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Area of Study: Social Science Course can also be used to fulfill Science area of study requirement (credential students only).

Overview Behaviour Modification Principles introduces students to the field of applied behaviour analysis, which is concerned with understanding behaviour problems and solving those problems through the application of behaviour-change techniques. Students will become familiar with the general characteristics of applied behaviour analysis as well as specific procedures including reinforcement, shaping, chaining, respondent conditioning, response cost, avoidance and escape learning, schedules of reinforcement, and stimulus discrimination procedures. Students will also learn to work with behavioural data, learning to measure and record behaviours and display behavioural data in graphic form. This will allow students to begin to conduct elementary research projects in the field of applied behaviour analysis.

Outline Unit 1: Introduction

Unit 2: Reinforcement and Extinction

Unit 3: Schedules of Reinforcement

Unit 4: Stimulus Discrimination, Stimulus Generalization, Fading, and Shaping

Unit 5: Behaviour Chaining and Aversive Control

Unit 6: Respondent Conditioning

Unit 7: Behaviour Change Generality and Antecedent Control

Unit 8: Motivation and Dealing with Data

Evaluation To receive credit for PSYC 365, you must achieve a mark of at least C- (60 percent) on the examination and obtain a course composite grade of at least D (50 percent). You must also complete the assignments and all of the unit quizzes. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows: Activity Weighting Unit Quizzes (3% per quiz) 24% Assignment 1: Information Retrieval 4% Assignment 2 Course Project: Conditioning Attitudes 35% Final Examination 37% Total 100% To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.

Course Materials The course materials for Psychology 365: Behaviour Modification Principles include the items listed below. Textbook Martin, G. L., & Pear, J. (2015). Behavior modification: What it is and how to do it (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Other Materials The course materials include course information and a study guide, as well as several online readings.