PSYCO282 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Operational Definition, Behaviorism
13 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
Covert behaviour, as opposed to overt behaviour, is a behaviour that cannot be easily identifiable or easily measured. One s own thoughts are an example of covert behaviours, because the only person that can identify them is the individual themselves. The philosophy of the science of behaviour is behaviourism. J. b watson was interested in studying a person"s behaviour in social settings. Target behaviour is the behaviour that you"re interested in changing. Behavioural goal: level of the target behaviour that a program is designed for. There are numerous operational definitions that may be used to assist in defining a variety of behaviours, making them easier to study and modify. Behavioural definitions have to be very clear, avoid loopholes. If a definition has loopholes, then it is harder to understand how exactly one is trying to modify their behaviour. Operational definition: a precise, objective definition of a term by specifying the operations the researcher made to measure it.
