Behavioral Definitions and Principles
What this domain tests
Behavioral definitions and principles tests the concepts that underlie every procedure: operant and respondent conditioning, reinforcement and punishment, extinction, stimulus control, motivating operations, generalization, discrimination, and verbal operants.
Core rules
- Reinforcement increases behavior; punishment decreases it. Positive means a stimulus is added; negative means a stimulus is removed.
- An SD signals that reinforcement is available; an MO alters the value of a consequence and the momentary frequency of behavior.
- Extinction is the discontinuation of the maintaining reinforcer; it is not the same as ignoring.
- Stimulus generalization is responding to similar stimuli; discrimination is responding differently.
- Respondent behavior is elicited by antecedents; operant behavior is selected by consequences.
- Verbal operants include mand (request), tact (label), echoic (repetition), and intraverbal (conversation).
- Rule-governed behavior is controlled by verbal descriptions of contingencies.
Worked example
A child who has not eaten lunch cries at the grocery store; the grandmother buys candy. Later, the child cries as soon as they enter the store. The establishing operation is hunger; the store is an SD because it predicts candy; the grandmother's attention and candy reinforce crying. Reasoning: the MO explains why candy is valuable now; the SD explains why crying occurs there; the consequence explains maintenance. Calling the store a reinforcer confuses the antecedent with the consequence.
Traps
Confusing negative reinforcement with punishment; saying reinforcement "works" when behavior decreases; treating an MO as an SD; assuming a stimulus is reinforcing without a test; describing behavior with mentalistic terms.