ABA Questions and Answers with
Verified Solutions
Abative Effect ✔✔a decrease in the current frequency of behavior that has been reinforced by
the stimulus that is increased in reinforcing effectiveness by the same motivating operation. Ex:
Food ingestion abates (decreases the current frequency of) behavior that has been reinforced by
food.
Abolishing Operation ✔✔A motivating operation that decreases the reinforcing effectiveness of
a stimulus, object, or event. Ex: the reinforcing effectiveness of food is abolished as a result of
food ingestion.
Adjunctive Behavior / Schedule-Induced Behavior ✔✔Behavior that occurs as a collateral effect
of a schedule of periodic reinforcement for other behavior: time filling or interim activities
(doodling, idle talking, smoking, drinking) that are induced by schedules of reinforcement during
times when reinforcement is unlikely to be delivered.
Antecedent ✔✔Environmental condition or stimulus change existing or occurring prior to a
behavior of interest.
,Antecedent Intervention ✔✔A behavior change strategy that manipulates contingency
independent antecedent stimuli (motivating operations)
Applied Behavior Analysis ✔✔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 of behavior.
Arbitrary Stimulus Class ✔✔Antecedent stimuli that evoke the same response but do not
resemble each other in physical form or share a relational aspect such as bigger or under (ex:
peanuts, cheese, coconut milk are members of the same arbitrary stimulus class if the evoke the
response "sources of protein".)
Artifact ✔✔An outcome or result that appears to exist because of the way it is measured but in
fact does not correspond to what actually occurred.
Autoclitic ✔✔a secondary verbal operant in which some aspect of a speakers own verbal
behavior functions as an Sd or MO for additional speaker verbal behavior. The autoclitic relation
can be thought of as verbal behavior about verbal behavior.
,Automatic Reinforcement ✔✔Reinforcement that occurs independent of the social mediation of
others.
Automacity of Reinforcement ✔✔Refers to the fact that behavior is modified by its
consequences irrespective of the person's awareness; a person does not have to recognize or
verbalize the relation between her behavior and a reinforcing consequence, or even know a
consequence has occurred, for reinforcement to work.
Aversive Stimulus ✔✔In general an unpleasant or noxious stimulus, more technically, a stimulus
change or condition that functions (a) to evoke a behavior that has terminated it in the past; (b) as
a punisher when presented following behavior, and/or (c) as a reinforcer when withdrawn
following behavior.
Backward Chaining ✔✔...Treatment procedure in which a trainer completes all but the last
behavior in a chain, which is performed by the learner, who then receivesreinforcement for
completing the chain. When learner shows competence in performing the final step in the chain,
the trainer performs al but the last two behaviors in the chain, the learner emits the final two
steps to compelte the chain, and reinforcement is delivered.
, Back up reinforcers ✔✔...Tangible objects, activiites or privledges that serve as reinforcers and
that can be purchased with tokens
Baseline ✔✔condition of an experiment in which the independent variable is not present
Behavior ✔✔...activity of living organisms. A portion of a humans interaction with their
environment that is characterized by detectable displacement in space though time of some part
of the organism and that results in a measurable change in at least one aspect of the environment.
Behavior Altering Effect ✔✔...an alteration in the current frequency of a behavior that has been
reinforced by a stimulus that has been altered in effectiveness by the same motivating operation
Behavioral Contrast ✔✔... a phenomenon in which change in one component of a multiple
schedule that increases or decreases the rate of responding on that component is accompanied by
a change in the response rate in the opposite direction on the other, unaltered component of the
schedule
Behavioral Cusp ✔✔...a behavior that has sudden and dramatic consequences that extend well
beyond the idiosyncratic change itself because it exposes the person to new environments,
reinforcers, contingencies, responses, and stimulus controls.
Verified Solutions
Abative Effect ✔✔a decrease in the current frequency of behavior that has been reinforced by
the stimulus that is increased in reinforcing effectiveness by the same motivating operation. Ex:
Food ingestion abates (decreases the current frequency of) behavior that has been reinforced by
food.
Abolishing Operation ✔✔A motivating operation that decreases the reinforcing effectiveness of
a stimulus, object, or event. Ex: the reinforcing effectiveness of food is abolished as a result of
food ingestion.
Adjunctive Behavior / Schedule-Induced Behavior ✔✔Behavior that occurs as a collateral effect
of a schedule of periodic reinforcement for other behavior: time filling or interim activities
(doodling, idle talking, smoking, drinking) that are induced by schedules of reinforcement during
times when reinforcement is unlikely to be delivered.
Antecedent ✔✔Environmental condition or stimulus change existing or occurring prior to a
behavior of interest.
,Antecedent Intervention ✔✔A behavior change strategy that manipulates contingency
independent antecedent stimuli (motivating operations)
Applied Behavior Analysis ✔✔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 of behavior.
Arbitrary Stimulus Class ✔✔Antecedent stimuli that evoke the same response but do not
resemble each other in physical form or share a relational aspect such as bigger or under (ex:
peanuts, cheese, coconut milk are members of the same arbitrary stimulus class if the evoke the
response "sources of protein".)
Artifact ✔✔An outcome or result that appears to exist because of the way it is measured but in
fact does not correspond to what actually occurred.
Autoclitic ✔✔a secondary verbal operant in which some aspect of a speakers own verbal
behavior functions as an Sd or MO for additional speaker verbal behavior. The autoclitic relation
can be thought of as verbal behavior about verbal behavior.
,Automatic Reinforcement ✔✔Reinforcement that occurs independent of the social mediation of
others.
Automacity of Reinforcement ✔✔Refers to the fact that behavior is modified by its
consequences irrespective of the person's awareness; a person does not have to recognize or
verbalize the relation between her behavior and a reinforcing consequence, or even know a
consequence has occurred, for reinforcement to work.
Aversive Stimulus ✔✔In general an unpleasant or noxious stimulus, more technically, a stimulus
change or condition that functions (a) to evoke a behavior that has terminated it in the past; (b) as
a punisher when presented following behavior, and/or (c) as a reinforcer when withdrawn
following behavior.
Backward Chaining ✔✔...Treatment procedure in which a trainer completes all but the last
behavior in a chain, which is performed by the learner, who then receivesreinforcement for
completing the chain. When learner shows competence in performing the final step in the chain,
the trainer performs al but the last two behaviors in the chain, the learner emits the final two
steps to compelte the chain, and reinforcement is delivered.
, Back up reinforcers ✔✔...Tangible objects, activiites or privledges that serve as reinforcers and
that can be purchased with tokens
Baseline ✔✔condition of an experiment in which the independent variable is not present
Behavior ✔✔...activity of living organisms. A portion of a humans interaction with their
environment that is characterized by detectable displacement in space though time of some part
of the organism and that results in a measurable change in at least one aspect of the environment.
Behavior Altering Effect ✔✔...an alteration in the current frequency of a behavior that has been
reinforced by a stimulus that has been altered in effectiveness by the same motivating operation
Behavioral Contrast ✔✔... a phenomenon in which change in one component of a multiple
schedule that increases or decreases the rate of responding on that component is accompanied by
a change in the response rate in the opposite direction on the other, unaltered component of the
schedule
Behavioral Cusp ✔✔...a behavior that has sudden and dramatic consequences that extend well
beyond the idiosyncratic change itself because it exposes the person to new environments,
reinforcers, contingencies, responses, and stimulus controls.
