"GLOBAL" "EDITION" "" "" "" "" "Applied Behavior" "Analysis" "THIRD EDITION" "" "John O. Cooper • Timothy E. Heron • William L. Heward" " Applied Behavior Analysis" "Third Edition" "" "Global Edition" "" "" "" "" "John O. Cooper" "" "Timothy E. Heron" "" "William L. Heward" "" "All, The Ohio State University" "" "" "" "" "Harlow, England • London • New York • Boston • San Francisco • Toronto • Sydney • Dubai • Singapore • Hong Kong" "Tokyo • Seoul • Taipei • New Delhi • Cape Town • São Paulo • Mexico City • Madrid • Amsterdam • Munich • Paris • Milan" " Director and Publisher: Kevin M. 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"" "British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data" "" "A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library" "" "ISBN 10: 1-292-32463-5" "ISBN 13: 978-1-292-32463-0" "eBook ISBN 13: 978-1-292-34105-7" "" "Typeset in Times LT Pro by SPi Global" " This book is dedicated to Jack Michael, whose extraordinary contributions to" "­behavior ­analysis will continue to benefit those who teach and practice the science" "and, most ­importantly, those whose learning is enhanced by its application." "" "" "" "" "Photo credit: Amber Hutson." "Jack L. Michael" "" "" "" "“One might ask why it is of any value to be able to recognize and correctly name" "these ­various effects. I would answer that I have found, for myself at least, that" "I ­cannot understand some things unless I can talk about them clearly.”*" "" "" "" "" "*" "From “What Every Student of Behavior Analysis Ought to Learn: A System for Classifying the Multiple Effects of Behavioral Variables,” by J. Michael, 1995," "The Behavior Analyst, 18, p. 284." " ABOUT THE AUTHORS" "" "of the Board of Directors for the Society for the Advancement" "of Behavior Analysis, and Applied Representative to the Exec-" "utive Council and as Chairperson, Graduate Program Accred-" "itation Committee of the Association for Behavior Analysis" "" "" "" "" "Photo credit: Jill C. Dardig." "International." "" "Timothy E. Heron, Ed.D., is Professor Emeritus in the College" "of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State Univer-" "sity. Tim’s research interests include tutoring systems, inclusion" "of students with disabilities in general education classrooms," "consultation, and self-correction instructional approaches. Tim" "is co-author of The Educational Consultant: Helping Profes-" "Tim Heron (left), John Cooper (center), and sionals, Parents, and Students in Inclusive Classrooms, Fourth" "Bill Heward (right) Edition (with Kathleen Harris, 2001). Since 2000, Tim has been" "an active Federal Aviation Administration, Gold Seal Certi-" "fied Flight Instructor; has authored the text Instrument Flying:" "John Cooper, Tim Heron, and Bill Heward were faculty ­members 10 Indispensable Principles to Know and Remember; and con-" "at The Ohio State University for a combined 90 years. Together tinues to apply the principles and procedures of applied behavior" "they trained special education classroom teachers and leadership analysis to the next generation of aviators." "personnel guided by the philosophical, scientific, and technolog-" "ical principles of applied behavior analysis. The Ph.D. program William L. Heward, Ed.D., BCBA-D, is Professor Emeritus" "in special education and applied behavior ­analysis that they and in the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio" "their colleagues developed at OSU was the first d­ octoral p­ rogram State University. Bill’s interests include “low-tech” methods for" "accredited by the Association for Behavior Analysis Interna- increasing the effectiveness of group instruction and promoting" "tional. John, Tim, and Bill each received the Alumni Award the generalization and maintenance of newly learned skills. He" "for ­Distinguished Teaching, OSU’s highest honor for teaching has authored or co-authored five other books, including Excep-" "excellence. They are joint recipients of the Ellen P. Reese Award tional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, Eleventh" "for Communication of Behavioral Concepts from the Cambridge Edition (with Sheila Alber-Morgan and Moira Konrad, 2017)," "Center for Behavioral Studies. and Sign Here: A Contracting Book for Children and Their Par-" "ents (with Jill C. Dardig, 2016). A Fellow and Past President" "John O. Cooper, Ed.D., is Professor Emeritus in the College of of the Association for Behavior Analysis International, Bill is" "Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. a recipient of the Fred S. Keller Behavioral Education Award" "His research and teaching interests include precision teaching, from Division 25 of the American Psychological Association" "inner behavior, fluency building, and verbal behavior. He is a and the Distinguished Psychology Department Alumnus Award" "past president of the Standard Celeration Society, past member from Western Michigan University." "" "" "" "" "4" " CHAPTER CONTRIBUTORS" "" "Thomas S. Critchfield, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology at Director of Trumpet Behavioral Health. Her research interests" "Illinois State University. He earned his doctorate in Behavior focus on behavioral treatment of autism, technology-based" "Analysis from West Virginia University and completed a post- ­behavioral interventions, behavioral gerontology, supervision" "doctoral ­fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University School of and ­mentorship, and systems development in human services." "Medicine. A ­Fellow and Past President of the Association for Dr. LeBlanc has been an associate editor for Behavior ­Analysis" "Behavior Analysis International and of Division 25 of the Amer- in Practice, The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, and the Journal" "ican Psychological Association, Tom has served as Associate of Applied Behavior Analysis. She has been a senior editor for" "­Editor for the ­Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, ­Education and Treatment of Children and will serve as the" "­Perspectives on Behavior Science, Mexican Journal of Behavior ­editor of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis from 2020" "­Analysis, and Conch Republic Archives of Psychology. His inter- to 2022. Linda is the 2016 recipient of the American Psycho-" "ests include derived stimulus relations, punishment and negative logical Association Nathan H. Azrin Award for Distinguished" "reinforcement, effective instruction, and the process of bench- Contribution in Applied Behavior Analysis, and a fellow of the" "to-bedside scientific translation. Association of Behavior Analysis International." "" "Thomas R. Freeman, M.S., BCBA, is Senior Vice President of Jose Martinez-Diaz, Ph.D., BCBA-D, is Professor and Director" "ABA Technologies, Inc., where he focuses on the dissemination of the School of Behavior Analysis at the Florida Institute of" "of behavioral science, in part by helping create curricula and Technology, and CEO of ABA Technologies, Inc., an instruc-" "instructional materials for the Florida Institute of Technology tional design and technology company. He earned his doctorate" "ABA Online program. With nearly 40 years of experience in in clinical psychology with an emphasis in behavior analysis" "ABA, Tom has held various clinical, supervisory, and admin- and therapy from West Virginia University. Jose’s principal" "istrative positions in Massachusetts and Florida. He has also areas of interest are practitioner training, professional and eth-" "­participated in animal behavior studies with orangutans in ical issues, instructional design and technology, organizational" "­Borneo and Hawaiian spinner dolphins, and was Field Direc- behavior management, and the conceptual analysis of behavior." "tor of the University of Hawaii’s Humpback Whale Project. A past president of the Florida Association of Behavior ­Analysis" "Tom is dedicated to applying behavior analysis to mainstream (FABA), Jose has served on the board of directors for the" "social needs (e.g., general education, environmental issues) Behavior Analyst Certification Board, the Association of Pro-" "and ­common individual challenges (e.g., anxiety, depression, fessional Behavior Analysts (APBA), and the Cambridge Center" "and grief), and is particularly interested in coordinating ABA and for Behavioral Studies. Awards recognizing Jose’s c­ ontributions" "psychiatric services, identifying practices as evidence-based (or to effective and ethical practice of behavior analysis include" "not), and studying the evolution of ethics. the APBA’s Jerry Shook Award and FABA’s Charles H. Cox" "Award for Outstanding Service and Advancement of Behavior" "Brian A. Iwata, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor of ­Psychology Analysis in Florida." "and Psychiatry at the University of Florida. He and his students" "have published over 250 articles and chapters on disorders of Jack Michael, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus in the Department" "learning and behavior and on functional analysis methodology. of Psychology at Western Michigan University, where he taught" "Brian is a former editor of the Journal of Applied Behavior for 36 years. His primary scholarly interests are verbal behavior," "­Analysis and past president of the Association for Behavior basic theory regarding motivation, and the technical terminol-" "Analysis International, Division 33 of the American Psycho- ogy of behavior analysis. Jack contributed to the founding of the" "logical Association, the Society for the Advancement of Behav- Association for Behavior Analysis International and served as" "ior Analysis, the Society for the Experimental Analysis of its third president. His publications include the highly acclaimed" "­Behavior, and the Florida Association for Behavior ­Analysis. text Concepts and Principles of Behavior Analysis (2004)." "He has chaired study sections for both NIH and NIMH and is a A Fellow of the Association for Behavior Analysis Interna-" "fellow of the American Association on Intellectual and Devel- tional and the American Psychological Association, Dr. Michael" "opmental Disabilities, the American Psychological Association, has received many honors and recognitions, including the" "the Association for Behavior Analysis International, and the Distinguished Service to Behavior Analysis Award from the" "Association for Psychological Scien ce. In 2015, he received ­Association for Behavior Analysis, the 2002 Don Hake Award" "the Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in the Application for Translational Research from Division 25 of the American" "of Psychology from the American Psychological Association. Psychological Association, the 2012 Victor Laties Lifetime of" "Service Award from the Society for the Experimental Analysis" "Linda A. LeBlanc, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Licensed Psychologist, of Behavior, and Western Michigan University’s top two faculty" "is President of LeBlanc Behavioral Consulting. She received honors: Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award and Distinguished" "her Ph.D. in 1996 from Louisiana State University. She previ- Teaching Award. In 2012, Jack was the first recipient of an" "ously taught at Claremont McKenna College, Western Mich- award named in his honor by the Verbal Behavior Special Inter-" "igan University, and Auburn University, and was ­Executive est Group affiliated with ABAI." "5" " 6 Chapter Contributors" "" "Caio F. Miguel, Ph.D., BCBA-D, is Professor of Psychology Excellence Award (2003), the UNCW Faculty Scholarship" "at California State University, Sacramento. His research inter- Award (2000) and Graduate Mentor Award (2008), and the" "ests span basic, applied, and conceptual issues in the study of ABAI Student Committee Outstanding Mentor Award (2006)" "­motivation, verbal behavior, covert mediation, and derived stim- and Distinguished Service to Behavior Analysis Award (2017)." "ulus relations. Caio has served as editor of The Analysis of Verbal" "Behavior and associate editor for the Journal of Applied Behav- Ruth Anne Rehfeldt, Ph.D., BCBA-D, is Professor of Behavior" "ior Analysis. His publications have appeared in English, Portu- Analysis and Therapy at Southern Illinois University. She com-" "guese, and Spanish language journals, and he has given hundreds pleted her Ph.D. at the University of Nevada. Dr. Rehfeldt has" "of professional presentations throughout North America, South published over 100 articles and book chapters in behavior analysis," "America, and Europe. Caio received the 2013–2014 Award for primarily on basic and applied investigations of ­verbal behavior" "Outstanding Scholarly Work from the College of Social S ­ ciences and derived relational responding, relational frame theory, and" "and Interdisciplinary Studies at CSU Sacramento, and the 2014 acceptance and commitment therapy. Ruth Anne served as the" "Outstanding Mentor Award by the Student Committee of the editor and business manager for The Psychological Record for" "Association for Behavior Analysis International. 12 years. She is or has been an editorial board member for a num-" "ber of behavior analytic journals, including J­ ournal of Applied" "Nancy A. Neef, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus in the College of Behavior Analysis, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behav-" "Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State ­University. ior, and The Analysis of Verbal Behavior. She has held a number" "She has served as editor of the Journal of Applied ­Behavior of leadership positions within the Association for Behavior Analy­" "­Analysis, as president of the Society for the Experimental sis International. Dr. Rehfeldt has won a number of teaching and" "­Analysis of Behavior, and on the Executive Council and as research awards during her tenure at Southern Illinois University." "chair of the p­ ublication board for the Association of B" "­ ehavior" "Analysis International. Nancy has published more than Richard G. Smith, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA-TX, is Associate Pro-" "60 ­articles and chapters in the areas of developmental disabili- fessor in the Department of Behavior Analysis at the University of" "ties, research methodology, and instructional technology. Much North Texas, where he served as Department Chair for 13 years." "of her research has focused on extensions and applications of Rick received his master’s and doctoral degrees at the University" "basic research in the assessment and treatment of attention-­ of Florida. His primary research interest is in the assessment and" "deficit hyperactivity d­ isorder. Nancy was the recipient of the treatment of behavior disorders in persons with developmental" "first ­Distinguished Alumnus Achievement Award in Psychol- disabilities, with specific areas of focus in motivational variables" "ogy from Western Michigan University and the 2006 Award and advances in functional analysis ­procedures. A former asso-" "for ­Outstanding Research in Applied Behavior Analysis from ciate editor for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Rick’s" "­Division 25 of the American Psychological Association. work has been recognized with the American Psychological" "Association’s Division 25 B. F. S ­ kinner Award for Innovative" "Stephanie M. Peterson, Ph.D., BCBA-D, is Professor and Chair and Important Research by a New Researcher (1997), the Texas" "of the Department of Psychology at Western Michigan Univer- Chapter of the American Association on Intellectual and Devel-" "sity. Her primary research interests are choice and concurrent opmental Disabilities’ Research Award (2000), the Texas Asso-" "schedules of reinforcement in the treatment of severe problem ciation for Behavior Analysis’ Career Contributions to Behavior" "behavior and in the functional analysis of problem behavior. Analysis in Texas Award (2014), and the University of North" "Stephanie also has interests in applications of behavior a­ nalysis Texas President’s Special Faculty Recognition Award (2017)." "to educational interventions and teacher training. She has" "served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Behav- Mark L. Sundberg, Ph.D., BCBA-D, is a Licensed Psychologist" "ior ­Analysis and The Behavior Analyst and currently serves in private practice. He specializes in language research and the" "as a consulting senior editor for Education and Treatment of development of language assessment and intervention programs" "­Children. She is a former member of the Board of Directors for for children and adults with language delays. Mark is founder" "the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. and past editor of the journal The Analysis of Verbal Behav-" "ior, a past president of The Northern California Association for" "Carol Pilgrim, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology at the Behavior Analysis, and a past chair of the Publication Board of" "­University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Her primary the Association for Behavior Analysis International, and has" "research interests are in the analysis, application, and conceptual served on the Board of Directors of the B. F. Skinner Foun-" "­treatment of relational stimulus control, particularly stimulus dation. Mark is the author of The Verbal Behavior Milestones" "equivalence. Carol is a former editor of The Behavior Analyst Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP), and co-author" "and associate editor of the Journal of the Experimental Analy­ (with James W. Partington) of the books Teaching Language" "sis of Behavior and The Behavior Analyst. She has served as to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities" "President of the Association for Behavior Analysis International and the original Assessment of Basic Language and Learning" "(ABAI), the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis, Skills: The ABLLS. Mark has received several awards, includ-" "Division 25 of the American Psychological Association (APA), ing the 2001 Distinguished Psychology Department Alumnus" "and the Southeastern Association for Behavior Analysis. Carol Award from Western Michigan University and the 2013 Jack" "is a fellow of ABAI and Division 25 of APA, and she has been Michael Outstanding Contributions in Verbal Behavior Award" "honored with the North Carolina Board of Governors Teaching from ABAI’s Verbal Behavior Special Interest Group." " PREFACE" "" "As it was 17 years ago, when we began writing the previous and understand behavior that are scientifically sound, socially" "edition of this book, our overriding goal for the third edition significant, and ethically appropriate." "was to produce an accurate, comprehensive, and contemporary" "description of applied behavior analysis. The result is a text that" "demands concentrated and serious study. TERMINOLOGY" "Despite its size, scope, and in-depth treatment of ­concepts, Meaningful description of any scientific activity necessitates a" "principles, procedures, and issues, Applied Behavior Analy- standard set of technical terms. Effectively communicating the" "sis, Third Edition, should be viewed as an introductory text for design, implementation, outcomes, and/or theoretical bases of" "two reasons. First, the reader need not possess any specialized an applied behavior analysis requires the accurate use of the" "­prerequisite knowledge to understand the content. Second, attain- discipline’s terminology. Throughout this text, we have made" "ing a full understanding of applied behavior analysis requires every effort to define and use behavior analytic terminology" "­considerable study and guided experience beyond this text. There in a conceptually systematic and consistent manner. Mastering" "is no topic presented within these pages that has not been treated the specialized vocabulary of applied behavior analysis is an" "in greater depth elsewhere. Students of applied behavior analy- important initial step in embracing the science and participat-" "sis should build upon what they learn from this book by reading ing effectively as a researcher, practitioner, or consumer. We" "other sources. How much reading is needed to fully grasp and encourage students to study the field’s terminology with dili-" "appreciate applied behavior analysis? Don Baer (2005), one of the gence. Toward that end, the third edition includes a glossary of" "co-founders of applied behavior analysis, estimated that" "more than 500 technical terms and concepts." "[T]he cost of knowing well the basic principles and" "­paradigms of the theoretical and experimental aspects of" "behavior analysis would require about 2,000 pages and REFERENCES, EXTRACTS, NOTES," "some laboratory experience. ABA shares the same basic AND GRAPHS" "principles with the theoretical and experimental branches" "An important function of any introductory text to a scientific dis-" "of behavior analysis and adds to them an even larger" "cipline is to expose students to the empirical and conceptual liter-" "number of secondary principles, strategies, and tactics for" "ature of that field. This edition contains more than 2700 citations" "making those basic principles work in the real world as" "to primary-source publications, including historically important" "they do in the laboratory. ABA also adds a set of principles" "experiments (e.g., the first graph presented by B. F. Skinner in his" "about ethical and humane practice, prominent among which" "1938 book The Behavior of Organisms), and classic and contem-" "is the need to be certain, through constant and extensive" "porary examples of applied behavior analysis research—most of" "­measurement and experimentation, that the particular case" "which were published in the field’s flagship journal, the Journal" "in hand is going well and will continue to go well—because" "of Applied Behavior Analysis. We also make extensive use of" "it will change as it progresses. The cost of knowing all that" "quotations and extracts from key publications representing the" "is, I estimate, about 3,000 pages of reading and several" "conceptual literature. We have done this not only for the historical" "years of supervised practical experience. (pp. 27–28)" "and/or technical authority these authors provide, but also because" "The field has grown markedly since its formal inception their inclusion increases students’ exposure to and appreciation" "in 1968, so much so that Baer’s 3000-page reading assignment for the field’s rich primary-source literature." "might now exceed 4000 pages, or more. We trust that this The third edition includes more than 150 graphs of data" "book’s 800-plus pages will contribute to Baer’s reading assign- from peer-reviewed research, many of which are accompanied" "ment for many future behavior analysts. Specific suggestions by detailed descriptions of the study’s methodology. We have" "for additional readings in applied behavior analysis and in the a fourfold purpose for providing many procedures, graphs, and" "conceptual and basic research branches of behavior analysis are references. First, we want to illustrate behavior analysis prin-" "cited throughout this text. ciples and procedures with actual applications and real data," "Again, while our objective is to provide a complete not hypothetical examples. Second, reading the procedural" "description of the principles and procedures for changing and descriptions will help students appreciate the high degree of" "analyzing socially important behavior, mastery of this book’s technical precision and control of complex environments that" "content represents the beginning, not the end, of one’s study of researchers and practitioners must achieve to solve problems" "applied behavior analysis. If our efforts as textbook writers and and show ­functional relations between variables. Third, the" "chapter contributors, combined with those of instructors who references ­provide students whose interests are piqued by the" "assign this book, are successful, the dedicated student will come descriptions or graphs with directions to the original studies" "away with a sound repertoire of fundamental knowledge about for more in-depth study. Finally, the graphs provide multi-" "applied behavior analysis. In turn, this knowledge will serve as ple ­opportunities for students to develop and refine—through" "the foundation for more advanced study and supervised prac- ­practice and discussion with their instructors, mentors, and" "tica that ultimately will lead to independent efforts to change ­fellow students—higher-level visual analysis skills." "7" " 8 Preface" "" "THIRD EDITION CONTENT ENHANCEMENTS Equivalence-based Instruction" "AND FEATURES In Chapter 19, Equivalence-based Instruction, Carol Pilgrim" "builds upon Sidman’s groundbreaking research on stimulus" "Applied behavior analysis has become more mature and sophisti-" "equivalence to explain the conditions in which learners acquire" "cated since the second edition was published. Although the basic" "new skills and verbal relations without direct instruction on" "principles of behavior remain unchanged, advances in all three" "those skills. Pilgrim defines equivalence-based instruction," "interrelated domains of the science of behavior—­theoretical," "describes its key outcomes—class formation, delayed emer-" "basic research, and applied research—have improved our under-" "gence, class expansion and class merger, transfer of function," "standing of those principles and led to increased effectiveness in" "and contextual control—and shows how lessons can be designed" "developing and applying effective and humane behavior change" "to promote those outcomes." "interventions. These developments are reflected in the more than" "1,000 new references to the conceptual, basic, and applied liter- Nonequivalence Relations" "atures of behavior analysis added to this edition." "In Chapter 20, Engineering Emergent Learning with Nonequiv-" "Chapters by Outstanding Authors alence Relations, Tom Critchfield and Ruth Anne Rehfeldt" "explain how people make sense of and function effectively in" "The third edition includes seven chapters authored by prominent a world of arbitrary relations in which stimuli “go together,”" "scholars in applied behavior analysis. This group of contributors not because they share physical properties, but rather because" "includes the current and two former editors of the Journal of social-verbal reinforcement contingencies teach people to relate" "Applied Behavior Analysis, two previous editors of The Analy- them in a certain way. Relational frame theory (RFT) and accep-" "sis of Verbal Behavior, and associate editors of the Journal of tance and commitment therapy (ACT), a therapeutic approach" "the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Members of this well- grounded in RFT, are described." "known and prolific group of behavior analysts first reported" "some of the most significant advances in behavior analysis in Functional Behavior Assessment" "publications. In Chapter 27, Functional Behavior Assessment, Stephanie" "Peterson and Nancy Neef describe one of the more significant" "Negative Reinforcement developments in applied behavior analysis. Functional behavior" "In Chapter 12, Negative Reinforcement, Rick Smith and Brian assessment has become a well-established method for discov-" "Iwata present an authoritative account of this commonly mis- ering the function that a problem behavior serves for a person" "understood and misapplied form of reinforcement. In addition (e.g., to obtain social attention, to avoid an assigned task, to" "to precisely defining this principle, dispelling misconceptions provide sensory stimulation), information that enables practi-" "about it, and illustrating applications across a broad spec- tioners to design interventions that teach adaptive replacement" "trum of cases, Smith and Iwata provide specific guidelines for behaviors that serve the same function." "incorporating negative reinforcement into behavior change" "interventions. Ethics" "In Chapter 31, Ethical and Professional Responsibilities of" "Motivation Applied Behavior Analysts, Tom Freeman, Linda LeBlanc, and" "Until recently, motivation, a major topic in psychological Jose Martinez-Diaz clarify what ethical behavior is, explain" "theories and everyday explanations of behavior, has been an why ethical behavior is a necessary part of the applied behavior" "assumed, but inadequately understood, topic in behavior analy- analyst’s repertoire, review ethical codes of conduct for behav-" "sis. Due largely to the work of Jack Michael, behavior analysts ior analysts, and describe specific procedures for ensuring and" "now have a much better understanding of motivation and its assessing ethical practice. New content regarding client services" "role within applied behavior analysis. In Chapter 16, Motivating (e.g., informed consent, conflict of interest) and, importantly," "Operations, Jack Michael and Caio Miguel explain how certain ethical implications of new technologies, social media, and pro-" "antecedent events have dual motivating effects: a behavior-­ fessional networking to support ethical behavior is presented." "altering effect, which makes certain behaviors more (or less)" "likely; and a value-altering effect, which makes certain events" "more (or less) effective as reinforcement. TEXT ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE" "The book’s 31 chapters are organized into 13 parts. The two" "Verbal Behavior chapters in Part 1 describe some tenets that are fundamental to" "In Chapter 18, Verbal Behavior, Mark Sundberg contrasts all scientific endeavors, outline a history of behavior analysis" "B. F. Skinner’s functional analysis of verbal behavior with tra- as a natural science approach to understanding behavior, define" "ditional approaches to language, defines and gives examples of applied behavior analysis, and describe principles and concepts" "basic types of elementary verbal operants (e.g., mands, tacts, of that science. Parts 2 and 3 examine the elements necessary" "intraverbals), and describes implications and applications for for an applied behavior analysis. Part 2 presents considerations," "these concepts in designing and implementing language inter- criteria, and procedures for selecting, defining, and measuring" "vention programs. applied behavior. The five chapters in Part 3 examine the logic" " Preface 9" "" "and operation of specific tactics for the experimental analysis of Companion Website" "behavior–environment relations, and some issues in planning," "Text Content Related to the Behavior Analyst" "replicating, and evaluating analyses of behavior." "­Certification Board® BCBA® & BCABA® Behavior" "The seven chapters in Parts 4 through 6 explore the two" "­Analyst Task List© Fifth Edition" "most significant principles of behavior—reinforcement and pun-" "ishment; how antecedent events alter one’s motivation to respond; The Behavior Analyst Certification Board® (BACB®) is a" "and how behavior comes under the discriminative control of nonprofit corporation established in 1998 to meet professional" "environmental conditions. Part 7 is a detailed examination of credentialing needs identified by behavior analysts, govern-" "B. F. Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior and its implications and ments, and consumers of behavior analysis services. To be" "applications for language development. The five chapters in Part 8 certified as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst® (BCBA®)" "describe how applied behavior analysts use equivalence-based or a Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst® (BCaBA®)," "instruction, nonequivalence relations, imitation, modeling, obser- a person must meet academic-degree, educational, and" "vational learning, shaping, and chaining to develop new skills and practical-experience eligibility requirements and then pass a" "patterns of behavior from simple to complex. psychometrically sound examination. The BCBA and BCaBA" "Part 9 details how problem behaviors can be decreased examinations are based on the BCBA/BCaBA Task List (5th" "with nonpunishment interventions: extinction, differential ed.; BACB, 2017a), which was developed by 16 subject matter" "reinforcement, and antecedent interventions. Part 10 describes experts and s­ ubsequently c­ ontent validated through a survey" "functional behavioral assessment, sophisticated methods for of more than 6000 BACB certificants (BACB, 2017b). The" "determining the purpose that problem behavior serves for a complete BCBA/BCaBA Task List (5th ed.) is available on the" "person, and important information that leads to the design of companion website (www.pearsonglobaleditions.com)." "treatments that replace the problem behavior with adaptive alter- We have connected the content of this text to the tasks" "native behavior serving the same function. that the BACB determined are necessary to function as an entry-" "Part 11 describes four special applications of behavior level behavior analyst. A chart identifying which Task List" "change technology: token economy, contingency contracting, items are covered in each chapter is also provided on the com-" "group contingencies, and self-management. Part 12 outlines panion website. Due to the complex nature of applied behavior" "strategies and tactics for increasing the likelihood that efforts to analysis, in which the concepts and principles and their appli-" "change behavior yield generalized outcomes: behavior changes cation are interrelated and not easily or effectively presented" "that maintain across time, occur in appropriate settings and sit- in a linear fashion, some Task List items are covered in more" "uations beyond the training setting, and spread to other useful than one chapter. Students studying for BCBA and BCaBA" "behaviors. The book’s final part describes ethical and profes- examinations can look up key words from Task List items in" "sional responsibilities of behavior analysts, ethical implications the Subject Index to identify the page numbers where relevant" "of new technologies, social media, and professional networking. information about each item in the BCBA/BCaBA Task List" "(5th ed.) can be found." "SUPPLEMENTS AND RESOURCES This text presents the basic knowledge that a qualified" "behavior analyst must possess. Although mastering this con-" "FOR STUDENTS AND INSTRUCTORS tent will help you obtain a passing score on the BCBA or" "Instructor’s Resource Manual and Test Bank BCaBA examinations, two important qualifiers must be rec-" "(ISBN 1-292-32464-3) ognized. First, the BCBA and BCaBA examinations require" "knowledge beyond that included in this, or any, single text-" "An Instructor’s Resource Manual includes suggestions for" "book. Therefore, to further prepare for the examinations" "learning activities, additional Experiencing Firsthand e­ xercises," "we encourage students to study original sources, engage in" "supplementary lectures, case study analyses, discussion topics," "supervised practica, and discuss areas of personal interest" "group ­activities, additional media resources, and answers to all" "with trusted and competent mentors. Second, no matter how" "multiple-choice questions and essay-type questions. The Test" "accurate, extensive, and current this textbook may be, and no" "Bank that accompanies this text contains more multiple-choice" "matter how thoroughly a student masters its content, he or she" "and essay-type questions. Some items (lower-level questions)" "will not be fully qualified to function as a behavior analyst." "simply ask students to identify or explain concepts and princi-" "Successful completion of the required coursework in behavior" "ples they have learned. But many others (higher-level questions)" "analysis is but one step in the preparation to become a BCBA" "ask students to apply those same concepts and principles to spe-" "or a BCaBA. For the most recent information on the BACB" "cific classroom ­situations—that is, to actual student behaviors" "requirements, visit the Behavior Analyst Certification Board’s" "and teaching strategies." "website at www.BACB.com." "Powerpoint® Slides (ISBN 1-292-32466-X)" "Behavior Analyst Certification Board. (2017a). BCBA/BCaBA" "The PowerPoint slides include key concept summarizations, task list (5th ed.). Littleton, CO: Author." "diagrams, and other graphic aids to enhance learning. They are Behavior Analyst Certification Board. (2017b, January)." "designed to help students understand, organize, and remember BACB newsletter. https://www.bacb.com/wp-content/" "core concepts and theories. uploads/170113-newsletter.pdf" " Acknowledgments" "" "The third edition of Applied Behavior Analysis is the product of Turning more than 2500 pages of manuscript into the" "the collective and cumulative efforts of many people. Although book you are holding required the support and contributions" "space limitations prevent us from thanking everyone by name, of a talented team of publishing professionals at Pearson. Copy" "we would like to acknowledge those who made ­substantial con- editor Joanne “Bonnie” Boehme’s talent in turning rough prose" "tributions to the book’s content or production during the 3 years into clear and understandable text is evident on every page. The" "we spent revising the text. First and foremost, we are deeply bumpy spots that remain are our responsibility. Production Edi-" "grateful to the authors of the seven contributed chapters: Rick tor Clara Bartunek and Content Producer Janelle Rogers worked" "Smith and Brian Iwata (Negative Reinforcement); Jack Michael closely and patiently with us throughout. Ann Castel Davis, our" "and Caio Miguel (Motivating Operations); Mark Sundberg former editor, was instrumental in convincing us to tackle this" "(Verbal Behavior); Carol Pilgrim ­(Equivalence-based Instruc- edition. We are grateful to Ann and to Director and Publisher" "tion); Tom Critchfield and Ruth Anne ­Rehfeldt ­(Engineering Kevin Davis, for their long-standing commitment not only to" "Emergent Learning with Nonequivalence Relations); Stephanie this title but also to publishing books on behavior analysis and" "Peterson and Nancy Neef (Functional Behavior Assessment); evidence-based practices in special education." "and Tom Freeman, Linda LeBlanc, and Jose Martinez-Diaz Last, but certainly not least, among those we wish to" "(Ethical and Professional Responsibilities of Applied Behavior acknowledge for important and continuing contributions to the" "Analysts). Because of their efforts, third edition readers will “White Book” is Keith “Dutch” Van Norman. Dutch designed" "be introduced to important topics in applied behavior analysis the creative and captivating covers of the second and third" "by scholars whose research has helped to define and develop ­editions. Thanks, Dutch!" "those areas. Throughout our careers, each of us has benefited" "We thank the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) immensely from mentors, colleagues, and students who pro-" "for allowing us to integrate the Behavior Analyst ­Certification vided us with the instruction, models, and inspiration needed to" "Board® BCBA/BCaBA Task List (5th ed.) throughout the revised attempt to write a book like Applied Behavior Analysis. To the" "edition of our text. We are especially grateful to Jim Carr, Chief extent that our goals in writing this book are achieved, each of" "Executive Officer of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. them will have played an important role. To the p­ rofessors who" "Jim graciously continued the arrangement with the BACB we first first taught us about applied behavior a­ nalysis—Saul Axelrod," "developed with Jerry Shook for the second edition. Vance Cotter, Todd Eachus, Dick Malott, Jack Michael, Joe" "In-depth reviews of the second edition by Jan Montgomery Spradlin, and Don Whaley—we will be indebted always. Many" "(Florida Institute of Technology), Bethany Raiff (Rowan faculty colleagues at Ohio State helped us create and sustain" "University), Corey Robertson (Florida Institute of Technology), an academic environment where work to advance, teach, and" "Tina Sidener (Caldwell University), and Carlos A. Zuluaga (Flor- apply behavior analysis for the betterment of learners with" "ida Institute of Technology) offered helpful recommendations for disabilities is valued. Their individual and collective support" "improvement that we incorporated into this edition. The third is appreciated. We’d be remiss not to single out our longtime" "edition is also enhanced by input and assistance from the follow- department chair, Thomas M. Stephens, for his sustained sup-" "ing colleagues: Bill Ahearn (New England Center for Children), port and leadership. Although not formerly trained as a behav-" "Sheila Alber-Morgan (The Ohio State University), Nikolay ior analyst, Tom was deeply committed to evidence-based" "Alipov (Russian National Investigation Medical University), instruction and direct and frequent measurement of student" "Fernando Armendariz (FABA, Inc.), Judah Axe (Simmons performance. Tom provided much-needed administrative" "College), Vince Carbone (The Carbone Clinic), Sharon Chien backing, sometimes in the form of covering fire that allowed" "(SEEK), Darlene Crone-Todd (Salem University), Alyce us to build an applied behavior analysis program in a college" "Dickinson (Western Michigan University), Anca Dumitrescu dominated by nonbehavioral perspectives. We also wish to" "(ATCA, Romania), Ronnie Dietrich (Wing Institute), Tim thank the many students whom we have been lucky enough" "Hackenberg (Reed College), Louis Hagopian (Kennedy Krieger to teach and learn with over the years. Your enthusiasm and" "Institute), Rob Holdsambeck (Cambridge Center for Behavioral dedication inspired, encouraged, and motivated us." "Studies), Mickey Keenan (Ulster University, Northern Ireland), Finally, we want to acknowledge the support of our" "Tracy Kettering (Bancroft), Jonathan Kimball (private practice, families, past and present: Bunny, Chris, Sharon, Greg, Brian," "Maine), Moira Konrad (The Ohio State University), Douglas and Carroll and Vera Cooper; Marge Heron, Kathy, Patrick," "Kostewicz (University of Pittsburgh), Rick Kubina (Penn State and Leia Rogers, Christine, Matt, Audrey and Brady Harsh," "University), Ed Morris (University of Kansas), Dave Palmer and Ray and Bernice Heron; and Jill Dardig, Lee Heward," "(Smith College), Robert Ross (Beacon ABA Services), Hank Lynn Heward and Marcus Bonde, and Joe and Helen Heward." "Schlinger (California State University, Los Angeles), Majda Without their enduring love and support, we would never have" "Seuss (Association for Behavior Analysis International), and attempted the first edition of this book, let alone a second and" "Janet Twyman (Center for Innovations in Learning). a third!" "" "" "" "10" " BRIEF CONTENTS" "" "PART 1 INTRODUCTION AND BASIC CONCEPTS 17" "Chapter 1 Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 18" "Chapter 2 Basic Concepts and Principles 43" "" "PART 2 SELECTING, DEFINING, AND MEASURING BEHAVIOR 67" "Chapter 3 Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors 68" "Chapter 4 Measuring Behavior 94" "Chapter 5 Improving and Assessing the Quality of Behavioral Measurement 123" "" "PART 3 EVALUATING AND ANALYZING BEHAVIOR CHANGE 147" "Chapter 6 Constructing and Interpreting Graphic Displays of Behavioral Data 148" "Chapter 7 Analyzing Behavior Change: Basic Assumptions and Strategies 181" "Chapter 8 Reversal and Multielement Designs 199" "Chapter 9 Multiple Baseline and Changing Criterion Designs 223" "Chapter 10 Planning and Evaluating Applied Behavior Analysis Research 247" "" "PART 4 REINFORCEMENT 283" "Chapter 11 Positive Reinforcement 284" "Chapter 12 Negative Reinforcement 321" "Chapter 13 Schedules of Reinforcement 337" "" "PART 5 PUNISHMENT 363" "Chapter 14 Positive Punishment 364" "Chapter 15 Negative Punishment 392" "" "PART 6 ANTECEDENT VARIABLES 411" "Chapter 16 Motivating Operations 412" "Chapter 17 Stimulus Control 437" "" "PART 7 VERBAL BEHAVIOR 455" "Chapter 18 Verbal Behavior 456" "" "PART 8 DEVELOPING NEW BEHAVIOR 495" "Chapter 19 Equivalence-based Instruction 496" "Chapter 20 Engineering Emergent Learning with Nonequivalence Relations 541" "Chapter 21 Imitation, Modeling, and Observational Learning 571" "Chapter 22 Shaping 585" "Chapter 23 Chaining 603" "" "PART 9 DECREASING BEHAVIOR WITH NONPUNISHMENT PROCEDURES 627" "Chapter 24 Extinction 628" "Chapter 25 Differential Reinforcement 642" "Chapter 26 Antecedent Interventions 661" "" "" "" "" "11" " 12 Brief Contents" "" "PART 10 FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT 677" "Chapter 27 Functional Behavior Assessment 678" "" "PART 11 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS 707" "Chapter 28 Token Economy, Group Contingencies, and Contingency Contracting 708" "Chapter 29 Self-Management 734" "" "PART 12 PROMOTING GENERALIZED BEHAVIOR CHANGE 767" "Chapter 30 Generalization and Maintenance of Behavior Change 768" "" "PART 13 ETHICS 811" "Chapter 31 Ethical and Professional Responsibilities of Applied Behavior Analysts 812" " CONTENTS" "" "PART 1 INTRODUCTION AND BASIC Threats to Accurate and Reliable Measurement 127" "CONCEPTS 17 Assessing the Accuracy and Reliability of Behavioral" "Measurement 130" "1 Definition and Characteristics of Applied Using Interobserver Agreement to Assess Behavioral" "Behavior Analysis 18 Measurement 132" "Science: Basic Characteristics and a Definition 18 Summary 141" "A Brief History of Behavior Analysis 22" "Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 31" "PART 3 EVALUATING AND ANALYZING" "A Definition of Applied Behavior Analysis 34" "BEHAVIOR CHANGE 147" "Summary 38" "6 Constructing and Interpreting Graphic" "2 Basic Concepts and Principles 43 ­Displays of Behavioral Data 148" "Behavior 43 Purpose and Benefits of Graphic Displays of" "­Behavioral Data 149" "Environment 44" "Graphs Used by Applied Behavior Analysts 150" "Respondent Behavior 47" "Constructing Line Graphs 164" "Operant Behavior 49" "Interpreting Graphically Displayed Behavioral" "Recognizing the Complexity of Human Behavior 58 Data 168" "Summary 60 Summary 175" "" "PART 2 SELECTING, DEFINING, AND 7 Analyzing Behavior Change: Basic" "MEASURING BEHAVIOR 67 ­Assumptions and Strategies 181" "Concepts and Assumptions Underlying the Analysis" "3 Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors 68 of Behavior 181" "Role of Assessment in Applied Behavior Analysis 68 Components of Applied Behavior Analysis" "Assessment Methods Used by Behavior Analysts 70 Experiments 184" "Assessing the Social Significance of Potential Target Steady State Strategy and Baseline Logic 187" "Behaviors 78 Summary 193" "Prioritizing Target Behaviors 84" "8 Reversal and Multielement Designs 199" "Defining Target Behaviors 86" "Reversal Design 199" "Setting Criteria for Behavior Change 89" "Multielement Design 207" "Summary 90" "Summary 219" "4 Measuring Behavior 94" "9 Multiple Baseline and Changing Criterion" "Definition and Functions of Measurement in Applied" "Designs 223" "Behavior Analysis 94" "Multiple Baseline Design 223" "Measurable Dimensions of Behavior 96" "Changing Criterion Design 238" "Methods for Measuring Behavior 104" "Summary 243" "Measuring Behavior by Permanent Products 113" "Measurement Tools 117 10 Planning and Evaluating Applied Behavior" "Selecting a Measurement Method 118 Analysis Research 247" "Summary 119 Importance of the Individual Subject in Behavior" "Analysis Research 247" "5 Improving and Assessing the Quality Importance of Flexibility in Experimental" "of Behavioral Measurement 123 Design 250" "Indicators of Trustworthy Measurement 123 Internal Validity: Controlling Potential Sources of" "Threats to Valid Measurement 125 Confounding in Experimental Design 254" "13" " 14 Contents" "" "Social Validity: Assessing the Applied Value of Possible Side Effects and Problems with" "­Behavior Changes and the Treatments That Punishment 375" "Accomplish Them 261 Positive Punishment Interventions 376" "External Validity: Replicating Experiments Guidelines for Using Punishment 380" "to ­Determine the Generality of Research" "Ethical Considerations Regarding the use of" "Findings 267" "Punishment 384" "Evaluating Applied Behavior Analysis Research 271" "Concluding Perspectives 386" "Summary 277" "Summary 387" "" "PART 4 REINFORCEMENT 283 15 Negative Punishment 392" "Time-Out from Positive Reinforcement" "11 Positive Reinforcement 284 Defined 392" "Positive Reinforcement Defined 285 Time-Out Tactics for Applied Settings 393" "Classifying Reinforcers 294 Using Time-Out Effectively 396" "Identifying Potential Reinforcers 299 Response Cost Defined 401" "Control Procedures for Positive Reinforcement 311 Response Cost Methods 404" "Using Reinforcement Effectively 312 Using Response Cost Effectively 404" "Summary 316 Response Cost Considerations 406" "Summary 407" "12 Negative Reinforcement 321" "Definition of Negative Reinforcement 321" "PART 6 ANTECEDENT VARIABLES 411" "Escape and Avoidance Contingencies 323" "Characteristics of Negative Reinforcement 325 16 Motivating Operations 412" "Applications of Negative Reinforcement 327 Definition and Characteristics of Motivating" "Changes in Teacher and Caregiver Responding as a Operations 412" "Function of Negative Reinforcement 331 Distinguishing Between MOs and SDs 416" "Ethical Considerations in Using Negative Unconditioned Motivating Operations (UMOs) 418" "Reinforcement 332" "MOs for Punishment 420" "Summary 333" "Multiple Effects of MOs 421" "13 Schedules of Reinforcement 337 Conditioned Motivating Operations (CMOs) 422" "Intermittent Reinforcement 337 Relevance of MOs to the Generality of Treatment" "Defining Basic Intermittent Schedules of Effects 430" "Reinforcement 338 Relevance of MOs to Applied Behavior Analysis 430" "Schedule Effects and Consistency of Summary 431" "Performance 338" "Thinning Intermittent Reinforcement 345 17 Stimulus Control 437" "Variations on Basic Intermittent Schedules of Stimulus Control: Basic Concepts and Processes 437" "Reinforcement 347 Developing Stimulus Control 441" "Compound Schedules of Reinforcement 350 Transferring Stimulus Control 447" "Perspectives on Using Schedules of Reinforcement in Summary 451" "Applied Settings 356" "Summary 357 PART 7 VERBAL BEHAVIOR 455" "" "PART 5 PUNISHMENT 363 18 Verbal Behavior 456" "Skinner’s (1957) Analysis of Verbal Behavior 456" "14 Positive Punishment 364 The Verbal Operants and Listener Behavior in More" "Definition and Characteristics of Punishment 365 Detail 460" "Factors That Influence the Effectiveness of Listener Behavior 473" "Punishment 370 Autoclitic Verbal Behavior 477" " Contents 15" "" "Applications of Skinner’s (1957) Analysis of Verbal Learning to Shape 598" "Behavior 478 Summary 599" "Applications to Language Assessment and" "Intervention 479 23 Chaining 603" "The Loss of Verbal Behavior 489 Behavior Chain Defined 603" "Summary 489 Rationale for Chaining 605" "Establishing Behavior Chains with Task" "PART 8 DEVELOPING NEW Analysis 605" "BEHAVIOR 495 Behavior Chaining Methods 610" "Choosing a Chaining Method 615" "19 Equivalence-based Instruction 496 Disrupting and Breaking Behavior Chains 616" "Research Foundations and Core Concepts 497 Troubleshooting Chains 620" "Designing Equivalence-Based Instruction 510 Factors Affecting the Performance of Behavior" "Applications and Generality 524 Chains 621" "Applications Stemming from Alternative Summary 623" "Theoretical Approaches to Relational" "Responding 532" "PART 9 DECREASING BEHAVIOR" "Concluding Remarks 537" "WITH NONPUNISHMENT" "Summary 537" "PROCEDURES 627" "20 Engineering Emergent Learning with" "­Nonequivalence Relations 541 24 Extinction 628" "What are Nonequivalence Relations? Why do Extinction Defined 628" "They Matter? 542 Extinction Procedures 630" "The Vocabulary of Nonequivalence Secondary Effects of Extinction 633" "Relations 544 Variables Affecting Resistance to" "Some Types of Nonequivalence Relations 546 Extinction 635" "Theoretical Foundations 550 Using Extinction Effectively 636" "Nonequivalence Relations and Big-Picture When Not to Use Extinction 638" "­Psychological Constructs 555 Summary 639" "Derived Stimulus Relations and General" "Well-Being 560 25 Differential Reinforcement 642" "A Final Comment 566 Differential Reinforcement Defined 642" "Summary 567 Differential Reinforcement of Alternative" "Behavior (DRA) 643" "21 Imitation, Modeling, and Observational Differential Reinforcement of Other" "Learning 571 Behavior (DRO) 647" "Imitation 571 Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates of" "Modeling 576 Responding (DRL) 653" "Observational Learning 579 Summary 657" "Summary 582" "26 Antecedent Interventions 661" "22 Shaping 585 Defining and Classifying Antecedent" "Shaping Defined 586 Interventions 661" "Shaping Across and Within Response Noncontingent Reinforcement 663" "Topographies 589 High-Probability Instructional Sequence 667" "Increasing Shaping Efficiency 592 Functional Communication Training 668" "Clicker Training 593 Default Interventions 671" "Emerging Applications of Shaping 593 Summary 673" "Shaping Guidelines 595" " 16 Contents" "" "PART 10 FUNCTIONAL PART 12 PROMOTING GENERALIZED" "ASSESSMENT 677 BEHAVIOR CHANGE 767" "" "27 Functional Behavior Assessment 678 30 Generalization and Maintenance" "Functions of Behavior 678 of Behavior Change 768" "Role of Functional Behavior Assessment in Generalized Behavior Change: Definitions and Key" "­Intervention and Prevention 679 Concepts 768" "Overview of FBA Methods 681 Planning for Generalized Behavior Change 775" "Conducting a Functional Behavior Strategies and Tactics for Promoting Generalized" "Assessment 691 Behavior Change 777" "Case Examples Illustrating the FBA Modifying and Terminating Successful" "Process 693 Interventions 801" "Summary 702 Guiding Principles for Promoting Generalized" "Outcomes 803" "Summary 807" "PART 11 SPECIAL APPLICATIONS 707" "PART 13 ETHICS 811" "28 Token Economy, Group Contingencies," "and Contingency Contracting 708 31 Ethical and Professional Responsibilities" "Token Economy 708 of Applied Behavior Analysts 812" "Group Contingencies 716 What Is Ethics and Why Is It Important? 813" "Contingency Contracting 724 Standards of Professional Practice for Applied" "Summary 731 Behavior Analysts 817" "Ensuring Professional Competence 818" "29 Self-Management 734 Ethical Issues in Client Services 822" "The “Self” as Behavior Controller 734 Coordinating with Other Professionals 828" "Self-Management Defined 735 Social Media and New Technologies 830" "Applications, Advantages, and Benefits of Advocating for the Client 831" "Self-Management 738" "Conflict of Interest 834" "Antecedent-Based Self-Management" "Creating a Culture of Ethical Practice 834" "Tactics 742" "Conclusion 835" "Self-Monitoring 745" "Summary 836" "Self-Administered Consequences 752" "Other Self-Management Tactics 757 Epilogue E-1" "Suggestions for Effective Self-Management Glossary G-1" "Programs 760 Bibliography B-1" "Behavior Changes Behavior 762 Name Index N-1" "Summary 763 Subject Index S-1" "" "" "" "" "GLOBAL EDITION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS" "" "Pearson would like to thank Ruchika Kanwal for her work on this Global Edition." " PAR T 1" "Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "" "We believe that prior to learning specific principles and procedures for analyzing and changing" "behavior, the student of applied behavior analysis should be introduced to the historical and" "conceptual foundations of the science. Basic knowledge and appreciation of the scientific and" "philosophical underpinnings of behavior analysis are requisites to a thorough understanding of the" "discipline’s nature, scope, and potential. We also believe a preliminary overview of basic concepts," "principles, and terminology makes the in-depth study of behavior analysis to follow more effective." "The two chapters in Part 1 support these two beliefs. Chapter 1 describes the scientific, conceptual," "and philosophical roots of applied behavior analysis and identifies the discipline’s defining" "dimensions, characteristics, and overall goals. Chapter 2 defines the field’s fundamental elements—" "behavior and the environmental antecedent and consequential events that influence it—and" "introduces key terms and principles that describe relationships among these elements." "" "" "" "" "17" " CHAPTER 1" "Definition and Characteristics of Applied" "Behavior Analysis" "" "LEARNING OBJECTIVES" "• Describe the basic characteristics and goals of science." "• Explain behavior in accordance with the philosophical assumptions of behavior analysis." "• Explain determinism as it relates to behavior analysis." "• State distinguishing features of mentalistic and ­environmental explanations of behavior." "• Describe and explain behavior in behavior analytic terms." "• State and describe each of the dimensions of applied behavior analysis." "" "" "" "" "[S]ince I was a child I always found my biggest reinforcer science, and identifies defining dimensions and characteristics" "was something called understanding. I liked to know how of applied behavior analysis. Because applied behavior analysis" "things worked. And of all of the things in the world there is first and foremost a science, we begin with an overview of" "are to understand, it became clear to me that the most precepts shared by scientists in all disciplines." "­fascinating was what people do. I started with the usual" "physical science stuff, and it was intriguing to me to under-" "stand how radios work, and how electricity works, and SCIENCE: BASIC CHARACTERISTICS" "how clocks work, etcetera. But when it became clear to me AND A DEFINITION" "that we could also learn how people work—not just bio- Science is a systematic approach for seeking and organizing" "logically, but behaviorally—I thought that’s the best of all. knowledge about the natural world. Before offering a defini-" "Surely, everyone must agree that that’s the most fascinating tion of science, we discuss the purpose of science and the basic" "subject matter. That there could be a science of behavior, assumptions and attitudes that guide the work of all scientists," "of what we do, of who we are? How could you resist that? irrespective of their fields of study." "—Donald M. Baer in Heward & Wood," "(2003, p. 302) Purpose of Science" "The overall goal of science is to achieve a thorough understand-" "ing of the phenomena under study—socially important behavior" "" "" "A" "pplied behavior analysis is a science devoted to under- change, in the case of applied behavior analysis. Science differs" "standing and improving human behavior. Other disci- from other sources of knowledge or ways we obtain knowledge" "plines have similar intents. What sets applied behavior about the world around us (e.g., contemplation, common sense," "analysis apart? The answer lies in its focus, goals, and meth- logic, authority figures, religious or spiritual beliefs, political" "ods. Applied behavior analysts focus on behaviors of social campaigns, advertisements, testimonials). Science seeks to dis-" "importance, they intervene with research-based strategies and cover nature’s truths: facts and universal laws that exist and" "tactics to improve the targeted behaviors, and they use sci- operate independent of the opinions and beliefs of any person or" "entific methods—objective description, measurement, and group, including the scientist. Therefore, scientific knowledge" "­experimentation—to demonstrate reliable relations between must be separated from any personal, political, economic, or" "their interventions and the behavioral improvements. In short, other reasons for which it was sought. Although it is frequently" "applied behavior analysis, or ABA, is a scientific approach for misused, science is not a tool for validating the cherished or" "discovering environmental variables that reliably influence preferred versions of “the truth” held by any group, corporation," "socially significant behavior and for developing a technology government, or institution." "of behavior change that takes practical advantage of those Different types of scientific investigations yield knowledge" "discoveries. enabling one or more of three levels of understanding: descrip-" "This chapter briefly outlines the history and development tion, prediction, and control. Each level of understanding contrib-" "of behavior analysis, discusses the philosophy that underlies the utes to the scientific knowledge base of a given field of inquiry." "" "" "18" " Chapter 1 • Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 19" "" "Description correlates with other factors, such as an increased number of" "Systematic observation enhances the understanding of a given people (both swimmers and nonswimmers) seeking relief in the" "phenomenon by enabling scientists to describe it accurately. water, and many instances of drowning have been found to be" "Descriptive knowledge consists of a collection of facts about a function of factors such as the use of alcohol or drugs, the" "the observed events that can be quantified, classified, and exam- relative swimming skills of the victims, strong riptides, and the" "ined for possible relations with other known facts—a necessary absence of supervision by lifeguards.1" "and important activity for any scientific discipline. The knowl- In addition to their usefulness in aiding prediction, the" "edge obtained from descriptive studies often suggests possible findings of correlational studies can suggest the possibility of" "hypotheses or questions for additional research. causal relations, which can then be explored with experimental" "The work of John James Audubon, a naturalist and painter studies. The most common type of correlational study reported" "in the early 19th century, provides a classic example of descrip- in the applied behavior analysis literature compares the relative" "tive science. While observing birds in their natural habitat, rates or conditional probabilities of two or more observed (but not" "Audubon documented their habits with extensive field notes and manipulated) variables (e.g., Atwater & ­Morris, 1988; Symons," "made detailed drawings. He identified 25 new species of birds. Hoch, Dahl, & McComas, 2003; Thompson & Iwata, 2001)." "His major work, The Birds of America (Audubon, 1827–1838), For example, McKerchar and Thompson (2004) found cor-" "contains 435 hand-colored life-sized prints of birds in their nat- relations between problem behavior exhibited by 14 ­preschool" "ural habitat and is considered one of the finest ornithological children and the following consequent events: teacher attention" "works ever completed. (100% of the children), presentation of some material or item to" "White’s (1975) study of classroom teachers’ “natural the child (79% of the children), and escape from instructional" "rates” of approval (verbal praise or encouragement) and dis- tasks (33% of the children). The results of this study not only" "approval (criticisms, reproach) is an example of descriptive provide empirical validation for the social consequences typi-" "research in applied behavior analysis. Observations of 104 class- cally used in clinical settings to analyze the variables maintain-" "room teachers in grades 1 to 12 yielded two major findings: ing children’s problem behavior, but also increase confidence in" "(a) Rates of teacher praise dropped with each grade level, the prediction that interventions based on the findings from such" "and (b) in every grade after second, teachers delivered state- assessments will be relevant to the conditions that occur natu-" "ments of disapproval to students at rates exceeding their rates rally in preschool classrooms (see Chapter 27). In addition, by" "of praise. The results of this descriptive study led to dozens of revealing the high probabilities with which teachers responded" "subsequent studies aimed at discovering factors responsible to problem behavior in ways that are likely to maintain and" "for the disappointing findings, analyzing the effects of dispro- strengthen it, McKerchar and Thompson’s findings also point" "portionate rates of disapproval and praise on student behavior, to the need to train teachers in more effective ways to respond" "and increasing teachers’ effective use of praise (e.g., Alber, to problem behavior." "Heward, & Hippler, 1999; Duchaine, Jolivette, & Fredrick," "2011; Fullerton, Conroy, & Correa, 2009; Mrachko, ­Kostewicz, Control" "& Martin, 2017; Niwayama & Tanaka-Matsumi, 2016;" "The ability to predict with a certain degree of confidence" "Sutherland, Wehby, & Yoder, 2002)." "is a valuable and useful result of science; prediction enables" "preparation. However, the greatest potential benefits from" "Prediction ­science are derived from the third, and highest, level of scien-" "A second level of scientific understanding occurs when repeated tific u­ nderstanding—control. Evidence of the kinds of control" "observations reveal that two events consistently covary with each that can be derived from scientific findings in the physical and" "other. That is, in the presence of one event (e.g., approaching ­biological sciences surrounds us in the everyday technologies" "winter) another event occurs (or fails to occur) with some spec- we take for granted: pasteurized milk and the refrigerators we" "ified probability (e.g., certain birds fly south). When systematic store it in; flu shots and the automobiles we drive to go get" "covariation between two events is found, this r­elationship— them; pain relievers and the televisions that bombard us with" "termed a correlation—can be used to predict the relative prob- advertisements and news stories about the drugs." "ability that one event will occur, based on the presence of the" "The scientific “system,” like the law, is designed to enable" "other event. “We obviously cannot intervene or manipulate the" "us to handle a subject matter more efficiently . . . When we" "movement of the stars or planets, but by studying their move-" "have discovered the laws which govern a part of the world" "ments we can gauge the seasons and