ABA Principles and Concepts Flashcards

Which verbal operant is controlled by a nonverbal discriminative stimulus and produces generalized conditioned reinforcement?

Answer: Tact

A tact is a verbal operant evoked by a nonverbal stimulus (object, event, or property) and maintained by generalized conditioned reinforcement from the listener.

What is the defining feature of a mand in Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior?

Answer: It specifies its own reinforcer

A mand is a verbal operant whose form is controlled by a motivating operation and whose reinforcer is specifically related to the relevant motivating operation.

In applied behavior analysis, what is 'shaping'?

Answer: Differential reinforcement of successive approximations toward a target behavior

Shaping is the differential reinforcement of successive approximations to a terminal behavior, gradually moving the criterion closer to the desired final form.

Which concept refers to the spread of behavior change to untrained stimuli or responses that are similar to trained ones?

Answer: Generalization

Generalization is the occurrence of learned behavior in the presence of stimuli or responses other than those present during training, without explicit programming.

What is the term for the process by which a previously reinforced behavior decreases when reinforcement is no longer delivered?

Answer: Extinction

Extinction is the withholding of reinforcement for a previously reinforced behavior, resulting in a decrease in that behavior over time.

Which term describes the process of reinforcing the absence of a target behavior for a specified period?

Answer: DRO

Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) delivers reinforcement when the target problem behavior has not occurred during a set interval.