Operant Conditioning and Learning by Contingencies

PS560-1: Summarize the relationship between fundamental concepts in Applied Behavior Analysis and goals of applied practice.

PS560- 2: Explain how respondent conditioning paradigms influence an organism’s behavior.

PS560-3: Explain how operant conditioning paradigms influence an organism’s behavior.

PC 6.2: Communicate the critical thinking process by which one arrives at a conclusion.

Assignment Directions Assignment Details

Part 1: Supporting Areas of ABA Practice

Using Figure 1.3 (“Improving People’s Quality of Life from A to Z”) in Chapter 1 of Cooper et al. (2020), select three different areas of practice where Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) can be effectively used to enhance the quality of life in real-world settings. You will use this template , formatted like an Annotated Bibliography, to organize your information. For each area selected, locate and summarize a recent peer-reviewed journal article (not included in the course readings) that illustrates how an ABA-based intervention improved an individual’s quality of life.

Under each article summary, refer to your course readings to briefly discuss at least three specific key points that support how the intervention’s procedures and results reflect the application of fundamental ABA principles in producing behavior change.

Part 2: Respondent/Operant Conditioning Analysis

You will create a 6-8 slide PowerPoint presentation to guide your discussion of each of the outlined sections. Your presentation will be a narrated screen recording using Kaltura, which will be uploaded into the Unit 5 Assignment Dropbox, along with a copy of your PPT slide deck. Your PPT presentation should include a Title Slide and end with a reference slide formatted in APA.

Using the scenario of “Cindy and the Magician,” you will analyze the respondent and operant conditioning relationships in the scenario and discuss their implications using behavior-analytic terms. Then, you will establish a simple plan that considers schedules of reinforcement and the use of various possible differential reinforcement procedures to support a change in Cindy’s behavior.

Instructions:

· Identify the respondent conditioning relationships in the scenario (i.e., stimulus-response pairs) using behavior-analytic vocabulary.

· Discuss the elements of time and environment that influence Cindy’s respondent behavior.

· Explain how the reflexive stimulus-response relationship could be reversed, providing examples of extinction or counterconditioning.

· Create a diagram that visually represents the respondent conditioning relationships in the scenario.

· Identify the operant conditioning relationships in the scenario (i.e., stimulus – response – stimulus relations) using behavior analytic vocabulary.

· Discuss the process of operant learning that occurred that maintained Cindy’s behaviors.

· Establish a simple plan, providing examples of how different schedules of reinforcement (including the matching law) and a variety of differential reinforcement methods could be used to change Cindy’s behaviors. Also, discuss which methods would not be suggested and why.

· If punishment were an option, describe, with a rationale, how you might implement a punishment procedure, identifying the anticipated outcome.

Submit a 4–5-minute narrated Kaltura video of yourself, your slides, and any diagrams to discuss key concepts.

Please review and follow the assignment requirements in the next tab titled Assignment Details.