when we can plant crops to" "about us, we are then ready to deal effectively with that part" "produce a bountiful harvest” (Moore, 2010, p. 48)." "of the world. By predicting the occurrence of an event we" "Because no variables are manipulated or controlled by the" "are able to prepare for it. By arranging conditions in ways" "researcher, a correlational study cannot demonstrate whether" "specified by the laws of a system, we not only predict, we" "one of the observed variables is responsible for the changes in" "control: we “cause” an event to occur or to assume certain" "the other variable, and no such relations should be inferred. A" "­characteristics. (Skinner, 1953, pp. 13–14)" "strong correlation exists between hot weather and an increased" "incidence of drowning deaths, but we should not assume that a Functional relations, the primary products of basic" "hot and humid day causes anyone to drown. Hot weather also and applied research in behavior analysis, provide the kind" " 20 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "of scientific understanding that is most valuable and useful belief that events are predetermined, the scientific discovery" "to the development of a technology for changing behavior. of functional relations and use of those discoveries to improve" "A functional relation exists when a well-controlled experiment things would be impossible." "demonstrates that a specific change in one event (the depen-" "If we are to use the methods of science in the field of" "dent variable) is reliably produced by specific manipulations of" "human affairs, we must assume behavior is lawful and" "another event (the independent variable), and that the change" "determined. We must expect to discover what a man does" "in the dependent variable was unlikely to be the result of other" "is the result of specifiable conditions and that once these" "extraneous factors (confounding variables)." "conditions have been discovered, we can anticipate and to" "Johnston and Pennypacker (1980) described functional" "some extent determine his actions. (Skinner, 1953, p. 6)" "relations as “the ultimate product of a natural scientific inves-" "tigation of the relation between behavior and its determining Determinism plays a pivotal dual role in the conduct of" "variables” (p. 16). scientific practice: It is at once a philosophical stance that does" "not lend itself to proof and the confirmation that is sought by" "Such a “co-relation” is expressed as y = f1x2, where x" "each experiment. In other words, the scientist first assumes law-" "is the independent variable or argument of the function," "fulness and then proceeds to look for lawful relations (Delprato" "and y is the dependent variable. In order to determine if" "& Midgley, 1992)." "an observed relation is truly functional, it is necessary to" "demonstrate the operation of the values of x in isolation and Empiricism" "show that they are sufficient for the production of y. . . ." "[H]owever, a more powerful relation exists if necessity When you can measure what you are speaking about," "can be shown (that y occurs only if x occurs). The most and express it in numbers, you know something about" "complete and elegant form of empirical inquiry involves it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot" "applying the experimental method to identifying functional express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and" "relations. (Johnston & Pennypacker, 1993a, p. 239) unsatisfactory kind" "— Lord Kelvin, (1824–1907)" "The understanding gained by the scientific discovery" "of functional relations is the basis of applied technologies in Scientific knowledge is built on, above all, empiricism—the" "all fields. practice of objective observation and measurement of the phe-" "nomena of interest. Objectivity in this sense means “indepen-" "dent of the individual prejudices, tastes, and private opinions of" "Assumptions and Attitudes of Science" "the scientist. Results of empirical methods are objective in that" "Science is first of all a set of attitudes. they are open to anyone’s observation and do not depend on the" "—B. F. Skinner, (1953, p. 12) subjective belief of the individual scientist” (Zuriff, 1985, p. 9)." "In the prescientific era (and in nonscientific and pseudo-" "The definition of science lies not in test tubes, spectrometers, or" "scientific activities today) (Nichols, 2017), knowledge was (and" "electron accelerators, but in the behavior of scientists. To" "is) the product of contemplation, speculation, personal ­opinion," "begin to understand any science, we need to look past the appa-" "authority, and the “obvious” logic of common sense. The" "ratus and instrumentation that are most readily apparent and" "­scientist’s empirical attitude, however, demands objective obser-" "examine what scientists do.2 The pursuit of knowledge is prop-" "vation based on thorough description, systematic and repeated" "erly called science when it is carried out according to general" "measurement, and precise quantification of the p­ henomena of" "methodological precepts and expectations that define science." "interest." "All scientists share a fundamental assumption about the nature" "As it is in every scientific field, empiricism is the foremost" "of events that are amenable to investigation by science, general" "rule in behavior analysis. Every effort to understand, predict," "notions about basic strategy, and perspectives on how to view" "and improve behavior hinges on the behavior analyst’s ability" "their findings. These attitudes of science—determinism, empir-" "to completely define, systematically observe, and accurately and" "icism, experimentation, replication, parsimony, and philosophic" "reliably measure occurrences and nonoccurrences of the behav-" "doubt—­constitute a set of overriding assumptions and values" "ior of interest." "that guide the work of all scientists (Whaley & Surratt, 1968)." "Experimentation" "Determinism" "Experimentation is the basic strategy of most sciences. Whaley" "Science is predicated on the assumption of determinism. All" "and Surratt (1968) used the following anecdote to introduce the" "scientists presume that the universe is a lawful and orderly place" "need for experimentation." "in which all phenomena occur as the result of other events. In" "other words, events do not just happen willy-nilly; they are A man who lived in a suburban dwelling area was surprised" "related in systematic ways to other factors, which are themselves one evening to see his neighbor bow to the four winds," "physical phenomena amenable to scientific investigation. chant a strange melody, and dance around his front lawn" "If the universe were governed by accidentalism, a phil- beating a small drum. After witnessing the same ritual for" "osophical position antithetical to determinism that holds that over a month, the man became overwhelmed with curiosity" "events occur by accident or without cause, or by fatalism, the and decided to look into the matter." " Chapter 1 • Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 21" "" "“Why do you go through this same ritual each Schlinger and Normand (2013) reported that Skinner used the" "­evening?” the man asked his neighbor. term 36 times in Science and Human Behavior and cited this" "“It keeps my house safe from tigers,” the neighbor example:" "replied." "The external variables of which behavior is a function pro-" "“Good grief!” the man said. “Don’t you know there" "vide for what may be called a causal or functional analysis." "isn’t a tiger within a thousand miles of here?”" "We undertake to predict and control the behavior of the" "“Yeah,” the neighbor smiled. “Sure works, doesn’t" "individual organism. This is our “dependent variable”—the" "it!” (pp. 23–2 to 23–3)" "effect for which we are to find the cause. Our “indepen-" "When events are observed to covary or occur in close dent variables”—the causes of behavior—are the external" "temporal sequence, a functional relation may exist, but other ­conditions of which behavior is a function. Relations" "factors may be responsible for the observed values of the between the two—the “cause-and-effect relationships” in" "dependent variable. To investigate the possible existence of a behavior—are the laws of a science. (Skinner, 1953," "functional relation, an experiment (or better, a series of exper- p. 35, italics added)" "iments) must be performed in which the factor(s) suspected of" "Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982) intro-" "having causal status are systematically controlled and manip-" "duced the second and today most widely recognized usage of" "ulated while the effects on the event under study are carefully" "functional analysis in their groundbreaking article describing" "observed." "an experimental methodology for determining environmental" "Reliably predicting and controlling any phenomena," "variables and contingencies maintaining problem behavior (see" "including the presence of tigers in one’s backyard, requires iden-" "Chapter 27). In its original meaning, functional analysis pro-" "tifying and manipulating the factors that influence those phe-" "vides the very foundation for an experimental science of" "nomena. One way that the individual described previously could" "behavior; as a method for assessing the controlling variables" "use the experimental method to evaluate the effectiveness of his" "for problem behavior, functional analysis informs the design of" "ritual would be to first move to a neighborhood in which tigers" "effective treatments." "are regularly observed and then systematically manipulate the" "use of his anti-tiger ritual (e.g., 1 week off, 1 week on, 1 week" "Replication" "off, 1 week on) while observing and recording the presence of" "tigers under the no-ritual and ritual conditions. The results of a single experiment—no matter how well it was" "designed and conducted, no matter how clear and impressive the" "The experimental method is a method for isolating the findings—are never sufficient to earn an accepted place among" "­relevant variables within a pattern of events. . . . the scientific knowledge base of any field. Although the data" "[W]hen the experimental method is employed, it is from a single experiment have value in their own right and can-" "­possible to change one factor at a time (independent not be discounted, only after an experiment has been replicated" "­variable) while leaving all other aspects of the situation a number of times with the same basic pattern of results are" "the same, and then to observe what effect this change scientists convinced of the findings." "has on the ­target ­behavior (dependent variable). Ideally, Replication—repeating of experiments (as well as repeat-" "a ­functional ­relation may be obtained. Formal techniques ing independent variable conditions within ­experiments)—" "of ­experimental control are designed to make sure that “pervades every nook and cranny of the experimental method”" "the ­conditions being compared are otherwise the same. (Johnston & Pennypacker, 1993a, p. 244). Replication is the" "Use of the ­experimental method serves as a necessary ­primary method with which scientists determine the reli-" "condition (sine qua non) to distinguish the experimental ability and usefulness of their findings and discover their" "analysis of behavior from other methods of investiga- ­mistakes (Johnston & Pennypacker, 1980; 1993a; Sidman," "tion. (Dinsmoor, 2003, p. 152) 1960). ­Replication—not the infallibility or inherent honesty" "Thus, an experiment is a controlled comparison of some of ­scientists—is the primary reason science is a self-correcting" "measure of the phenomenon of interest (the dependent vari- enterprise that ultimately gets it right (Skinner, 1953)." "able) under two or more different conditions in which only How many times must an experiment be repeated with" "one factor at a time (the independent variable) differs from the same results before the scientific community accepts the" "one condition to another. Strategies and tactics for conduct- findings? There is no required number of replications, but the" "ing experiments in applied behavior analysis are described in greater the importance of the findings to theory or practice, the" "Chapters 7 through 10. greater the number of replications to be conducted. Chapters 7" "Most of the studies cited in this text are experiments that through 10 explain the role of replication in behavioral research" "have demonstrated or discovered a functional relation between and describe replication strategies used by applied behavior" "a target behavior and one or more environmental variables. Such analysts." "studies are said to have achieved a functional analysis. The" "term functional analysis has two meanings in contemporary Parsimony" "behavior analysis literature. In its original and most fundamen- One dictionary definition of parsimony is great frugality, and in" "tal usage, functional analysis denotes demonstrations of func- a special way this connotation accurately describes the behav-" "tional relations between environmental variables and behavior. ior of scientists. As an attitude of science, parsimony requires" " 22 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "that all simple, logical explanations for the phenomenon under We end our discussion of philosophic doubt with two" "investigation be ruled out, experimentally or conceptually, pieces of advice, one from Carl Sagan and one from B. F." "before more complex or abstract explanations are considered. Skinner: “The question is not whether we like the ­conclusion" "Parsimonious interpretations help scientists assess and fit new that emerges out of a train of reasoning, but whether the" "findings within the field’s existing knowledge base. A fully par- ­c onclusion follows from the premise or s­tarting point" "simonious interpretation consists only of those elements that are and whether that premise is true” (Sagan, 1996, p. 210)." "necessary and sufficient to explain the phenomenon at hand. The “Regard no ­p ractice as immutable. Change and be ready" "attitude of parsimony is so critical to scientific explanations that to change again. Accept no eternal verity. Experiment”" "it is sometimes referred to as the Law of Parsimony (Whaley & ­(Skinner, 1979, p. 346)." "Surratt, 1968), a “law” derived from Occam’s Razor, credited" "to William of Occam (c. 1285–1349), who stated: “One should Other Important Attitudes and Values" "not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities The six attitudes of science that we have examined are necessary" "required to explain anything.” In other words, given a choice features of science and provide an important context for under-" "between two competing and compelling explanations for the standing applied behavior analysis." "same phenomenon, one should shave off extraneous variables However, the behavior of most productive and successful" "and choose the simplest explanation, the one that requires the scientists is also characterized by qualities such as thoroughness," "fewest assumptions. curiosity, perseverance, diligence, ethics, and honesty. Scientists" "acquire these traits because behaving in such ways has proven" "Philosophic Doubt beneficial to the progress of science." "The attitude of philosophic doubt requires the scientist to con-" "tinually question the truthfulness of what is regarded as fact. A Definition of Science" "­Scientific knowledge must always be viewed as tentative." "Science has no universally accepted, standard definition." "­Scientists must be willing to set aside their most cherished" "We offer the following definition as one that encompasses" "beliefs and findings and replace them with the knowledge" "the ­previously discussed purposes and attitudes of science," "derived from new discoveries." "­irrespective of the subject matter. Science is a systematic" "Good scientists maintain a healthy level of s­ kepticism." "approach to understanding natural phenomena—as evidenced" "Although being skeptical of others’ research may be easy," "by description, prediction, and control—that relies on deter-" "a more difficult but critical characteristic of scientists is" "minism as its fundamental assumption, empiricism as its prime" "that they remain open to the possibility—as well as look" "directive, experimentation as its basic strategy, replication" "for e­ vidence—that their own findings or interpretations are" "as its necessary requirement for believability, parsimony as" "wrong. “Science is a willingness to accept facts even when" "its conservative value, and philosophic doubt as its guiding" "they are opposed to wishes” (Skinner, 1953, p. 12). As ­Oliver" "conscience." "Cromwell (1650) stated in another context: “I beseech you . . ." "think it possible you may be mistaken.” For the true scientist," "“new findings are not problems; they are opportunities for A BRIEF HISTORY OF BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS" "further investigation and expanded understanding” (Todd &" "Morris, 1993, p. 1159). The science of behavior analysis entails three interrelated" "Practitioners should be as skeptical as researchers. The domains: philosophy, basic research, and applied research." "skeptical practitioner not only requires scientific evidence before Behaviorism is the philosophy of the science of behavior, basic" "implementing a new practice, but also evaluates continually its research is the province of the experimental analysis of behav-" "effectiveness once the practice has been implemented. Practi- ior (EAB), and developing a technology for improving behavior" "tioners must be particularly skeptical of extraordinary claims is the concern of applied behavior analysis (ABA). To be fully" "made for the effectiveness of new theories, therapies, or treat- understood, applied behavior analysis must be considered in" "ments (Foxx & Mulick, 2016; Maurice, 2017). the context of the philosophy and basic research traditions and" "findings from which it evolved and remains connected today." "Claims that sound too good to be true usually are." "This section provides an elementary description of the basic" "­Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" "tenets of behaviorism and outlines some of the major events" "(Sagan, 1996; Shermer, 2002). What constitutes" "that have marked the development of behavior analysis.3" "­extraordinary evidence? In the strictest sense, and" "Table 1.1 lists major books, journals, and professional organi-" "the sense that should be employed when evaluating" "zations that have contributed to the advancement of behavior" "claims of educational effectiveness, evidence is the" "analysis since the 1930s." "outcome of the application of the scientific method to" "test the ­effectiveness of a claim, a theory, or a practice." "Watson’s Stimulus–Response Behaviorism" "The more rigorously the test is conducted, the more" "often the test is replicated, the more extensively the test Psychology in the early 1900s was dominated by the study of" "is ­corroborated, the more extraordinary the evidence. states of consciousness, images, and other mental processes." "­Evidence becomes extraordinary when it is extraordi- Introspection, the act of carefully observing one’s own conscious" "narily well ­tested. (Silvestri & Heward, 2016, p. 149) thoughts and feelings, was a primary method of investigation." " Chapter 1 • Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 23" "" "TABLE 1.1 Books, Journals, and Organizations That Have Played a Major Role in the Development" "and Dissemination of Behavior Analysis" "Decade Books Journals Organizations" "1930s The Behavior of Organisms—Skinner (1938) The Psychological Record (1937)" "1940s Walden Two—Skinner (1948)" "1950s Principles of Psychology—Keller and Journal of the Experimental Society for the Experimental Analysis" "Schoenfeld (1950) Analysis of Behavior (1958) of Behavior (SEAB) (1957)" "Science and Human Behavior—" "Skinner (1953)" "Schedules of Reinforcement—Ferster and" "Skinner (1957)" "Verbal Behavior—Skinner (1957)" "1960s Tactics of Scientific Research— Journal of Applied Behavior American Psychological Association’s" "Sidman (1960) Analysis (1968) Division 25 Experimental Analysis of" "Behavior (1964)" "Child Development, Vols. I & II—Bijou and Experimental Analysis of Behaviour" "Baer (1961, 1965) Group (UK) (1965)" "The Analysis of Behavior—Holland and" "Skinner (1961)" "Research in Behavior Modification—Krasner" "and Ullmann (1965)" "Operant Behavior: Areas of Research and" "Application—Honig (1966)" "The Analysis of Human Operant Behavior—" "Reese (1966)" "Principles of Behavioral Analysis—" "Millenson (1967)" "Behavior Principles—Ferster and Perrott" "(1968)" "Contingencies of Reinforcement:" "A Theoretical Analysis—Skinner (1969)" "1970s Beyond Freedom and Dignity— Behaviorism (1972) (became Norwegian Association for Behavior" "Skinner (1971) Behavior and Philosophy Analysis (1973)" "in 1990)" "Elementary Principles of Behavior— Revista Mexicana de Analisis Midwestern Association for Behavior" "Whaley and Malott (1971) de la Conducta (1975) Analysis (MABA) (1974)" "About Behaviorism—Skinner (1974) Behavioural Processes (1976) Mexican Society of Behavior Analysis" "(1975)" "Single Case Experimental Designs—Hersen Behavior Modification (1977) Association for Behavior Analysis" "and Barlow (1976) (formerly, MABA) (1978)" "Applying Behavior-Analysis Procedures with Journal of Organizational" "Children and Youth—Sulzer-Azaroff and Behavior Management (1977)" "Mayer (1977)" "Learning—Catania (1979) Education & Treatment of" "Children (1977)" "The Behavior Analyst (1978)" "1980s Strategies and Tactics of Human Behavioral Journal of Precision Teaching Society for the Advancement of" "Research—Johnston and Pennypacker and Celeration (formerly, Journal Behavior Analysis (1980)" "(1980) of Precision Teaching) (1980)" "Behaviorism: A Conceptual Reconstruction— Analysis of Verbal Behavior" "Zuriff (1985) (1982)" "Recent Issues in the Analysis of Behavior— Behavioral Interventions (1986) Cambridge Center for Behavioral" "Skinner (1989) Studies (1981)" "(continued )" " 24 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "TABLE 1.1 (continued)" "Decade Books Journals Organizations" "Japanese Journal of Behavior Japanese Association for Behavior" "Analysis (1986) Analysis (1983)" "Behavior Analysis Digest (1989)" "Behavioural Pharmacology" "(1989)" "1990s Concepts and Principles of Behavior Behavior and Social Issues Accreditation of Training Programs" "Analysis—Michael (1993) (1991) in Behavior Analysis (Association for" "Behavior Analysis) (1993)" "Understanding Behaviorism: Science, Journal of Behavioral Education Behavior Analyst Certification Board" "Behavior, and Culture—Baum (1994) (1991) (BACB) (1998)" "Radical Behaviorism: The Philosophy and the Journal of Positive Behavior Council of Directors of Graduate" "Science—Chiesa (1994) Interventions (1999) Programs in Behavior Analysis" "(Association for Behavior Analysis)" "(1999)" "Equivalence Relations and Behavior— The Behavior Analyst Today First Board Certified Behavior" "Sidman (1994) (1999) Analysts (BCBA) credentialed by the" "BACB (1999)" "Behavior Analysis and Learning—Pierce and" "Epling (1995)" "Functional Analysis of Problem Behavior—" "Repp and Horner (1999)" "2000s Relational Frame Theory: A Post-Skinnerian European Journal of Behavior" "Account of Human Language and Analysis (2000)" "Cognition—Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, and" "Roche (2001)" "Conceptual Foundations of Radical Behavioral Development Bulletin" "Behaviorism—Moore (2008) (2002)" "Journal of Early and Intensive European Association for Behaviour" "Behavior Intervention (2004) Analysis (2002)" "Brazilian Journal of Behavior Association for Professional Behavior" "Analysis (2005) Analysts (APBA) (2007)" "International Journal of Association for Behavior Analysis" "Behavioral Consultation and International (ABAI) (formerly, ABA)" "Therapy (2005) (2008)" "2010s Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis— Behavior Analysis in Practice First Registered Behavior Technician" "Fisher, Piazza, and Roane (2011) (2011) (RBT) credentialed by the BACB" "(2014)" "The Science of Consequences—Schneider Journal of Contextual Behavioral BACB credentials the 30,000th" "(2012) Science (2012) behavior analyst (2018)" "APA Handbook of Behavior Analysis— Operants (2014) Membership in ABAI and affiliate" "Madden (2013) chapters surpasses 26,000 in 63" "countries (2018)" "Radical Behaviorism for ABA Practitioners— Behavior Analysis: Research and" "Johnston (2013) Practice (formerly, The Behavior" "Analyst Today (2015)" "The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Operant Perspectives on Behavior Science" "and Classical Conditioning—McSweeney (formerly, The Behavior Analyst)" "and Murphy (2014) (2018)" "The Nurture Effect: How the Science of" "Human Behavior Can Improve Our Lives &" "Our World—Biglan (2015)" "" "Note: Books are listed by initial year of publication. Some titles are available in more recent editions." " Chapter 1 • Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 25" "" "" "" "" "B. F. Skinner (left) in his Indiana University lab circa 1945 and (right) circa 1967." "" "" "Although the authors of several texts in the first decade of the It is unfortunate that such extraordinary claims were made," "20th century defined psychology as the science of behavior exaggerating the ability to predict and control human behavior" "(see Kazdin, 1978), John B. Watson is widely recognized as beyond the scientific knowledge available. The quotation just" "the spokesman for a new direction in the field of psychology. In cited has been used to discredit Watson and continues to be used" "his influential article “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It,” to discredit behaviorism in general, even though the behaviorism" "Watson (1913) wrote: that underlies contemporary behavior analysis is fundamentally" "different from the S–R paradigm. Nevertheless, Watson’s contri-" "Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective" "butions were of great significance: He made a strong case for the" "experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal" "study of behavior as a natural science on a par with the physical" "is the prediction and control of behavior. Introspection" "and biological sciences.4" "forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific" "value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which Experimental Analysis of Behavior" "they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of con-" "sciousness. (p. 158) [Science] is a search for order. It begins, as we all begin," "by observing single episodes, but it quickly passes on to the" "Watson argued that the proper subject matter for general rule, to scientific law." "p­ sychology was not states of mind or mental processes but —B. F. Skinner, (1953, pp. 13–14)" "observable behavior. Further, the objective study of behavior" "as a natural science should consist of direct observation of I had the clue from Pavlov: Control your conditions and" "the relationships between environmental stimuli (S) and the you will see order." "responses (R) they evoke. Watsonian behaviorism became —B. F. Skinner, (1956, p. 223)" "known as stimulus–response (S–R) psychology. Although" "The experimental branch of behavior analysis formally began" "­scientific evidence was insufficient to support S–R psychol-" "with the publication of B. F. Skinner’s the Behavior of Organ-" "ogy as a workable explanation for most behavior, Watson was" "isms (1938). The book summarized Skinner’s laboratory" "­confident that his new behaviorism would lead to the prediction" "research conducted from 1930 to 1937 and brought into per-" "and control of human behavior and that it would allow prac-" "spective two kinds of behavior: respondent and operant." "titioners to improve performance in areas such as education," "Respondent behavior is reflexive behavior as in the tradi-" "business, and law. Watson (1924) made bold claims concerning" "tion of Ivan Pavlov (1927). Respondents are elicited, or “brought" "human behavior, as illustrated in this famous quotation:" "out,” by stimuli that immediately precede them. The antecedent" "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my stimulus (e.g., bright light) and the response it elicits (e.g., pupil" "own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee constriction) form a functional unit called a reflex. Respondent" "to take any one at random and train him to become any behaviors are essentially involuntary and occur whenever the" "type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, eliciting stimulus is presented." "merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, Skinner was “interested in giving a scientific account" "regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, of all behavior, including that which Descartes had set aside" "vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond as ‘willed’ and outside the reach of science” (Glenn, Ellis, &" "my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the Greenspoon, 1992, p. 1330). But, like other psychologists of the" "contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands time, Skinner found that the S–R paradigm could not explain" "of years. (p. 104) a great deal of behavior, particularly behaviors that had no" " 26" "Responses Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "" "" "" "50" "" "" "Figure 1.1 The first data set in B. F. Skinner’s" "60 120 The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental" "­Analysis (1938)." "Time in Minutes" "Based on the Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental" "Original Conditioning Analysis by B. F. Skinner, p. 67. Original copyright 1938" "All responses to the lever were reinforced. The first three reinforcements were by Appleton-­Century. Copyright 1991 by B. F. Skinner" "apparently ineffective. The fourth is followed by a rapid increase in rate. ­Foundation, ­Cambridge, MA. Used by permission." "" "" "" "apparent antecedent causes in the environment. Compared to this new science the experimental analysis of behavior and" "reflexive behavior with its clear eliciting events, much of the outlined the methodology for its practice. Simply put, Skinner" "behavior of organisms appeared spontaneous or “voluntary.” In recorded the rate at which a single subject (he initially used rats" "an attempt to explain the mechanisms responsible for “volun- and later, pigeons) emitted a given behavior in a controlled and" "tary” behavior, other ­psychologists postulated mediating vari- standardized experimental chamber." "ables inside the organism in the form of hypothetical constructs The first set of data Skinner presented in The Behavior" "such as ­cognitive processes, drives, and free will. Skinner took of Organisms was a graph that “gives a record of the resulting" "a ­different tack. Instead of creating hypothetical constructs, change in behavior” (p. 67) when a food pellet was delivered" "­presumed but unobserved entities that could not be manipulated immediately after a rat pressed a lever (see Figure 1.1). Skinner" "in an experiment, ­Skinner continued to look in the environment noted that the first three times that food followed a response" "for the determinants of behavior that did not have apparent “had no observable effect” but that “the fourth response was" "antecedent causes. followed by an appreciable increase in rate showing a swift" "acceleration to a maximum” (pp. 67–68)." "He did not deny that physiological variables played a role" "Skinner’s investigative procedures evolved into an ele-" "in determining behavior. He merely felt that this was the" "gant experimental approach that enabled clear and powerful" "domain of other disciplines, and for his part, remained" "demonstrations of orderly and reliable functional relations" "committed to assessing the causal role of the environment." "between behavior and various types of environmental events.6" "This decision meant looking elsewhere in time. Through" "By systematically manipulating the arrangement and schedul-" "painstaking research, Skinner accumulated significant, if" "ing of stimuli that preceded and followed behavior in literally" "counterintuitive, evidence that behavior is changed less by" "thousands of laboratory experiments from the 1930s through" "the stimuli that precede it (though context is important) and" "the 1950s, Skinner and his colleagues and students discov-" "more by the consequences that immediately follow it" "ered and verified the basic principles of operant behavior that" "(i.e., consequences that are contingent upon it). The essen-" "continue to provide the empirical foundation for behavior" "tial formulation for this notion is S–R–S, otherwise known" "analysis today. Description of these principles of behavior—" "as the three–term contingency. It did not replace the S–R" "general statements of functional relations between behavior" "model—we still salivate, for instance, if we smell