Your FREE BCBA Flashcards 2026 – 250+ Cards

The science in which tactics derived from the principles of behavior are applied to improve socially significant behavior, and experimentation identifies the variables responsible for change.

Skinner's philosophy that treats private events (thoughts, feelings) as behavior governed by the same principles, while explaining behavior through environmental — not mentalistic — causes.

A philosophy that limits the science to publicly observable events and excludes private events from analysis.

An approach that attributes behavior to inner, often unobservable, mental causes; rejected by radical behaviorism.

Description (recording what happens), prediction (identifying correlations), and control (demonstrating a functional relation that allows behavior to be changed).

Recording and quantifying observed events; the most basic goal of a science of behavior.

Identifying correlations between events that allow one to anticipate behavior.

Demonstrating a functional relation in which manipulating an environmental variable reliably changes behavior; the highest goal of ABA.

The assumption that the universe is lawful and orderly, so events (including behavior) have causes that can be discovered.

The practice of objective observation and measurement of the phenomena of interest.

Ruling out simple, logical explanations before considering more complex or abstract ones.

Continually questioning the truthfulness of what is regarded as fact; remaining skeptical and open to new evidence.

Judging the truth of a concept or principle by its practical, demonstrable effects.

The view that behavior is selected by its consequences, analogous to natural selection.

The basic-research branch of behavior analysis that studies principles of behavior, typically in controlled (often nonhuman) settings.

Baer, Wolf & Risley (1968): applied, behavioral, analytic, technological, conceptually systematic, effective, and generality (mnemonic: GET A CAB).

The behavior targeted is socially significant to the individual.

The study works on measurable behavior itself, not on labels or verbal reports.

The study demonstrates a functional relation between the intervention and the behavior change.

Procedures are described clearly and completely enough to be replicated.

Interventions are derived from and described in terms of the basic principles of behavior.

The intervention produces a socially meaningful change in behavior.

Behavior change lasts over time, appears in other settings, and spreads to other behaviors.

A fictitious, often circular, variable offered as a cause of behavior (e.g., 'he hit because he is aggressive').

A presumed but unobserved entity that supposedly explains behavior; not a valid behavioral cause.

Behavior or stimuli accessible only to the person experiencing them (thoughts, feelings); analyzed as behavior in radical behaviorism.

ABA = applied research on socially significant behavior; EAB = basic research on principles; professional practice = service delivery guided by the science.

A consequence that increases the future frequency of the behavior it follows; defined by its effect on behavior.

The activity of living organisms; anything an organism does that can be observed and measured.

A single instance or occurrence of a specific class of behavior.

A group of responses that produce the same effect on the environment (have the same function).

An energy change that affects an organism through its sensory receptors.

A group of stimuli that share specified physical, temporal, or functional characteristics.

Learning in which behavior is strengthened or weakened by its consequences.

Pavlovian (classical) conditioning in which a neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response after pairing with an unconditioned stimulus.

The basic unit of analysis: antecedent (A), behavior (B), and consequence (C).

A consequence that decreases the future frequency of the behavior it follows.

Adding a stimulus after a behavior, which increases the behavior's future frequency.

Removing or postponing a stimulus after a behavior, which increases the behavior's future frequency (e.g., escape).

Adding a stimulus after a behavior, which decreases the behavior's future frequency.

Removing a stimulus after a behavior, which decreases its future frequency (e.g., response cost, time-out).

Reinforcement produced directly by the behavior itself, independent of others' actions (e.g., sensory stimulation).

A contingency in which another person delivers the consequence (e.g., attention, escape from demands).

A stimulus that functions as a reinforcer without any prior learning (e.g., food, water).

A previously neutral stimulus that acquires reinforcing value through pairing with other reinforcers.

A conditioned reinforcer paired with many backups, so its value does not depend on one motivating operation (e.g., tokens, money).

A stimulus that decreases behavior without prior learning (e.g., painful stimulation).

A previously neutral stimulus that becomes a punisher through pairing with other punishers.

Withholding the reinforcer that maintained a behavior, which decreases the behavior over time.

A temporary increase in the frequency, intensity, or duration of a behavior when extinction is first applied.

The reappearance of an extinguished behavior after a period without exposure to the extinction contingency.

Repeatedly presenting a conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus until the conditioned response weakens.

A schedule that delivers reinforcement after a set number of responses; produces high rates with a post-reinforcement pause.

A schedule that delivers reinforcement after a variable (averaged) number of responses; produces high, steady rates resistant to extinction.

