Question 1

What are the three elements of informed consent?

Accepted Answer

The three elements of informed consent are capacity (the patient is capable of making decisions), informed (the patient has been given information about the treatment or procedure), and voluntariness (the patient has given their consent without coercion or manipulation). Age may be a factor in certain cases (such as obtaining consent from a minor), but it is not one of the three universal elements. Therefore, option D is the best choice as it includes all three elements of informed consent.

Question 2

Behavior analytic interventions that are effective in changing an individual's behavior in a socially important way are said to have:

Accepted Answer

Social validity refers to the degree to which an intervention produces behavior changes that are meaningful and desired by the person receiving the intervention or the people affected by the behavior change. Therefore, interventions that are socially valid are effective in changing behavior in a socially important way. Parsimony refers to using the simplest explanation or intervention to account for behavior, primary importance is not a term used in behavior analysis, and interobserver reliability refers to the consistency of observations made by different observers.

Question 3

Which measure would probably be the best measure for crying?

Accepted Answer

Duration would be the best measure for crying as it quantifies the length of time someone spends crying, and this is likely a more valid and reliable measure compared to other options for assessing crying behavior like frequency, latency, or percentage.

Question 4

In behavior analysis, the __________________ is usually __________________.

Accepted Answer

In behavior analysis, the dependent variable is the behavior being measured, while the independent variable is the factor being manipulated to see its effect on the behavior. Therefore, the best choice is B where the dependent variable is a measure of behavior.

Question 5

Talking out in class results in a child losing a star on his star chart.  The loss of a star appears to be an attempt to implement a(n) __________________ procedure.

Accepted Answer

A response cost procedure involves the removal of a previously earned reward or privilege following the occurrence of an undesired behavior. In this case, losing a star on a star chart (which is a type of reward) following talking out in class is an example of a response cost procedure. Negative reinforcement involves the removal of an aversive stimulus to increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring, aversion therapy involves pairing an aversive stimulus with an undesired behavior to decrease its occurrence, and errorless learning involves designing training sequences that minimize or eliminate errors during learning. None of these scenarios fit the situation described in the prompt.

Question 6

Teaching a child to match printed words to pictures, then pictures to the actual objects, and then testing to determine if the child can now match printed words to the actual objects is known as:

Accepted Answer

This process is known as stimulus equivalence, which involves teaching a child to relate different stimuli to each other through conditional discriminations (e.g. matching printed words to pictures and pictures to objects) and testing to determine if they can now relate stimuli that have not been directly taught (e.g. matching printed words to the actual objects).

Question 7

A behavior analyst is measuring the time it takes for a client to say, "You're welcome" after the staff says, "Thank you."  The behavior analyst is measuring __________________.

Accepted Answer

The behavior analyst is measuring the time delay between the staff saying "Thank you" and the client saying "You're welcome," which is the definition of latency. Frequency refers to how often a behavior occurs, duration refers to the length of time a behavior is displayed, and inter-response time refers to the time between one behavior ending and the next behavior beginning.

Question 8

The purpose of conducting a functional assessment is to:

Accepted Answer

The purpose of conducting a functional assessment is to obtain information about the antecedents, behavior, and consequences of the target behavior, which can be used to create a hypothesis statement about the function of the behavior. This information can then be used to develop an effective treatment intervention. Functional analysis involves manipulating variables to confirm the hypothesis statement, so A is incorrect. D is also incorrect, as it refers to evaluating the effectiveness of a treatment intervention, rather than the purpose of a functional assessment.

Question 9

What if you teach the child to swim in a pool and the child goes to the beach and can do the front crawl in the ocean?

Accepted Answer

Response generalization refers to a phenomenon in which a learner can perform a learned skill in different environments, situations or tasks. In this case, the child is able to generalize the skill of front crawl swimming from the pool to the ocean, indicating response generalization.

Question 10

Describing behavior program procedures in terms of the basic principles of behavior is adhering to which dimension of behavior analysis?

Accepted Answer

Describing behavior program procedures in terms of the basic principles of behavior is adhering to the dimension of behavior analysis known as conceptually systematic, which involves ensuring that interventions are consistent with the principles of behavior and the theories that explain them.

Question 11

Jody had an access-maintained tantrum for 14 minutes and it started 3 seconds after she was told, "No."  It had been 2 days since the previous tantrum.  The latency is:

Accepted Answer

The answer of Jody had an access-maintained tantrum for 14...

Question 12

In reference to maintenance, functional arrangements between behavior and antecedent and consequence events that occur in the environment in which the behavior of interest is to be maintained are called:

Accepted Answer

Natural contingencies occur in the individual's normal environment and provide ongoing reinforcement for the target behavior, which helps to maintain the behavior over time. This contrasts with maintenance schedules, which are pre-planned interventions to ensure behavior continues. Stimulus discriminates and generalization are related concepts, but not directly relevant to maintaining behavior.

Question 13

A __________________ is derived from a descriptive analysis.

Accepted Answer

The answer of A __________________ is derived from a descriptive...

Question 14

If a behavior analyst states, "It took four attempts, but Johnny completed the puzzle," she is using which measure?

Accepted Answer

The answer of If a behavior analyst states, "It took...

Question 15

An experimenter examines the level of noise in a school bus full of children under the following conditions: baseline, rock music, baseline, classical music.  In this experiment, the dependent variable is:

Accepted Answer

The answer of An experimenter examines the level of noise...

Question 16

The number of time intervals in a specific period of time during which a response occurs continuously for an entire interval is which measure?

Accepted Answer

Whole-interval recording involves recording a response as occurring only if it occurs for the entire duration of the interval. This measure can be used to determine the extent to which a behavior occurs continuously throughout a given period of time. Partial-interval recording involves recording a response as occurring if it occurs at any point during the interval, while momentary time sampling involves recording a response as occurring if it is observed at a specific moment in time. Percentage of occurrence involves calculating the proportion of total observation periods during which a behavior occurs.

Question 17

Providing a complete description of one's procedures in a behavior analytic study of classroom management techniques is adhering to which dimensions of behavior analysis?

Accepted Answer

Conceptually systematic behavior analysis involves clearly defining and describing procedures to ensure replicability and scientific rigor.

Question 18

Requiring a student who disrupts the class by throwing papers and tipping over chairs to clean the mess up and then clean the rest of the room by sweeping and cleaning desktops is a(n) __________________ procedure.

Accepted Answer

Positive punishment involves adding an aversive consequence after an undesired behavior to decrease the likelihood of that behavior occurring again. In this case, the student is required to clean up as a consequence of their disruptive behavior.

Question 19

Which is the best definition of a behavior function?

Accepted Answer

A behavior function refers to the consequences or reinforcers that maintain a particular behavior. It is the reason why the behavior occurs or persists. Therefore, choice D - "The reinforcers that maintain a behavior" - is the best definition of a behavior function.

Question 20

An experimenter examines the effects of three types of prompts on compliance in a developmentally disabled person.  In this experiment, what is the independent variable?

Accepted Answer

The independent variable is the variable that is being manipulated by the experimenter in order to observe its effect on the dependent variable. In this case, the independent variable is the three different types of prompts given to the developmentally disabled person. The location of the environment, the level of compliance, and the diagnosis of the individual are all potential dependent variables that may be affected by the independent variable.

Exam 2: Board Certified Behavior Analyst