BCABA Sample Questions Answers

To increase the likelihood of beginning a difficult task:

Two responses (such as putting on a sweater and lighting a fire) that produce the same result describE.

Sammy is having a difficult time completing his independent math worksheet on two-digit division. He is frustrated and doesn't understand how to solve the equations.

Sammy raises his hand and asks for "help." The teacher assists Sammy. Sammy's asking for "help" is?

In order to decrease the occurrence of an inappropriate behavior effectively, a behavior analyst should simultaneously increasE.

For promoting maintenance, which approach is MOST appropriate?

Considering the potential impact of behavioral contrast, what is a likely outcome when there is an effective program targeting compliance at school when no formal program is implemented at home? Compliance at home would be predicted to:

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?

Which is NOT true of determinism?

Which of the following measures would be the MOST appropriate for reporting head banging during each 5-minute interval of work?

This graph BEST exemplifies:

Contingency-shaped behavior is:

A stimulus is defined as

What is the reinforcing consequence in "I itch, therefore I scratch?"

The dependency between a response and the stimuli that precede and follow it is referred to as a

What is the MOST important measure of behavior when the goal is to decrease the number of cigarettes smoked per day?

When shopping with her dad, Sally knocks items off the shelf, especially canned goods. The cans make a loud noise when they hit the floor. Her dad decides to teach her an alternative behavior.

What alternative behavior is the BEST choice to teach?

Which situation is likely to be an example of negative reinforcement?

When developing a task analysis, a behavior analyst would first:

Tony is supervising a work crew at the post office. Every day, his clients are supposed to check each waste bin and empty those that contain trash. Tony takes data on the number of waste bins emptied by the crew. In order to report data in terms of percentage of occurrence Tony MUST also know:

In a token economy, what type of reinforcers are the tokens themselves?

Joe describes himself as being addicted to video games. He is told that if he does not complete his chores, he will lose access to his computer. On Monday, he refuses to complete his chores and he loses access to his computer for 2 days. From Tuesday on, Joe's refusals cease. The change in Joe's behavior is MOST likely to be the result oF.

A client with a history of escape maintained problem behavior begins to throw the puzzle pieces a few minutes after starting to work on the task. What is the BEST programmatic change for the behavior analyst to make?

Behavior that can be directly observed only by the person behaving is calleD.

Jim is preparing his doctoral dissertation in applied behavior analysis for publication in a scientific journal. The editors, in their instructions sent to authors, have indicated that all of the procedures employed in the study must be thoroughly described in order for the article to be accepted. Which dimension of applied behavior analysis BEST supports this requirement?

Steven lives in a group home with four other men. Most of his housemates spend about equal amounts of time in the living room and the recreation room. Steven spends about 75% of his free time in the living room and 25% in the recreation room. Staff observations have shown that staff attention is very reinforcing for Steven. If the matching law is operating in this scenario, what is the predicted rate of staff attention to Steven in the living room?

Which verbal operants are most crucial in the development of vocal speech?

Elizabeth engages in skin scratching that never occurs when others are present. Additionally, no one has commented on this behavior, and it has occurred undetected by others for quite a long while. Elizabeth hides the scratch marks under clothing. The scratching behavior is MOST likely to be maintained by:

Jason and Justin sit together and tease one another in class. Often the teasing evolves into Jason and Justin arguing with each other. The FIRST action should be to:

A caregiver says, "Touch your nose." The child accurately touches his nose. The child's response is an example of a (n):

Self-management strategies are:

A behavior analyst is investigating fixed ratio schedules of praise delivery to determine which is most effective for changing the rate of question-asking by a 10-year-old child. This is an example oF.

By the end of the training phase of an acquisition program, the reinforcement schedule shoulD.

Which measurement would be MOST useful when evaluating a procedure designed to teach a person to respond at a uniform pace?

A teacher's students were asking for individual assistance at a high rate when they were instructed to work independently using their textbooks and other resource material available in the classroom. The teacher posted a "No Questions" sign and systematically ignored the students' questions when the sign was up. The rate of question-asking decreased to zero. Now the teacher simply puts up the sign whenever the students are to work independently and removes it when the students can ask questions. With respect to asking questions, the sign functions as:

When using time out in a classroom, which of the following should be considered?

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?

Amanda is evaluating the effects of video modeling on play skills. Her participants often show reactivity when they are observed. The BEST design to evaluate the video modeling is: