Question 1

A punishment contingency is LEAST likely to produce which effect?

Accepted Answer

A)   Undesirable emotions may result.
B)   Aggressive or violent behavior may be evoked.
C)   A more appropriate replacement behavior may develop.
D)   The person delivering the punisher may become an aversive stimulus. C

Question 2

When determining the specified time interval to prescribe at the start of a DRO intervention, which of the following dimensions of the target behavior is MOST relevant?

Accepted Answer

A)   latency
B)   frequency
C)   duration
D)   inter-response time D

Question 3

Jason and Justin sit together and tease one another in class. Often the teasing evolves into Jason and Justin arguing with each other. The FIRST action should be to:

Accepted Answer

A)   change the seating so that Jason and Justin are not seated together.
B)   operationally and functionally define teasing and arguing.
C)   read Jason's and Justin's files to see if they have had these problems before.
D)   ask Jason and Justin why they are arguing and suggest alternative methods for them to resolve their issues. A

Question 4

After collecting baseline data and verifying the hypothesis, which of the following is the BEST approach to use when selecting behavior change procedures?

Accepted Answer

A)   Ask professionals in the individual's environment to list procedures to address the unique circumstances involved.
B)   Use a procedure that has previously been found to be socially valid based on staff evaluations.
C)   Limit selection to behavior change procedures that are consistent with those documented in the behavioral literature.
D)   Review all journals containing procedures that may apply to the behavior targeted for change.

Question 5

Tony is supervising a work crew at the post office. Every day, his clients are supposed to check each waste bin and empty those that contain trash. Tony takes data on the number of waste bins emptied by the crew. In order to report data in terms of percentage of occurrence Tony MUST also know:

Accepted Answer

A)   that some waste bins contained trash.
B)   how many waste bins contained trash.
C)   how many waste bins were in the office.
D)   This behavior is not amenable to percent of occurrence reporting.

Question 6

What is a likely benefit of having trained a client to say both "truck" and "vehicle" in response to your saying "fire engine"? The client will now likely:

Accepted Answer

A)   point to pictures of trucks or vehicles.
B)   say "fire engine" when you present a picture of it.
C)   say "truck" when you say "vehicle."
D)   point to a truck when you say "vehicle."

Question 7

A DRO was implemented for a young child with developmental delays to address reduction in the behavior of hair pulling. The child also has excessive levels of nose picking, and skin picking. Data collection needs to include rates of these behaviors as well due to the possible effects of behavioral:

Accepted Answer

A)   conduct.
B)   contrast.
C)   rehearsal.
D)   repercussion.

Question 8

When Katie was learning how to stir-fry vegetables, her hand brushed the side of the very hot pan and she now refuses to make stir-fried vegetables. Her refusal is a result of.

Accepted Answer

A)   negative punishment.
B)   negative reinforcement.
C)   conditioned punishment.
D)   unconditioned punishment.

Question 9

A 4-year-old child is lying in bed at night while the parents are sitting in the living room talking to guests. The child begins to make loud noises. In the past, the parents have gone into the child's room to quiet him. The parents and guests agree to ignore the child completely and continue to talk. If the parents stick with this approach and the child stops making noises, the parents have successfully used.

Accepted Answer

A)   time-out.
B)   planned ignoring.
C)   extinction.
D)   negative reinforcement.

Question 10

Which of the following is an example of a listener response?

Accepted Answer

A)   At dinner time, the client says "fork, please."
B)   The client labels "fork" when not instructed to do so.
C)   The client repeats the word "fork" throughout the day.
D)   Staff says, "pick up your fork," and the client picks up his or her fork.

Question 11

A person engages in target behaviors in environments different from the original training environment. This is a demonstration of

Accepted Answer

A)   stimulus generalization.
B)   response generalization.
C)   stimulus discrimination.
D)   response induction.

Question 12

Sue consults with her supervisor to be certain her procedures are conceptually systematic. Conceptually systematic procedures are

Accepted Answer

A)   based on empirical evidence of their effectiveness.
B)   derived from experimental analysis of similar behavior in the field.
C)   identifiers of functional relations between a behavioral dimension and an environmental event.
D)   linked to and described in terms of the basic principles of behavior.

Question 13

In the past, Parnelli consistently drove at high speeds on city streets. However, he was pulled over and had to immediately pay a very expensive fine. Afterward, Parnelli very seldom drove at high rates of speed. Which of the following might account for the effect of the lost money resulting from paying the fine?

Accepted Answer

A)   negative punishment
B)   negative reinforcement
C)   positive punishment
D)   escape conditioning

Question 14

Behavior that can be directly observed only by the person behaving is called.

Accepted Answer

A)   covert behavior.
B)   overt behavior.
C)   operant behavior.
D)   respondent behavior.

Question 15

Three boys with autism, ages 7-10 years old, served as participants in a study. During baseline, staff used response blocking when five instances of aggression or head-banging occurred within 10 seconds, until attempts ceased for 1 minute. During baseline and treatment, each occurrence of aggression and head-banging was recorded daily and converted to the number of responses per hour. Treatment comprised a differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior (DRI) schedule coupled with response blocking after every head-banging or aggression. The staff initially applied the treatment to head-banging, while continuing to take a baseline on aggression. After noting treatment effects on head-banging, the staff then applied the treatment to aggression. In this scenario, how was direct replication shown?

Accepted Answer

A)   Baseline and intervention conditions were included.
B)   A baseline condition was implemented.
C)   A changing criterion design was used wherein the criterion for reinforcement was gradually changed over time.
D)   The intervention was implemented in a staggered fashion across target behaviors after the initial baseline.

Question 16

The most appropriate tool for performing a behavior pattern analysis is a (n):

Accepted Answer

A)   ABC form.
B)   daily schedule.
C)   narrative recording.
D)   scatterplot.

Question 17

Frequency would be the MOST appropriate measure for which scenario?

Accepted Answer

A)   The behavior analyst wants to reduce the number of times Jack hits Jill.
B)   Jack wants his employees to increase the number of kits made in one hour.
C)   Jack's parents want him to reduce his persistent hand flapping.
D)   Jill wants to increase her son's compliance with room-cleaning requests.

Question 18

Considering the potential impact of behavioral contrast, what is a likely outcome when there is an effective program targeting compliance at school when no formal program is implemented at home? Compliance at home would be predicted to:

Accepted Answer

A)   be more variable.
B)   decrease.
C)   increase.
D)   stay the same.

Question 19

A caregiver says, "Touch your nose." The child accurately touches his nose. The child's response is an example of a (n):

Accepted Answer

A)   tact response.
B)   echoic response.
C)   listener response.
D)   intraverbal response.

Question 20

A behavior analyst is investigating fixed ratio schedules of praise delivery to determine which is most effective for changing the rate of question-asking by a 10-year-old child. This is an example of.

Accepted Answer

A)   an applied analysis of behavior.
B)   an experimental social program.
C)   a social learning program.
D)   a stimulus control program.

Exam 1: Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst