About Behavior Analysis (ABASET) Tutorial Descriptions
Below displays specific descriptions of the tutorial content.
Tutorials 1-6. (Six tutorials of approximately 30 frames per tutorial, taking approximately 15 minutes per tutorial)
These tutorials (1-6) review the basic assumptions and terminology that are part of the science of human behavior-including the concepts of science, knowledge, analysis, functional relationships, causation, and control. The concepts are integrated into a unitary and comprehensive conception of human behavior that rests upon the assumptions of physical determinism and the methods necessary for scientific manipulation. The conception of human behavior taught in these tutorials includes direct observation of behavior and objective specification of the environmental events of which it is a function. The scientific conception, herein, has evolved from the assumptions of causation, pragmatism, parsimony. The analysis avoids reference to mental or other events not verifiable by objective inspection. The notions of free will, mentalism, fictional explanation, and radical behaviorism are related to the evolution of a behavioral technology and the promise it has for the solution of human problems and the promotion of more effective and happier lives. This first unit of the entire program establishes familiarity with foundational concepts---concepts frequently referenced and necessary for the understanding of concepts introduced in later units.
Tutorials 7-11. (Five tutorials of approximately 30-60 frames per tutorial, taking approximately 15 minutes or more per tutorial.)
An accurate understanding of the subtleties of respondent conditioning is integral in the understanding of how we feel about our worlds and what can be done about feeling better. Some of what we do is sometimes called "involuntary" behavior. Frames in this unit teach the concept of the unconditioned and conditioned reflex. Terms such as stimulus, response, reflex, latency, magnitude, and intensity are introduced along with the functional relationships discovered by Pavlov--the Russian physiologist. Tutorials in this unit discuss conditioned and unconditioned reflexes and the processes and procedures involved in reflexive (or "respondent") conditioning. Concepts in this unit are critical to the subsequent understanding of operant behavior. This unit terminates with a variety of examples of respondent conditions in everyday life.
Tutorials 12-16. (Five tutorials of approximately 30-60 frames per tutorial, taking approximately 15 minutes or more per tutorial.)
Our body is a biological machine; it is a system of integrated parts that functions together in characteristic ways. This unit discusses how various body muscle groups and glands are involved in conditioning. Reflexive behavior is almost exclusively a product of prior stimulation. Tutorials in this unit introduce the notion of "operant" behavior. Since basic operant conditioning effects and processes are clearest when seen in basic research with lower animals, tutorials in this unit introduce the learner to the experimental chamber used when the operant conditioning process is studied in the laboratory. Experiments were conducted under highly controlled conditions to eliminate or reduce the effects of unwanted variables. Results of this research revealed that consequences that strengthen operant behavior can be conveniently divided into two categories: positive and negative reinforcers. Toward the end of this unit, extensive examples in muscle and gland activity in daily life are introduced, along with the lost of behavior through time called "forgetting."
Tutorials 17-21. (Five tutorials of approximately 30-60 frames per tutorial, taking approximately 15 minutes or more per tutorial.)
This unit discusses events that reinforce operant behavior without previous conditioning, as well as others that reinforce because they have been associated with reinforcers already established. The discussion is then expanded to procedures like praise and approval, which are called conditioned generalized reinforcers. In these tutorials, the program highlights the basic dimension of operant behavior--its rate of occurrence. These tutorials describe the cumulative recorder--a device that sensitively displays changes the rate of operant behavior over time--while noting that the steepness of the slope is directly related to the rate of the behavior. Toward the end of this unit of tutorials, the notion of "superstitious" behavior is clarified and discusses an experimental analysis of the conditions supporting superstitious behavior. Numerous examples in everyday life are give in the terminal tutorial of this unit.
Tutorials 22-26. (Five tutorials of approximately 30-60 frames per tutorial, taking approximately 15 minutes or more per tutorial.)
This unit introduces the concepts of shaping, differential reinforcement, and successive approximation while using examples drawn from everyday life. During the unit, a review tests the recall of respondent and operant concepts presented in all prior units of this program. Then, the concept of intermittent reinforcement is introduced, emphasizing the importance of the relationship reinforcement to the passage of time or the number of times the behavior occurs. For clarification and simplification, examples of the use of intermittent reinforcement with lower animal behavior--in carefully controlled experimental places--are used. (While these tutorials are technical, they are important for a clearer understanding of intermittent reinforcement and a broader understanding of what the laymen calls "motivation.") The unit concludes with a broad tutorial of examples the above concepts in the world at large.
Tutorials 27-31.(Five tutorials of approximately 30-60 frames per tutorial, taking approximately 15 minutes or more per tutorial.)
