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Introduction

Questions 1-3 on this page
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Classic conditioning, studied by Pavlov, is concerned with stimuli which automatically evoke responses. There are certain stimuli in your environment that cause reflex responses, such as noise, electrical shock, light, and the taste of food. This type of stimuli are referred to as respondent or unconditioned stimuli. Respondent stimuli are frequently considered involuntary or automatic responses. These responses are not under your control. (Reminder: Answers to all questions are to be transferred to the Institute Manual, which is returned to us.)

Question #1: Give an example of an unconditioned or respondent stimuli or Stimulus Generalization: According to Skinner, a response, which is repeatedly reinforced in the presence of a particular situation, is likely to be repeated in that situation again, where the situation and stimuli often share common properties.

Response Generalization: Altering a person's response can influence other responses. For example, if your client is praised for good grades in spelling, the frequency of good grades in English and reading might also increase. So in other words, reinforcement of a response increases the probability of increasing other responses which are similar. Generalization is of central importance to behavior modification applications. When a target behavior is changed and continues outside of the training situation, the clinician has most generally accomplished his or her purpose.

Target behaviors need to be defined explicitly so they can actually be observed, measured, and agreed upon. To be objective, target behaviors should be observable characteristics of the behavior or of the environmental events.

Behavioral specific terms: A description of an individual's behavior in observable terms specifies what he says or does. Reference to unobservable constructs, such as "ego impairment" or "striving for masculinity," are insufficient to describe a person's behavior in measurable terms.

Question #2: Place an "x" before the following statements written in behaviorally specific terms
(a) Mary took a box of cheese from the refrigerator.
(b) Bill expressed his feelings of frustration at the baseball game.
(c) John showed angry feelings toward his teacher this week.
(d) Martha placed a dirty cup in the sink.

Question #3: After completing #2 rewrite: in behavioral specific terms, the statements in which the response(s) are not described behaviorally.
(a)

(b)

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