BCBA EXAM TERMS CHAPTER 1 TO 13 |ALL VERRIFFIED

BCBA EXAM TERMS PART 1 Chapter 1: Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis Task List Number / Item Basic Characteristic of Science / 3 levels of investigation of science (DPC) Description Systematic observation enhances the understanding of a given phenomenon by enabling scientists to describe it accurately. Descriptive knowledge consists of a collection of facts about the observed events that can be quantified, classified, and examined for possible relations with other known facts—a necessary and important activity for any scientific discipline. The knowledge obtained from descriptive studies often suggests possible hypotheses or questions for additional research. Prediction A second level of scientific understanding occurs when repeated observations reveal that two events consistently covary with each other. That is, in the presence of one event (e.g., approaching winter) another event occurs (or fails to occur) with some specified probability (e.g., certain birds fly south). When systematic covariation between two events is found, this relationship— termed a correlation—can be used to predict the relative probability that one event will occur, based on the presence of the other event. Control The ability to predict with a certain degree of confidence is a valuable and useful result of science; prediction enables preparation. However, the greatest potential benefits from science are derived from the third, and highest, level of scientific understanding—control. Evidence of the kinds of control that can be derived from scientific findings in the physical and biological sciences surrounds us in the everyday technologies we take for granted: pasteurized milk and the refrigerators we store it in; flu shots and the automobiles we drive to go get them; pain relievers and the televisions that bombard us with advertisements and news stories about the drugs. A functional relation exists when a well-controlled experiment demonstrates that a specific change in one event (the dependent variable) is reliably produced by specific manipulations of another event (the independent variable), and that the change in the dependent variable was unlikely to be the result of other extraneous factors (confounding variables). Attitudes of Science (DEER PP) Assumptions and Attitudes of Science Determinism Science is predicated on the assumption of determinism. All scientists presume that the universe is a lawful and orderly place in which all phenomena occur as the result of other events. In other words, events do not just happen willy-nilly; they are related in systematic ways to other factors, which are themselves physical phenomena amenable to scientific investigation. Empiricism Scientific knowledge is built on, above all, empiricism—the practice of objective observation and measurement of the phenomena of interest. Objectivity in this sense means “independent of the individual prejudices, tastes, and private opinions of the scientist. Results of empirical methods are objective in that they are open to anyone’s observation and do not depend on the subjective belief of the individual scientist” The scientist’s empirical attitude, however, demands objective observation based on thorough description, systematic and repeated measurement, and precise quantification of the phenomena of interest.