Basic Foundations of Applied Behavior Analysis

Mentalism and Radical Behaviorism Phrases Mentalistic or behavioristi c Explanation (use source here; your texts are fine) If mentalistic, provide an alternative behavioral statement Kayla was very sad at school today. Her teacher stated that she cried while playing with other children at school. Mentalistic Kayla’s teacher was assuming she was sad. Mentalistic deals with the assumptions that a phenomenon is dealing with an inner dimension, this can directly cause or mediate some forms of behavior, if not all Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2019). Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson Education (US). https://capella.vitalsource.com/books/978013479 8783 Kayla had very low energy and produced tears while playing with peers today at school. Michael fell to the floor every time his teacher placed a worksheet on his desk. Behavioristic Behaviorism is based on observation and empirical evidence. This behavior is observable and measurable. Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2019). Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson Education (US). https://capella.vitalsource.com/books/978013479 8783 1

Phrases Mentalistic or behavioristi c Explanation (use source here; your texts are fine) If mentalistic, provide an alternative behavioral statement Martin calls to make an appointme nt at his dentist’s office, because he knows needs a root canal. Mentalistic Martin knows that if he does not get to a dentist there are chances, he needs an operation done. Mentalistic deals with the inner dimension, this creates a cause or mediates forms of behavior. Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2019). Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson Education (US). https://capella.vitalsource.com/books/978013479 8783 Martin called the dental office to make an appointment to be proactive with his dental hygiene and to make sure there are no complication s with his teeth. Shawnia ate cake after having a long day to uplift her emotions after her boyfriend broke up with her. Mentalistic Shawnia ate a cake because in her mind this would make her feel better and fulfilled. Again, mentalistic is about inner dimensions and this causes forms of behavior. A good example of mentalistic is the saying “I did that because I wanted to.” Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2019). Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson Education (US). https://capella.vitalsource.com/books/978013479 8783 Shawnia ate a cake after going through a breakup with her boyfriend. Shawnia produced tears and quarantined herself in her room. 2

Phrases Mentalistic or behavioristi c Explanation (use source here; your texts are fine) If mentalistic, provide an alternative behavioral statement Marcus threw his math book, because he was frustrated with the questions on his math homework. Mentalistic This is mentalistic because the inner phenomena are mentioned, this created a form of behavior. Again, the example “I did that because I wanted to”. Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2019). Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson Education (US). https://capella.vitalsource.com/books/978013479 8783 Marcus threw his math book with high intensity while letting out a loud vocalization after receiving the questions to his math homework. Each time the buzzer sounds, the rat approache s the lever and presses it. When this occurs, a food pellet is produced. Behavioristic This behavior is observable and measurable. A conditioned response occurs every time a certain stimulus is presented. Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2019). Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson Education (US). https://capella.vitalsource.com/books/978013479 8783 It is observed that each time the light is on, the rat presses the lever and a food pellet is delivered. Behavioristic This behavior is observable and measurable. A conditioned response occurs every time a certain stimulus is presented. Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2019). Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson Education (US). https://capella.vitalsource.com/books/978013479 8783 presented to the rat. 4

Phrases Mentalistic or behavioristi c Explanation (use source here; your texts are fine) If mentalistic, provide an alternative behavioral statement Janice is so smart that she got a 100 percent on her exam. Mentalistic This statement assumes that a mental, or “inner” dimension exists that differs from a behavioral dimension and that the phenomena in this dimension either directly cause or at least mediate some forms of behavior. It is assumed in this statement that Janice is smart because of her getting 100% on an exam. Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2019). Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson Education (US). https://capella.vitalsource.com/books/978013479 8783 Janice studied the study guide the week of the exam; Janice received 100%. In well-formulated and supported paragraphs, analyze how the behavioristic approach is different from most other psychology fields.  How is the behavioristic approach different from most other psychology fields? Behaviorism is the philosophy of a science of a behavior and is based on observation and empirical evidence (Cooper et al., 2022). Behaviorism suggests that behavior is simply a conditioned response to certain triggers, or stimuli that occurs without regard to feelings (Cooper et al., 2022). Behaviorism is different from most other approaches because individuals are controlled by their environment and specifically that we are the result of what we have learned from our own environments, the behaviorist perspective is concerned with how the environmental factors, conditioned stimuli, affect the observable and measurable behavior.  How would a mentalistic approach inform one’s practice? Mentalistic is an approach to explaining a behavior that assumes that a mental, or “inner” dimension exists that differs from a behavioral dimension and that phenomena in this dimension either directly cause or at least mediate some forms of behavior, if not all (Cooper, et al., 2022). An example would be the saying “I did that because I wanted to”. To inform one’s practice, they would have to practice involving understanding to a person’s thoughts and feelings, because thoughts and feelings can not be observed or measured, they would have to tell you in detail how they feel and then come up with an intervention. 5

References Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2022). Applied Behavior Analysis (Third). Langara College. 7