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6th Edition Test Content Outline

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Section A

Behaviorism and Philosophical Foundations


A-1: Identify the goals of behavior analysis as a science (I.e., description, prediction, control) ©


A-2: Explain the philosophical assumptions underlying the science of behavior analysis (e.g., selectionism, determinism, empiricism, parsimony, pragmatism) ©


A-3: Describe and explain behavior from the perspective of radical behaviorism ©


A-4: Distinguish among behaviorism, the experimental analysis of behavior, applied behavior analysis, and professional practice guided by the science of behavior analysis ©


A-5: Identify and describe dimensions of applied behavior analysis ©

Section B

Concepts and Principles


B-1: Identify and distinguish among behavior, response, and response class ©


B-2: Identify and distinguish between stimulus and stimulus class ©


B-3: Identify and distinguish between respondent and operant conditioning ©


B-4: Identify and distinguish between positive and negative reinforcement contingencies ©


B-5: Identify and distinguish between positive and negative punishment contingencies ©


B-6: Identify and distinguish between automatic and socially mediated contingencies ©


B-7: Identify and distinguish among unconditioned, conditioned, and generalized reinforcers ©


B-8: Identify and distinguish among unconditioned, conditioned, and generalized punishers ©


B-9: Identify and distinguish among simple schedules of reinforcement ©


B-10: Identify and distinguish among concurrent, multiple, mixed, and chained schedules of reinforcement ©


B-11: Identify and distinguish between operant and respondent extinction as operations and processes ©


B-12: Identify examples of stimulus control ©


B-13: Identify examples of stimulus discrimination ©


B-14: Identify and distinguish between stimulus and response generalization ©


B-15: Identify examples of response maintenance ©


B-16: Identify examples of motivating operations ©


B-17: Distinguish between motivating operations and stimulus control ©


B-18: Identify and distinguish between rule-governed and contingency-shaped behavior ©


B-19: Identify and distinguish among verbal operants ©


B-20: Identify the role of multiple control in verbal behavior ©


B-21: Identify examples of processes that promote emergent relations and generative performance ©


B-22: Identify ways behavioral momentum can be used to understand response persistence ©


B-23: Identify ways the matching law can be used to interpret response allocation ©


B-24: Identify and distinguish between imitation and observational learning ©

Section C

Measurement, Data Display, and Interpretation


C-1: Create operational definitions of behavior ©


C-2: Distinguish among direct, indirect, and product measures of behavior ©


C-3: Measure occurrence ©


C-4: Measure temporal dimensions of behavior (e.g., duration, latency, Interresponse time) ©


C-5: Distinguish between continuous and discontinuous measurement procedures ©


C-6: Design and apply discontinuous measurement procedures (e.g., interval recording, time sampling). ©


C-7: Measure efficiency (e.g., trials to criterion, cost-benefit analysis, training duration). ©


C-8: Evaluate the validity and reliability of measurement procedures ©


C-9: Select a measurement procedure to obtain representative data that accounts for the critical dimension of the behavior and environmental constraints ©


C-10: Graph data to communicate relevant quantitative relations (e.g., equal-interval graphs, bar graphs, cumulative records) ©


C-11: Interpret graphed data ©


C-12: Select a measurement procedure to obtain representative procedural integrity data that accounts for relevant dimensions (e.g., accuracy, dosage) and environmental constraints ©

Section D

Experimental Design


D-1: Distinguish between dependent and independent variables ©


D-2: Distinguish between internal and external validity ©


D-3: Identify threats to internal validity (e.g., history, maturation) ©


D-4: Identify the defining features of single-case experimental designs (e.g., individuals serve as their own controls, repeated measures, prediction, verification, replication) ©


D-5: Identify the relative strengths of single-case experimental designs and group designs ©


D-6: Critique and interpret data from single-case experimental designs ©


D-7: Distinguish among reversal, multiple-baseline, multielement, and changing-criterion designs ©


D-8: Identify rationales for conducting comparative, component and parametric analyses ©


D-9: Apply single-case experimental designs ©

Section E

Ethical and Professional Issues


E-1: Identify and apply core principles underlying the ethics codes
for BACB certificants (e.g., benefit others; treat others with
compassion, dignity, and respect; behave with integrity) ©


E-2: Identify the risks to oneself, others, and the profession as a
result of engaging in unethical behavior ©


E-3: Develop and maintain competence by engaging in
professional development activities (e.g., read literature, seek
consultation, establish mentors) ©


E-4: Identify and comply with requirements for collecting, using,
protecting, and disclosing confidential information ©


E-5: Identify and comply with requirements for making public
statements about professional activities (e.g., social media
activity; misrepresentation of professional credentials,
behavior analysis, and service outcomes) ©


