(1) Leave a one inch margin on the left side of your answer sheet

Psyc 4720 Experimental Analysis of Behavior Fall 2010 Unit 1 Exam
Name: ______________________________
ID#: ___ ___ ___ ___
Exam + Class =
41 9 50
(1) Write your answers in the space provided under each question.
(2) Read the questions carefully and be sure to answer each as asked.
1) Jack and Jill were asked by their mother to bring a pail of water home after school (since the well
was between their house and the school). Jill arrived home with the water and Jack did not.
a) If we explained this outcome by saying Jill had a better memory than Jack, would this be a
structural or functional explanation? ____Structural_____(1 pt)
Why? (2 pts) The critical aspect of the answer for this question is to identify the structural part
of the explanation as a thing (the hypothetical thing called a memory). The mother explains the
different behavior in terms of a “a bettter memory”. The word memory is a noun ( a thing,
hypothetical in this case) and is an invented structure used to explain the behavior.
b) If we explained this outcome by saying that the mother considered Jill more mature than Jack
and often told Jill how much she appreciated her helpfulness would this be a structural or
functional explanation? _____functional________ (1 pt)
c) Why? (2 pts) The critical part of this answer is to refer to outcomes to explain the remembering
behavior. The mother praised Jill for being helpful.
2) Distinguish a stimulus class from a response class by definition (2 pts) and example (2 pts). Stimuli
are environmental changes that affect our receptors. A flashing light we see is a visual stimulus; a
sound of a train is an auditory stimulus. If these two stimuli have the same function (like causing
us to put our foot on the brake and stop our car) we say they are in a stimulus class. A response is
a muscle movement or glandular secretion. Moving our foot to the brake, turning our heads to look
at the approaching train and sweating a little are all examples of responses. If they were all evoked
by the train related stimulus and serve the same function we would put them in the same response
class.
3) Explain what is meant by the reference to a “biological context of behavior”. (2 pts) Biological
context refers to the physiology of the organism that influences how they act, what they can learn.
a) What is an example of a biological context of human behavior (1 pt) Humans can learn to talk
but chimps cannot. Humans cannot learn to fly like birds.
b) Why do you consider it an example of a biological context? (2 pts) The physiology of the
human brain, nervous system, voice box, mouth and tongue is the biological context that
facilitates talking. The chimp does not have this same physiology so trying to teach them to
talk is futile because they lack the right biological context for learning. Humans lack the wing
structure and light weight b<strong>one</strong>s for flight like birds have. They don’t have the biological
context for learning to fly.
4) Explain how “selection by consequences” might explain why children, over time, learn to talk like
their parents. (3 pts) Selection by consequences refers to explaining by looking at outcomes. If a
child’s behavior is reinforced by parental attention and parents pay more attention to their child’s
speech when is sounds like their own, they are selectively attending to certain vocal patterns and
“selecting” those patterns by reinforcing them with their attention (the consequence that is

Psyc 4720 Experimental Analysis of Behavior Fall 2010 Unit 1 Exam
selecting which vocal pattern will be repeated in the future.
a) Would you consider this selection at the phylogenic level or the ontogenic level? (1 pt)
Ontogenic
b) Why? (2 pts) It is learning (a behavior change) that is occurring within the lifetime of the child
and not a change in behavioral tendencies across generations of the species.
5) Is the model of causation described in question 4 an example of immediate causation or remote
causation? (1 pt). ____remote_______
a) Explain why you consider it an example of this type of causation. (2 pts) The behavior change
is not elicited by a prior stimulus in an immediate sense but is gradually brought about by a
history of consequences (a history or reinforcement). Past consequences make the speech
patterns of the child that sound like the parent more likely and <strong>one</strong>s that don’t sound like the
parent less likely. There is a longer time period between the causal event and the outcome.
6) What are “establishing operations” (often referred to as motivating operations now)? (2 pts)
Establishing operations make consequences more or less reinforcing and evoke (or inhibit) the
behavior that has produced these consequences in the past.
a) How would you use this to explain why a dog will do tricks for praise and pats at home but will
not do the tricks at the park where they just run around sniffing everything? (2 pts) At home
praise and pats are reinforcing because home environment is familiar and the praise and pats
have been established as reinforcers. At the park the EO has changed because there are other
reinforcers (novel smells) available. Sniffing is the behavior evoked because of the present
strong reinforcer of novel smells and praise or pats are less reinforcing in this environment. If
we could make access to the smells contingent on doing tricks, the dog would do that for the
smells rather than the pats at the park but do it for the pats at home where no new smells are
present.
7) Describe an example of a single-subject research design. Say what changes in the data (trend and
level in the various conditions) are needed to determine the independent variable produced the
effects in the dependent variable. (6 pts) ABAB or Multiple Baseline research design. Include a
baseline where DV is measured for several sessions without intervention of IV. Introduce IV while
holding everything else constant and continue measuring DV for several sessions. In Multiple
baseline do this in a staggered sequence with three settings, three behaviors or three participants. In
ABAB, repeat the baseline and intervention phases. If the data in the baselines are stable (no
trends up or down) at a particular level and then changes quickly to a new level (often trending up
or down) when the IV is present we say we have an effect. If we return to baseline conditions and
the data return to baseline levels (trending back to the previous level) we have evidence that our
intervention caused our DV change. In the Multiple Baseline design we should see changes in
level and trend in each of the graphs ONLY when the intervention was introduced.

Psyc 4720 Experimental Analysis of Behavior Fall 2010 Unit 1 Exam
8) How does the experimental analysis of behavior differ from what is usually found in applied
behavior analysis? (2 pts) EAB involves basic research in which the studies are conducted to
discover new knowledge or principles. ABA seeks to discover solutions to practical problems
usually in applied settings.
9) What do behavior analysts mean by culture (2 pts)? Consistent conditions arranged by a group to
regulate the behavior of individuals. These conditions are considered cultural practices.
a) What is “cultural evolution” (2 pts) and why would behavior analysts be interested in it? (1 pt)
Cultural practices are selected by their consequences and cultures gradually change because of
this (called cultural evolution). Because behavior analysts are interested in what influences the
behavior of individuals they study cultural practices and how they change so they can better
explain the behavior patterns of those they study
---------------------------------------------Bonus Points------------------------------------------------
10) What contributions to behavior analysis are associated with :
a) J.B. Watson? (1 pt) Father of Behaviorism. Brought Pavlov’s conditioning methods to
American psychologists.
b) E. Thorndike? (1 pt) Law of Effect. Used cats to be the first American psychologist to study
the way consequences affect behavior.
11) How did Skinner differ from Watson when referring to internal events such as thoughts and
feelings? (2 pts) Both acknowledge internal events but Watson ignored them in his approach
because they couldn’t be studied objectively. Skinner included them in his analysis but not a
special causal events but as more stimuli and responses to be considered.