food" "and environmental events—and ­tactics for changing behavior" "cooking when we are hungry. It did, however, account for" "derived from those principles constitute a major portion of" "how the environment “selects” the great part of learned" "this text." "behavior." "With the three-term contingency Skinner gave us a" "Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism" "new paradigm. He achieved something no less profound for" "the study of behavior and learning than Bohr’s model of the Behavior analysts dispense with the myth of the inner" "atom or ­Mendel’s model of the gene. (Kimball, 2002, p. 71) ­person as creator of behavior. Both philosophically and" "empirically to the behavior analyst, we are what we do, and" "Skinner called the second type of behavior operant" "when and where we do it." "b­ ehavior.5 Operant behaviors are not elicited by preceding stimuli" "—Murray Sidman, (2013, p. xvi)" "but instead are influenced by stimulus changes that have followed" "the behavior in the past. Skinner’s most powerful and fundamen- In addition to being the founder of the experimental analysis of" "tal contribution to our understanding of behavior was his discov- behavior, B. F. Skinner wrote extensively on the philosophy of that" "ery and experimental analyses of the effects of consequences on science. Without question, Skinner’s writings have been the most" "behavior. The operant three-term contingency as the primary unit influential both in guiding the practice of the science of behavior" "of analysis was a revolutionary conceptual breakthrough. and in proposing the application of the principles of behavior to" "Skinner (1938) argued that the analysis of operant behav- new areas.7 In 1948 Skinner published Walden Two, a fictional" "ior “with its unique relation to the environment presents a account of how the philosophy and principles of behavior might be" "separate important field of investigation” (p. 438). He named used in a utopian community (see Altus & Morris, 2009). This was" " Chapter 1 • Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 27" "" "followed by his classic text, Science and Human Behavior (1953), unobserved mentalistic fictions (i.e., hypothetical constructs)" "in which he speculated on how the principles of behavior might to explain the causes of behavior contributed nothing to a func-" "be applied to complex human behavior in areas such as education, tional account." "religion, government, law, and psychotherapy. Consider a typical laboratory situation. A food-deprived" "Much of Skinner’s writing was devoted to the develop- rat pushes a lever each time a light comes on and receives" "ment and explanation of his philosophy of behaviorism. Skinner food, but the rat seldom pushes the lever when the light is off" "began his book About Behaviorism (1974) with these words: (and if it does, no food is delivered). When asked to explain" "why the rat pushes the lever only when the light is on, most" "Behaviorism is not the science of human behavior; it is the will say that the rat has “made the association” between the" "philosophy of that science. Some of the questions it asks light being on and food being delivered when the lever is" "are these: Is such a science really possible? Can it account pressed. As a result of making that association, the animal" "for every aspect of human behavior? What methods can it now “knows” to press the lever only when the light is on." "use? Are its laws as valid as those of physics and biology? Attributing the rat’s behavior to a hypothetical cognitive pro-" "Will it lead to a technology, and if so, what role will it play cess such as associating or to something called “knowledge”" "in human affairs? (p. 1) adds nothing to a functional account of the situation. First, the" "The behaviorism Skinner pioneered differed significantly environment (in this case, the experimenter) paired the light" "(indeed, radically) from other psychological theories, includ- and food availability for lever presses, not the rat. Second, the" "ing other forms of behaviorism. Although there were, and knowledge or other cognitive process that is said to explain" "remain today, many psychological models and approaches to the observed behavior is itself unexplained, which begs for" "the study of behavior, mentalism is the common denominator still more conjecture." "among most. The “knowledge” that is said to account for the rat’s perfor-" "mance is an example of an explanatory fiction, a fictitious vari-" "In general terms, mentalism may be defined as an able that often is simply another name for the observed behavior" "approach to the study of behavior which assumes that that contributes nothing to an understanding of the variables" "a mental or “inner” dimension exists that ­differs from responsible for developing or maintaining the behavior. Explan-" "a behavioral dimension. This ­dimension is ordinarily atory fictions are the key ingredient in “a circular way of viewing" "referred to in terms of its neural, ­psychic, spiritual, the cause and effect of a situation” (Heron, Tincani, Peterson, &" "­subjective, conceptual, or hypothetical ­properties. Miller, 2005, p. 274) that lead to a false sense of understanding." "­Mentalism further assumes that ­phenomena in this" "dimension either directly cause or at least mediate Turning from observed behavior to a fanciful inner world" "some forms of behavior, if not all. These ­phenomena continues unabated. Sometimes it is little more than a linguistic" "are ­typically designated as some sort of act, state, practice. We tend to make nouns of adjectives and verbs and" "­mechanism, process, or entity that is causal in must then find a place for the things the nouns are said to" "the sense of initiating or ­originating. ­Mentalism represent. We say that a rope is strong and before long we are" "regards ­concerns about the origin of these phenom- speaking of its strength. We call a particular kind of strength" "ena as ­incidental at best. Finally, ­mentalism holds tensile, and then explain that the rope is strong because it" "that an adequate causal explanation of ­behavior possesses tensile strength. The mistake is less obvious but" "must appeal directly to the ­efficacy of these more troublesome when matters are more complex." "­mental ­phenomena. (Moore, 2003, pp. 181–182) Consider now a behavioral parallel. When a person has" "been subject to mildly punishing consequences in walking" "Hypothetical constructs and explanatory fictions are the on a slippery surface, he may walk in a manner we describe" "stock and trade of mentalism, which has dominated Western as cautious. It is then easy to say that he walks with caution" "intellectual thought and most psychological theories (­ Descartes, or that he shows caution. There is no harm in this until we" "Freud, Piaget), and it continues to do so into the 21st century. begin to say that he walks carefully because of his caution." "Freud, for example, created a complex mental world of hypo- (Skinner, 1974, pp. 165–166, emphasis added)" "thetical constructs—the id, ego, and superego—that he con-" "It is widely believed that Skinner rejected all events" "tended were key to understanding a person’s actions." "that could not be independently verified by agreement among" "Hypothetical constructs—“theoretical terms that refer" "observers. However, Skinner was explicit early on that he valued" "to a possibly existing, but at the moment unobserved process" "effective action over agreement among observers." "or entity” (Moore, 1995, p. 36)—can be neither observed nor" "experimentally manipulated (MacCorquodale & Meehl, 1948; The ultimate criterion for the goodness of a concept" "Zuriff, 1985). Free will, readiness, innate releasers, language is not whether two people are brought into agreement" "acquisition devices, storage and retrieval mechanisms for but whether the scientist who uses the concept can" "memory, and information processing are all examples of hypo- ­operate successfully upon his material—all by himself" "thetical constructs that are inferred from behavior. Although if need be. What matters to Robinson Crusoe is not" "Skinner (1953, 1974) clearly indicated that it is a mistake to whether he is agreeing with himself but whether he" "rule out events that influence our behavior because they are is getting ­anywhere with his control over nature." "not accessible to others, he believed that using presumed but (Skinner, 1945, p. 293)." " 28 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "Pragmatism, the philosophical position that “the truth is, I believe, the heart of radical behaviorism” (Skinner, 1974," "value of a statement is a function of how well the statement pro- p. 218). The proper connotations of the word radical in radi-" "motes effective action” (Moore, 2008, p. 400), continues to be a cal behaviorism are far-reaching and thoroughgoing, connoting" "primary criterion by which behavior analysts judge the value of the philosophy’s inclusion of all behavior, public and private." "their findings (Leigland, 2010; Moxley, 2004).8 Radical is also an appropriate modifier for Skinner’s form of" "In reality, there are many kinds of behaviorism—structur- behaviorism because it represents a dramatic departure from" "alism, methodological behaviorism, and forms of behaviorism other conceptual systems in calling for" "that use cognitions as causal factors (e.g., cognitive behavior probably the most drastic change ever proposed in our" "modification and social learning theory)—in addition to the way of thinking about man. It is almost literally a ­matter" "radical behaviorism of Skinner. Structuralism and methodolog- of ­turning the explanation of behavior inside out." "ical behaviorism do reject all events that are not operationally ­(Skinner, 1974, p. 256)" "defined by objective assessment. Structuralists avoid mental-" "ism by restricting their activities to descriptions of behavior. Skinner and the philosophy of radical behaviorism" "They make no scientific manipulations; accordingly, they do not acknowledge the events on which fictions such as cognitive" "address questions of causal factors. Methodological behaviorists processes are based. Radical behaviorism does not restrict the" "differ from the structuralists by using scientific manipulations to science of behavior to phenomena that can be detected by more" "search for functional relations between events. Uncomfortable than one person. In the context of radical behaviorism, the term" "with basing their science on unobservable phenomena, some observe implies “coming into contact with” (Moore, 1984)." "early behaviorists either denied the existence of “inner variables” Radical behaviorists consider private events such as thinking" "or considered them outside the realm of a scientific account. or sensing the stimuli produced by a damaged tooth to be no" "Such an orientation is often referred to as m ­ ethodological different from public events such as oral reading or sensing the" "behaviorism. sounds produced by a musical instrument. According to Skinner" "Methodological behaviorists acknowledge the existence (1974), “What is felt or introspectively observed is not some" "of mental events but do not consider them in the analysis of nonphysical world of consciousness, mind, or mental life but" "behavior (Skinner, 1974). Methodological behaviorists’ reliance the observer’s own body” (pp. 18–19)." "on public events, excluding private events, restricts the knowl- The analysis of private events is a major aspect of rad-" "edge base of human behavior and discourages innovation in the ical behaviorism and indispensable for a comprehensive sci-" "science of behavior. Methodological behaviorism is restrictive ence of behavior (Palmer, 2011). Moore (1980, 2015) stated" "because it ignores areas of major importance for an understand- it concisely:" "ing of behavior. For radical behaviorism, private events are those" "Contrary to another common misconception, Skinner did events wherein individuals respond with respect to" "not object to cognitive psychology’s concern with private events ­certain ­stimuli accessible to themselves alone. . . . The" "(i.e., events taking place “inside the skin”) (Moore, 2000). Skin- responses that are made to those stimuli may themselves" "ner was the first behaviorist to view thoughts and feelings (he be public, i.e., observable by others, or they may be" "called them “private events”) as behavior to be analyzed with the private, i.e., accessible only to the individual involved." "same conceptual and experimental tools used to analyze publicly ­Nonetheless, to ­paraphrase Skinner (1953), it need not" "observable behavior, not as phenomena or variables that exist be ­supposed that events taking place within the skin" "within and operate according to principles of a separate mental have any ­special ­properties for that reason alone. . . ." "world. “I contend that my toothache is just as physical as my For ­radical ­behaviorism, then, one’s responses with" "typewriter” (Skinner, 1945, p. 294). respect to ­private stimuli are equally lawful and alike" "Essentially, Skinner’s behaviorism makes three major in kind to one’s responses with respect to public" "assumptions regarding the nature of private events: (a) Private stimuli. (1980, p. 460)" "events such as thoughts and feelings are behavior; (b) behav-" "[T]hese events are critical to understanding behavior in all" "ior that takes place within the skin is distinguished from other" "its complexity. Just as importantly, they need not be formu-" "(“public”) behavior only by its inaccessibility; and (c) private" "lated in different terms and with different concepts that are" "behavior is influenced by (i.e., is a function of) the same kinds" "publicly observable behavior events. (2015, p. 18)" "of variables as publicly accessible behavior." "Scientists and practitioners are affected by their own" "We need not suppose that events which take place within" "social context, and institutions and schools are dominated by" "an organism’s skin have special properties for that reason." "mentalism (Heward & Cooper, 1992; Kimball, 2002). A firm" "A private event may be distinguished by its limited accessi-" "grasp of the philosophy of radical behaviorism, in addition" "bility but not, so far as we know, by any special structure of" "to knowledge of principles of behavior, can help the scientist" "nature. (Skinner, 1953, p. 257)" "and practitioner resist the mentalistic approach of dropping the" "By incorporating private events into an overall conceptual search for controlling variables in the environment and drifting" "system of behavior, Skinner created a radical behaviorism that toward explanatory fictions in the effort to understand behav-" "includes and seeks to understand all human behavior. “What ior. The principles of behavior and the procedures presented" "is inside the skin, and how do we know about it? The answer in this text apply equally to public and private events. Radical" " Chapter 1 • Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 29" "" "behaviorism is the philosophical position underlying the content new behaviors, the researchers’ major purpose was to deter-" "presented in this text. mine whether the basic principles of behavior discovered in" "As Friman (2017) noted, Skinner’s behaviorism viewed the l­aboratory operated with humans. For example, Sidney" "behavior as a natural science. Bijou (1955, 1957, 1958) 11 researched several principles" "of behavior with typically developing subjects and people" "By taking this stand, he was promoting a larger" "with intellectual disabilities; Don Baer (1960, 1961, 1962)" "idea, ­specifically that behavior was solely a physical" "­examined the effects of punishment, escape, and avoidance" "­phenomenon brought about, maintained, strengthened," "contingencies on ­p reschool ­c hildren; and Ogden Lindsley" "or weakened solely by physical (environmental)" "(1956; Lindsley & Skinner, 1954) assessed the effects of" "events. In other words, he was promoting the idea" "operant conditioning on the behavior of adults with schizo-" "that ­behavior is a function of environmental circum-" "phrenia. These early researchers clearly established that the" "stances and their ­context. This is the most powerful idea" "principles of behavior are ­applicable to human behavior, and" "ever invented by mankind for ­understanding, knowing," "they set the stage for the later development of applied behav-" "and ­approaching human behavior especially when it is a" "ior analysis." "­problem. (p. 176)" "The branch of behavior analysis that would later be" "A thorough discussion of radical behaviorism is far beyond called applied behavior analysis (ABA) can be traced to" "the scope of this text. The serious student of applied behavior the 1959 ­publication of Ayllon and Michael’s paper titled" "analysis will devote considerable study to Skinner’s original “The ­Psychiatric Nurse as a Behavioral Engineer.” The authors" "writings and to other authors who have critiqued, ­analyzed, and described how direct care personnel in a state hospital used a" "extended the philosophical foundations of the ­science of behav- variety of techniques based on the principles of behavior to" "ior.9 (See Box 1.1 for Don Baer’s perspectives on the meaning improve the functioning of residents with psychotic disorders" "and importance of radical behaviorism.) or intellectual disabilities. During the 1960s many researchers" "began to apply principles of behavior in an effort to improve" "socially ­important behavior, but these early pioneers faced" "Applied Behavior Analysis" "many problems. Laboratory techniques for measuring b­ ehavior" "The first study to report the human application of principles of and for controlling and manipulating variables were some-" "operant behavior was conducted by Fuller (1949). The subject times unavailable, or their use was inappropriate in applied" "was an 18-year-old boy with profound developmental disabil- settings. As a result, the early practitioners of applied behavior" "ities who was described in the language of the time as a “veg- ­analysis had to develop new experimental procedures as they" "etative idiot.” He lay on his back, unable to roll over. Fuller went along. There was little funding for the new d­ iscipline, and" "filled a syringe with a warm sugar-milk solution and injected researchers had no ready outlet for publishing their studies," "a small amount of the fluid into the young man’s mouth every making it difficult to communicate among themselves about" "time he moved his right arm (that arm was chosen because their findings and solutions to methodological problems." "he moved it infrequently). Within four sessions the boy was Most journal editors were reluctant to publish studies using an" "­moving his arm to a vertical position at a rate of three times experimental method unfamiliar to mainstream social science," "per minute.10 which relied on large numbers of subjects and tests of statis-" "tical inference." "The attending physicians . . . thought it was impos-" "Despite these problems it was an exciting time, and" "sible for him to learn anything—according to them," "major new discoveries were being made regularly. For exam-" "he had not learned anything in the 18 years of his" "ple, many pioneering applications of behavior principles to" "life—yet in four experimental sessions, by using the" "education occurred during this period (see, e.g., O’Leary &" "operant ­conditioning technique, an addition was made" "O’Leary, 1972; Ulrich, Stachnik, & Mabry 1974), from which" "to his behavior which, at this level, could be termed" "were derived teaching procedures such as contingent teacher" "­appreciable. Those who participated in or observed the" "praise and attention (Hall, Lund, & Jackson, 1968), token" "experiment are of the opinion that if time permitted," "reinforcement systems (Birnbrauer, Wolf, Kidder, & Tague," "other responses could be conditioned and discriminations" "1965), curriculum design (Becker, Engelmann, & Thomas," "learned. (Fuller, 1949, p. 590)" "1975), and programmed instruction (Bijou, Birnbrauer," "During the 1950s and into the early 1960s researchers ­Kidder, & Tague, 1966; Markle, 1962). The basic methods" "used the methods of the experimental analysis of behavior to for reliably improving student performance developed by" "determine whether the principles of behavior demonstrated in those early applied behavior analysts provided the foundation" "the laboratory with nonhuman subjects could be replicated with for behavioral approaches to curriculum design, instructional" "humans. According to Thompson and Hackenberg (2009), “the methods, classroom management, and the generalization and" "field of applied analysis emerged from the experimental analysis maintenance of learning that continue to be used decades later" "of behavior, like Adam’s rib” (p. 271). (cf., Twyman, 2013)." "Much of the early research with human subjects was University programs in behavior analysis were begun in" "­conducted in clinic or laboratory settings. Although the par- the 1960s and 1970s at Arizona State University, Florida State" "ticipants typically benefited from these studies by learning University, the State University of New York at Stony Brook," " 30 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "" "BOX 1.1" "" "What Is Behaviorism?" "Don Baer loved the science of behavior. He loved to write appreciate physics and his fascination with it. If a nonsci-" "about it, and he loved to talk about it. Don was famous for his entist asked you, “What do you find so fascinating about" "unparalleled ability to speak extemporaneously about complex ­science, particularly the science of human behavior?”" "­philosophical, experimental, and professional issues in a way what would you say?" "that always made thorough conceptual, practical, and human" "Ed Morris organized a symposium on just this topic a" "sense. He did so with the vocabulary and syntax of a great author" "couple of years ago at the Association for Behavior ­Analysis" "and the accomplished delivery of a master storyteller. The only" "annual convention, and in that symposium, Jack Michael" "thing Don knew better than his audience was his science." "­commented on the fact that although one of our discipline’s" "On three occasions, in three different decades, graduate" "big problems and challenges is communicating with our" "students and faculty in the special education program at The" "­society about who we are, what we do, and what we can do," "Ohio State University were fortunate to have Professor Baer" "he didn’t find it reasonable to try to summarize what behavior" "serve as Distinguished Guest Faculty for a doctoral seminar," "analysis is to an ordinary person in just a few words. He gave" "Contemporary Issues in Special Education and Applied Behav-" "us this example: Imagine a quantum physicist is approached" "ior Analysis. The questions and responses that follow were" "at a ­cocktail party by someone who asks, “What is quantum" "selected from transcripts of two of Professor Baer’s three OSU" "­physics?” Jack said that the physicist might very well answer," "teleconference seminars." "and probably should answer, “I can’t tell you in a few words." "If a person on the street approached you and asked, You should register for my course.”" "“What’s behaviorism?” how would you reply? I’m very sympathetic with Jack’s argument. But I also" "know, as someone who’s confronted with the politics of ­relating" "The key point of behaviorism is that what people do can" "our discipline to society, that although it may be a true answer," "be understood. Traditionally, both the layperson and the" "it’s not a good answer. It’s not an answer that people will hear" "­psychologist have tried to understand behavior by seeing it as" "with any pleasure, or indeed, even accept. . . . Therefore, I think" "the o­ utcome of what we think, what we feel, what we want," "we have to engage in a bit of honest show ­business. So, if I had" "what we calculate, and etcetera. But we don’t have to think" "to somehow state some connotations of what holds me in the" "about behavior that way. We could look upon it as a process" "field, I guess I would say that since I was a child I always found" "that occurs in its own right and has its own causes. And those" "my biggest reinforcer was something called ­understanding." "causes are, very often, found in the external environment." "I liked to know how things worked. And of all of the things in" "Behavior analysis is a science of studying how we can" "the world there are to understand, it became clear to me that the" "arrange our environments so they make very likely the behav-" "most fascinating was what people do. I started with the usual" "iors we want to be probable enough, and they make unlikely" "physical science stuff, and it was intriguing to me to ­understand" "the behaviors we want to be improbable. Behaviorism is under-" "how radios work, and how electricity works, and how clocks" "standing how the environment works so that we can make" "work, etcetera. But when it became clear to me that we could" "ourselves smarter, more organized, more responsible; so we" "also learn how people work—not just b­ iologically, but behav-" "can encounter fewer punishments and fewer disappointments." "iorally—I thought that’s the best of all. Surely, ­everyone must" "A central point of behaviorism is this: We can remake our envi-" "agree that that’s the most fascinating subject matter. That there" "ronment to accomplish some of that much more easily than we" "could be a science of behavior, of what we do, of who we are?" "can remake our inner selves." "How could you resist that?" "An interviewer once asked Edward Teller, the physicist" "who helped develop the first atomic bomb, “Can you" "explain to a nonscientist what you find so fascinating Adapted from “Thursday Afternoons with Don: Selections from Three Tele-" "conference Seminars on Applied Behavior Analysis” by W. L. Heward &" "about science, particularly physics?” Teller replied, C. L. Wood (2003). In K. S. Budd & T. Stokes (Eds.), A Small Matter of Proof:" "“No.” I sense that Teller was suggesting that a nonsci- The Legacy of Donald M. Baer (pp. 293–310). Reno, NV: Context Press. Used" "entist would not be able to comprehend, understand, or by permission." "" "" "" "" "the University of Illinois, Indiana University, the Univer- Two significant events in 1968 mark that year as the for-" "sity of Kansas, The Ohio State University, the University of mal beginning of contemporary applied behavior analysis. First," "­Oregon, the University of Southern Illinois, the University of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) began publica-" "­Washington, West Virginia University, and Western Michigan tion. JABA was the first journal in the United States to deal with" "University, among others. Through their teaching and research, applied problems that gave researchers using methodology from" "faculty at each of these programs made major contributions to the experimental analysis of behavior an outlet for publishing" "the rapid growth of the field.12 their findings. JABA was and continues to be the flagship journal" " Chapter 1 • Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 31" "" "of applied behavior analysis. Many of the early articles in JABA or responses to a questionnaire about how they believe they get" "became model demonstrations of how to conduct and interpret along with one another." "applied behavior analysis, which in turn led to improved appli- Second, the behavior must be measurable; the precise and" "cations and experimental methodology. reliable measurement of behavior is just as critical in applied" "The second major event of 1968 was the publication of research as it is in basic research. Applied researchers must meet" "the paper “Some Current Dimensions of Applied Behavior the challenge of measuring socially significant behaviors in their" "Analysis” by Donald M. Baer, Montrose M. Wolf, and Todd natural settings, and they must do so without resorting to the" "R. Risley. These authors, the founding fathers of the new dis- measurement of nonbehavioral substitutes." "cipline, recommended criteria for judging the adequacy of Third, when changes in behavior are observed during an" "research and p­ ractice in applied behavior analysis and outlined investigation, it is necessary to ask whose behavior has changed." "the scope of work they envisioned for those engaged in the sci- Perhaps only the behavior of the observers has changed. “Explicit" "ence. Their iconic paper is the most widely cited publication in measurement of the reliability of human observers thus becomes" "applied behavior analysis and generally regarded as the standard not merely good technique, but a prime ­criterion of whether the" "description of the discipline. study was appropriately behavioral” (Baer et al., 1968, p. 93)." "Or perhaps the experimenter’s behavior has changed in an" "unplanned way, making it inappropriate to attribute any observed" "CHARACTERISTICS OF APPLIED change in the subject’s behavior to the independent variables that" "BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS were manipulated. The applied behavior analyst should attempt" "Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968) recommended that applied behav- to monitor the behavior of all persons involved in a study." "ior analysis be applied, behavioral, analytic, technological," "conceptually systematic, effective, and capable of appropriately Analytic" "generalized outcomes. In 1987 Baer and colleagues reported" "that the “seven self-conscious guides to behavior analytic con- A study in applied behavior analysis is analytic when the" "duct” (p. 319) they had offered 20 years earlier “remain func- experimenter has demonstrated a functional relation between" "tional; they still connote the current dimensions of the work the manipulated events and a reliable change in some measur-" "usually called applied behavior analysis” (p. 314). The seven able dimension of the targeted behavior. In other words, the" "dimensions they posed continue to serve as useful and relevant experimenter must be able to control the occurrence and non-" "signposts for identifying research in applied behavior analysis. occurrence of the behavior. Sometimes, however, society does" "not allow the repeated manipulation of important behaviors to" "satisfy the requirements of experimental method. Therefore," "Applied" "applied behavior analysts must demonstrate control to the great-" "The applied in applied behavior analysis signals ABA’s commit- est extent possible, given the restraints of the setting and behav-" "ment to effecting improvements in behaviors that enhance and ior; and then they must present the results for judgment by the" "improve people’s lives. To meet this criterion, the researcher consumers of the research. The ultimate issue is believability:" "or practitioner must select behaviors to change that are socially Has the researcher achieved experimental control to demonstrate" "significant for participants: social, language, academic, daily a reliable functional relation?" "living, self-care, vocational, and/or recreation and leisure behav- The analytic dimension enables ABA not only to demon-" "iors that improve the day-to-day life experience of the partic- strate effectiveness but also to provide the “acid test proof” of" "ipants and/or affect their significant others (parents, teachers, functional and replicable relations between the interventions it" "peers, employers) in such a way that they behave more posi- recommends and socially significant outcomes." "tively with and toward the participant." "Because we are a data- and design-based discipline, we" "are in the remarkable position of being able to prove" "Behavioral" "that behavior can work in the way that our technology" "At first it may seem superfluous to include such an obvious prescribes. We are not theorizing about how behav-" "criterion—of course applied behavior analysis must be behav- ior can work; we are describing systematically how it" "ioral. However, Baer and colleagues (1968) made three import- has worked many times in real-world applications, in" "ant points relative to the behavioral criterion. First, not just any designs too competent and with measurement systems" "behavior will do; the behavior chosen for study must be the too reliable and valid to doubt. Our ability to prove that" "behavior in need of improvement, not a similar behavior that behavior can work that way does not, of course, estab-" "serves as a proxy for the behavior of interest or the subject’s lish that ­behavior ­cannot work any other way: we are" "verbal description of the behavior. Behavior analysts conduct not in a ­discipline that can deny any other approaches," "studies of behavior, not studies about behavior. For example, in only in one that can affirm itself as knowing many of" "a study evaluating the effects of a program to teach school chil- its sufficient conditions at the level of experimental" "dren