E-6: Identify the conditions under which services or supervision
should be discontinued and apply steps that should
be taken when transitioning clients and supervisees to
another professional ©


E-7: Identify types of and risks associated with multiple
relationships, and how to mitigate those risks when they
are unavoidable ©


E-8: Identify and apply interpersonal and other skills
(e.g., accepting feedback, listening actively, seeking
input, collaborating) to establish and maintain
professional relationships ©


E-9: Engage in cultural humility in service delivery and
professional relationships ©


E-10: Apply culturally responsive and inclusive service and
supervision activities ©


E-11: Identify personal biases and how they might interfere with
professional activity ©


E-12: Identify and apply the legal, regulatory, and practice requirements (e.g., licensure, jurisprudence, funding, certification) relevant to the delivery of behavior-analytic services ©

Section F

Behavior Assessment


Meet the Clients (case examples)


F-1: Identify relevant sources of information in records (e.g.,
educational, medical, historical) at the outset of the case ©


F-2: Identify and integrate relevant cultural variables in the
assessment process ©


F-3: Design and evaluate assessments of relevant skill strengths
and areas of need ©


F-4: Design and evaluate preference assessments ©


F-5: Design and evaluate descriptive assessments ©


F-6: Design and evaluate functional analyses ©


F-7: Interpret assessment data to determine the need for
behavior-analytic services and/or referral to others ©


F-8: Interpret assessment data to identify and prioritize socially
significant, client-informed, and culturally responsive
behavior-change procedures and goals ©

Section G

Behavior-Change Procedures


G-1: Design and evaluate positive and negative
reinforcement procedures ©


G-2: Design and evaluate differential reinforcement (e.g., DRA,
DRO, DRL, DRH) procedures with and without extinction ©


G-3: Design and evaluate time-based reinforcement (e.g., fixed-
time) schedules ©


G-4: Identify procedures to establish and use conditioned
reinforcers (e.g., token economies) ©


G-5: Incorporate motivating operations and discriminative stimuli
into behavior-change procedures ©


G-6: Design and evaluate procedures to produce simple and
conditional discriminations ©


G-7: Select and evaluate stimulus and response prompting
procedures (e.g., errorless, most-to-least, least-to-most) ©


G-8: Design and implement procedures to fade stimulus and
response prompts (e.g., prompt delay, stimulus fading) ©


G-9: Design and evaluate modeling procedures ©


G-10: Design and evaluate instructions and rules ©


G-11: Shape dimensions of behavior ©


G-12: Select and implement chaining procedures ©


G-13: Design and evaluate trial-based and free-
operant procedures ©


G-14: Design and evaluate group contingencies ©


G-15: Design and evaluate procedures to promote stimulus and
response generalization ©


G-16: Design and evaluate procedures to maintain desired
behavior change following intervention (e.g., schedule
thinning, transferring to naturally occurring reinforcers) ©


G-17: Design and evaluate positive and negative punishment (e.g.,
time-out, response cost, overcorrection) ©


G-18: Evaluate emotional and elicited effects of behavior-
change procedures ©


G-19: Design and evaluate procedures to promote emergent
relations and generative performance ©

Section H

Selecting and Implementing Interventions


H-1: Develop intervention goals in observable and
measurable terms ©


H-2: Identify and recommend interventions based on assessment
results, scientific evidence, client preferences, and contextual
fit (e.g., expertise required for implementation, cultural
variables, environmental resources) ©


H-3: Select socially valid alternative behavior to be established or
increased when a target behavior is to be decreased ©


H-4: Plan for and attempt to mitigate possible unwanted effects when
using reinforcement, extinction, and punishment procedures ©


H-5: Plan for and attempt to mitigate possible relapse of the
target behavior ©


H-6: Make data-based decisions about procedural integrity ©


H-7: Make data-based decisions about the effectiveness of the
intervention and the need for modification ©


H-8: Collaborate with others to support and enhance client services ©

Section I

Personnel Supervision and Management


I-1: Identify the benefits of using behavior-analytic supervision
(e.g., improved client outcomes, improved staff performance
and retention) ©


I-2: Identify and apply strategies for establishing effective supervisory relationships (e.g., executing supervisor-supervisee contracts, establishing clear expectations, giving and accepting feedback) ©


I-3: Identify and implement methods that promote equity in
supervision practices ©


I-4: Select supervision goals based on an assessment of the
supervisee’s skills, cultural variables, and the environment ©


I-5: Identify and apply empirically validated and culturally
responsive performance management procedures (e.g.,
modeling, practice, feedback, reinforcement, task clarification,
manipulation of response effort) ©


I-6: Apply a function-based approach (e.g., performance
diagnostics) to assess and improve supervisee behavior ©


I-7: Make data-based decisions about the efficacy of
supervisory practices ©