A schedule reinforcing the first response after a set time elapses; produces a scalloped response pattern.

A schedule reinforcing the first response after a variable (averaged) time; produces steady, moderate rates.

A disruption in responding (pauses, avoidance) caused by thinning a ratio schedule too quickly.

A schedule reinforcing every occurrence of the behavior; useful for acquisition of a new skill.

Reinforcing some but not all occurrences; produces behavior more resistant to extinction than CRF.

Two or more schedules of reinforcement operating independently and simultaneously for two or more behaviors.

Two or more component schedules presented one at a time, each with a distinct discriminative stimulus.

Two or more component schedules that must be completed in sequence to obtain reinforcement, each with its own stimulus.

The change in a behavior's rate, latency, or form produced by the presence of an antecedent stimulus.

A stimulus in the presence of which a response has been reinforced, so the response is more likely; signals reinforcement is available.

A stimulus in the presence of which a response has not been reinforced, so the response is less likely.

Responding differently to different stimuli, established by reinforcing in the SD but not the S-delta.

The spread of responding to stimuli that share features with the trained discriminative stimulus.

The occurrence of untrained responses that are functionally similar to the trained response.

The continuation of a behavior after the intervention that produced it has been withdrawn.

An environmental variable that alters the value of a reinforcer and the frequency of behavior that produces it.

A motivating operation that increases the value of a reinforcer (e.g., deprivation).

A motivating operation that decreases the value of a reinforcer (e.g., satiation).

The effect of an MO that increases or decreases the reinforcing effectiveness of a stimulus.

The effect of an MO that increases or decreases the current frequency of behavior related to a stimulus.

A motivating operation whose value-altering effect does not depend on learning (e.g., food deprivation).

A motivating operation whose value-altering effect depends on a learning history.

An SD signals reinforcement is AVAILABLE; an MO changes how VALUABLE the reinforcer is and how often the behavior occurs.

Behavior controlled by a verbal description of a contingency rather than by direct contact with the contingency.

Behavior acquired and maintained by direct contact with the contingency.

Behavior reinforced through the mediation of another person; classified by Skinner into verbal operants.

A verbal operant — a request — controlled by a motivating operation and reinforced by the specific item or action requested.

A verbal operant — a label or comment — controlled by a nonverbal stimulus and reinforced by generalized social reinforcement.

A verbal operant with point-to-point correspondence and formal similarity to a verbal model (vocal imitation).

A verbal operant evoked by a verbal stimulus without point-to-point correspondence (conversation, fill-ins).

Behavior of the person who responds to the speaker's verbal behavior; includes following instructions.

A single verbal response controlled by more than one variable, or one variable affecting multiple responses.

The tendency of behavior to persist after a change in conditions, related to its reinforcement history.

The principle that response rates are distributed across concurrent schedules in proportion to the reinforcement obtained from each.

A behavior controlled by a model that has formal similarity and immediately follows the model.

Learning a behavior by watching another person's behavior and its consequences.

Presenting a neutral stimulus with an established reinforcer so the neutral stimulus acquires reinforcing value.

Time without contact with a reinforcer, which acts as an establishing operation increasing its value.

Recent heavy contact with a reinforcer, which acts as an abolishing operation decreasing its value.

Premack uses a higher-probability behavior to reinforce a lower one; response-deprivation theory predicts reinforcement when access to a behavior is restricted below baseline.

A decrease in respondent behavior with repeated presentation of the eliciting stimulus.

A CMO-R: a stimulus that precedes worsening/improving conditions and evokes behavior that has avoided that change (e.g., a warning).

Reinforcing a response in the presence of an SD and withholding it in the S-delta to bring behavior under stimulus control.

Imitation of novel models that occurs without direct reinforcement, after a history of reinforced imitation.

A clear, objective, measurable description of a target behavior so observers agree on whether it occurred.

A simple count of the number of occurrences of a behavior.

Frequency of a behavior per unit of time (count divided by time).

A measure of how long a behavior lasts from onset to offset.

The elapsed time between an antecedent (e.g., an instruction) and the onset of the response.

The elapsed time between the end of one response and the beginning of the next.

The force, intensity, or severity of a response.

A measure of how rates of response change over time (acceleration or deceleration).

A measurable change in the environment produced by behavior, allowing after-the-fact measurement (e.g., completed worksheets).

Recording every instance of the target behavior during the observation; the most accurate approach.

Sampling behavior in time blocks rather than recording every instance; more practical but estimates levels.

Scoring an interval if the behavior occurred at any point; tends to overestimate duration.