to get along with one another, an applied behavior analyst proof . . . our ­subject matter is behavior change, and we" "would directly observe and measure clearly defined classes of can specify some actionable sufficient conditions for it." "interactions between and among the children instead of using (D. M. Baer, personal ­communication, October 21, 1982," "indirect measures such as the children’s answers on a sociogram emphasis in original)" " 32 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "Technological a technology is to become an integrated discipline instead of a" "“collection of tricks.” Loosely related collections of tricks do not" "A study in applied behavior analysis is technological when all" "lend themselves to systematic expansion, and they are difficult" "of its operative procedures are identified and described with suf-" "to learn and to teach." "ficient detail and clarity “such that a reader has a fair chance of" "replicating the application with the same results” (Baer, Blount," "Detrich, & Stokes, 1987, p. 320). Effective" "" "It is not enough to say what is to be done when An effective application of behavioral techniques must improve" "the ­subject makes response R1; it is essential also the behavior under investigation to a practical degree. “In appli-" "­whenever possible to say what is to be done if the cation, the theoretical importance of a variable is usually not at" "­subject makes the alternative responses, R2, R3, etc. issue. Its practical importance, specifically its power in alter-" "For ­example, one may read that ­temper tantrums in ing behavior enough to be socially important, is the essential" "­children are often ­extinguished by ­closing the child ­criterion” (Baer et al., 1968, p. 96). Whereas some investigations" "in his room for the duration of the ­tantrums plus ten produce results of theoretical importance or statistical signifi-" "­minutes. Unless that procedure description also states cance, to be judged effective an applied behavior analysis study" "what should be done if the child tries to leave the must produce behavior changes that reach clinical or social" "room early, or kicks out the window, or smears feces significance." "on the walls, or begins to make strangling sounds, etc., How much a given behavior of a given subject needs to" "it is not precise ­technological description. (Baer et al., change for the improvement to be considered socially import-" "1968, pp. 95–96) ant is a practical question. Baer and colleagues stated that the" "answer is most likely to come from the people who must deal" "No matter how powerful its effects in any given study, with the behavior; they should be asked how much the behavior" "a behavior change method will be of little value if practi- needs to change. The necessity of producing behavioral changes" "tioners are unable to replicate it. The development of a rep- that are meaningful to the participant and/or those in the partic-" "licable technology of behavior change has been a defining ipant’s environment has pushed behavior analysts to search for" "characteristic and continuing goal of ABA from its inception. “robust” variables, interventions that produce large and consis-" "Behavioral tactics are replicable and teachable to others. Inter- tent effects on behavior (Baer, 1977a)." "ventions that cannot be replicated with sufficient fidelity to When they revisited the dimension of effectiveness 20 years" "achieve comparable outcomes are not considered part of the later, Baer and colleagues (1987) recommended that the effec-" "technology. tiveness of ABA also be judged by a second kind of outcome:" "A good check of the technological adequacy of a proce- the extent to which changes in the target behaviors result in" "dural description is to have a person trained in applied behav- noticeable changes in the reasons those behaviors were selected" "ior analysis carefully read the description and then act out the for change originally. If such changes in the subjects’ lives do" "procedure in detail. If the person makes any mistakes, adds any not occur, ABA may achieve one level of effectiveness yet fail" "operations, omits any steps, or has to ask any questions to clarify to achieve a critical form of social validity (Wolf, 1978)." "the written description, then the description is not sufficiently" "technological and requires improvement. We may have taught many social skills without examin-" "ing whether they actually furthered the subject’s social" "Conceptually Systematic life; many courtesy skills without examining whether" "anyone actually noticed or cared; many safety skills" "Although Baer and colleagues (1968) did not state so explic- ­without ­examining whether the subject was actually" "itly, a defining characteristic of applied behavior analysis safer ­thereafter; many language skills without measur-" "concerns the types of interventions used to improve behavior. ing whether the subject actually used them to interact" "Although an infinite number of tactics and specific procedures ­differently than before; many on-task skills without" "can be used to alter behavior, almost all are derivatives and/or measuring the actual value of those tasks; and, in" "combinations of a relatively few basic principles of behavior. ­general, many ­survival skills without examining" "Thus, Baer and colleagues recommended that research reports the subject’s actual ­subsequent survival. (Baer et al.," "of applied behavior analysis be conceptually systematic, 1987, p. 322)" "­meaning that the procedures for changing behavior and any" "interpretations of how or why those procedures were effective" "Generality" "should be described in terms of the relevant principle(s) from" "which they were derived. A behavior change has generality if it lasts over time, appears" "Baer and colleagues (1968) provided a strong rationale for in environments other than the one in which the intervention" "the use of conceptual systems in applied behavior analysis. First, that initially produced it was implemented, and/or spreads" "relating specific procedures to basic principles might enable the to other behaviors not directly treated by the intervention. A" "research consumer to derive other similar procedures from the behavior change that continues after the original treatment" "same principle(s). Second, conceptual systems are needed if procedures are withdrawn has generality. And generality is" " Chapter 1 • Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 33" "" "evident when changes in targeted behavior occur in nontreat- Public" "ment settings or situations as a function of treatment proce- “Everything about ABA is visible and public, explicit and" "dures. Generality also exists when behaviors change that were straightforward. . . . ABA entails no ephemeral, mystical, or" "not the focus of the intervention. Although not all instances metaphysical explanations; there are no hidden treatments;" "of generality are adaptive (e.g., a beginning reader who has there is no magic” (Heward, 2005, p. 322). The transparent," "just learned to make the sound for the letter p in words such public nature of ABA should raise its value in fields such as" "as pet and ripe, might make the same sound when seeing the education, parenting and child care, employee productivity," "letter p in the word phone), desirable generalized behavior geriatrics, health and safety, and social work—to name only a" "changes are important outcomes of an applied behavior anal- few—whose goals, methods, and outcomes are of vital interest" "ysis p­ rogram because they represent additional dividends in to many constituencies." "terms of behavioral improvement. Strategies and tactics for" "promoting desirable generalization of behavior changes are" "detailed in Chapter 30. Doable" "More than 50 years have passed since Baer, Wolf, and Classroom teachers, parents, coaches, workplace ­supervisors," "Risley (1968) proposed these seven dimensions as the defining and sometimes the participants themselves implemented the" "features of applied behavior analysis. For insightful discussion interventions found effective in many ABA studies. This" "of the usefulness of these dimensions for contemporary ABA demonstrates the pragmatic element of ABA. “Although ‘doing" "research, see Axelrod (2017), Cataldo (2017), Critchfield and ABA’ requires far more than learning to administer a few simple" "Reed (2017), and Friman (2017). ­procedures, it is not prohibitively complicated or arduous. As" "many teachers have noted, implementing behavioral ­strategies in" "the classroom . . . might best be described as good old-­fashioned" "Other Characteristics of ABA hard work” (Heward, 2005, p. 322)." "Applied behavior analysis offers society an approach toward" "solving problems that is accountable, public, doable, empower- Empowering" "ing, and optimistic (Heward, 2005). These characteristics should" "ABA gives practitioners real tools that work. Knowing how" "make behavior analysts “feel good” and increase the extent to" "to do something and having the tools to accomplish it instills" "which decision makers and consumers in many areas look to" "confidence in practitioners. Seeing the data s­ howing ­behavioral" "applied behavior analysis as a valuable and important source of" "improvements in one’s clients, students, or ­teammates, or in" "knowledge for achieving improved outcomes." "oneself, not only feels good but also raises one’s self-assurance" "in assuming even more difficult challenges in the future." "Accountable" "Applied behavior analysts’ commitment to effectiveness, Optimistic" "their focus on accessible environmental variables that reli-" "Practitioners knowledgeable and skilled in behavior analysis" "ably influence behavior, and their reliance on direct and" "have genuine cause to be optimistic for four reasons. First, as" "frequent measurement to detect changes in behavior yield" "Strain and Joseph (2004) noted:" "an inescapable and socially valuable form of accountability." "Direct and frequent measurement—the foundation and most The environmental view promoted by behaviorism is" "important component of ABA practices—enables behavior ­essentially optimistic; it suggests that (except for gross" "analysts to identify their successes and, equally important, genetic factors) all individuals possess roughly equal" "their failures so they can make changes in an effort to change potential. Rather than assuming that individuals have some" "failure to success (Bushell & Baer, 1994; Greenwood & essential internal characteristic, behaviorists assume that" "Maheady, 1997). poor outcomes originate in the way the environment and" "experience shaped the individual’s current behavior. Once" "Failure is always informative in the logic of behavior" "these environmental and experiential factors are identified," "­analysis, just as it is in engineering. The constant reac-" "we can design prevention and intervention programs to" "tion to lack of progress [is] a definitive hallmark" "improve the outcomes. . . . Thus, the emphasis on external" "of ABA. (Baer, 2005, p. 8)" "control in the behavioral approach . . . offers a conceptual" "Gambrill (2003) described the sense of accountability and model that celebrates the possibilities for each individual." "self-correcting nature of applied behavior analysis very well. (Strain et al., 1992, p. 58)" "Applied behavior analysis is a scientific approach to Second, direct and continuous measurement enables" "­understanding behavior in which we guess and critically practitioners to detect small improvements in performance that" "test ideas, rather than guess and guess again. It is a ­process might otherwise be overlooked. Third, the more often a practi-" "for solving problems in which we learn from our ­mistakes. tioner uses behavioral tactics with positive outcomes (the most" "Here, false knowledge and inert knowledge are not common result of behaviorally based interventions), the more" "­valued. (p. 67) optimistic she becomes about the prospects for future success." " 34 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "A sense of optimism, expressed by the question “Why This definition includes six key components. First, applied" "not?” has been a central part of ABA and has had an behavior analysis is a science, which means ABA research-" "­enormous impact on its development from its earliest ers and practitioners are guided by the attitudes and methods" "days. Why can’t we teach a person who does not yet of scientific inquiry. Second, all behavior change procedures" "talk to talk? Why shouldn’t we go ahead and try to are described and implemented in a systematic, technological" "change the environments of young children so that they ­manner. Third, not any means of changing behavior qualifies" "will display more creativity? Why would we assume that as applied behavior analysis: The field circumscribes only" "this person with a developmental disability could not learn those tactics conceptually derived from the basic principles" "to do the same things that many of us do? Why not try to of ­behavior. Fourth, the focus of applied behavior analysis is" "do it? (Heward, 2005, p. 323) socially significant behavior. The fifth and sixth parts of the" "­definition specify the twin goals of applied behavior analysis:" "Fourth, ABA’s peer-reviewed literature provides many" "improvement and understanding. Applied behavior analysis" "examples of success in teaching students who had been con-" "seeks to make meaningful improvement in important behavior" "sidered unteachable. ABA’s continuous record of achievements" "and to achieve an analysis of the factors responsible for that" "evokes a legitimate feeling of optimism that future developments" "improvement.13" "will yield solutions to behavioral challenges that are currently" "beyond the existing technology. For example, in response to" "the perspective that some people have disabilities so severe and Four Interrelated Domains of Behavior" "profound that they should be viewed as ineducable, Don Baer Analytic Science and Professional Practice" "offered this perspective: Guided by That Science" "Some of us have ignored both the thesis that all The science of behavior analysis and its application to human" "­persons are educable and the thesis that some ­ problems consists of four domains: the three branches of behav-" "persons are ­ineducable, and instead have exper- ior analysis—radical behaviorism, EAB, and ABA—and profes-" "imented with ways to teach some previously sional practice in various fields that is informed and guided by" "­unteachable ­people. Those experiments have that science. Figure 1.2 identifies defining features and charac-" "steadily reduced the size of the ­apparently ineduca- teristics of each domain. Although most behavior analysts work" "ble group relative to the ­obviously ­educable group. primarily in one or two of the domains shown in Figure 1.2, it is" "Clearly, we have not ­finished that ­adventure. Why common for a behavior analyst to function in multiple domains" "­predict its ­outcome, when we could ­simply pursue it, at one time or another (Hawkins & Anderson, 2002; Moore &" "and just as well ­without a ­prediction? Why not ­ Cooper, 2003)." "pursue it to see if there comes a day when there is Radical behaviorism, the philosophical domain of behav-" "such a small class of apparently ineducable ­persons ior analysis, entails pursuing theoretical and conceptual issues." "left that it consists of one elderly person who is put Examples of theoretical and conceptual behavior analysis are" "forward as ineducable. If that day comes, it will be a Glenn’s (2004) exploration on the interplay of behavioral and" "very nice day. And the next day will be even ­better. cultural practices; Schlinger’s (2008b) analysis of listening as" "(D. M. Baer, February 15, 2002, ­personal communi­ behaving verbally; Dillenburger and Keenan’s (2005) discussion" "cation, as cited in Heward, ­Alber-­Morgan, & Konrad, of bereavement; Layng’s (2017) theoretical account of emotions" "2017, p. 404) and emotional behavior; and M. Malott’s (2016) examination of" "leadership." "The experimental analysis of behavior is the basic" "A DEFINITION OF APPLIED BEHAVIOR research branch of the science. Basic research consists of exper-" "ANALYSIS iments in (mostly) laboratory settings with both human and" "nonhuman subjects with a goal of discovering, extending, and" "We began this chapter by stating that applied behavior analysis clarifying fundamental principles of behavior. Examples of the" "is a science with a dual purpose of understanding and improv- wide range of topics investigated by EAB researchers include" "ing socially important behavior. We then described attitudes, how organisms direct their attention in complex environments" "assumptions, and methods that are fundamental to scientific (Shahan, 2013); choice making (Mazur & Fantino, 2014);" "inquiry, briefly reviewed the development of the science and remembering and forgetting (White, 2013); delay discounting" "philosophy of behavior analysis, and examined the characteris- (Odum, 2011); and variability of operant behavior (Neuringer &" "tics of ABA. All of that provided necessary context for offering Jensen, 2013).14, 15" "the following definition of applied behavior analysis: Applied behavior analysts conduct experiments aimed" "at discovering and clarifying functional relations between" "Applied behavior analysis is the science in which tactics" "socially significant behavior and its controlling variables, with" "derived from the principles of behavior are applied system-" "which they can contribute to the further development of humane" "atically to improve socially significant behavior and exper-" "and effective technologies of behavior change. Examples of" "imentation is used to identify the variables responsible for" "ABA research include Tarbox, Wallace, and ­Williams’s (2003)" "behavior change." " Chapter 1 • Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 35" "" "Figure 1.2 Comparisons and relationships among the four domains of behavior analysis science and practice." "" "Radical Behaviorism Experimental Analysis Applied Behavior Practice Guided by" "of Behavior (EAB) Analysis (ABA) Behavior Analysis" "Province Theory and philosophy Basic research Applied research Helping people behave" "more successfully" "Primary activity Conceptual and philo- Design, conduct, inter- Design, conduct, inter- Design, implement," "sophical analysis pret, and report basic pret, and report applied and evaluate behavior" "experiments experiments change programs" "Primary goal Theoretical account of Discover and clarify basic A technology for Improvements in the" "and product all behavior consistent principles of behavior; improving socially sig- lives of participants/" "with existing data functional relations nificant behavior; func- clients as a result" "between behavior and tional relations between of changes in their" "controlling variables socially significant behavior" "behavior and controlling" "variables" "Secondary goals Identify areas in which Identify questions for Identify questions for Increased efficiency in" "empirical data are EAB and/or ABA to EAB and/or ABA to achieving primary goal;" "absent and/or conflict investigate further; raise investigate further; raise may identify questions" "" "" "" "" "Translational Behavior Analysis*" "and suggest resolutions theoretical issues theoretical issues for ABA and EAB" "Agreement As much as possible, but Complete—Although Complete—Although As much as possible," "with existing theory must go beyond differences among data differences among data but practitioners must" "database database by design sets exist, EAB provides sets exist, ABA provides often deal with situa-" "the basic research the applied research tions not covered by" "database database existing data" "Testability Partially—All behav- Mostly—Technical Mostly—Same lim- Partially—All behavior" "ior and variables of limitations preclude itations as EAB plus and variables of interest" "interest are not acces- measurement and exper- those posed by applied are not accessible (e.g.," "sible (e.g., phylogenic imental manipulation of settings (e.g., ethical a student’s home life)" "contingencies) some variables concerns, uncontrolled" "events)" "Scope Most Least" "Wide scope because the- As much scope as the As much scope as the Narrow scope because" "ory attempts to account EAB database enables ABA database enables practitioner’s primary" "for all behavior focus is helping the" "specific situation" "Precision Least Most" "Minimal precision is As much precision as As much precision as Maximum precision" "possible because experi- EAB’s current tech- ABA’s current tech- is needed to change" "mental data do not exist nology for experimen- nology for experimen- behavior most effec-" "for all behavior encom- tal control and the tal control and the tively in specific" "passed by theory researcher’s skills enable researcher’s skills enable instance" "" "*Translational behavior analysis bridges between EAB and ABA (see McIlvane, 2009)." "" "" "" "" "assessment and treatment of elopement (running or walking tuberculosis (Poling et al., 2017), and find people trapped" "away from a caregiver without ­permission) by individuals under debris from collapsed structures resulting from natural" "with disabilities; Romanowich and Lamb’s (2015) research disasters, acts of war or terrorism, or engineering mistakes" "on the effects of various schedules of reinforcement on (La Londe et al., 2015)." "smokers’ abstinence; Crabtree, Alber-­Morgan, and K ­ onrad’s “Behavior analysis is not merely the sum of its basic and" "(2010) experiment on the effects of self-­monitoring of story applied research and conceptual programs. It is their interrela-" "elements on the reading comprehension of high school stu- tionship, wherein each branch draws strength and integrity from" "dents with learning disabilities; and Poling and colleagues’ the others. With the unity of behavior analysis clarified, the whole" "teaching giant African pouched rats to find unexploded of behavior analysis emerges as greater than the sum of its parts”" "­landmines (Poling et al., 2010), detect patients infected with (Morris, Todd, Midgley, Schneider, & Johnson, 1990, p. 136)." " 36 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "Translational research is evidence of the symbiotic relation in the others. Both the science and the effective application of" "between the basic and applied domains. Translational research its findings benefit when the four domains are interrelated and" "includes basic research that “bridges” basic and applied areas influence one another." "and applied research that translates the knowledge derived" "from basic research “into state-of-the-art clinical practices" "The Promise and Potential of ABA" "for use in the community” (Lerman, 2003, p. 415). In a review" "of translational research on token reinforcement, Hackenberg In a paper titled “A Futurist Perspective for Applied Behavior" "(2018) suggested that all three domains of behavior analy- Analysis,” Jon Bailey (2000) stated that" "sis science benefit when basic and applied research inform" "It seems to me that applied behavior analysis is more rele-" "each other." "vant than ever before and that it offers our citizens, parents," "Unlike standard translational research, based on a teachers, and corporate and government leaders advan-" "­unidirectional model in which the analysis moves from tages that cannot be matched by any other psychological" "laboratory to the applied realm, work in the area of approach. . . . I know of no other approach in psychology" "token systems is best served by a bidirectional inter- that can boast state-of-the-art solutions to the most trou-" "play between laboratory and applied research, where bling social ills of the day. (p. 477)" "applied questions inspire research on basic mechanisms." "We, too, believe that ABA’s pragmatic, natural science" "When based on and contributing to an analysis, applied" "approach to discovering environmental variables that reliably" "research on token economies can be on the leading edge" "influence socially significant behavior and to developing a tech-" "of ­theoretical advances, helping set the scientific research" "nology to take practical advantage of those discoveries offers" "agenda. (p. 393)16" "humankind its best hope for solving many of its problems. It" "The delivery of professional services informed by behav- is important to recognize that the knowledge afforded by ABA" "ior analysis occurs in the fourth domain. Behavior analytic of “how behavior works” is incomplete, even at the level of" "practitioners design, implement, and evaluate behavior change fundamental principles, as is the technology for changing behav-" "programs that consist of behavior change tactics derived ior derived from that knowledge. There are aspects of behavior" "from fundamental principles of behavior discovered by basic about which relatively little is known, and additional research," "researchers and experimentally validated for their effects on both basic and applied, is needed to clarify, extend, and fine-tune" "socially significant behavior by applied researchers. An example all existing knowledge." "is when a therapist providing home-based treatment for a child Nevertheless, applied behavior analysis research and prac-" "with autism embeds frequent opportunities for the child to use tice have improved human performance and the quality of partic-" "emerging social and language skills in the context of naturalistic, ipants’ lives across a wide range of areas. Figure 1.3 lists some" "daily routines and ensures that the child’s responses are followed of the more than 230 applied behavior analysis research topics" "with reinforcing events. Another example is a classroom teacher identified by an informal literature search and survey (Heward" "trained in behavior analysis who uses positive reinforcement & Critchfield, 2019). As diverse and impressive as this A-to-Z" "and stimulus fading to teach students to identify and classify list of topics may seem, no behavioral problem or learning goal" "fish into their respective species by the shape, size, and location has been solved completely, and many important problems and" "of their fins. challenges await analysis. The remainder of this text presents" "Although each of the four domains can be defined and a foundation of knowledge that can lead to a fuller and more" "practiced in its own right, none of the domains are, or should complete understanding of the still young and promising science" "be, completely independent of and uninformed by developments of applied behavior analysis." "" "" "" "Figure 1.3 ABA: Improving people’s quality of life from A to Z." "" "A C" "ADHD (Bicard & Neef, 2002), aging (Baker & LeBlanc, 2014), caffeinism (Foxx & Rubinoff, 1979), cancer prevention" "aggression (Brosnan & Healy, 2011), AIDS (DeVries et al., 1991), ­(Lombard et al., 1991), child abuse (Van Camp et al., 2003)," "alcohol abuse (Fournier et al., 2004), Alzheimer’s (LeBlanc et al., climate change (Heward & Chance, 2010), coaching athletes" "2006), anorexia nervosa (Solanto et al., 1994), animal ­training (Stokes et al., 2010), college teaching (Kellum et al., 2001)," "(Protopopova et al., 2016), autism (Ahearn & Tiger, 2013), compassion (Geller, 2012), cooperative learning (Maheady" "­aviation safety (Rantz & Van Houten, 2013) et al., 2006), ­creativity (Winston & Baker, 1985), crying" "(Bowman, 2013), ­culturally responsive social skills instruction" "B (Lo et al., 2015)" "baseball (Heward, 1978), basketball (Kladopoulos &" "­McComas, 2001), bedtime refusal (Friman et al., 1999), D" "behavioral ­pharmacology (Roll, 2014), bicycle safety (Okinaka dance (Quinn et al., 2015), delusional speech (Travis & Sturmey," "& ­Shimazaki, 2011), blackjack skills (Speelman et al., 2015), 2010), dementia (Engelman et al., 1999), depression (Follette &" "braille (Scheithauer & Tiger, 2014), breast cancer detection Darrow, 2014), developmental disabilities (Kurtz & Lind, 2013)," "(Bones et al., 2016), ­bruxism (Barnoy et al., 2009), bullying diabetes (Raiff et al., 2016), drug addiction (Silverman et al.," "(Ross et al., 2009) 2011), dyslexia (Denton & Meindl, 2016)" " Chapter 1 • Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 37" "" "E P" "education (Heward et al., 2005), elopement (Kodak et al., panic disorders, parenting (Miltenberger & Crosland, 2014)," "2004), energy conservation (Staats et al., 2000), enuresis ­pediatrics (Friman & Piazza, 2011), phobias (Tyner et al.," "(Friman & Jones, 2005) 2016), physical activity (Kuhl et al., 2015), physical education" "­(McKenzie et al., 2009), pica (Hagopian et al., 2011), play skills" "F (Davis-Temple et al., 2014), Prader-Willi syndrome (Page et al.," "fear of dental procedures (Conyers et al., 2004), feeding dis- 1983), problem solving (Axe et al., in press), procrastination" "orders (Volkert & Piazza, 2012), figure skating (Hume et al., (Johnson et al., 2016), public health (Biglan & Glenn, 2013)," "1985), fire safety (Garcia et al., 2016), food bank donations ­public speaking (Mancuso & Miltenberger, 2016)" "(Farrimond & Leland, 2006), football (Ward & Carnes, 2002)," "foster-family care (Hawkins et al., 1985) Q" "quality control (Kortick & O’Brien, 1996) quantitative analysis" "G skills (Fienup & Critchfield, 2010), question asking/answering" "gambling (Dixon et al., 2015), gamification (Morford et al., (Ingvarsson et al., 2007)" "2014) ­gender-based violence (Szabo et al., 2019), gerontology" "­(Gallagher & Keenan, 2000), golf (Simek et al., 1994), gun R" "safety (Miltenberger et al., 2005) x-ray sheilding, reading (Twyman et al., 2005), recycling" "­(O’Conner et al., 2010), robbery (Schnelle et al., 1979), rugby" "H (Mellalieu et al., 2006), rumination (Woods et al., 2013)" "hairpulling (Rapp et al., 1999), handwriting (Trap et al., 1978)," "happiness (Parsons et al., 2012), headaches (Fitterling et al., S" "1988), highway safety (Van Houten et al., 1985), homework safe sex (Honnen & Kleinke, 1990), school-wide behavior" "(Alber et al., 2002), horseback riding (Kelley & Miltenberger, ­support (Freeman et al., 2016), seat-belt use (Van Houten" "2016), horse training (Fox & Belding, 2015), hostage negotia- et al., 2010), second language acquisition (May et al.," "tion (Hughes, 2006), hygiene (Fournier & Berry, 2013) 2016), self-­injury (Lerman & Iwata, 1993), self-management" "­(Reynolds et al., 2014), sexual abuse (Lumley et al., 1998), shar-" "I ing ­(Marzullo-Kerth et al., 2011), sleep disorders (Piazza et al.," "impulsivity (Barry & Messer, 2003), incontinence (Adkins & 1997), soccer (Brobst & Ward, 2002), spelling (McNeish et al.," "Mathews, 1997), industrial safety (Fox et al., 1987), infant 1992), stereotypy (Ahearn et al., 2003), stuttering ­(Wagaman" "care (Dachman, et al., 1986), infection control (Babcock et al., et al., 1995), substance abuse (Roll et al., 2009), sustainability" "1992), intellectual disabilities (Frederick et al., 2013) (Leeming et al., 2013), swimming (Hume & ­Crossman, 1992)" "J T" "job finding (Azrin et al., 1975), joint attention (Taylor & Hoch, tantrums (Williams, 1959), TB detection (Poling et al., 2017)," "2008), juvenile justice (Kirigin et al., 1982) teacher training (Kretlow et al., 2012), thumb sucking ­(Friman," "K 2000), tobacco use (Romanowich & Lamb, 2015), ­toileting" "keyboard training (DeFulio, 2011), kidnapping prevention (Greer et al., 2016), toothbrushing (Poche et al., 1982), Tourette" "(Gunby et al., 2010), kitchen skills (Trask-Tyler et al., 1994), syndrome (Azrin & Peterson, 1988), track and field (Scott et al.," "kleptomania (Kohn, 2006) 1997), traumatic brain injury (Heinicke et al., 2009)" "" "L U" "landmine detection (Edwards et al., 2015), language acquisition urban search and rescue (Edwards et al., 2016)," "(Drasgow, et al., 1998), learning disabilities (Wolfe et al., 2000), universal precautions (Luke & Alavosius, 2011)" "leisure skills Schleien et al., 1981), littering (Powers et al., 1973)," "lockdown drill ­procedures (Dickson & Vargo, 2017) V" "vandalism (Mayer et al., 1983), visual acuity (Collins et al.," "M 1981), vocal tics (Wagaman et al., 1995), vocational training" "martial arts (BenitezSantiago & Miltenberger, 2016), math (Cullen et al., 2017), voice disorders, (Shriberg, 1971)”" "(Hunter et al., 2016), medical procedures (Hagopian &" "­Thompson, 1999), medical training (Levy et al., 2016), mental W" "health (A-tjak et al., 2015), music skills (Griffith et al., 2018), weight loss (VanWormer, 2004), workplace safety (Abernathy &" "myopia (Collins et al., 1981) Lattal, 2014), writer’s block (Didden et al., 2007), writing skills" "(Hansen & Wills, 2014)" "N" "nail biting (Heffernan & Lyons, 2016), nervous habits (see nail X" "­biting, hair pulling), noise (Ring et al., 2014), noncompliance x-ray shielding (Greene & Neistat, 1983)" "(Mace et al., 1988), nutrition (Horne et al., 2009)" "Y" "O yielding to pedestrians (Bennett et al., 2014), yoga (Downs," "obesity (De Luca & Holborn, 1992), observational learning 2015), youth sports (Luiselli et al., 2011)" "(DeQuinzio & Taylor, 2015), obsessive-compulsive disorder" "­(Penney et al., 2016), organizational behavior management Z" "(Rodriguez, 2011), otitis media (O’Reilly, 1997) zoo animal welfare (Maple & Segura, 2015)" "" "" "Notes: Adapted from “ABA from A-to-Z” by W. L. Heward and T. S. Critchfield, 2019. Manuscript in progress. References with three or more coau-" "thors cited as “et al.”" " 38 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "" "SUMMARY" "Science: Basic Characteristics and a Definition 8. Skinner founded the experimental analysis of behavior" "(EAB), a natural science approach for discovering orderly" "1. Different types of scientific investigations yield knowledge" "and reliable relations between behavior and the environ-" "that enables the description, prediction, and/or control of" "mental variables of which it is a function." "the phenomena studied." "9. EAB is characterized by these methodological features:" "2. Descriptive studies yield a collection of facts about the" "observed events that can be quantified, classified, and • Rate of response is the most common dependent" "examined for possible relations with other known facts. variable." "• Repeated or continuous measurement is made of" "3. Knowledge gained from a study that finds the systematic" "­carefully defined response classes." "covariation between two events—termed a correlation—" "can be used to predict the probability that one event will • Within-subject experimental comparisons are used" "occur based on the occurrence of the other event. instead of designs comparing the behavior of experi-" "mental and control groups." "4. Results of experiments that show that specific manipula-" "tions of one event (the independent variable) produce a • The visual analysis of graphed data is preferred over" "reliable change in another event (the dependent variable), statistical inference." "and that the change in the dependent variable was unlikely • A description of functional relations is valued over" "the result of extraneous factors (confounding variables)—a ­formal theory testing." "finding known as a functional relation—can be used to 10. Through thousands of laboratory experiments," "control the phenomena under investigation. ­ kinner and his colleagues and students discovered" "S" "5. The behavior of scientists in all fields is characterized by a and verified the basic principles of operant behavior" "common set of assumptions and attitudes: that provide the empirical foundation for behavior" "• Determinism—the assumption that the universe is a ­analysis today." "lawful and orderly place in which phenomena occur as a 11. Skinner wrote extensively about a philosophy for a science" "result of other events. of behavior he called radical behaviorism. Radical behav-" "• Empiricism—the objective observation of the phenom- iorism attempts to explain all behavior, including private" "ena of interest. events such as thinking and feeling." "• Experimentation—the controlled comparison of 12. Methodological behaviorism is a philosophical position" "some measure of the phenomenon of interest (the that considers behavioral events that cannot be publicly" "dependent variable) under two or more different con- observed to be outside the realm of the science." "ditions in which only one factor at a time (the indepen-" "13. Mentalism is an approach to understanding behavior that" "dent variable) differs from one condition to another." "assumes that a mental, or “inner,” dimension exists that" "• Replication—repeating experiments (and independent differs from a behavioral dimension and that phenomena" "variable conditions within experiments) to determine the in this dimension either directly cause or at least mediate" "reliability and usefulness of findings. some forms of behavior; it relies on hypothetical con-" "• Parsimony—simple, logical explanations must be ruled structs and explanatory fictions." "out, experimentally or conceptually, before more com-" "14. Pragmatism is the philosophical position that the truth or" "plex or abstract explanations are considered." "value of a scientific statement is determined by the extent" "• Philosophic doubt—continually questioning the to which it promotes effective action." "truthfulness and validity of all scientific theory and" "knowledge. 