Glossary of ABA Terms
Welcome to BehaviorPREP’s ABA Glossary, your essential companion to the terminology and concepts that define Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). ABA is a scientific approach to understanding behavior, focusing on observable behaviors and their environmental influences. This glossary serves as a valuable resource for students, professionals, and anyone interested in the principles and practices of ABA. Whether you are exploring early intervention strategies, functional behavior assessments, or the principles of reinforcement, this guide will clarify and deepen your understanding of the foundational elements that shape behavior change interventions. Dive into the world of ABA and discover how its evidence-based techniques promote positive outcomes in diverse settings, from schools and clinics to homes and workplaces.
Glossary of ABA Terminology
A
- AB Design
- ABA Design
- ABAB Design
- Abative Effect
- ABC Recording
- Abolishing Operation (AO)
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Accuracy
- Adapted Alternating Treatments Design
- Add-in Component Analysis
- Adjunctive Behaviors
- Affirmation of the Consequent
- Alternating Treatments Design
- Alternative Schedule (Alt)
- Anecdotal Observation
- Antecedent
- Antecedent Exercise
- Antecedent Intervention
- Antecedent Stimulus Class
- Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
- Arbitrarily Applicable Relational Responding
- Arbitrary Relations
- Arbitrary Stimulus Class
- Artifact
- Ascending Baseline
- Autoclitic
- Automatic Contingencies
- Automatic Reinforcement
- Automaticity of Reinforcement
- Aversive Stimulus
- Avoidance Contingency
B
- BAB Design
- Backup Reinforcer
- Backward Chaining
- Backward Chaining with Leap Aheads
- Bar Graph
- Baseline
- Baseline Logic
- BCBA/BCaBA Task List
- Behavior
- Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB)
- Behavior Chain
- Behavior Chain Interruption Strategy
- Behavior Chain with a Limited Hold
- Behavior Change Tactic
- Behavior Checklist
- Behavior Trap
- Behavior-Altering Effect
- Behavioral Assessment
- Behavioral Contrast
- Behavioral Cusp
- Behavioral Inflexibility
- Behavioral Momentum
- Behaviorism
- Believability
- Bidirectional Naming
- Bonus Response Cost
- Brief Functional Analysis
- Brief Functional Analysis
C
- Calibration
- Causal Relations
- Celeration
- Chained Schedule (Chain)
- Chaining
- Changing Criterion Design
- Clicker Training
- Codic
- Combinatorial Entailment
- Compliance Code
- Component Analysis
- Compound Schedule of Reinforcement
- Concept
- Concurrent Schedule (Cone)
- Conditional Discrimination
- Conditional Probability
- Conditioned Motivating Operation (CMO)
- Conditioned Negative Reinforcer
- Conditioned Punisher
- Conditioned Reflex
- Conditioned Reinforcer
- Conditioned Stimulus
- Confidentiality
- Conflict of Interest
- Confounding Variable
- Conjunctive Schedule (Conj)
- Consequence
- Constant Time Delay
- Contextual Stimulus
- Contingency
- Contingency Analysis
- Contingency Contract
- Contingency Reversal
- Contingency Space Analysis
- Contingency-Shaped Behavior
- Contingent Deprivation
- Contingent Observation
- Continuous Measurement
- Continuous Reinforcement (CRF)
- Contrived Contingency
- Contrived Mediating Stimulus
- Copying Text
- Count
- Counter-control
- Cumulative Record
- Cumulative Recorder
D
- Data
- Data Path
- Deictic Relations
- Delay Discounting
- Delayed Multiple Baseline Design
- Dependent Group Contingency
- Dependent Variable
- Derived Relations
- Descending Baseline
- Descriptive Functional Behavior Assessment
- Determinism
- Differential Reinforcement
- Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA)
- Differential Reinforcement of Diminishing Rates (DRD)
- Differential Reinforcement of High Rates (DRH)
- Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates (DRL)
- Direct Measurement
- Direct Replication
- Disciplinary Standards
- Discontinuous Measurement
- Discrete Trial
- Discriminated Avoidance
- Discriminated Operant
- Discriminative Stimulus
- Discriminative Stimulus for Punishment
- Distinction Relations
- Double-Blind Control
- DRl/DRA Reversal Technique
- DRO Reversal Technique
- Drop-Out
- Duplic
- Duration
E
- Echoic
- Ecological Assessment
- Elementary Verbal Operants
- Empiricism
- Enriched Environment
- Environment
- Equal-Interval Scale
- Errorless Learning
- Escape Contingency
- Escape Extinction
- Establishing Operation (EO)
- Ethical Codes of Behavior
- Ethics
- Event Recording
- Evocative Effect
- Exact Count-per-Interval IOA
- Exclusion Time-Out
- Experiment
- Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB)
- Experimental Control
- Experimental Design
- Explanatory Fiction
- External Validity
- Extinction
- Extinction Burst
- Extinction-Induced Variability
- Extinction-Induced Variability
- Extraneous Variable
F
- Feature Stimulus Class
- Fixed Interval (FI)
- Fixed Ratio (FR)
- Fixed-Interval DRO
- Fixed-Momentary DRO
- Fixed-Time Schedule
- Formal Similarity
- Forward Chaining
- Fraudulent Conduct
