BCBA Exam – Operant Conditioning, Respondent Behavior,
Reinforcement, Punishment, Extinction, Schedules of Reinforcement,
Motivating Operations, Functional Assessment, Shaping, Chaining,
Stimulus Control, Discriminative Stimulus, Antecedent, Consequence,
Generalization, Maintenance, Verbal Behavior, Mand, Tact, Intraverbal,
Echoic, Textual, Transcription, Conditioned Reinforcer, Unconditioned
Reinforcer, Differential Reinforcement, Overcorrection, Time-Out,
Response Cost, Behavior Cusp, Pivotal Behavior, Ethics, Data-Based
Decision Making, Scientific Attitudes, and Experimental Analysis of
Behavior Exam Questions Verified and Provided with Complete A+
Graded Rationales Latest Updated 2026
1968
JABA was established
Baer Wolf Ridley published "Some Current Dimensions of ABA"
ABA
The science in which tactics derived from the principles of behavior are applied to improve
socially significant behavior and experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for
the improvement in behavior.
,behavior
the activity of living organisms, includes everything that people do and say.
behaviorism
the philosophy of the science of behavior
controlling variable
The environmental events (antecedents and consequences) that influence the probability of a
particular behavior.
covert behavior
Behavior that is not observable to others.
determinism (attitude of Science)
the assumption that the universe if a lawful and orderly place in which phenomena occur in
relation to other events and not in a willy nilly accidental fashion
discriminated operant
An operant that occurs more frequently under some antecedent conditions than under others.
,Empiricism (Attitude of Science)
The objective observation of the phenomena of interest
environment
The conglomerate of real circumstances in which the organism or referenced part of the
organism exists
**Behavior cannot occur in the absence of an environment.
environmental variables
Variables that are relevant to describing the stimulus environment.
**These can include people and items present.
experiment
a carefully controlled comparison of some measure of the phenomenon of interest under two
or more different conditions in which only one factor at a time 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 vairable, 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
explanatory fiction
A 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.
hypothetical construct
a presumed but unobserved process or entity
Mentalism (attitude of Science)
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.
methodological behaviorism
A philosophical position that views behavioral events that cannot be publicly observed as
outside the realm of science.
Reinforcement, Punishment, Extinction, Schedules of Reinforcement,
Motivating Operations, Functional Assessment, Shaping, Chaining,
Stimulus Control, Discriminative Stimulus, Antecedent, Consequence,
Generalization, Maintenance, Verbal Behavior, Mand, Tact, Intraverbal,
Echoic, Textual, Transcription, Conditioned Reinforcer, Unconditioned
Reinforcer, Differential Reinforcement, Overcorrection, Time-Out,
Response Cost, Behavior Cusp, Pivotal Behavior, Ethics, Data-Based
Decision Making, Scientific Attitudes, and Experimental Analysis of
Behavior Exam Questions Verified and Provided with Complete A+
Graded Rationales Latest Updated 2026
1968
JABA was established
Baer Wolf Ridley published "Some Current Dimensions of ABA"
ABA
The science in which tactics derived from the principles of behavior are applied to improve
socially significant behavior and experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for
the improvement in behavior.
,behavior
the activity of living organisms, includes everything that people do and say.
behaviorism
the philosophy of the science of behavior
controlling variable
The environmental events (antecedents and consequences) that influence the probability of a
particular behavior.
covert behavior
Behavior that is not observable to others.
determinism (attitude of Science)
the assumption that the universe if a lawful and orderly place in which phenomena occur in
relation to other events and not in a willy nilly accidental fashion
discriminated operant
An operant that occurs more frequently under some antecedent conditions than under others.
,Empiricism (Attitude of Science)
The objective observation of the phenomena of interest
environment
The conglomerate of real circumstances in which the organism or referenced part of the
organism exists
**Behavior cannot occur in the absence of an environment.
environmental variables
Variables that are relevant to describing the stimulus environment.
**These can include people and items present.
experiment
a carefully controlled comparison of some measure of the phenomenon of interest under two
or more different conditions in which only one factor at a time 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 vairable, 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
explanatory fiction
A 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.
hypothetical construct
a presumed but unobserved process or entity
Mentalism (attitude of Science)
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.
methodological behaviorism
A philosophical position that views behavioral events that cannot be publicly observed as
outside the realm of science.
