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Defining Behavior
Irmelle Norvil
Southeastern University
PSY7709 Advanced Concepts in Applied Behavior Analysis
Christopher Rosado
07.25.2021
Defining Behavior
The act of doing something is defined as behavior. The act of being self-contained. The behavior of a person in reaction to a situation or event. Subjective ideas, feelings, and emotions are not defined by behavior. Only observable facts are used to measure behavior. In this assignment, I wish to further define behavior, talk about environmental contingencies such as antecedents and consequences, identify either a functional or topography response class, analyze the difference and similarities between a response class and a stimulus class and provide examples for both.
Define operationally the behaviors you chose:
Naomi kicks and bites her mother and ran.
The teacher throws away her trash every day.
The photographer blinks before capturing each photo.
Describe the environmental contingencies surrounding each behavior:
Naomi kicks and bites her mother and ran.
Antecedent: Her mother asked her to put her clothes on.
Behavior: kicking and biting.
Consequence: Her mother puts her in time out.
The teacher throws away her trash every day.
Antecedent: Her trash is full every day.
Behavior: throwing away.
Consequence: She feels at ease leaving her classroom with no mess.
The photographer blinks before capturing each photo.
Antecedent: Getting ready to take the photo.
Behavior: blinking.
Consequence: Takes the perfect photo.
Identify to which response class each behavior belongs:
Kicking and biting: The functional response class includes numerous features. Kicking and biting have different topographies, yet they both serve the same purpose of avoiding “putting her clothing on.”
Throwing away: This is categorized under topographic response class because getting rid of the trash can be a result of different things such as: keeping a clean environment, helping children in the classroom practice the same, etc… depending on the outlook of the situation.
Blinking: Same with throwing away the trash, this behavior falls under the topographic response class because blinking may be a direct effect on the environment, being anxious for the event, or being in shock due to different environmental factors.
PART II:
Identify differences and similarities between a response class and a stimulus class:
“A response class is a group of responses with the same function (that is, each response in the group produces the same effect on the environment)” (Cooper et. all., 2007, pg.25).
“It is the response class topographically different, but functionally similar responses- that is strengthened or weakened by operant conditioning…. The concept of response class is a key to the development and elaboration of new behavior (Cooper et. all., 2007, pg.34). Response class is defined as a group of responses of various topographies yet they all produce the same function, where areas a stimulus class is a group of stimuli that shares common elements through temporal, and/or functional characteristics (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007).
References
Cooper, J. O., Heron, T.E., & Heward, W. L. (2007). Applied behavior analysis (2nd ed.). Upper saddle Rover, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.
Miltenberger, R. G. (2016). Behavior modification: Principles and procedures (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
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