BCABA Online Practice Questions and Answers

When demands are placed on Raoul, he is often observed to hit his head, bite his hand, or slap the therapist. These behaviors are reinforced by termination of the demands. Taken together, these behaviors comprise

A. an establishing operation.

B. a functional response class.

C. respondent behaviors.

D. a topographical response class.

Larry engages in self-injurious behavior which is maintained by automatic reinforcement. This behavior results in abrasions on both of his arms as a result of intense scratching. The behavior analyst decides to have Larry only wear long sleeved shirts as an initial effort to reduce the behavior. This is an example of which type of procedure?

A. extinction

B. deprivation

C. punishment

D. differential reinforcement

In general, when a behavior analyst is asked to help someone make friends, the behavior analyst shoulD.

A. avoid interfering in interpersonal relationships.

B. refer the person to a counselor, social worker, or other professional.

C. evaluate the current social repertoire.

D. set up a social skills training program.

The use of a withdrawal design is LEAST appropriate when:

A. evaluating an intervention for severe problem behavior.

B. evaluating the effects of an intervention for behavior that has multiple functions.

C. extraneous variables cannot be controlled.

D. multiple participants are being evaluated.

When using a changing criterion design, the BEST demonstration of experimental control would be produced if the:

A. criterion level is changed in equal increments.

B. criterion level is changed slightly on each manipulation.

C. criterion level is set well above that of the behavior.

D. behavior changes concurrently with the criterion level.

The behavior analyst has had good results with an intervention she designed that makes access to video games contingent upon playing with other children. She now wants to compare the effects of differing amounts of video game access time. She should conduct a

A. changing criterion study.

B. nonparametric study.

C. parametric study.

D. reversal study.

In order to replace a behavior targeted for change with a behavior that topographically does not resemble the target behavior, which differential reinforcement procedure would be BEST?

A. DRO

B. DRH

C. DRI

D. DRL

The behavior analyst reviews Sandra's data and concludes that her behavior is spontaneous; that is, it occurs randomly, and not as a result of any other event(s). Which of the assumptions underlying behavior analysis has been violated in this interpretation?

A. determinism

B. empiricism

C. philosophic doubt

D. parsimony

What best defines a discriminative stimulus?

A. It always elicits a response.

B. It is defined by its effect on behavior.

C. It is established using either operant or respondent procedures.

D. It is any change in the environment.

One limitation of descriptive analysis is that it:

A. does not allow the behavior analyst the opportunity to measure, record, and interpret the data on the target behavior.

B. does not permit the precise determination of functional relationships.

C. provides a less than adequate description of the topography and intensity of behavior.

D. violates the individual's right to privacy.

Available resources, applicable federal and state laws, programmatic costs, and a person's adaptive skills, learning history, and personal interests should all be considered as part of the process oF.

A. collecting empirical data.

B. conducting a baseline of target behaviors.

C. manipulating ecological factors.

D. prioritizing goals and objectives.

A teacher tells students that completing assignments will help them to do well on the exam. How can the teacher ensure that this will be an effective rule?

A. Provide a review session covering the assignments prior to the exam.

B. Provide assignments that are closely related to the material on the exam.

C. Provide various reinforcers for those who complete the assignments.

D. Provide various reinforcers for those who do well on the exam.

When implementing punishment procedures, the behavior analyst:

A. must include a reinforcement procedure.

B. can use punishment alone if a reinforcement procedure was not effective.

C. does not have to include a reinforcement procedure if consented to by the client.

D. is required to introduce a reinforcement procedure if the problem behavior increases.

A child diagnosed with autism engages in hand flapping almost continuously at home, day care and school. An intervention is devised to alleviate this challenging behavior. Which type of experimental design would be BEST?

A. reversal

B. multi-element

C. withdrawal

D. multiple baseline

Reinforcing "picking up shoe" in a shoe-tying program would be an example of a step in which type of training procedure?

A. chaining

B. discrete trial

C. naturalistic

D. shaping