Naive Observer
An observer who is unaware of the study’s purpose and/or the experimental conditions in effect during a given phase or observation period. Data obtained by a naive observer are less likely to be influenced by observers’ expectations.
Naturally Existing Contingency
Any contingency of reinforcement (or punishment) that operates independent of the behavior analyst’s or practitioner’s efforts; includes socially mediated contingencies contrived by other people and already in effect in the relevant setting.
Negative Punishment
A response behavior followed immediately by the removal of stimulus (or a decrease in the intensity of the stimulus) that results in a similar responses occurring less often.
Negative Reinforcement
A contingency in which the occurance of a response is followed immediately by the termination, reduction, postponement, or avoidance of a stimulus, and which leads to an increase in the future occurrence of similar responses.
Negative Reinforcer
A stimulus whose termination (or reduction in intensity) functions as reinforcement.
Negligence
Failure to demonstrate professional inegrity on the part of the provider that threatens the client’s health and safety; typically exhibited as nonfeasance-not doing what ought to be done.
Neutral Stimulus (NS)
A stimulus change that does not elicit respondent behavior.
Nodal Stimulus (node)
A stimulus set that must be held in common across a minimum of two conditional discriminations to provide a basis for all equivalence properties.
Nonequivalence Relations
Derived stimulus relations in which stimuli are related on some basis other than “sameness”.
Noncontingent Reinforcement (NCR)
A procedure in which stimuli with known reinforcing properties are presented on fixed time (FT) or variable-time (VT) schedules completely independent of behavior, often used as an antecedent intervention to reduce problem behavior.
Noncontingent Reinforcement (NCR) Reversal Technique
An experimental control technique that demonstrates the effects of reinforcement by using non-contingent as a control condition instead of a no-reinforcement (baseline) condition.
Nonconcurrent Multiple Baseline across participants design
An experimental design that consists of a related series of A-B sequences conducted across participants at different points in time; often used to assess treatment effects when concurrent measurement of participants behavior is not possible.
Non Exclusion time-out
A procedure for implementing time out in which, contingent on the occurrence of the target behavior, the person remains within the setting, but does not have access to the reinforcement, for a specified period.
Normalization
As a philosophy and principle, the belief that people with disabilities should, to the maximum extent possible, be physically and socially integrated into the mainstream of society regardless of the degree or type of disability
