Philosophical Foundations of Behavior Analysis and Introductory Concepts

Catalog description

This course covers the history and philosophical underpinnings of behavior analysis, theoretical approaches to understanding behavior, and will introduce students to concepts and principles necessary for understanding behavior. Topics will include the goals of behavior analysis as a science (i.e., description, prediction, control), the philosophical assumptions underlying the science of behavior analysis (e.g., selectionism, determinism, empiricism, parsimony, pragmatism), the dimensions of applied behavior analysis, and the radical behaviorism perspective. Students will distinguish among behaviorism, the experimental analysis of behavior, applied behavior analysis, and the professional practice guided by the science of behavior analysis. Introductory concepts will include identifying and distinguishing behavior, response, and response class, identifying and distinguishing respondent and operant conditioning, and identifying and distinguishing positive and negative reinforcement contingencies. This course covers Domains A 1-5 and B 1, B 3 and B 4 of the BACB Sixth Edition Test Content Outline (TCO).