J&P Chapter 4

Defining Response Class

Strategies of Defining Response Classes

Unit of Analysis

• The constituent part of the whole phenomenon that serves as a basis for experimental study

• Unit of analysis vs. unit of measurement

• Child sat at desk (unit of analysis) for a duration of x minutes (unit of measurement)

Skinner’s contribution

• Stimuli defined not just in terms of physical properties but also by the correlation with a particular class of responses

• Responses defined NOT by topography but rather as a class of events controlled by particular stimuli

Bed making

• Unit of analysis that is itself a relation between responses and stimuli– Series of movements – OR– Whatever responses result in a bed that is

made to a certain standard

Origins of Response Class

• Behavior occurs within an environmental context

• Antecedent and consequent events have either differential or no effect – Genetic endowment – sweet taste– Stimulus pairing – stimuli paired with sweet

taste– NO effect – color of walls in room

What do stimuli do?

• If a stimulus functions to change behavior:– Organize behavior into response classes

• Class of respondents (reflexes)– Creating conditioned reflexes = classical, respondent, or

Pavlovian conditioning– Respondent classes (eye blink) & stimulus classes (all

stimuli that elicit eye blink)

• Classes of operants (individuals responses that share a particular effect on the environment

Respondent

S – R

Free Operant (2 term contingency)

R – S

Discriminated Operant(3 term contingency)

S – R – S Respondent

Operant

Fundamental Units of Analysis

• Respondent classes• Free operant classes• Discriminated operant classes • These units:

– Smallest bits of integrated behavior– Not necessary to move to a nonbehavioral level of

analysis– Not defined on logical grounds – rather defined based

on functional relationship with nature

Functional vs. Topographical Units of Analysis

Functional Response Classes

• Form or topography of response may vary

• Class includes those reponses whose occurrence depends upon particular classes of stimuli that either preceded or follow responses

Topographical Response Classes

• Specify requirements for form or topography

• Members of such a response class may include only a subset of a broader functional response class

• Example: door opening

Define Self Injurious Behavior(pgs. 71 & 72)

• Functional definition

• Topographical definition

Consequences of Definitional Strategies

• Determines what aspects of behavior are observed and recorded and are then available for DECISIONS about how the experiment should be conducted and what INTERPRETATIONS are warranted

Baseline Intervention

Defined Class

Class A

Class B

Effects of including different functional response classes in a defined class

Goals of Definitional Strategies

• Defined behavior should suit the needs of the experimental questions

• Meet needs for experimental control• Definitions consequences for

measurement• Craft definition so that it selects a class of

responses in the subject’s repertoire that share common functional relations with the environment.

Tactics of Defining Response Classes

Functional Response Class Definitions

• Properly developed = miniature experiment

• Consider the proposed response class in colloquial terms

• Speculate on events that may preceded or follow response class members

• Try out possible definitions and see how they perform

• Example STEALING

Problems and Solutions

• Problem with knowing whether or not permission given in the stealing example– Modify research environment to ease

definitional task

• Problem: more than one response class– Risk increased variability in data

Topographical Response Class Definitions

• Press the easy button

Variations and Refinements

• Temporal dimensions

• Response products

• Group definitions

Selecting a Unit of Analysis

• Specificity: size of the unit of analysis– More molar units of analysis may obscure

important changes in responding

• Sensitivity: potential to be influenced by independent variables– If under control of extraneous variables, may

not be at all susceptible to influence of independent variable

Labeling Response Classes

• Taxonomic language of behavior

• How responses classes are defined?

• Generality? Accrue to relations studied, not labels

• How are researchers to communicate?

What can be done?

• Use sound functional definitional practices

• Be aware of the problem when considering ways to refer to a response class

• Choose labels that emphasize the relaiton of the movement to the environment

• No ultimate solution

Operational Definitions

• Not another way of defining behavior

• Operationism

• Relevant to problem of labeling response classes.