This unit discusses the processes of discrimination, generalization, and stimulus control. It also covers the concept of response chaining. Units raise the issues of discrete and continuous repertoires as they relate to the concept of stimulus control. (While technical in nature, these concepts are critical to a broader understanding of how the environment acquires control over important human behavior and how this relationship can be changed.) The final tutorial presents multiple examples of the above concepts in everyday behavior.
Tutorials 32-36. (Five tutorials of approximately 30-60 frames per tutorial, taking approximately 15 minutes or more per tutorial.)
This unit deals with deprivation and its relation to the rate of behavior. It describes how conditioned generalized reinforcers acquire their power to reinforce. One of the tutorials describes the feeding behavior of experimental animals and draws upon basic animal research to emphasize how processes like deprivation and satiation relate to cyclic changes in behavior. These processes are subtle and frequent components in human behavior. Another tutorial reviews previous knowledge about the concepts of intermittent reinforcement, stimulus control, and deprivation. The terminal tutorial applies the concepts to everyday situations.
Tutorials 37-41. (Five tutorials of approximately 30-60 frames per tutorial, taking approximately 15 minutes or more per tutorial.)
This unit deals with various emotional conditions or predispositions sometimes called "moods." A tutorial describes escape and avoidance behavior and the reasons for it. We do not always work to achieve pleasurable reinforcers; a great deal of the time we work to prevent or terminate bad things from happening. Another tutorial describes the notion of negative reinforcement and integrates it with the concepts of avoidance and escape behavior. This tutorial also highlights the importance of emotional byproducts produced by escape and avoidance contingencies. Remaining tutorials discuss variables that influence the nature of avoidance behavior, drawing heavily from basic laboratory research. The unit finishes by explaining anxiety, the reasons for it, practical ways of reducing the frequency of it, and a variety of everyday examples.
Tutorials 42-46. (Five tutorials of approximately 30-60 frames per tutorial, taking approximately 15 minutes or more per tutorial.)
This unit begins with the discussion of how people manage their emotional condition, in other words--manage how they feel. One tutorial introduces the concept of punishment, defining punishment as a procedure, and noting effects found in early research. This tutorial prepares the way for the position that punishment may not be an appropriate or even particularly effective way of managing human behavior in many situations. The effectiveness of punishment depends upon accompanying conditions. Accompanying extinction contingencies can alter the effect of the punishment procedure. Punishment generates many subtle behavioral byproducts, it reinforces the behavior of the one who uses it, and it often generates emotional byproducts that are incompatible with other effective behavior. Everyday examples are described.
Tutorials 47-51. (Five tutorials of approximately 30-60 frames per tutorial, taking approximately 15 minutes or more per tutorial.)
This unit reviews concepts related to aversive control and to the emotional byproducts. Subsequent tutorials describe the goals of a science of behavior including adequate explanation, prediction, and control of behavior. The unit returns to the concepts of scientific manipulation, independent variables, dependent variables, functional relationships, general principles, and laws. Another tutorial explains that both antecedent stimuli and consequences usually have multiple effects. Some behaviors are reinforcing to engage in but also punished. In this case, two kinds of contingencies combine to produce conflicting tendencies. The contest between repertoires may lead to troublesome emotional conditions that are often the focus of psychotherapy. Finally, a refreshing enrichment tutorial deals with the behavior of a pet and how it was brought under stimulus control. The unit terminates with a variety of practical applications.
Tutorials 52-56. (Five tutorials of approximately 30-60 frames per tutorial, taking approximately 15 minutes or more per tutorial.)
The first tutorial in this unit begins the discussion of "self-control." We are all at least two repertoires of behavior. One repertoire may act upon the other to modify it. In the following tutorial, we learn that the controlling repertoire interlocks with the repertoire to be controlled in acts of self-control. The tutorial describes various techniques of self-control and the conditions that evoke and reinforce such techniques. The next tutorial discusses the ability to accurately describe one's own behavior--an important role for exercising self-management. Another tutorial reveals that self-knowledge arises from the actions of others. This tutorial discusses the problems resulting from and the reasons for defective self-knowledge. Then the notion of multiple-causation is introduced. Multiple variables often combine to produce behavior and the relative contribution of each variable may be altered by yet other variables. Freudian dynamisms are explained from the point of view of a more rigorous science of behavior. In the final tutorial, drug additions as analyzed behaviorally. The unit concludes with the generalization of concepts to everyday experiences.
Tutorials 57-59. (Five tutorials of approximately 30-60 frames per tutorial, taking approximately 15 minutes or more per tutorial.)
This unit continues the discussion of the therapeutic concepts called repression and transference. These processes are interpreted from the point of view of a behavioral science. Finally, the last two tutorials the concepts of a scientific analysis, the interpretation of complex cases, self-control, and the interpretation of personality. The final tutorial is the extension of these concepts to applied examples.