Scoring an interval only if the behavior occurred throughout; tends to underestimate duration.

Scoring whether the behavior is occurring at the moment each interval ends; good for continuous, group behaviors.

A measure of the number of response opportunities needed to reach a predetermined level of performance.

The extent to which a measure reflects the behavior of interest and serves the reason for measuring.

The consistency of measurement — the extent to which repeated measurement yields the same values.

The extent to which observed values match the true values of the behavior.

The degree to which two or more independent observers report the same values; the primary index of reliability.

The degree to which an intervention is implemented as designed; also called treatment fidelity.

Another term for procedural integrity — how faithfully a procedure is carried out as written.

The most common ABA graph; equal distances on the y-axis represent equal amounts of behavior change.

A graph on which the y-axis accumulates responses over time, so the slope shows response rate.

A graph that uses bars to display and compare discrete sets of data not amenable to a line graph.

The value on the y-axis around which a series of data points converge; the average amount of behavior.

The overall direction of a data path (increasing, decreasing, or flat) and its degree.

The degree to which data points differ from one another; high variability obscures effects.

Interpreting graphed data by examining level, trend, variability, and changes across conditions.

The amount of an intervention delivered (e.g., hours of therapy), tracked as part of procedural data.

An IOA method comparing the smaller total count to the larger total count across an entire session.

An IOA method averaging the agreement of counts within each interval; more conservative than total-count IOA.

The most conservative IOA: the percentage of intervals in which observers recorded the identical count.

A semi-logarithmic chart used in precision teaching to display celeration (rate change) over time.

The behavior being measured and predicted to change in an experiment.

The intervention or variable the experimenter systematically manipulates.

Demonstrated when manipulating the independent variable reliably changes the dependent variable, with replication.

The extent to which an experiment shows the IV, not a confound, produced the change.

The extent to which findings generalize to other people, settings, behaviors, or conditions.

An uncontrolled variable that may influence the dependent variable and threaten internal validity.

An external event occurring during a study that may affect the dependent variable.

Changes in the participant over time (e.g., development) that may affect the dependent variable.

A condition with no intervention, used to compare against intervention conditions.

The single-case reasoning of prediction, verification, and replication used to show a functional relation.

The anticipated outcome based on stable baseline data if conditions stayed unchanged.

Demonstrating that the prior level of baseline would have remained had the IV not been introduced.

Repeating the effect of the IV within or across studies to confirm a functional relation.

A research design that uses the participant as their own control with repeated measures, rather than groups.

A design that introduces, withdraws, and reintroduces the IV to demonstrate a functional relation.

A design introducing the IV in a staggered sequence across behaviors, settings, or participants.

A design that rapidly alternates two or more conditions to compare their effects on behavior.

A design that demonstrates control by stepwise changes in a performance criterion.

An experimental analysis that isolates the active elements of a treatment package.

An analysis comparing different values (parameters) of the same independent variable.

An analysis comparing the effects of two or more distinct interventions.

A withdrawal design removes the IV (A-B-A); a true reversal also actively reverses the contingency to the alternative behavior (e.g., DRO/DRA).

Effects in which the order of conditions influences the results; a concern in alternating-treatments designs.

The BACB code governing behavior-analyst conduct, built on four core principles.

Behavior analysts: benefit others; treat with compassion, dignity & respect; behave with integrity; and ensure competence.

Acting in clients' best interests, doing no harm, and promoting their welfare.

Honoring the rights, culture, and self-determination of clients and others.

Being truthful, following through on commitments, and avoiding conflicts of interest and exploitation.

Practicing only within one's scope of competence and maintaining and developing it over time.

The range of services a behavior analyst is qualified to deliver based on education, training, and supervised experience.

The duty to protect client information and disclose it only with consent or as legally required.

A client's voluntary agreement to services after disclosure of their nature, risks, benefits, and alternatives.

A client's affirmative agreement to participate, sought even when they cannot give legal consent (e.g., a minor).

A second role with a client (social, financial, familial) that risks impaired objectivity or exploitation.

A situation in which personal interests could compromise professional judgment or the client's welfare.

An ongoing, self-reflective stance of openness and respect toward the cultures of the clients one serves.

Tailoring services and supervision to the cultural values and context of the client and family.

Unconscious attitudes that can affect professional judgment; behavior analysts work to recognize and address them.

The legal duty to report reasonable suspicion of abuse or neglect to authorities, overriding confidentiality.

Communications about one's services or the field that must be truthful and not misleading.

Ending or transferring services responsibly so the client is not harmed or abandoned.