- Free Operant
- Free-Operant Avoidance
- Frequency
- Full-Session DRL
- Function-Altering Effect
- Function-Based Definition
- Functional Analysis
- Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)
- Functional Communication Training (FCT)
- Functional Relation
- Functionally Equivalent
G
H
I
- Imitation
- Imitation Modeling
- Imitation Training
- Independent Group Contingency
- Independent Variable
- Indirect Functional Assessment
- Indirect Measurement
- Indiscriminable Contingency
- Informed Consent
- Instructional Setting
- Interdependent Group Contingency
- Intermittent Schedule of Reinforcement (INT)
- Internal Validity
- Interobserver Agreement (IOA)
- Interresponse Time (IRT)
- Interrupted Chain Procedure
- Interval-by-Interval IOA
- Interview-Informed Synthesized Assessment
- Intraverbal
- Irreversibility Reversal Technique
L
M
- Mand
- Massed Practice
- Matching Law
- Matching-to-Sample
- Mean Count-per-Interval IOA
- Mean Duration-per-Occurrence IOA
- Measurement Bias
- Measurement by Permanent Product
- Mentalism
- Methodological Behaviorism
- Mixed Schedule of Reinforcement (Mix)
- MO Unpairing
- Momentary Time Sampling
- Most-to-Least Response Prompts
- Motivating Operation (MO)
- Motor Imitation (Relating to Sign Language)
- Multielement Design
- Multiple Baseline Across Behaviors
- Multiple Baseline Across Settings Design
- Multiple Baseline Across Subjects Design
- Multiple Control
- Multiple Probe Design
- Multiple Schedule (Mult)
- Multiple Treatment Interference
- Multiple Treatment Reversal Design
- Multiple-Exemplar Training
- Mutual Entailment
N
O
P
- Parametric Analysis
- Parsimony
- Partial-Interval Recording
- Percentage
- Perspective Shifting
- Philosophic Doubt
- Phylogeny
- Pivotal Behavior
- Placebo Control
- Planned Activity Check (PLACHECK)
- Point-to-Point Correspondence
- Positive Practice Overcorrection
- Positive Punishment
- Positive Reinforcement
- Positive Reinforcer
- Post reinforcement Pause
- Practice Effects
- Pragmatism
- Precision Teaching
- Prediction
- Premack Principle
- Principle of Behavior
- Private Events
- Procedural Fidelity
- Program Common Stimuli
- Progressive Schedule of Reinforcement
- Progressive Time Delay
- Progressive-Ratio (PR) Schedule of Reinforcement
- Punisher
- Punishment
R
- Radical Behaviorism
- Range-Bound Changing Criterion Design
- Rate
- Ratio Scale
- Ratio Strain
- Reactivity
- Recovery from Punishment
- Reflex
- Reflexive Conditioned Motivating Operation (CMO-R)
- Reinforcement
- Reinforcer
- Reinforcer Assessment
- Reinforcer-Abolishing Effect
- Reinforcer-Establishing Effect
- Relational Frame
- Relational Frame Theory (RFT)
- Relevance of Behavior
- Reliability
- Repertoire
- Replacement of Incompatible Behavior (RIB)
- Replication
- Research Question
- Resistance to Extinction
- Respondent Behavior
- Respondent Conditioning
- Respondent Extinction
- Response
- Response Blocking
- Response Class
- Response Differentiation
- Response Generalization
- Response Interruption and Redirection (RIRD)
- Response Maintenance
- Response Prompts
- Response-Deprivation Hypothesis
- Restitutional Overcorrection
- Restraint
- Resurgence
- Reversal Design
- Risk-Benefit Analysis
- Rule
- Rule-Governed Behavior
S
- Scatterplot
- Scatterplot Recording
- Schedule of Reinforcement
- Schedule Thinning
- Science
- Scored-Interval IOA
- Selection-Based (SB) Verbal Behavior
- Selectionism
- Self-Contract
- Self-Control [Impulse Control]
- Self-Control [Skinner’s Analysis]
- Self-Evaluation
- Self-Instruction
- Self-Management
- Self-Monitoring
- Sequence Effects
- Setting/Situation Generalization
- Shaping
- Simple Verbal Discrimination
- Single-Case Designs
- Social Validity
- Socially Mediated Contingency
- Spaced-Responding DRL
- Spatial Relations
- Split-Middle Line of Progress
- Stable Baseline
- Standard Celeration Chart
- Steady State Responding
- Steady State Strategy
- Stimulus
- Stimulus Blocking
- Stimulus Class
- Stimulus Control
- Stimulus Delta
- Stimulus Discrimination
- Stimulus Discrimination Training
- Stimulus Fading
- Stimulus Generalization
- Stimulus Generalization Gradient
- Stimulus Preference Assessment
- Stimulus Prompts
- Stimulus-Stimulus Pairing
- Successive Approximations
- Surrogate Conditioned Motivating Operation (CMO-S)
- Systematic Desensitization
- Systematic Replication
T
- Tandem Schedule (Tand)
- Target Behavior
- Task Analysis
- Teach Enough Examples
- Teach Loosely
- Temporal Relations
- Terminate Specific Reinforcer Contact
- Three-Term Contingency
- Time Delay
- Time Sampling
- Time-Out from Positive Reinforcement (Time-Out)
- Token
- Token Economy
- Topography
- Topography-Based Definition
- Total Count IOA
- Total Duration IOA
- Total-Task Chaining
- Transformation of Function
- Transitive Conditioned Motivating Operation (CMO-T)
- Treatment Drift
- Treatment Integrity
- Treatment Package
- Trend
- Trial-based Functional Analysis
- Trial-by-Trial IOA
- Trials-to-Criterion
- True Value
- Type I Error
- Type II Error
U
V
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
V