smoke in a crowded theater.

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 Response Class
• A group of responses with the same
function
– Each response in the group produces the
same effect on the environment

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 Repertoire
• All behaviors a person can do
• Set or collection of knowledge and skills
a person has learned that are relevant
to a particular setting or tasks
– Repertoires with respect to language skills,
academic tasks, everyday routines,
recreation, & APPLIED BEHAVIOR
ANALYSIS
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 Environment
• All behavior occurs within an
environmental context;
• Behavior cannot be emitted in an
environmental void or vacuum

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 Environment
• Johnston & Pennypacker (1993a)
defintion
• Complex, dynamic universe of events
that differ from instance to instance
• Stimulus
– “an energy change that affects an organism
through its receptor cells”
• Michael, 2004, p. 7
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 Description of Stimulus Events
• Formally
– Physical features
• Temporally
– Occur with respect to a behavior of interest
• Functionally
– Effects on behavior

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 Stimulus Class
• Any group of stimuli sharing a
predetermined set of common elements
in one of more of these dimensions
– Formal dimensions of stimuli
– Temporal locus of stimuli
– Behavioral functions of stimulus changes

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 Formal dimensions of stimuli
• Descriptions, measurements,
manipulations based on
– Size, color, intensity, etc.
• Stimuli can be
– Social
– Nonsocial

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 Temporal locus of stimuli
• Behavior is affected by stimulus
changes that
– occur prior to (Antecedent)
– Immediately after the behavior
(Consequence)

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 Temporal locus of stimuli
• Antecedent
– Environmental conditions or stimulus
changes that exist or occur prior to the
behavior
• Play a critical part in learning and motivation
• Learners do not need to be aware of
antecedents for antecedents to effect behavior

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 Temporal locus of stimuli
• Consequence
– Stimulus change that follows a behavior of
interest
• Especially those that are immediate
• Relevant to current motivational states
• Influence on future behavior
– Other consequences have little effect

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 Temporal locus of stimuli –
Big Idea
• Consequences combine with the
antecedent conditions to determine
what is learned
– True, whether or not individual is aware or
systematically plans the consequences
• It’s happening all around us!

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 Behavioral functions of stimulus
changes
• Stimulus changes are best understood
through a functional analysis of their
effects on behavior
– Immediate control
– Delayed, or no apparent effect

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 Behavioral functions of stimulus
changes
• Stimulus changes
– An immediate but temporary effect of
increasing or decreasing the current
frequency of the behavior
– A delayed but relatively permanent effect in
terms of the frequency of that type of
behavior in the future
Michael (1995)

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 Stimulus Changes: Social &
Nonsocial

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 Respondent Behavior
• Behavior that is elicited by antecedent stimuli
– Induced, brought out by the stimulus that precedes
it
• Something in your eye elicits eye blink (reflex)
• Ready-made behaviors protect against harmful stimuli
• Stimulus-response relations
– Reflex
• Habituation
– Gradually diminishing response strength

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 Respondent Conditioning
• Experimental demonstrations of
respondent conditioning
– Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
– Digestive systems of dogs
– Animals salivated every time lab assistant
opened the cage door to feed them

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 Respondent Conditioning

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 Operant Behavior
• Any behavior whose future frequency is
determined primarily by its history of
consequences
– Selected
– Shaped
– Maintained by consequences
• Defined functionally, by their effects

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 Selection by Consequences
• All forms of life, from single cells to complex
cultures, evolve as a result of selection with
respect to function
Pennypacker, 1994, pp. 12 -13
• Ontogeny
– Operates during the lifetime of the individual
• Phylogeny
– Natural selection in the evolution of a species

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 Operant Conditioning
• Process and selective effects of
consequences on behavior
• “Functional consequence”
– Stimulus change that follows a given
behavior in a relatively immediate temporal
sequence and alters the frequency of that
type of behavior in the future

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 Operant Conditioning
• ‘Strengthen’ an operant
– Response more probable, more frequent
Skinner, 1953, p. 65
• Reinforcement has taken place when
– Operant conditioning consists of an
increase in response frequency

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 Type of Stimulus Change
• Insert Figure 2-2 here

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 Operant Conditioning
• Consequences can only affect future
behavior
• Consequences select response
classes, no individual responses
• Immediate consequences have the
greatest effect

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 Operant Conditioning
• Consequences select any behavior
– Reinforcement and punishment are equal
opportunity selectors
– Importance of temporal relations
• Operant conditioning occurs
automatically

