Introduction to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Online Tutorial
	Module 2: History of ABA A (Very) Brief History of Behaviorism Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) grew out of the field of behavioral psychology. In the 1910s, John B. Watson proposed that the field of psychology adopt a behaviorist framework. This is, he promoted that psychology should focus on behaviors that were directly observable (instead of just “private events” such as thoughts or feelings) and that human behavior is controlled by events in the environment. Watson promoted the idea that became known as “stimulus-response behaviorism,” which explained involuntary reactions, such as blinking your eye (the response) when a puff of air is blown into your eye (the stimulus). In the late 1930s, B.F. Skinner expanded on these ideas to focus more on voluntary human and animal behavior. He proposed that the basis for behavior is reinforcement. That is, any behavior that is followed by reinforcement (a rewarding or positive consequence) is likely to be repeated in the future. Skinner referred to this as “operant behavior” and “operant conditioning.” Skinner is considered to be the founder of modern behaviorism. Video published by The B.F. Skinner Foundation Review: Contingent means "_____________ on." It defines an "_____ - then" relation. In Skinner's research, the sequence of events was the ________________ of what happened in Pavlov's conditioning. The animals in Skinner's research did certain behaviors (such as pecking a disk) not because of a stimulus presented beforehand, but because of a _______________ that happened after the behavior. If the consequence (food) made the animal more likely to peck the disk again, the food was a reinforcer for that behavior. Skinner was interested in how _________________ shape human behavior. Next --> ABA and Autism