15. The first published report of the application of operant" "conditioning with a human subject was a study by Fuller" "(1949), in which an arm-raising response was conditioned" "A Brief History of Behavior Analysis in an adolescent with profound disabilities." "6. Behavior analysis consists of three major branches: behav- 16. The formal beginnings of applied behavior analysis" "iorism, the experimental analysis of behavior (EAB), and can be traced to 1959 and the publication of Ayllon and" "applied behavior analysis (ABA). Michael’s article “The Psychiatric Nurse as a Behavioral" "Engineer.”" "7. Watson espoused an early form of behaviorism known" "as stimulus–response (S–R) psychology, which did 17. Contemporary applied behavior analysis (ABA) began in" "not account for behavior without obvious antecedent 1968 with the publication of the first issue of the Journal" "causes. of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA)." " Chapter 1 • Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 39" "" "Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis A Definition of Applied Behavior Analysis" "18. Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968) stated that a research study 20. Applied behavior analysis is the science in which ­tactics" "or behavior change program should meet seven defining derived from the principles of behavior are applied sys-" "dimensions to be considered applied behavior analysis: tematically to improve socially significant behavior and" "• Applied—investigates socially significant behaviors experimentation is used to identify the variables responsi-" "with immediate importance to the subject(s). ble for behavior change." "• Behavioral—entails precise measurement of the actual 21. Behavior analysts work in one or more of four ­interrelated" "behavior in need of improvement and documents that it domains: behaviorism (theoretical and philosophical" "was the subject’s behavior that changed. issues), the experimental analysis of behavior (basic" "• Analytic—demonstrates experimental control over the research), applied behavior analysis (applied research)," "occurrence and nonoccurrence of the behavior—that is, and professional practice (providing behavior analytic" "if a functional relation is demonstrated. ­services to consumers)." "• Technological—the written description of all procedures 22. Translational research bridges basic and applied research" "used in the study is sufficiently complete and detailed to and informs both domains." "enable others to replicate it." "23. ABA’s natural science approach to discovering environ-" "• Conceptually systematic—behavior change interven-" "mental variables that reliably influence socially significant" "tions are derived from basic principles of behavior." "behavior and developing a technology to take practical" "• Effective—improves behavior sufficiently to produce advantage of those discoveries offers humankind its best" "practical results for the participant/client. hope for solving many of its problems." "• Generality—produces behavior changes that last over" "24. Applied behavior analysis research and practice" "time, appear in other environments, and/or spread to" "have improved human performance and the quality" "other behaviors." "of ­participants’ lives across a wide range of areas," "19. ABA offers society an approach toward solving many but no problem has been solved completely, and many" "of its problems that is accountable, public, doable, important problems, challenges, and opportunities" "­empowering, and optimistic. remain." "" "" "" "" "KEY TERMS" "applied behavior analysis (ABA) explanatory fiction parsimony" "behaviorism functional analysis philosophic doubt" "determinism functional relation pragmatism" "empiricism hypothetical construct radical behaviorism" "experiment mentalism replication" "experimental analysis of behavior (EAB) methodological behaviorism science" "" "" "" "" "MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS" "1. The level of investigation that involves the collection 2. The level of investigation that demonstrates correlation" "of facts about observed events that can be quantified, between events and is based on repeated observations is:" "­classified, and examined for possible relations with other a. Prediction" "known facts, and often suggests hypotheses or questions" "b. Experimentation" "for ­additional research is:" "c. Description" "a. Prediction" "d. Control" "b. Experimentation" "Hint: (See “Science: Basic Characteristics and a Definition”)" "c. Description" "d. Control" "Hint: (See “Science: Basic Characteristics and a Definition”)" " 40 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "3. The level of investigation in which functional relations can 8. This is the branch of behavior analysis that focuses on" "be derived is: basic research:" "a. Prediction a. Applied behavior analysis" "b. Experimentation b. Behaviorism" "c. Description c. Experimental analysis of behavior" "d. Control d. Radical behaviorism" "Hint: (See “Science: Basic Characteristics and a Definition”) Hint: (See “A Brief History of Behavior Analysis”)" "4. The overall goal of is to achieve a thorough 9. The S-R-S model of psychology is also known as:" "u­ nderstanding of the phenomenon under study. a. Three-term contingency" "a. Behavior Analysis b. Watsonian psychology" "b. Science c. Respondent behavior model" "c. Experimentation d. Reflexive behavior model" "d. Functional relationships Hint: (See “A Brief History of Behavior Analysis”)" "Hint: (See “Science: Basic Characteristics and a Definition”)" "10. This person is considered to be the founder of experimental" "5. A functional relation means that: analysis of behavior." "a. Specific change in the independent variable can reliably a. John B. Watson" "be produced by specific manipulations in the dependent b. B.F. Skinner" "variable, and the change in the independent variable" "c. Ivan Pavlov" "was unlikely to be the result of confounding variables." "d. Don Baer" "b. Specific change in the dependent variable can reliably be" "produced by specific manipulations in the independent Hint: (See “A Brief History of Behavior Analysis”)" "variable, and the change in the independent variable was 11. This is the approach to understanding behavior that" "unlikely to be the result of confounding variables. assumes that a mental or “inner” dimension exists that" "c. Specific change in the dependent variable can reliably differs from a behavioral dimension and that phenomena" "be produced by specific manipulations in the indepen- in this dimension either directly cause or at least mediate" "dent variable, and the change in the dependent variable some forms of behavior." "was unlikely to be the result of confounding variables. a. Radical behaviorism" "d. Specific change in the dependent variable can reliably b. Methodological behaviorism" "be produced by specific manipulations in the confound-" "c. Structuralism" "ing variable, and the change in the dependent variable" "was unlikely to be the result of the independent variable. d. Mentalism" "Hint: (See “Science: Basic Characteristics and a Definition”) Hint: (See “A Brief History of Behavior Analysis”)" "" "6. This is the assumption upon which science is predicated, 12. These events marked the formal beginning of contemporary" "the idea that the universe is a lawful and orderly place in applied behavior analysis." "which all phenomena occur as a result of other events. a. “Some Current Dimensions of Applied Behavior" "a. Mentalism ­Analysis,” by Baer, Wolf, and Risley, was published" "and “The Psychiatric Nurse as a Behavioral Engineer,”" "b. Determinism" "by Ayllon and Michael, was published." "c. Empiricism" "b. “The Psychiatric Nurse as a Behavioral Engineer,”" "d. Philosophic Doubt by Ayllon and Michael, was published and Fuller" "Hint: (“Science: Basic Characteristics and a Definition”) ­conducted a study in which human application of" "­operant behavior occurred." "7. This is the idea that simple, logical explanations must be" "ruled out, experimentally or conceptually, before more c. The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis began" "complex or abstract explanations are considered. ­publication and “Some Current Dimensions of Applied" "Behavior Analysis,” by Baer, Wolf, and Risley, was" "a. Philosophic Doubt" "published." "b. Experimentation" "d. The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis began" "c. Replication ­publication and “The Psychiatric Nurse as a Behavioral" "d. Parsimony Engineer,” by Ayllon and Michael, was published." "Hint: (“Science: Basic Characteristics and a Definition”) Hint: (See “A Brief History of Behavior Analysis”)" " Chapter 1 • Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 41" "" "13. This is the defining characteristic of behavior analysis that 14. This is the defining characteristic of applied behavior" "focuses on investigating socially significant behaviors a­ nalysis that demonstrates experimental control over" "with immediate importance to the participant(s). the occurrence and non-occurrence of the behavior." "a. Effective a. Effective" "b. Applied b. Analytic" "c. Behavioral c. Applied" "d. Analytical d. Experimentation" "Hint: (See “Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis”) Hint: (See “Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis”)" "" "" "ESSAY-TYPE QUESTIONS" "1. Describe the goal of science and the three different levels 4. Discuss the origin of applied behavior analysis, including" "of investigation. early history of the field and defining events of contempo-" "Hint: (“Science: Basic Characteristics and a Definition”) rary applied behavior analysis." "Hint: (See “A Brief History of Behavior Analysis”)" "2. State and describe the different scientific attitudes." "Hint: (“Science: Basic Characteristics and a Definition”) 5. Compare and contrast the different branches of behavior" "analysis." "3. Discuss similarities and differences between differ-" "Hint: (See “A Brief History of Behavior Analysis”)" "ent ­perspectives on behavior (i.e., mentalism, radi-" "cal ­behaviorism, methodological behaviorism, and 6. State and describe each of the defining dimensions of" "structuralism). applied behavior analysis." "Hint: (See “A Brief History of Behavior Analysis”) Hint: (See “Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis”)" "" "" "NOTES" "1. Spurious correlations result from measures of two randomly chosen vari- behavior analysis (e.g., Fisher, Piazza, & Roane, 2011; Lattal, 2013; Perone" "ables closely tracking each other (e.g., rise in annual organic food sales and & Hursh, 2013). The five chapters in Part III describe how applied behavior" "increased incidence of autism [Redditor Jasonp55, 2018], per capita marga- analysts use this experimental approach." "rine consumption and the divorce rate in Maine [Vigen, 2015]). For more 7. Skinner, considered by many the most eminent psychologist of the" "silly examples, see Vigen (2015); for detailed explanation of the ­fallacy, 20th ­century (Haagbloom et al., 2002), authored or coauthored 291" "see West, Bergstrom, and Bergstrom (2010). ­primary-source works and a three-volume autobiography (Particulars of My" "2. Skinner (1953) noted that although telescopes and cyclotrons give us a Life, 1976; The Shaping of a Behaviorist, 1979; A Matter of Consequences," "“dramatic picture of science in action” (p. 12), and science could not have 1983). Many of Skinner’s books are available as name-your-price products at" "advanced very far without them, such devices and apparatus are not science the B. F. Skinner Foundation (bfskinner.org). Numerous biographical books" "themselves. “Nor is science to be identified with precise measurement. We and articles have been written about Skinner, both before and after his death." "can measure and be mathematical without being scientific at all, just as we Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904–1990): A Thank You by Fred Keller (1976)," "may be scientific w­ ithout these aids” (p. 12). Scientific instruments bring B. F. Skinner—The Last Few Days by his daughter Julie Vargas (1990)," "scientists into greater contact with their subject matter and, with measure- B. F. Skinner, Organism by Charles Catania (1992), B. F. Skinner: A Life by" "ment and mathematics, enable a more precise description and control of Daniel Bjork (1997), Skinner as Self-Manager by Robert Epstein (1997)," "key variables. Burrhus F. Skinner: Shaper of Behaviour by Frederik Toates (2009), and" "3. Informative and interesting descriptions of the history of behavior analy- a series of articles in the 2017, Quarter 1 issue of Operants provide inter-" "sis can be found in Goodall (1972); Guericio (2018); Hackenberg (1995); esting and informative insights about Skinner and his work. Morris, Altus," "Michael (2004); Morris, Todd, Midgley, Schneider, and Johnson (1990); and Smith (2005) detail Skinner’s contributions to ABA. Smith and Morris" "Mountjoy and Cone (1997); Risley (2005); Sidman (2002); Skinner (1956, (2018) maintain a continually updated bibliography of citations, references," "1979); Stokes (2003); Vargas, Vargas, and Knapp (2017); and in a special and other materials related to Skinner’s writings." "section of articles in the Fall 2003 issue of The Behavior Analyst. 8. The nature and role of pragmatism in radical behaviorism are long-running" "4. For interesting biographies and scholarly examinations of J. B. Watson’s topics of discussion and debate (e.g., Barnes-Holmes, 2000; Baum, 2017;" "life and contributions to behavior analysis, see Catania (1993); Morris Moore, 2008; Schoneberger, 2016; Tourinho & Neno, 2003; Zuriff, 1980)." "(2013); and Morrow (2017). 9. Excellent discussions and spirited debates about the meaning and useful-" "5. In The Behavior of Organisms, Skinner called the conditioning of respon- ness of radical behaviorism as the philosophy for a science of behavior" "dent behavior Type S conditioning and the conditioning of operant behavior can be found in Baum (2011, 2017); Catania and Harnad (1988); Chiesa" "Type R conditioning, but these terms were soon dropped. Respondent and (1994); Diller and Lattal (2008); Johnston (2013); Moore (2008, 2011);" "operant conditioning and the three-term contingency are further defined Palmer (2011); and Rachlin (2018)." "and discussed in Chapter 2. 10. Boyle and Greer (1983) published an extension of Fuller’s classic study" "6. Most of the methodological features of the experimental approach pio- with comatose patients." "neered by Skinner (e.g., rate of response as the primary dependent vari- 11. Sidney Bijou’s remarkable career and the numerous ways he contributed" "able, within-subject experimental comparisons, visual analysis of graphic to the founding and advancement of behavior analysis are detailed with a" "data displays) continue to characterize both basic and applied research in personal touch by Morris (2008, 2009)." " 42 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "12. Articles describing the histories of the applied behavior analysis programs changes that improve people’s quality of life (Kimball & Heward, 1993;" "at five of these universities can be found in the winter 1993 issue of JABA. Skinner, 1971; 1974). Objective (i.e., scientific) methods for assessing and" "Kenneth Goodall’s article, The Behavior Shapers (1972), provides a fasci- validating the social importance of behaviors targeted for change and the" "nating look at the work of some of the field’s pioneers. extent to which behavior change improves participants’ quality of life are" "13. Furman and Lepper (2018) take issue with this definition of applied behav- described in Chapters 3 and 10." "ior analysis because it “employs a subjective criterion (i.e., social relevance 14. Choice making in concurrent schedules, delay discounting, and operant" "and/or importance to man and society), taking it out of the realm of an variability are discussed in Chapters 13, 27, and 29, respectively." "objective science” (p. 103) and suggest that ABA be defined as “the scien- 15. For perspectives on the status, role, and future of basic research in behavior" "tific study of behavior change, using the principles of behavior, to evoke or analysis, see Killeen (2018), Marr (2017), and a special series of articles" "elicit a targeted behavioral change” (p. 104). We believe socially significant invited by Li, Mahoney, and Poling (2018)." "behavior is an essential element of the definition of ABA. The science 16. To learn more about translational research, see Critchfield (2011a, b) and" "and the philosophy of behaviorism it embodies purposely seek behavior articles in the Fall 2009 and Spring 2011 issues of The Behavior Analyst." " CHAPTER 2" "Basic Concepts and Principles" "" "LEARNING OBJECTIVES" "• Define behavior, response, and response class." "• State examples of behavior, response, and response class." "• Define stimulus and stimulus class." "• Define and state examples of positive reinforcement." "• Define and state examples of negative reinforcement." "• Define and provide examples of conditioned and unconditioned reinforcement." "• Define and state examples of positive punishment." "• Define and state examples of negative punishment." "• Define and provide examples of stimulus control." "• Define and provide examples of establishing operations." "• Describe a behavioral contingency." "• Describe the respondent conditioning paradigm." "• Provide an example of the respondent conditioning paradigm." "• Describe the operant conditioning paradigm." "• Provide an example of the operant conditioning paradigm." "" "" "" "" "One must understand how the organism is modified by its BEHAVIOR" "interactions with the environment, how new environment–" "behavior relations are learned and unlearned. What, exactly, is behavior? In a nutshell, behavior is the activity" "—Jack L. Michael (2004, p. 1) of living organisms. Human behavior is everything people do," "including how they move and what they say, think, and feel." "Tearing open a bag of peanuts is behavior, and so is thinking" "" "" "" "T" "how good the peanuts will taste once the bag is open. Reading" "his chapter defines the basic concepts required for a scientific" "this sentence is behavior, and if you’re holding the book, so is" "analysis of behavior and introduces fundamental p­ rinciples" "feeling its weight and shape in your hands." "discovered by such analyses. Behavior, the first concept we" "Although words such as activity and movement communi-" "examine, is the most fundamental of all. Because the controlling" "cate the general notion of behavior, a more precise definition is" "variables of primary importance to applied behavior analysts are" "needed for scientific purposes. How a scientific discipline defines" "located in the environment, the concepts of environment and stim-" "its subject matter exerts profound influence on the methods of" "ulus are defined next. We then introduce several essential findings" "measurement, experimentation, and theoretical analyses that are" "that the scientific study of behavior–­environment relations has" "appropriate and possible." "discovered. Two types of behavior—respondent and operant—" "Building on Skinner’s (1938) definition of behavior as “the" "are described, and the basic ways the environment influences" "movement of an organism or of its parts in a frame of refer-" "each type—respondent conditioning and operant conditioning—" "ence provided by the organism or by various external objects" "are introduced. The three-term ­contingency—a concept for express-" "or fields” (p. 6), Johnston and Pennypacker (1980, 1993, 2009)" "ing temporal and functional relations between operant behavior" "articulated the most conceptually sound and empirically com-" "and environment—and its importance as a focal point in applied" "plete definition of behavior to date. In Strategies and ­Tactics of" "behavior analysis are then explained.1 The chapter’s final section" "Behavioral Research, third edition, these authors define ­behavior" "recognizes the enormous complexity of human behavior, reminds" "as follows:" "us that behavior analysts possess an incomplete, though ever-" "expanding and progressively sophisticated, knowledge of their Behavior is that portion of an organism’s interaction with" "subject matter, and identifies some of the obstacles and challenges its environment that involves movement of some part of the" "faced by those who strive to change behavior in applied settings. organism (2009, p. 31)." "" "43" " 44 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "Johnston and Pennypacker discuss each part of this defi- or in terms of other energy changes” (Michael, 2004, p. 8," "nition as it relates to researchers and practitioners. The phrase of italics in original). Human effectors include the striated mus-" "an organism restricts the subject matter to the activity of living cles (i.e., skeletal muscles such as biceps and quadriceps)," "organisms, leaving notions such as the “behavior” of the stock smooth muscles (e.g., stomach and bladder muscles), and glands" "market outside the realm of the scientific use of the term. The (e.g., adrenal and pituitary glands)." "phrase an organism’s interaction with its environment “avoids Behavior can also be described by its form, or physical" "implying that behavior is a possession of the organism and high- characteristics. Response topography refers to the physical" "lights the requirement for an interactive condition” (2009, p. 31). shape or form of behavior. For example, the hand and finger" "The authors elaborated on this critical part of the definition in movements used to open a bag of peanuts can be described by" "the second edition of their text: their topographical elements. However, careful observation will" "reveal that the topography differs somewhat each time a person" "Behavior is not a property or attribute of the organism." "opens a bag of snacks. The difference may be slight, but each" "It happens only when there is an interactive condition" "“bag opening response” will vary somewhat from all others." "between an organism and its surroundings, which include" "Although describing behavior by its topography is some-" "its own body. This means that independent states of the" "times useful, behavior analysis is characterized by a functional" "organism, whether real or hypothetical, are not behav-" "analysis of the effects of behavior on the environment. A response" "ioral events, because there is no interactive process." "class is a group of responses with the same function (that is," "Being ­hungry or being anxious are examples of states that" "each response in the group produces the same effect on the envi-" "are sometimes confused with the behavior that they are" "ronment). Some response classes comprise responses of widely" "­supposed to explain. Neither phrase specifies an environ-" "varying form—imagine the tremendous variability in responses to" "mental agent with which the hungry or anxious organism" "the request to “do something unpredictable” (Neuringer, 2009)—" "interacts, so no behavior is implied." "whereas the topographical variation among members of other" "Similarly, independent conditions or changes in the" "response classes is limited (e.g., a person’s signature, proper grip" "environment do not define behavioral occurrences because" "for a four-seam fastball)." "no interaction is specified. Someone walking in the rain" "Another reason underscoring the importance of a func-" "gets wet, but “getting wet” is not an instance of behavior." "tional analysis of behavior over a structural or topographical" "A child may receive tokens for correctly working math" "description is that two responses of the same topography can" "problems, but “receiving a token” is not behavior." "be completely different behaviors depending on the controlling" "­Receiving a token implies changes in the environment" "variables. For example, saying “fire” while looking at the letters," "but does not suggest or require change in the child’s" "f-i-r-e, is a vastly different behavior from yelling “Fire!” when" "­movement. In contrast, both doing math problems and" "smelling smoke or seeing flames in a crowded theater." "­putting the token in a pocket are behavioral events because" "Behavior analysts use the term repertoire in at least two" "the environment both prompts the child’s actions and is" "ways. Repertoire is sometimes used to refer to all of the behav-" "then changed by them. (Johnston & Pennypacker, 1993," "iors a person can do. More often the term denotes a person’s" "p. 24, emphasis added)" "collection of knowledge and skills relevant to particular settings" "In addition to excluding static states of the organism, the or tasks. In the latter sense, each of us has learned multiple rep-" "definition does not include bodily movements produced by inde- ertoires. For example, each of us has a repertoire of behaviors" "pendent physical forces as behavioral events. For example, being appropriate for informal social situations that differs somewhat" "blown over by a strong gust of wind is not behavior; given suf- (or a lot) from the behaviors we use to navigate formal situa-" "ficient wind, nonliving objects and organisms move similarly.2 tions. And each person has repertoires with respect to language" "The phrase movement of some part of the organism identi- skills, academic tasks, everyday routines, recreation, and so on." "fied behavior as movement, regardless of scale. “To be observed, After studying this text, your repertoire of knowledge and skills" "a response must affect the environment—it must have an effect in applied behavior analysis will be advanced." "upon an observer or upon an instrument, which in turn can affect" "an observer. This is as true of the contraction of a small group ENVIRONMENT" "of muscle fibers as of pressing a lever or pacing a figure 8”" "All behavior occurs within an environmental context; behav-" "(Skinner, 1969, p. 130). Behavior includes movement of body" "ior cannot be emitted in an environmental void or vacuum." "parts within the skin not accessible for observation by others. As" "Johnston and Pennypacker (2009) defined environment and" "Catania (2013) noted, shifting one’s attention to different instru-" "noted the implications of that definition for a science of behav-" "ments while listening to recorded music need not involve the" "ior as follows:" "movement of the head or eyes or any other obvious body part." "The word behavior is usually used in reference to a class Environment refers to the full set of physical circum-" "of responses sharing certain functions (e.g., eating behavior, stances in which the organism exists. The term is compre-" "greeting behavior, writing behavior).3 The term response refers hensive in that any facets of the physical world may be" "to a specific instance of behavior. A technical definition of considered for their contribution to behavior. The term is" "response is an “action of an organism’s effector. An effector specific in that for any particular behavior, the focus is" "is an organ at the end of an efferent nerve fiber that is spe- usually on only those environmental events that are func-" "cialized for altering its environment mechanically, chemically, tionally related to individual responses. . . ." " Chapter 2 • Basic Concepts and Principles 45" "" "The relevant environment can even include the be nonsocial (e.g., a red light, a high-pitched sound) or socially" "organism doing the behaving. . . . [W]hen you scratch an mediated (e.g., a friend asking, “Want some more peanuts?”)." "itch, the stimulation from your skin probably increases the" "effectiveness of relief from the itching as a negative rein- Temporal Loci of Stimuli" "forcer and makes the behavior of scratching more likely. Because behavior and the environmental conditions that influence" "Our bodies are an ongoing source of antecedent and con- it occur within and across time, the temporal location of stimulus" "sequent environmental events related to responding. This changes is important. In particular, behavior is affected most by" "fact reminds us that the skin is not an especially important stimulus changes that occur prior to and soon after the behavior." "boundary in understanding of behavior. (p. 29) The term antecedent refers to environmental conditions or stim-" "ulus changes that exist or occur prior to the behavior of interest." "The environment is a complex, dynamic universe of events" "Because behavior cannot occur in an environmental void" "that differs from moment to moment. When behavior analysts" "or vacuum, every response takes place in the context of a partic-" "describe particular aspects of the environment, they talk in terms" "ular situation or set of antecedent conditions. These antecedent" "of stimulus conditions or events. A stimulus is “an energy change" "events play a critical part in learning and motivation, and they do" "that affects an organism through its receptor cells” (Michael," "so irrespective of whether the learner or someone in the role of" "2004, p. 7). Humans have receptor systems that detect stimulus" "behavior analyst or teacher has planned or is even aware of them." "changes occurring outside and inside the body. Exteroceptors" "are sense organs that detect external stimuli and enable vision, For example, just some of the functionally relevant" "hearing, olfaction, taste, and cutaneous touch. Two types of sense antecedents for a student’s performance on a timed math" "organs sensitive to stimulus changes within the body are intero- test might include the following: the amount of sleep the" "ceptors, which are sensitive to stimuli originating in the viscera student had the night before; the temperature, lighting, and" "(e.g., feeling a stomach ache), and proprioceptors, which enable seating arrangements in the classroom; the teacher remind-" "the kinesthetic and vestibular senses of movement and balance. ing the class that students who beat their personal best" "Applied behavior analysts most often study the effects of stimu- scores on the test will get a free homework pass; and the" "lus changes that occur outside the body. External stimulus con- specific type, format, and sequence of math problems on" "ditions and events are not only more accessible to observation the test. Each of those antecedent variables (and others) has" "and manipulation than are internal conditions, but also are key the potential to exert a great deal, a little, or no noticeable" "features of the physical and social world in which people live. effect on performance as a function of the student’s expe-" "The environment influences behavior primarily by riences with respect to a particular antecedent. (Heward &" "stimulus change and not static stimulus conditions. As Michael Silvestri, 2005, p. 1135)" "(2004) noted, when behavior analysts speak of the presentation A consequence is a stimulus change that follows a behav-" "or occurrence of a stimulus, they usually mean stimulus change. ior of interest. Some consequences, especially those that are" "relevant to current motivational states and follow the behavior" "For example, in respondent conditioning the conditioned" "closely in time, have significant influence on future behavior;" "stimulus may be referred to as a tone. However, the rele-" "other consequences have little effect." "vant event is actually a change from the absence of tone to" "Like antecedent stimulus events, consequences may also" "the tone sounding . . . , and although this is usually under-" "be nonsocial events or socially mediated. In a socially mediated" "stood without having to be mentioned, it can be overlooked" "contingency, another person presents an antecedent stimulus and/" "in the analysis of more complex phenomena. Operant dis-" "or the consequence for the behavior. Table 2.1 on page 47 shows" "criminative stimuli, conditioned reinforcers, conditioned" "examples of various combinations of nonsocial and socially" "punishers, and conditioned motivative variables are also" "mediated antecedent and consequent events for four behaviors." "usually important as stimulus changes, not static conditions" "(Michael, 2004, pp. 7–8).4" "Multiple Functions of Single Stimulus Changes" "Box 2.1, “The Behavioral Stream,” illustrates the contin-" "Some stimulus changes exert immediate and powerful control" "uous, ever-changing nature of behavior and the environment." "over behavior, whereas others have delayed effects, or no appar-" "ent effect. Even though we can and often do describe stimuli" "Classifying and Describing Stimuli" "by their physical characteristics (e.g., the pitch and decibel" "Stimulus events can be described formally (by their physical level of a tone, the topography of a person’s hand and arm" "features), temporally (by when they occur with respect to a movements), stimulus changes are understood best through a" "behavior of interest), and functionally (by their effects on behav- functional analysis of their effects on behavior. For example," "ior). Behavior analysts used the term stimulus class to refer to the same decibel tone that functions in one environment and set" "any group of stimuli sharing a predetermined set of common of conditions as a prompt for checking the clothes in the dryer" "elements in one or more of these dimensions. may function as a warning signal to fasten a seat belt in another" "setting or situation; the same hand and arm motion that produces" "Formal Dimensions of Stimuli a smile and a “Hi” from another person in one set of conditions" "Behavior analysts often describe, measure, and manipulate stimuli occasions a scowl and obscene gesture in another." "according to their formal dimensions, such as size, color, intensity, Stimulus changes can have one or both of two kinds of" "weight, and spatial position relative to other objects. Stimuli can basic functions or effects on behavior: (a) an immediate but" " 46 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "" "BOX 2.1" "" "The Behavioral Stream" "Although the concepts of stimulus and response have and practitioners are detectable “slices” of the continuous," "proven useful for conceptual, experimental, and applied ever-dynamic ­interaction between an organism and its envi-" "analyses of behavior, it is important to recognize that ronment. Mickey Keenan and Karola Dillenburger (2013)" "stimuli and responses do not exist as discrete events in call this process the “behavioral stream.” They illustrate and" "nature. The ­stimuli and responses identified by scientists describe it as follows:" "" "" "" "" "This figure shows the life of an individual to be A consequence of this is that we usually" "a continuous process. engage in a mentalistic analysis. That is, we" "attempt to explain a person’s behavior by" "referring to something taking place inside him," "in his brain or in his mind." "" "" "" "" "Upon first meeting a person, we observe only" "a snapshot in his life." "" "A natural science perspective, however," "enables us to retain the image of a person as" "a continuous process. From this perspective," "the purpose of scientific enquiry is to relate" "segments of this continuous process to the" "independent variables that produce them." "So-called mental events are part of the contin-" "uous process, not the explanation for what is" "observed." "" "" "" "Photos and captions from “Behaviour Analysis: A Primer,” by M. Keenan and" "K. Dillenburger, 2013. Copyright 2013 by Celtic Fringe Productions. Used" "by permission." "The image of a person as a continuous process" "is difficult to retain." " Chapter 2 • Basic Concepts and Principles 47" "" "TABLE 2.1 Antecedent (Situation) and Consequent Events Can Be Nonsocial (Italicized), Socially Mediated (Boldface)," "or a Combination of Social and Nonsocial" "Environmental situation Response Consequence" "Drink machine Deposit coins Cold drink" "Five cups on table “One-two-three-four-five cups” Teacher nods and smiles" "Friend says “Turn left” Turn left Arrive at destination" "Friend asks “What time is it?” “Six-fifteen” Friend says “Thanks”" "From “Individual Behavior, Culture, and Social Change” by S. S. Glenn, 2004, The Behavior Analyst, 27, p. 136. Copyright 2004 by the Association for" "Behavior Analysis. Used by permission." "" "" "temporary effect of increasing or decreasing the frequency cornea), help regulate the internal balance and economy of the" "of the behavior and/or (b) a delayed but relatively permanent organism (e.g., changes in heart rate and respiration in response" "effect in terms of the frequency of that type of behavior in the to changes in temperature and activity levels), and promote repro-" "future (Michael, 1995). For example, a sudden downpour on a duction (e.g., sexual arousal). Each of these stimulus–response" "cloudy day is likely to increase immediately the occurrence of relations, called a reflex, is part of the organism’s genetic endow-" "all behavior that has resulted in escape from rain in the past, ment, a product of natural evolution because of its survival value" "such as deploying an umbrella or running for cover under an to the species. At birth, each intact member of a given species" "awning. A person caught in the rain without an umbrella may be comes equipped with the same repertoire of unconditioned (or" "more likely to bring one on cloudy days in the future. unlearned) reflexes. Reflexes provide the organism with a set" "of built-in responses to specific stimuli; these are behaviors the" "individual organism would not have time to learn. Table 2.2" "RESPONDENT BEHAVIOR" "shows examples of unconditioned reflexes common to humans." "All biologically intact organisms enter the world able to respond The response component of the stimulus–response reflex" "in predictable ways to certain stimuli; no learning is required. is called respondent behavior. Respondent behavior is behav-" "These ready-made behaviors protect against harmful stimuli ior that is elicited by antecedent stimuli. Respondent behavior" "(e.g., eyes watering and blinking to remove particles on the is induced, or brought out, by a stimulus that precedes the" "" "" "TABLE 2.2 Examples of Unconditioned Reflexes in Humans" "Unconditioned Stimulus Unconditioned Response Type of Effector" "Loud sound or touch to cornea Eye blink (lid closes) Striped muscle" "Tactile stimulus under lid or chemical Lacrimal gland secretion Gland" "irritant (smoke) (eyes watering)" "Irritation to nasal mucosa Sneezing Striped and smooth muscle" "Irritation to throat Coughing Striped and smooth muscle" "Low temperature Shivering, surface vasoconstriction Striped and smooth muscle" "High temperature Sweating, surface vasodilation Gland, smooth muscle" "Loud sound Contraction of tensor tympani and stapedius Striped muscles" "muscles (reduces amplitude of eardrum vibrations)" "Food in mouth Salivation Gland" "Indigestible food in stomach Vomiting Striped and smooth muscle" "Pain stimulus to hand or foot Hand or foot withdrawal Striped muscle" "A single stimulus that is painful or very Activation syndrome—all of the following:" "intense or very unusual Heart rate increase Cardiac muscle" "Adrenaline secretion Gland" "Liver release of sugar into bloodstream Gland" "Constriction of visceral blood vessels Smooth muscle" "Dilation of blood vessels in skeletal Smooth muscle" "muscles" "Galvanic skin response (GSR) Gland" "Pupillary dilation (and many more) Smooth muscle" "From Concepts and Principles of Behavior Analysis (rev. ed.) by J. L. Michael, 2004, pp. 10–11. Copyright 2004 by Society for the Advancement of Behavior" "Analysis, Kalamazoo, MI." " 48 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "behavior; nothing else is required for the response to occur. elicited salivation, but the sound of the metronome, a ­neutral" "For example, bright light in the eyes (antecedent stimulus) stimulus (NS), did not. After several trials consisting of the sound" "will elicit pupil contraction (respondent). If the relevant body of the metronome followed by the presentation of food, the dogs" "parts (i.e., receptors and effectors) are intact, pupil contraction began salivating in response to the sound of the metronome. The" "will occur every time. However, if the eliciting stimulus is metronome had thus become a conditioned stimulus (CS), and" "presented repeatedly over a short span of time, the strength or a conditioned reflex was established.6 Respondent conditioning" "magnitude of the response will diminish, and in some cases is most effective when the NS is presented just before or simul-" "the response may not occur at all. This process of gradually taneous with the US. However, some conditioning effects can" "diminishing response strength is known as habituation. sometimes be achieved with considerable delay between the onset" "of the NS and the onset of the US, and even with backward con-" "Respondent Conditioning ditioning in which the US precedes the NS." "Formerly neutral stimuli can acquire the ability to elicit respon-" "Respondent Extinction" "dents through a learning process called respondent conditioning" "(also called Pavlovian conditioning and classical conditioning). Pavlov also discovered that once a conditioned reflex was estab-" "While studying the digestive system of dogs, the Russian physiol- lished, it would weaken and eventually cease altogether if the con-" "ogist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849–1936) noticed that the animals ditioned stimulus was presented repeatedly in the absence of the" "salivated every time his laboratory assistant opened the cage door unconditioned stimulus. For example, if the sound of the metronome" "to feed them. Dogs do not naturally salivate at the sight of someone was presented repeatedly without being accompanied or followed" "in a lab coat, but in Pavlov’s laboratory they consistently salivated by food, it would gradually lose its ability to elicit salivation. The" "when the door was opened. His curiosity aroused, Pavlov (1927) procedure of repeatedly presenting a conditioned stimulus without" "designed and conducted an historic series of experiments.5 the unconditioned stimulus until the conditioned stimulus no longer" "Pavlov started a metronome just an instant before feeding elicits the conditioned response is called respondent extinction." "the dogs. Prior to being exposed to this stimulus–stimulus ­pairing Figure 2.1 shows schematic representations of respondent" "procedure, food in the mouth, an unconditioned s­ timulus (US), conditioning and respondent extinction. In this example, a puff" "" "Figure 2.1 Schematic representation of respondent" "Before Conditioning US UR (eye blink) conditioning and respondent extinction. The top" "(air puff) panel shows an unconditioned reflex: A puff of air" "NS no eye blink (unconditioned stimulus, or US) elicits an eye blink" "(clicking sound) (an unconditioned response, or UR). Before condi-" "tioning, a clicking sound (a neutral stimulus, or NS)" "has no effect on eye blinking. Respondent condition-" "Respondent Conditioning NS + US UR (eye blink) ing consists of a stimulus–stimulus pairing procedure" "(click & air puff) in which the clicking sound is presented repeatedly" "NS + US UR (eye blink) just prior to, or simultaneously with, the air puff." "(click & air puff) The product of respondent conditioning is a condi-" "tioned reflex (CR): In this case the clicking sound has" "(more trials) become a conditioned stimulus (CS) that elicits an eye" "blink when presented alone. The bottom two panels" "illustrate the procedure and outcome of respondent" "Product of US" "Respondent Conditioning (air puff)" "UR (eye blink) extinction: Repeated presentations of the CS alone" "gradually weaken its ability to elicit eye blinking to" "the point where the CS eventually becomes an NS" "CS CR (eye blink) again. The unconditioned reflex remains unchanged" "(clicking sound) before, during, and after respondent conditioning." "" "Respondent Extinction CS CR (eye blink)" "(clicking sound)" "" "CS" "(clicking sound) CR (eye blink)" "" "CS" "(clicking sound) CR (eye blink)" "" "(more trials)" "" "Results of US UR (eye blink)" "Respondent Extinction (air puff)" "" "NS no eye blink" "(clicking sound)" " Chapter 2 • Basic Concepts and Principles 49" "" "of air produced by a glaucoma-testing machine is the US for Fortunately, in addition to her repertoire of genetically" "the eye blink reflex. The ophthalmologist’s finger pressing the inherited respondent behaviors, our baby entered the world with" "button of the machine makes a faint clicking sound. But prior to some uncommitted behavior that is highly malleable and suscep-" "conditioning, the clicking sound is an NS: It has no effect on eye tible to change through its consequences. This type of behavior," "blinking. After being paired with the air puff just a few times, the called operant behavior, enables the baby over the course of" "finger-on-the-button sound becomes a CS: It elicits eye blinking her life to learn novel, increasingly complex responses to an" "as a conditioned reflex. ever-changing world.8" "Conditioned reflexes can also be established by stimulus– Operant behavior is any behavior determined primar-" "stimulus pairing of an NS with a CS. This form of respon- ily by its history of consequences. Unlike respondent behav-" "dent conditioning is called higher-order (or secondary) ior, which is elicited by antecedent events, operant behavior is" "­conditioning. For example, secondary respondent conditioning selected, shaped, and maintained by the consequences that have" "could occur in a patient who has learned to blink at the click- followed it in the past." "ing sound of the button during the glaucoma-testing situation Unlike respondent behaviors, whose topography and" "as follows. The patient detects a slight movement of the oph- basic functions are predetermined, operant behaviors can take" "thalmologist’s finger (NS) just before it contacts the button that a virtually unlimited range of forms. The form and function of" "makes the clicking sound (CS). After several NS–CS pairings, respondent behaviors are constant. By comparison, however," "movement of the ophthalmologist’s finger may become a CS the “meaning” of operant behavior cannot be determined by its" "capable of eliciting blinking.7 topography. Operants are defined functionally, by their effects." "The form, or topography, of respondent behaviors changes Not only does the same operant often include responses of" "little, if at all, during a person’s lifetime. There are two excep- widely different topographies (e.g., a diner may obtain a glass" "tions: (1) Certain reflexes disappear with maturity, such as that of water by nodding his head, pointing to a glass of water, or" "of grasping an object placed in the palm of the hand, a reflex saying yes to a waiter), but also, as Skinner (1969) explained," "usually not seen after the age of 3 months (Bijou & Baer, 1965); the same movements comprise different operants under differ-" "and (2) several unconditioned reflexes first appear later in life, ent conditions." "such as those related to sexual arousal and reproduction. How-" "Allowing water to pass over one’s hands can perhaps" "ever, during a person’s lifetime an infinite range of stimuli that" "be adequately described as topography, but “washing" "were previously neutral (e.g., the high-pitched whine of the" "one’s hands” is an “operant” defined by the fact that," "dentist’s drill) can come to elicit respondents (e.g., increased" "when one has behaved this way in the past, one’s hands" "heartbeat and perspiration)." "have become clean—a condition which has become" "Respondents make up a small percentage of the behaviors" "reinforcing because, say, it has minimized a threat of" "typically of interest to applied behavior analysts. As Skinner" "criticism or contagion. Behavior of precisely the same" "(1953) pointed out, “Reflexes, conditioned or otherwise, are" "topography would be part of another operant if the" "mainly concerned with the internal physiology of the organism." "­reinforcement had consisted of simple stimulation" "We are most often interested, however, in behavior which has" "(e.g., “tickling”) of the hands or the evocation of" "some effect upon the surrounding world” (p. 59). It is this latter" "­imitative behavior in a child whom one is teaching to" "type of behavior, and the process by which it is learned, that we" "wash his hands. (p. 127)" "will now examine." "Topography is of little or no use in identifying behavior" "as respondent or operant. For example, crying elicited by pain-" "OPERANT BEHAVIOR" "ful stimuli is respondent behavior, but the same tear production" "A baby in a crib moves her hands and arms, setting in motion is operant when a function of parental attention (cf., Bowman," "a mobile dangling above. The baby is literally operating on Hardesty, & Mendres-Smith, 2013; Epstein, 2012)." "her environment, and the mobile’s movement and musical Table 2.3 compares and contrasts defining features and" "sounds—stimulus changes produced by the baby’s batting at key characteristics of respondent behavior and operant behavior." "the toy with her hands—are consequences of her behavior." "Her movements are continuously changing as a result of those Selection by Consequences" "consequences." "Human behavior is the joint product of (i) the contingencies" "Members of a species whose only way of interacting" "of survival responsible for the natural selection of the spe-" "with the world is a genetically determined fixed set of" "cies and (ii) the contingencies of reinforcement responsible" "responses would find it difficult to survive, let alone thrive," "for the repertoires acquired by its members, including (iii)" "in a complex environment that differed from the environment" "the special contingencies maintained by the social environ-" "in which their distant ancestors evolved. Although respon-" "ment. [Ultimately, of course, it is all a matter of natural" "dent behavior comprises a critically important set of “hard-" "selection, since operant conditioning is an evolved process," "wired” responses, respondent behavior does not provide an" "of which cultural practices are special applications.]" "organism with the ability to learn from the consequences of" "—B. F. Skinner (1981 p. 502)" "its actions. An organism whose behavior is unchanged by its" "effects on the environment will be unable to adapt to a changing Skinner’s discovery and subsequent elucidation of operant selec-" "environment. tion by consequences have rightly been called “revolutionary” and" " 50 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "TABLE 2.3 Comparing and Contrasting Defining Features and Key Characteristics of Respondent and Operant Behavior" "Characteristics or features Respondent behavior Operant behavior" "Definition Behavior elicited by antecedent stimuli. Behavior selected by its consequences." "Basic unit Reflex: an antecedent stimulus elicits a particular Operant response class: A group of responses" "response (S–R). each of which produces the same effect on the" "environment; described by three-term contin-" "gency relation of antecedent stimulus conditions," "behavior, and consequence (A–B–C)." "Examples Newborn’s grasping and suckling to touch; pupil Talking, walking, playing the piano, riding a bike," "constriction to bright light; cough/gag to irritation in counting change, baking a pie, hitting a curveball," "throat; salivation at smell of food; withdrawing hand laughing at a joke, thinking about a grandparent," "from painful stimulus; sexual arousal to stimulation. reading this book." "Body parts (effectors) that Primarily smooth muscles and glands (adrenaline Primarily striated (skeletal) muscles; sometimes" "most often produce the squirt); sometimes striated (skeletal) muscles (e.g., smooth muscles and glands." "response (not a defining knee-jerk to tap just below patella)." "feature)" "Function or usefulness for Maintains internal economy of the organism; Enables effective interaction and adaptation in" "individual organism provides a set of “ready-made” survival responses an ever-changing environment that could not be" "the organism would not have time to learn. anticipated by evolution." "" "Function or usefulness for Promotes continuation of species indirectly Individuals whose behavior is most sensitive to" "species (protective reflexes help individuals survive to consequences are more likely to survive and" "reproductive age) and directly (reflexes related to reproduce." "reproduction)." "Conditioning process Respondent (also called classical or Pavlovian) Operant conditioning: Some stimulus changes" "conditioning: Through a stimulus–stimulus pair- following a response closely in time increase" "ing procedure in which a neutral stimulus (NS) (reinforcement) or decrease (punishment) future" "presented just prior to or simultaneous with an occurrences of similar responses under similar" "unconditioned (US) or conditioned (CS) eliciting conditions. Previously neutral stimulus changes" "stimulus, the NS becomes a CS that elicits the become conditioned reinforcers or punishers as" "response and a conditioned reflex is created. result of stimulus–stimulus pairing with other rein-" "(See Figure 2.1) forcers or punishers." "Repertoire limits Topography and function of respondents deter- Topography and function of each person’s" "mined by natural evolution of species (phylog- repertoire of operant behaviors are selected by" "eny). All biologically intact members of a species consequences during the individual’s lifetime" "possess the same set of unconditioned reflexes. (ontogeny). New and more complex operant" "Although new forms of respondent behavior are response classes can emerge. Response products" "not learned, an infinite number of conditioned of some human operants (e.g., airplanes) enable" "reflexes may emerge in an individual’s repertoire, some behaviors not possible by anatomical struc-" "depending on the stimulus–stimulus pairing the ture alone (e.g., flying)." "individual has experienced (ontogeny)." "" "" "" "" "“the bedrock on which other behavioral principles rest” (Glenn, the particular course it did. The history of giraffes’ necks," "2004, p. 134). Selectionism “anchors a new paradigm in the life Darwin saw, is more than a sequence of changes; it is a his-" "sciences. . . . A basic tenet of this position is that all forms of life, tory of selection. What does the selecting? Not an omnip-" "from single cells to complex cultures, evolve as a result of selec- otent Creator, not Mother Nature, not the giraffes, but a" "tion with respect to function” (Pennypacker, 1994, pp. 12–13). natural, mechanical process: natural selection." "Selection by consequences operates during the lifetime of Within any population of organisms, individuals" "the individual organism (ontogeny) and is a conceptual parallel vary. They vary partly because of environmental factors" "to Darwin’s (1872/1958) natural selection in the evolutionary (e.g., nutrition), and also because of genetic inheritance." "history of a species (phylogeny).9 In response to the question Among the giraffe ancestors that lived in what is now the" "“Why do giraffes have long necks?” Baum (2017) provides this Serengeti Plain, for instance, variation in genes meant that" "excellent description of natural selection: some had shorter necks and some had longer necks." "As the climate gradually changed, however, new," "Darwin’s great contribution was to see that a relatively sim- taller types of vegetation became more frequent. The giraffe" "ple mechanism could help explain why phylogeny followed ­ancestors that had longer necks, being able to reach higher," " Chapter 2 • Basic Concepts and Principles 51" "" "got a little more to eat, on the average. As a result, they also encompasses the principle of punishment. If the mobile’s" "were a little healthier, resisted disease a little better, evaded movement and musical sounds resulted in a decrease in the" "predators a little better—on the average. Any one individual rate at which the baby bats it with her hands, punishment has" "with a longer neck may have died without offspring, but on occurred, and the mobile’s movement and sound would be" "the average longer-necked individuals had more offspring, called punishers. Before we examine the principles of rein-" "which tended on the average to survive a little better and forcement and punishment further, it is important to identify" "­produce more ­offspring. As longer necks became frequent, several important qualifications concerning how consequences" "new genetic combinations occurred, with the result that some affect behavior." "­offspring had still longer necks than those before, and they" "did still ­better. As the longer-necked giraffes continued to out-­ Consequences Affect Only Future Behavior" "reproduce the shorter-necked ones, the population consisted Consequences affect only future behavior. Specifically, a behav-" "more and more of longer-necked individuals, and the average ioral consequence affects the relative rate at which similar" "neck length of the whole population grew. (pp. 59–60) responses will be emitted in the future under similar stimulus" "Just as natural selection requires a population of individual conditions. This point may seem too obvious to merit mention" "organisms with varied physical features (e.g., giraffes with necks because it is both logically and physically impossible for a con-" "of different lengths), operant selection by consequences requires sequent event to affect a behavior that preceded it, when that" "variation in behavior. Those behaviors that produce the most behavior is over before the consequent event occurs. Neverthe-" "favorable outcomes are selected and “survive,” which leads to a less, the statement “behavior is controlled by its consequences”" "more adaptive repertoire. Natural selection has endowed humans raises the question. (See Box 2.2, “When the Phone Rings,” for" "with an initial population of uncommitted behavior (e.g., babies further discussion of this apparent logical fallacy.)" "babbling and moving their limbs about) that is highly malleable" "and susceptible to the influence of the consequences that follow Consequences Select Response Classes," "it. As Glenn (2004) noted, Not Individual Responses" "Responses emitted because of the effects of reinforcement will" "By outfitting humans with a largely uncommitted" "differ slightly from previously reinforced responses, but will" "­behavioral repertoire, natural selection gave our ­species" "share at least one functional element with the former responses" "a long leash for local behavioral adaptations. But the" "to produce the same consequence." "uncommitted repertoire of humans would be lethal ­without" "the . . . ­susceptibility of human behavior to ­operant Reinforcement strengthens responses which differ in topog-" "­selection. Although this behavioral characteristic is shared raphy from the response reinforced. When we reinforce" "by many species, humans appear to be most ­exquisitely pressing a lever, for example, or saying Hello, responses" "sensitive to behavioral contingencies of selection differing quite widely in topography grow more proba-" "(Schwartz, 1974). (p. 139) ble. This is a characteristic of behavior which has strong" "survival value . . . , since it would be very hard for an" "Operant Conditioning organism to acquire an effective repertoire if reinforce-" "ment strengthened only identical responses. (Skinner," "Operant conditioning may be seen everywhere in the" "1969, p. 131)" "multifarious activities of human beings from birth until" "death. . . . It is present in our most delicate discriminations" "It is the response class—topographically different, but" "and our subtlest skills; in our earliest crude habits and the" "functionally similar responses—that is strengthened or weak-" "highest refinements of creative thought." "ened by operant conditioning. “An operant activity is a popula-" "—Keller and Schoenfeld (1950, p. 64)" "tion of actions all of which have the same environmental effect”" "Operant conditioning refers to the process and selective effects (Baum, 2017, p. 84). The concept of response class is “implied" "of consequences on behavior.10 From an operant conditioning per- when it is said that reinforcement increases the future frequency" "spective, a functional consequence is a stimulus change that follows of the type of behavior that immediately preceded the reinforce-" "a given response closely in time and alters the occurrence of similar ment” (Michael, 2004, p. 9). As will be shown in later chapters," "responses in the future. “In operant conditioning we ‘strengthen’ the concept of response class is a key to the development and" "an operant in the sense of making a response more probable or, in elaboration of new behavior." "actual fact, more frequent” (Skinner, 1953, p. 65). If the movement If consequences (or natural evolution) selected only a very" "and sounds produced by the baby’s batting at the mobile with her narrow range of responses (or genotypes), the effect would “tend" "hands increase the occurrence of hand movements in the direction toward uniformity and a perfection of sorts” (Moxley, 2004," "of the toy, operant conditioning has taken place. p. 110) that would place the behavior (or species) at risk of" "When operant conditioning consists of an increase in extinction should the environment change. For example, if the" "response rate, reinforcement has taken place, and the conse- mobile’s movement and sound reinforced only arm and hand" "quence responsible, in this case the movement and sound of movements that fell within an exact and narrow range of motion" "the mobile, would be called a reinforcer.11 Although operant and no similar movements survived, the baby would be unable" "conditioning