Association for Behavior Analysis International

The Association for Behavior Analysis International® (ABAI) is a nonprofit membership organization with the mission to contribute to the well-being of society by developing, enhancing, and supporting the growth and vitality of the science of behavior analysis through research, education, and practice.

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39th Annual Convention; Minneapolis, MN; 2013

Workshop Details


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Workshop #W15
CE Offered: PSY/BACB
The ABCs of Behavior Analysis: A Review of the Basics for Students and Teachers
Friday, May 24, 2013
8:00 AM–3:00 PM
102 B-C (Convention Center)
Area: EAB/TBA; Domain: Theory
CE Instructor: A. Charles Catania, Ph.D.
A. CHARLES CATANIA (University of Maryland Baltimore County), CHRISTINE HOFFNER BARTHOLD (University of Delaware)
Description: The basics of behavior analysis will be reviewed in the context of an organization developed for the new fifth edition of the presenter's book, Learning, which may be useful to some participants but which is not required for this workshop. The first hour will be devoted to behavior in its biological context, including discussions of unlearned behavior, the significance of function and structure in evolution, and the selection of behavior by its consequences. The main body of the workshop will concentrate on basic concepts, including reinforcement contingencies and aversive control, shaping and fading, stimulus control and attention, schedules of reinforcement, and sources of novel behavior. The final hour will provide a brief introduction to the analysis of verbal behavior by showing how the basic processes can be extended to this area. Along the way extensions of the basic concepts to applications will be considered, particularly emphasizing behavioral terminology as it has evolved in research literatures and been reflected in the content of certification exams.
Learning Objectives: Along with the review of basic behavioral concepts such as reinforcement, aversive control, shaping, and attention, attendees will learn how different aspects of behavior can be accommodated within a coherent organization of behavior analytic concepts. They will become familiar with rationales behind important practices in applying our behavioral language, such as speaking of reinforcing responses rather than organisms, describing behavior in the context of three-term or higher-order contingencies, applying appropriate usages of the vocabularies of positive and negative reinforcement, specifying what is reinforced by what in the arrangement and/or interpretation of reinforcement contingencies, and considering multiple causation when interpreting complex behavior. They will learn about benefits and pitfalls of translations either from technical to colloquial vocabularies or in the other direction, as well as tactics for avoiding interpretations that call upon weakly defined and sometimes unmeasurable entities (as when behavior is said to be caused by feelings or emotions). They will also learn to identify and address misrepresentations of behavior analytic concepts and practices, as when reinforcement is falsely equated with bribery or when it is argued that reinforcement has hidden costs or when ignoring is suggested as the most effective treatment for reducing unwelcome behavior.
Activities: The workshop will include presentations supplemented by visual materials and discussions, videos of some basic phenomena as they have been displayed in classroom demonstrations, and computer simulations of shaping and of simple reinforcement schedules.
Audience: This workshop is appropriate for: 1. Students of behavior analysis, especially those completing degrees or preparing for certification examinations. 2. Those seeking a refresher overview of basic phenomena. 3. Those preparing to teach or assist in courses covering the basics of behavior analysis. Those seeking an introductory treatment may also find this workshop appropriate, on the assumption that anyone attending these meetings will already have at least some familiarity with these topics from undergraduate course work or independent reading.
Content Area: Theory
Instruction Level: Intermediate
Keyword(s): Attention and discrimination, Basic operant contingencies, New behavior, shaping, Verbal behavior overview

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