Respecting the worth, rights, and preferences of the person receiving services.

Knowledge of the laws and regulations governing behavior-analytic practice in one's jurisdiction.

State-level legal authorization to practice; separate from BACB certification.

Weighing the likely benefits of an intervention against its potential risks before proceeding.

Respecting clients' rights to make choices about their own services and lives wherever possible.

The client's right to receive the most effective, evidence-based, least restrictive treatment available.

Creating, storing, and disposing of client records accurately, securely, and per legal and ethical requirements.

The process of identifying the environmental variables that maintain a problem behavior — its function.

Gathering information through interviews, rating scales, and questionnaires; quick but reliant on informant report.

Direct observation of behavior in the natural setting (e.g., ABC recording); correlational, not causal.

Experimental manipulation of antecedents and consequences to demonstrate the function maintaining a behavior.

Descriptive observation that records the antecedent, behavior, and consequence of each occurrence.

A descriptive tool that records when behavior occurs across time periods to reveal temporal patterns.

The standard analog functional-analysis conditions: attention, escape (demand), tangible, and alone/ignore.

The functional-analysis control condition with rich attention, no demands, and free access — low problem behavior expected.

Behavior maintained by social positive reinforcement in the form of attention (including reprimands).

Behavior maintained by social negative reinforcement — escape or avoidance of demands or aversive situations.

Behavior maintained by social positive reinforcement — access to preferred items or activities.

Behavior maintained by reinforcement it produces directly, not socially mediated (sensory/self-stimulatory).

Attention, escape/avoidance, access to tangibles, and automatic (sensory) reinforcement.

A procedure that identifies stimuli likely to function as reinforcers for a particular learner.

Presenting one item at a time and measuring approach or engagement.

Forced-choice format presenting two items per trial; yields a clear preference hierarchy.

Multiple-stimulus without replacement: present an array; the chosen item is removed each trial.

Multiple-stimulus with replacement: present an array; the chosen item stays in for the next trial.

Observing free access to items and measuring time engaged with each.

A procedure that confirms a stimulus actually increases behavior, unlike a preference assessment which only predicts.

The extent to which the goals, procedures, and outcomes of an intervention are acceptable and meaningful to consumers.

An appropriate behavior that produces the same reinforcer (function) as the problem behavior.

Assessing a learner's repertoire to identify strengths and instructional needs.

The reinforcing consequence that maintains a behavior; the target of a function-based intervention.

Indirect = informant report; descriptive = direct ABC observation (correlational); functional analysis = experimental manipulation (causal).

The environmental event that immediately precedes the behavior and may set the occasion for it.

Reinforcing one response class while placing another on extinction.

Differential reinforcement of an alternative behavior, with the problem behavior on extinction.

Differential reinforcement of a behavior physically incompatible with the problem behavior.

Differential reinforcement of other behavior — reinforcing the absence of the problem behavior for an interval (omission).

Differential reinforcement of low rates — reinforcing responding at or below a set lower rate.

Differential reinforcement of high rates — reinforcing responding at or above a set higher rate.

Delivering a reinforcer on a time-based schedule independent of behavior, weakening the behavior-reinforcer relation.

A DRA procedure teaching a communication response that produces the same reinforcer as the problem behavior.

A system delivering generalized conditioned reinforcers (tokens) for target behaviors, exchanged for backup reinforcers.

The item or activity for which tokens are exchanged in a token economy.

Differential reinforcement of successive approximations toward a terminal behavior.

The closer and closer versions of a target behavior reinforced during shaping.

Linking discrete behaviors into a sequence via a task analysis.

Breaking a complex skill into smaller, teachable, sequenced component steps.

Teaching a behavior chain from the first step forward, prompting later steps.

Teaching a behavior chain from the last step backward, so completion always contacts reinforcement.

Teaching the entire behavior chain on every trial, prompting as needed.

A teaching format of repeated structured trials, each with an antecedent, response, consequence, and inter-trial interval.

A supplementary antecedent stimulus that increases the likelihood of a correct response.

A prompt operating on the response (verbal, model, or physical guidance).

A prompt operating on the antecedent stimulus (e.g., position, movement, or added cues).

Arranging prompts so the learner responds correctly from the start, minimizing errors, then fading prompts.

Beginning with the most intrusive prompt and gradually reducing it as the learner succeeds.

Giving the least intrusive prompt needed, increasing assistance only if the learner does not respond.

Systematically reducing prompts to transfer stimulus control to the natural discriminative stimulus.