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 Reinforcement
• Most important principle of behavior
• Key element to most behavior change
programs

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 Reinforcement - Defined
• If behavior is followed closely in time by
a stimulus event and as a result the
future frequency of that type of behavior
increases in similar conditions,
reinforcement has taken place

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 Stimulus Changes Functioning as
Reinforcers
• Positive Reinforcement (Adding)
– A new stimulus added to the environment
(or increased in intensity)
• Negative Reinforcement (Withdrawing)
– An already present stimulus removed from
the environment (or reduced in intensity)

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 Stimulus Changes Functioning as
Reinforcers

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Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition All rights reserved
 Stimulus Changes Functioning as
Reinforcers

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Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition All rights reserved
 Reinforcement – Big Ideas
• Always means an increase in response
rate
• The modifiers positive (adding) and
negative (withdrawing)
– Describe the type of stimulus change
operation that best characterizes the
consequence
Additional information on schedules of reinforcement in Chapter 13
Principle of Extinction and its use as a behavior change tactic in
Chapter 21
Cooper, Heron, and Heward Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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 Punishment
• If behavior is followed closely in time by
a stimulus event and as a result the
future frequency of that type of behavior
decreases in similar conditions,
punishement has taken place

Cooper, Heron, and Heward Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition All rights reserved
 Stimulus Changes Functioning as
Punishers
• Positive Punishment (Adding)
– Punishment by contingent stimulation
– A new stimulus added to the environment (or
increased in intensity)
– Type I
• Negative Punishment (Withdrawing)
– Punishment by contingent withdrawal of a positive
reinforcer
– An already present stimulus removed from the
environment (or reduced in intensity)
– Type II
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 Stimulus Changes Functioning as
Punishers

Cooper, Heron, and Heward Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition All rights reserved
 Stimulus Changes Functioning as
Punishers

Cooper, Heron, and Heward Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition All rights reserved
 Punishment – Big Ideas
• Always means a decrease in response
rate
• The modifiers positive (adding) and
negative (withdrawing)
– Describe the type of stimulus change
operation that best characterizes the
consequence

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Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition All rights reserved
 Principles and Behavior Change
Tactics
• Principle of behavior
– Describes a functional relation between
behavior and one or more of its controlling
variables (b = fx)
• Thorough generality across individual
organisms, species, settings, behaviors
• Empirical generalization inferred from many
experiments
• Describe how behavior works
• Reinforcement, punishment, extinction
Cooper, Heron, and Heward Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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 Principles and Behavior Change
Tactics
• Behavior change tactic
– Research-based, technologically
consistent method for changing behavior
that has been derived from one or more
basic principles of behavior
• Sufficient generality across subjects, settings,
and or behaviors to warrant its codification &
dissemination
– Technological aspect of ABA

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Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition All rights reserved
 Principles and Behavior Change
Tactics – Big Idea
• Principles
– Describe how behavior works
– Lawful relationship between behavior,
• An immediate consequence, and an increased
frequency of the behavior in the future under
similar conditions
• Behavior change tactics
– Are how applied behavior analysts put the
principles to work to help people learn and
use socially significant behaviors
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 What kinds of stimulus changes
function as reinforcers and
punishers?
• Unconditioned reinforcement and
punishment
– Function irrespective of prior learning
history

Cooper, Heron, and Heward Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition All rights reserved
 What kinds of stimulus changes
function as reinforcers and
punishers?
• Conditioned reinforcers and punishers
– Function as such based on previous
pairings with other reinforcers and
punishers

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 Motivating Operations

• Function
– Alters the current value of stimulus
changes as reinforcement or punishment
• Satiation
• Deprivation

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 Discriminated Operant

• Occurs more frequently under some

antecedent conditions than it does under
others
• Stimulus Control
– Differential rates of operant responding observed
in the presence or absence of antecedent stimuli
– Due to pairings (antecedent/consequence) in the
past, antecedents acquire the ability to control
operant behavior

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 Three-Term Contingency

• Antecedent (A) – Behavior (B) –

Consequence (C)
– Basic unit of analysis in the analysis of
operant behavior
– All ABA procedures involve the
manipulation of one or more components
of the 3-term contingency

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 The Complexity of Human Behavior

• Highly complex variables governing

human behavior
• Human capabilities
– Large repertoires of response chains,
verbal behavior
• Analysis of control complicated by
– Individual differences in histories of
reinforcement
– Practical, ethical, logistical, etc. issues

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Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition All rights reserved