BCBA NEW EXAM UPDATED LATEST QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔stimulus control - ✔✔a situation in which the frequency, latency, duration, or
amplitude of a behavior is altered by the presence or absence of an antecedent
stimulus
✔✔discriminated operant - ✔✔a behavior that occurs more frequently under some
antecedent conditions than it does in others
✔✔discriminative stimulus - ✔✔a stimulus in the presence of which responses of some
type have been reinforced and in the absence of which the same type of responses
have occurred and not been reinforced; increases momentary frequency of behavior
✔✔establishing operations - ✔✔a motivating operation that increases the effectiveness
of some stimulus, object, or event as a reinforcer (e.g. food deprivation leading to food
being an effective reinforcer)
✔✔contingency - ✔✔dependency of a particular consequence on the occurrence of the
behavior
,✔✔behavioral assessment - ✔✔a variety of methods (direct observation, interviews,
checklists, tests) to identify and define targets for behavior change---seeks to discover
the function of behavior
✔✔target behavior - ✔✔specific behavior selected for change; should consider whose
behavior is being assessed and changed and why
✔✔indirect assessment approaches - ✔✔interviews and checklists
✔✔direct assessment - ✔✔tests and direct observation
✔✔interview questions - ✔✔rely on what/when questions that focus on the
environmental conditions before, during, and after a behavioral episode
✔✔behavior checklist - ✔✔assessment that provides descriptions of specific behaviors
(in hierarchical order) and the conditions under which each behavior should occur
✔✔ABC recording - ✔✔also known as anecdotal observation; direct and repeated
observations of the client's behavior in the natural environment; records a descriptive,
temporally sequenced account of all behaviors of interest and the antecedent conditios
and consequences for those behaviors as those events occur in the client's natural
environment
✔✔ecological assessment - ✔✔gathering information about the person and the various
environments in which that person lives and works
✔✔reactivity - ✔✔effects of an assessment procedure on the behavior being assessed
✔✔habilitation - ✔✔the degree tow hich the person's repertoire maximizes short and
long term reinforcers for that individual and for others and minimizes short and long
term punishers
✔✔relevance of behavior rule - ✔✔a target behavior should be selected only when it
can be determined that the behavior is likely to produce reinforcement in the person's
natural environment
✔✔behavioral cusp - ✔✔a behavior that has consequences beyond the change itself;
exposes the individual's repertoire to new environments, especially new reinforcers and
punishers, new contingencies, new responses, new stimulus controls, and new
communities of maintaining or destructive contingencies
✔✔pivotal behavior - ✔✔a behavior that, once learned, produces corresponding
modifications or covariations in other adaptive untrained behaviors
, ✔✔normalization - ✔✔the use of progressively more typical environments, expectatios,
and procedures "to establish and/ore maintain personal behaviors which are as
culturally normal as possible"
✔✔necessary prerequisite for a useful skill, increase client's access to environments
where they can learn important behaviors, predispose others to interact with the client in
a more appropriate and supportive manner, behavioral cusp or pivotal behavior, age
appropriate behavior - ✔✔questions to ask about target behavior
✔✔determine replacement behavior and design intervention plan to ensure replacement
behavior is learned - ✔✔considerations for eliminating a behavior
✔✔prioritizing behaviors - ✔✔target post danger to client or others, how often does
problem occur, how long-standing is the problem, will changing this behavior produce
higher rates of reinforcement, relative importance of this target behavior to future
development & independent functioning, reduce negative or unwanted attention from
others, new behavior produce reinforcement for significant others, how likely is success,
how much will it cost
✔✔function-based definition - ✔✔definition of responses as members of the targeted
response class solely by their common effect on the environment; encompasses all
relevant forms of the response class
✔✔topography-based definition - ✔✔definition of behavior that identifies instances of
the target behavior by the shape or form of the behavior; used when there is no direct,
reliable, or easy access to functional outcome and/or cannot rely on function of behavior
✔✔target behavior definitions - ✔✔objective, observable, readable, unambiguous,
complete (examples & non-examples)
✔✔social validity - ✔✔refers to the extent to which target behaviors are appropriate,
intervention procedures are acceptable, and important and significant changes in target
and collateral behaviors are produced
✔✔repeatability - ✔✔instances of a response class can occur repeatedly through time
✔✔temporal extent - ✔✔every instance of behavior occurs during some amount of time
✔✔temporal locus - ✔✔every instance of behavior occurs at a certain point in time with
respect to other events
✔✔count - ✔✔simple tally of the number of occurrences of a behavior
✔✔rate - ✔✔number of responses per unit of time
AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔stimulus control - ✔✔a situation in which the frequency, latency, duration, or
amplitude of a behavior is altered by the presence or absence of an antecedent
stimulus
✔✔discriminated operant - ✔✔a behavior that occurs more frequently under some
antecedent conditions than it does in others
✔✔discriminative stimulus - ✔✔a stimulus in the presence of which responses of some
type have been reinforced and in the absence of which the same type of responses
have occurred and not been reinforced; increases momentary frequency of behavior
✔✔establishing operations - ✔✔a motivating operation that increases the effectiveness
of some stimulus, object, or event as a reinforcer (e.g. food deprivation leading to food
being an effective reinforcer)
✔✔contingency - ✔✔dependency of a particular consequence on the occurrence of the
behavior
,✔✔behavioral assessment - ✔✔a variety of methods (direct observation, interviews,
checklists, tests) to identify and define targets for behavior change---seeks to discover
the function of behavior
✔✔target behavior - ✔✔specific behavior selected for change; should consider whose
behavior is being assessed and changed and why
✔✔indirect assessment approaches - ✔✔interviews and checklists
✔✔direct assessment - ✔✔tests and direct observation
✔✔interview questions - ✔✔rely on what/when questions that focus on the
environmental conditions before, during, and after a behavioral episode
✔✔behavior checklist - ✔✔assessment that provides descriptions of specific behaviors
(in hierarchical order) and the conditions under which each behavior should occur
✔✔ABC recording - ✔✔also known as anecdotal observation; direct and repeated
observations of the client's behavior in the natural environment; records a descriptive,
temporally sequenced account of all behaviors of interest and the antecedent conditios
and consequences for those behaviors as those events occur in the client's natural
environment
✔✔ecological assessment - ✔✔gathering information about the person and the various
environments in which that person lives and works
✔✔reactivity - ✔✔effects of an assessment procedure on the behavior being assessed
✔✔habilitation - ✔✔the degree tow hich the person's repertoire maximizes short and
long term reinforcers for that individual and for others and minimizes short and long
term punishers
✔✔relevance of behavior rule - ✔✔a target behavior should be selected only when it
can be determined that the behavior is likely to produce reinforcement in the person's
natural environment
✔✔behavioral cusp - ✔✔a behavior that has consequences beyond the change itself;
exposes the individual's repertoire to new environments, especially new reinforcers and
punishers, new contingencies, new responses, new stimulus controls, and new
communities of maintaining or destructive contingencies
✔✔pivotal behavior - ✔✔a behavior that, once learned, produces corresponding
modifications or covariations in other adaptive untrained behaviors
, ✔✔normalization - ✔✔the use of progressively more typical environments, expectatios,
and procedures "to establish and/ore maintain personal behaviors which are as
culturally normal as possible"
✔✔necessary prerequisite for a useful skill, increase client's access to environments
where they can learn important behaviors, predispose others to interact with the client in
a more appropriate and supportive manner, behavioral cusp or pivotal behavior, age
appropriate behavior - ✔✔questions to ask about target behavior
✔✔determine replacement behavior and design intervention plan to ensure replacement
behavior is learned - ✔✔considerations for eliminating a behavior
✔✔prioritizing behaviors - ✔✔target post danger to client or others, how often does
problem occur, how long-standing is the problem, will changing this behavior produce
higher rates of reinforcement, relative importance of this target behavior to future
development & independent functioning, reduce negative or unwanted attention from
others, new behavior produce reinforcement for significant others, how likely is success,
how much will it cost
✔✔function-based definition - ✔✔definition of responses as members of the targeted
response class solely by their common effect on the environment; encompasses all
relevant forms of the response class
✔✔topography-based definition - ✔✔definition of behavior that identifies instances of
the target behavior by the shape or form of the behavior; used when there is no direct,
reliable, or easy access to functional outcome and/or cannot rely on function of behavior
✔✔target behavior definitions - ✔✔objective, observable, readable, unambiguous,
complete (examples & non-examples)
✔✔social validity - ✔✔refers to the extent to which target behaviors are appropriate,
intervention procedures are acceptable, and important and significant changes in target
and collateral behaviors are produced
✔✔repeatability - ✔✔instances of a response class can occur repeatedly through time
✔✔temporal extent - ✔✔every instance of behavior occurs during some amount of time
✔✔temporal locus - ✔✔every instance of behavior occurs at a certain point in time with
respect to other events
✔✔count - ✔✔simple tally of the number of occurrences of a behavior
✔✔rate - ✔✔number of responses per unit of time