Inserting a delay between the natural cue and the prompt (constant or progressive) to transfer stimulus control.

Gradually changing a salient stimulus feature that controls responding toward the natural stimulus.

Demonstrating a target behavior for the learner to imitate.

Actively planning for behavior change to spread across settings, people, and stimuli (e.g., teaching loosely, common stimuli).

Gradually reducing the frequency of reinforcement to promote maintenance.

A contingency applied to a group: independent, dependent, or interdependent.

A contingency in which each member earns reinforcement based on their own behavior.

A contingency in which the whole group's reinforcement depends on a target individual's behavior.

A contingency in which the group earns reinforcement only if a collective criterion is met.

A negative-punishment procedure removing access to reinforcement for a period following a behavior.

A negative-punishment procedure that removes a specified amount of reinforcer (e.g., tokens) following a behavior.

A punishment procedure requiring restitution (restitutional) or repeated correct practice (positive practice).

Requiring the person to restore the environment to a better state than before the behavior.

Requiring repeated correct practice of an appropriate behavior following the problem behavior.

Establishing a neutral stimulus as a reinforcer by pairing it with existing reinforcers.

A written agreement specifying behaviors, contingencies, and consequences between parties.

Using a higher-probability behavior to reinforce a lower-probability behavior (grandma's rule).

Errorless learning minimizes mistakes by prompting; trial-and-error allows errors and corrects them, which can strengthen errors.

A schedule that reinforces a response only if it differs from a set number of previous responses; used to build variability.

Delivering several easy (high-p) requests before a difficult (low-p) one to increase compliance via behavioral momentum.

An increase in the variety of responses that often accompanies the onset of extinction.

The compatibility of an intervention with the values, skills, and resources of the people and setting implementing it.

Selecting the least intrusive procedure likely to be effective, favoring reinforcement over punishment.

Integrating the best available evidence with clinical expertise and client values and context.

An intervention selected to match the maintaining function of the behavior identified by assessment.

Using direct measurement of behavior to decide whether to continue, modify, or fade an intervention.

The recurrence of a previously reduced behavior; includes resurgence and renewal.

The reappearance of a previously reinforced behavior when a more recently reinforced behavior is placed on extinction.

The recurrence of an extinguished behavior when the context changes from the one in which extinction occurred.

The specific behavior selected for change in an intervention.

How faithfully an intervention is delivered as designed; low fidelity is a leading reason plans appear to fail.

Unintended effects (e.g., reinforcing an unwanted concurrent behavior) the analyst plans to mitigate.

Modifying the environment before behavior occurs (e.g., manipulating MOs, offering choice) to reduce problem behavior.

Coordinating with professionals in other fields to enhance the client's services and outcomes.

An intervention objective stated in observable, measurable terms with a clear criterion.

A target that genuinely improves the client's quality of life and is valued by stakeholders.

Programming so behavior change occurs beyond the training conditions and is maintained.

Planning for resurgence and renewal by thinning carefully, programming across contexts, and maintaining the alternative behavior.

An intervention must be both effective AND a good contextual fit; an effective plan that staff cannot implement will fail.

An evidence-based training package: instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback, continued to mastery.

Describing the target skill and its rationale to the trainee.

Demonstrating the target skill correctly for the trainee.

Having the trainee practice the skill.

Delivering specific positive and corrective feedback after practice, repeated to a mastery criterion.

Information about a person's performance used to improve or maintain it; positive and corrective.

Applying behavior-analytic principles to improve performance in organizations.

A function-based assessment tool identifying why a performance problem occurs before selecting an intervention.

Clearly specifying what is expected of a performer; a common antecedent intervention in OBM.

Supervision that targets mastery of specific skills drawn from a skills assessment of the supervisee.

A written agreement establishing expectations, responsibilities, and structure for the supervisory relationship.

A precise, observable, measurable definition of the performance targeted for change.

Observing and measuring whether staff implement procedures as designed.

Training conducted in the natural environment where the skill must be performed, to promote generalization.

A structured relationship with clear expectations, observation, and feedback applied to the supervisee's behavior.

Using performance data to evaluate and adjust the efficacy of one's own supervision.

Providing fair, culturally responsive supervision and equitable opportunities to supervisees.

Identifying why a supervisee's performance problem occurs (skill vs. motivation vs. resources) before intervening.

A skill ('can't do') deficit calls for training (BST); a performance ('won't do') deficit calls for motivation/consequence changes.

Effective OBM pairs antecedent strategies (task clarification, goal setting) with consequence strategies (feedback, reinforcement).