is used most often to refer to the “strengthen- to contact that reinforcement if one day her mother mounted the" "ing” effects of reinforcement, as Skinner described earlier, it mobile in a different location above the crib." " 52 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "" "BOX 2.2" "" "When the Phone Rings" "The professor was ready to move on to his next point, but a Most of the Class: Yah, that’s right!" "raised hand in the front row caught his attention." "Professor: (with a wry smile) All of you are correct. . . . So," "Professor: Yes? too. am I." "Student: You said that operant behavior, like talking, writ- Someone Else in the Class: What do you mean?" "ing, running, reading, driving a car, most everything we" "do—you said all of those behaviors are controlled by their Professor: That was exactly my next point, and I was hop-" "consequences, by things that happen after the response ing you would pick up on it. (The professor smiled a" "was emitted? thank you at the student who had started the discussion" "and went on.) All around us, every day, we are exposed" "Professor: I said that. Yes. to countless changing stimulus conditions. The situa-" "Student: Well, I have a hard time with that. When my telephone tions you’ve described are excellent examples of what" "rings and I pick up the receiver, that’s an operant response, behavior analysts call stimulus control. When the rate" "right? I mean, answering the phone when it rings certainly of a given behavior is higher in the presence of a given" "didn’t evolve genetically as a reflex to help our species sur- stimulus than when that stimulus is absent, we say" "vive. So, we’re talking about operant behavior, correct? that stimulus control is at work. Stimulus control is a" "fundamentally important principle in behavior analy-" "Professor: Correct. sis, and it will be the subject of much discussion this" "Student: All right then. How can we say my picking up my semester." "telephone is controlled by its consequence? I answer the But, and here’s the important point: A discrimina-" "phone because it is ringing. So does everyone. Ringing tive stimulus, the antecedent event that comes before the" "controls the response. And ringing can’t be a consequence response of interest, acquires its ability to evoke a par-" "because it comes before the response. ticular response class because of its pairing with certain" "consequences in the past. It’s not just the phone’s ring" "The professor hesitated replying just long enough for the" "that causes you to pick up the receiver. It is the fact that" "student to believe himself the hero, nailing a professor" "in the past, answering the phone when it was ringing was" "for pontificating about some theoretical concept that has" "followed by the sound of a person’s voice. It’s that person" "little or no relevance to the everyday real world. Simulta-" "talking to you, the consequence of picking up the receiver," "neously sensing victory, other students began to pile on." "that selected phone-answering behavior in the first place," "but you only answer ringing phones. Why? Because" "Another Student: How about stepping on the brake when you" "you have learned that there’s someone on the other end" "see a stop sign? The sign controls the braking response," "only when the phone’s ringing. So we can still speak of" "and that’s not a consequence either." "­consequences as having the ultimate control in terms of" "A Student from the Back of the Room: And take a common selecting operant behavior, but ­antecedent stimuli, by" "classroom example. When a kid sees the problem 2 + 2 ­virtue of being paired with differential ­consequences," "on his worksheet and writes 4, writing the numeral 4 has can indicate what kind of consequence is likely. This" "to be controlled by the written problem itself. Otherwise, concept is called the three-term contingency, and its" "how could anyone learn the correct answers to any ques- ­understanding, a­ nalysis, and manipulation are c­ entral to" "tion or problem? applied behavior analysis." "" "" "" "Immediate Consequences Have the Greatest Effect delay between the occurrence of the response and the" "Behavior is most sensitive to stimulus changes that occur imme- occurrence of the stimulus change (between R and" "diately after, or within a few seconds of, a response. SP), the less effective the punishment will be in changing" "the relevant response frequency, but not much is known" "It is essential to emphasize the importance of the immedi- about upper limits. (Michael, 2004, p. 36, emphasis in" "acy of reinforcement. Events that are delayed more than ­original, words in brackets added)" "a few seconds after the response do not directly increase" "its future frequency. When human behavior is apparently" "affected by long-delayed consequences, the change is Consequences Select Any Behavior" "accomplished by virtue of the human’s complex social and Reinforcement and punishment are “equal opportunity” selec-" "verbal history, and should not be thought of as an instance tors. No logical or healthy or (in the long run) adaptive con-" "of the simple strengthening of behavior by reinforcement. nection between a behavior and the consequence that functions" "(p. 110) . . . [As with reinforcement,] the longer the time to strengthen or weaken it is necessary. Any behavior that" " Chapter 2 • Basic Concepts and Principles 53" "" "immediately precedes reinforcement (or punishment) will be present stimulus removed from the environment (or reduced in" "increased (or decreased). intensity).14 These two operations provide for two forms of rein-" "It is the temporal relation between behavior and conse- forcement, called positive and negative (see Figure 2.2)." "quence that is functional, not the topographical or logical ones. In positive reinforcement, a response is followed" "“So far as the organism is concerned, the only important property ­immediately by the presentation of a stimulus that results in sim-" "of the contingency is temporal. The reinforcer simply follows the ilar responses occurring more often. Our baby’s increased batting" "response. How this is brought about does not matter” (Skinner, of the mobile with her hands, when doing so produces movement" "1953, p. 85, emphasis in original). The arbitrary nature of which and music, is an example of positive reinforcement. Likewise, a" "behaviors are reinforced (or punished) in operant conditioning child’s independent play is reinforced when it increases as a result" "is exemplified by the appearance of idiosyncratic behaviors that of his parent’s giving praise and attention when he plays. Positive" "have no apparent purpose or function. An example is the super- reinforcement and procedures for using it to promote desired" "stitious routine of a poker player who taps and arranges his cards behaviors are described in detail in Chapter 11." "in a peculiar fashion because similar movements in the past were When a behavior occurs more often because past responses" "followed by winning hands. have resulted in the withdrawal or termination of a stimulus," "the operation is called negative reinforcement. Skinner (1953)" "Operant Conditioning Occurs Automatically used the term aversive stimulus to refer to, among other things," "Operant conditioning does not require a person’s awareness. stimulus conditions whose termination functioned as reinforce-" "“A reinforcing connection need not be obvious to the individual ment. Let us assume now that a parent programs the mobile" "[whose behavior is] reinforced” (Skinner, 1953, p. 75, words to automatically play music for a period of time. Let us also" "in brackets added). This statement refers to the automaticity assume that if the baby bats the mobile with hands or feet, the" "of reinforcement; that is, behavior is modified by its conse- music immediately stops for a few seconds. If the baby bats the" "quences regardless of whether the individual is aware that her mobile more often when doing so terminates the music, negative" "behavior is, or has been, reinforced.12 A person does not have reinforcement is at work, and the music can be called aversive." "to understand or verbalize the relation between her behavior and Negative reinforcement is characterized by escape or" "a consequence, or even know that a consequence has occurred, avoidance contingencies. Jumping out of the shower when the" "for reinforcement to “work.” water suddenly becomes too hot is negatively reinforced by" "escape from the burning water. Being sent to the principal’s" "Reinforcement office for acting out may function as negative reinforcement if" "it enables the misbehaving student to avoid an aversive (to him)" "Reinforcement is the most important principle of behavior and classroom activity." "a key element of most behavior change programs designed by The concept of negative reinforcement has confused many" "behavior analysts (Flora, 2004; Northup, Vollmer, & Serrett, students of behavior analysis. Much of the confusion can be" "1993). When a response is followed by a stimulus change that traced to the inconsistent early history and development of the" "results in similar responses occurring more often, reinforcement term and to psychology and education textbooks and professors" "has taken place.13 Sometimes the delivery of just one reinforcer who have used the term inaccurately.15 The most common mis-" "results in significant behavior change, although most often take is equating negative reinforcement with punishment. To" "several responses must be followed by reinforcement before help avoid the error, Michael (2004) suggested the following:" "significant conditioning will occur." "Most stimulus changes that function as reinforcers can Think about how you would respond if someone asked you" "be described operationally as either (a) a new stimulus added (1) whether or not you like negative reinforcement; also if" "to the environment (or increased in intensity), or (b) an already you were asked (2) which you prefer, positive or negative" "" "" "Type of Stimulus Change" "Present or Increase Withdraw or Decrease" "Intensity of Stimulus Intensity of Stimulus" "" "" "" "" "Positive Reinforcement Negative Reinforcement" "Frequency of Behavior" "Effect on Future" "" "" "" "" "Figure 2.2 Positive and negative reinforce-" "ment and positive and negative punishment" "Positive Punishment Negative Punishment are defined by the type of stimulus change" "operation that follows a behavior and the" "effect that operation has on future occur-" "rences of that type of behavior." " 54 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "reinforcement. Your answer to the first question should be Reinforcement and punishment can each be accomplished" "that you do indeed like negative reinforcement, which con- by either of two different operations, depending on whether the" "sists of the removal or termination of an aversive condition consequence consists of presenting a new stimulus (or increasing" "that is already present. The term negative reinforcement the intensity of a current stimulus) or withdrawing (or decreasing" "refers only to the termination of the stimulus. In a labora- the intensity of) a currently present stimulus in the environment" "tory procedure the stimulus must, of course, be turned on (Morse & Kelleher, 1977; Skinner, 1953). Some behavior analysts" "and then its termination can be made contingent upon the argue that from a functional and theoretical standpoint only two" "critical response. No one wants an aversive stimulus turned principles are required to describe the basic effects of behavioral" "on, but once it is on, its termination is usually desirable. consequences—reinforcement and punishment.17 However, from" "Your answer to the second question should be that you a procedural perspective (a critical factor for the applied behavior" "cannot choose without knowing the specifics of the positive analyst), a number of behavior change tactics are derived from" "and negative reinforcement involved. The common error each of the four operations represented in Figure 2.2." "is to choose positive reinforcement, but removal of a very Most behavior change procedures involve several prin-" "severe pain would certainly be preferred over the presen- ciples of behavior (see Box 2.3). It is critical for the behavior" "tation of a small monetary reward or an edible, unless the analyst to have a solid conceptual understanding of the basic" "food deprivation was very severe. (p. 32, italics and bold principles of behavior. Such knowledge permits better analysis" "type in original) of current controlling variables as well as more effective design" "and assessment of behavioral interventions that recognize the" "Negative reinforcement is examined in detail in Chapter 12." "role various principles may be playing in a given situation." "Remembering that the term reinforcement always means an" "increase in the occurrence of the behavior and that the modifi-" "ers positive and negative describe the type of stimulus change Stimulus Changes That Function" "operation that best characterizes the consequence (i.e., adding as Reinforcers and Punishers" "or withdrawing a stimulus) should facilitate the discrimina- Because operant conditioning involves the consequences of" "tion of the principles and application of positive and negative behavior, it follows that anyone interested in using operant" "reinforcement. conditioning to change behavior must identify and control the" "After a behavior has been established with reinforcement, occurrence of relevant consequences. For the applied behavior" "it need not be reinforced each time it occurs. Many behaviors are analyst, therefore, an important question becomes: What kinds" "maintained at high levels by schedules of intermittent reinforce- of stimulus changes function as reinforcers and punishers?" "ment. Chapter 13 describes various schedules of reinforcement" "and their effects on behavior. However, if reinforcement is with- Unconditioned Reinforcement and Punishment" "held for all members of a previously reinforced response class, Some stimulus changes function as reinforcement even though" "a procedure based on the principle of extinction, the behavior the organism has had no particular learning history with those" "will gradually decrease in rate to its pre-reinforcement level or stimuli. A stimulus change that can increase future occurrences" "cease to occur altogether. Chapter 24 describes the principle of behavior without prior pairing with any other form of rein-" "of extinction and the use of behavior change tactics based on forcement is called an unconditioned reinforcer.18 For exam-" "extinction to decrease undesired behavior. ple, stimuli such as food, water, and sexual stimulation that" "support the biological maintenance of the organism and survival" "Punishment" "of the species often function as unconditioned reinforcers. The" "Punishment, like reinforcement, is defined functionally. When words can and often in the two previous sentences recognize" "a response is followed immediately by a stimulus change that the important qualification that the momentary effectiveness of" "results in similar responses occurring less often, punishment an unconditioned reinforcer is a function of current motivating" "has taken place. Punishment can be accomplished by either of operations. For example, a certain level of food deprivation" "two types of stimulus change operations (see the bottom two is necessary for the presentation of food to function as a rein-" "boxes of Figure 2.2). As with reinforcement, the modifiers in forcer. However, food is unlikely to function as reinforcement" "the terms positive punishment and negative punishment connote for a person who has recently eaten a heavy meal. The nature" "neither the intention nor the desirability of the behavior change and functions of motivating operations are described in detail" "produced; they indicate only that the stimulus change that served as in Chapter 16." "the punishing consequence was presented (positive punishment) Similarly, an unconditioned punisher is a stimulus" "or withdrawn (negative punishment).16 change that can decrease the future occurrence of any behavior" "As with positive and negative reinforcement, numerous that precedes it without prior pairing with any other form of" "behavior change procedures incorporate the two basic punish- punishment. Unconditioned punishers include painful stimula-" "ment operations. Although some textbooks reserve the term tion that can cause tissue damage (i.e., harm body cells). How-" "punishment for procedures involving positive punishment and ever, virtually any stimulus to which an organism’s receptors are" "describe time-out from positive reinforcement and response cost sensitive—light, sound, and temperature, to name a few—can" "as separate “principles” or types of punishment, both methods be intensified to the point that its delivery will suppress behav-" "for reducing behavior are based on negative punishment (see ior even though the stimulus is below levels that actually cause" "Chapter 15). tissue damage (Bijou & Baer, 1965)." " Chapter 2 • Basic Concepts and Principles 55" "" "" "BOX 2.3" "" "Distinguishing Between Principles of Behavior and Behavior Change Tactics" "A principle of behavior describes a basic behavior–­environment behavior, shaping, response cost, and time-out from positive" "relation that has been demonstrated repeatedly in hundreds, reinforcement." "even thousands, of experiments. A principle of behavior So, principles describe basic scientific laws that delin-" "describes a functional relation between behavior and one or eate how behavior–environment relations work, and behavior" "more of its controlling variables (in the form of y = fx) that change tactics are how applied behavior analysts put the prin-" "has thorough generality across individual organisms, species, ciples to work to help people learn and use socially significant" "settings, and behaviors. A principle of behavior is an empiri- behaviors. There are relatively few behavior principles, but" "cal generalization inferred from many experiments. Principles many derivative behavior change tactics. To illustrate further," "describe how behavior works. Some examples of principles are reinforcement is a behavioral principle because it describes a" "reinforcement, punishment, and extinction. lawful relation between behavior, an immediate consequence," "In general, a behavior change tactic is a method for oper- and an increased occurrence of the behavior in the future" "ationalizing, or putting into practice, one or more principles of under similar conditions. However, issuing of checkmarks in" "behavior. A behavior change tactic is a research-based, tech- a token economy and providing contingent praise are behavior" "nologically consistent method for changing behavior that has change tactics derived from the principle of reinforcement. To" "been derived from one or more basic principles of behavior and cite another example, punishment is a principle of behavior" "that possesses sufficient generality across subjects, settings, because it describes the established functional relation between" "and/or behaviors to warrant its codification and dissemination. the presentation of a consequence and the decreased occur-" "Behavior change tactics constitute the technological aspect of rence of similar behavior in the future. Response cost and time-" "applied behavior analysis. Examples of behavior change tactics out, in contrast, are tactics for changing behavior based on the" "include backward chaining, differential reinforcement of other principle of punishment." "" "" "" "Events that function as unconditioned reinforcers and (or punishers) may acquire the ability to reinforce (or punish)" "punishers are the product of the natural evolution of the species behavior when they later occur on their own as consequences." "(phylogeny). Malott, Tillema, and Glenn (1978) described the Called conditioned reinforcers and conditioned punishers," "natural selection of “rewards” and “aversives” as follows:19 these stimulus changes function as reinforcers and punishers" "because of their prior pairing with other reinforcers or punish-" "Some rewards and aversives control our actions because" "ers.20 The stimulus–stimulus pairing procedure responsible for" "of the way our species evolved; we call these unlearned" "the creation of conditioned reinforcers or punishers is the same" "rewards or aversives. We inherit a biological structure that" "as that used for respondent conditioning except that the “out-" "causes some stimuli to be rewarding or aversive. This struc-" "come is a stimulus that functions as a reinforcer [or punisher]" "ture evolved because rewards helped our ancestors survive," "rather than a stimulus that will elicit a response” (Michael, 2004," "while aversives hurt their survival. Some of these unlearned" "p. 66, words in brackets added)." "rewards, such as food and fluid, help us survive by" "Conditioned reinforcers and punishers are not related" "strengthening our body cells. Others help our species" "to any biological need or anatomical structure; their ability to" "survive by causing us to produce and care for our" "modify behavior is a result of each person’s unique history of" "offspring—these stimuli include the rewarding stimulation" "interactions with his or her environment (ontogeny). On the one" "resulting from copulation and nursing. And many unlearned" "hand, because no two people experience the world in exactly" "aversives harm our survival by damaging our body cells;" "the same way, the roster of events that can serve as conditioned" "such aversives include burns, cuts and bruises. (p. 9)" "reinforcers and punishers at any particular time (given a rele-" "While unconditioned reinforcers and punishers are criti- vant motivating operation) is idiosyncratic to each individual" "cally important and necessary for survival, relatively few behav- and always changing. On the other hand, to the extent that two" "iors that constitute the everyday routines of people as they go people have had similar experiences (e.g., schooling, profession," "about working, playing, and socializing are directly controlled the culture in general), they are likely to be affected in similar" "by such events. For example, although going to work each ways by similar events. Social praise and attention are examples" "day earns the money that buys food, eating that food is far too of widely effective conditioned reinforcers in many cultures." "delayed for it to exert any direct operant control over the behav- Because social attention and approval (as well as disapproval)" "ior that earned it. Remember: Behavior is most affected by its are often paired with many other reinforcers (and punishers)," "immediate consequences. they exert powerful control over human behavior and will be" "featured in later chapters when specific behavior change tactics" "Conditioned Reinforcers and Punishers are presented." "Stimulus events or conditions that are present or that occur just Because people who live in a common culture share sim-" "before, or simultaneous with, the occurrence of other reinforcers ilar histories, it is not unreasonable for a practitioner to search" " 56 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "for potential reinforcers and punishers for a given client among or satisfying, aversive stimuli are not defined with terms such" "classes of stimuli that have proven effective with other simi- as annoying or unpleasant. The terms reinforcer and punisher" "lar clients. However, in an effort to help the reader establish a should not to be used on the basis of a stimulus event’s assumed" "fundamental understanding of the nature of operant condition- effect on behavior or on the basis of any inherent property of" "ing, we have purposely avoided presenting a list of stimuli that the stimulus event itself. Morse and Kelleher (1977) continued:" "may function as reinforcers and punishers. Morse and Kelleher" "When the borders of the table are designated in terms of" "(1977) made this important point very well." "stimulus classes (positive–negative; pleasant–noxious) and" "Reinforcers and punishers, as environmental “things,” experimental operations (stimulus presentation–stimulus" "appear to have a greater reality than orderly temporal withdrawal), the cells of the table are, by definition, vari-" "changes in ongoing behavior. Such a view is deceptive. eties of reinforcement and punishment. One problem is" "There is no concept that predicts reliably when events will that the processes indicated in the cells have already been" "be reinforcers or punishers; the defining characteristics of assumed in categorizing stimuli as positive or negative; a" "reinforcers and punishers are how they change behavior second is that there is a tacit assumption that the presen-" "[italics added]. Events that increase or decrease the sub- tation or withdrawal of a particular stimulus will have an" "sequent occurrence of one response may not modify other invariant effect. These relations are clearer if empirical" "responses in the same way. operations are used to designate the border conditions. . . ." "In characterizing reinforcement as the presentation of The characterization of behavioral processes depends upon" "a reinforcer contingent upon a response, the tendency is to empirical observations. The same stimulus event, under dif-" "emphasize the event and to ignore the importance of both ferent conditions, may increase behavior or decrease behav-" "the contingent relations and the antecedent and subsequent ior. In the former case the process is called reinforcement" "behavior. It is how [italics added] they change behavior and in the latter the process is called punishment. (p. 180)" "that defines the terms reinforcer and punisher; thus it is the" "At the risk of redundancy, we restate this important" "orderly change in behavior that is the key to these defini-" "concept. Reinforcers and punishers denote functional classes" "tions. It is not [italics added] appropriate to presume that" "of stimulus events, membership to which is not based on the" "particular environmental events such as the presentation" "physical nature of the stimulus changes or events themselves." "of food or electric shock are reinforcers or punishers until" "Indeed, given a person’s individual history and current moti-" "a change in the rate of responding has occurred when the" "vational state, and the current environmental conditions, “any" "event is scheduled in relation to specified responses." "stimulus change can be a ‘reinforcer’ if the characteristics of the" "A stimulus paired with a reinforcer is said to have" "change, and the temporal relation of the change to the response" "become a conditioned reinforcer, but actually it is the behav-" "under observation, are properly selected” (Schoenfeld, 1995," "ing subject that has changed, not the stimulus. . . . It is, of" "p. 184). Thus, the phrase “everything is relative” is thoroughly" "course, useful shorthand to speak of conditioned reinforc-" "relevant to understanding functional behavior–environment" "ers . . . just as it is convenient to speak about a reinforcer" "relations." "rather than speaking about an event that has followed an" "instance of a specific response and resulted in a subsequent" "increase in the occurrence of similar responses. The latter The Discriminated Operant and Three-Term" "may be cumbersome, but it has the advantage of empirical Contingency" "referents. Because many different responses can be shaped" "We have discussed the role of consequences in influencing the" "by consequent events, and because a given consequent event" "future occurrence of behavior. But operant conditioning does" "is often effective in modifying the behavior of different" "much more than establish a functional relation between behav-" "individuals, it becomes common practice to refer to reinforc-" "ior and its consequences. Operant conditioning also establishes" "ers without specifying the behavior that is being modified." "functional relations between behavior and certain antecedent" "These common practices have unfortunate consequences." "conditions." "They lead to erroneous views that responses are arbitrary" "and that the reinforcing or punishing effect of an event is a In contrast to if-A-then-B formulations (such as S-R for-" "specific property of the event itself. (pp. 176–177, 180) mulations), the AB-because-of-C formulation is a general" "statement that the relation between an event (B) and its" "The point made by Morse and Kelleher (1977) is of" "context (A) is because of consequences (C). . . . Applied to" "paramount importance to understanding functional behavior–" "Skinner’s three-term contingency, the relation between" "environment relations. Reinforcement and punishment are not" "(A) the setting and (B) behavior exists because of (C) con-" "simply the products of certain stimulus events, which are then" "sequences that occurred for previous AB (setting-behavior)" "called reinforcers and punishers without reference to a given" "relations. The idea [is] that reinforcement strengthens the" "behavior and environmental conditions. There are no inherent" "setting-behavior relation rather than simply strengthening" "or standard physical properties of stimuli that determine their" "behavior. (Moxley, 2004, p. 111)" "permanent status as reinforcers and punishers. In fact, a stimulus" "can function as a positive reinforcer under one set of condi- Reinforcement selects not just certain forms of behav-" "tions and a negative reinforcer under different conditions. Just as ior; it also selects the environmental conditions that in" "positive reinforcers are not defined with terms such as pleasant the future will evoke (make more likely) instances of the" " Chapter 2 • Basic Concepts and Principles 57" "" "response class. A behavior that occurs more often under consequences. The interrelationships among them" "some antecedent conditions than it does in others is called are the ”contingencies of reinforcement.” (Skinner," "a discriminated operant. Because a discriminated operant 1969, p. 7)" "occurs more often in the presence of a given stimulus than" "The discriminated operant has its origin in the three-term" "it does in the absence of that stimulus, it is said to be under" "contingency. The three-term contingency—antecedent, behav-" "stimulus control. Answering the phone, one of the every-" "ior, and consequence—is sometimes called the ABCs of behavior" "day behaviors discussed by the professor and his students in" "analysis. Figure 2.3 shows examples of three-term contingencies" "Box 2.2, is a discriminated operant. The phone’s ring func-" "for positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive pun-" "tions as a discriminative stimulus (SD) for answering the" "ishment, and negative punishment.21 Most of what the science of" "phone. We answer the phone when it is ringing, and we do" "behavior analysis has discovered about the prediction and control" "not answer the phone when it is silent." "of human behavior involves the three-term contingency, which is" "Just as reinforcers or punishers cannot be identified" "“considered the basic unit of analysis in the analysis of operant" "by their physical characteristics, stimuli possess no inherent" "behavior” (Glenn, Ellis, & Greenspoon, 1992, p. 1332)." "dimensions or properties that enable them to function as" "A four-term contingency analysis takes into account moti-" "discriminative stimuli. Operant conditioning brings behavior" "vating events that make certain stimulus changes momentarily" "under the control of various properties or values of anteced-" "more or less reinforcing. The four-term contingency is intro-" "ent stimuli (e.g., size, shape, color, spatial relation to another" "duced in Chapter 11 and described in detail in Chapter 16." "stimulus), and what those features are cannot be deter-" "The term contingency appears in behavior analysis lit-" "mined a priori. (Stimulus control is described in detail in" "erature with several meanings signifying various types of tem-" "Chapter 17.)" "poral and functional relations between behavior and antecedent" "Any stimulus present when an operant is reinforced and consequent variables (Catania, 2013; Lattal, 1995; Lattal &" "acquires control in the sense that the rate will be higher Shahan, 1997; Vollmer & Hackenberg, 2001). Perhaps the most" "when it is present. Such a stimulus does not act as a goad; common connotation of contingency refers to the dependency of" "it does not elicit the response in the sense of forcing it to a particular consequence on the occurrence of the behavior. When" "occur. It is simply an essential aspect of the occasion upon a reinforcer (or punisher) is said to be contingent on a particu-" "which a response is made and reinforced. The difference is lar behavior, the behavior must be emitted for the consequence" "made clear by calling it a discriminative stimulus (or SD). to occur. For example, after saying, “Name a carnivorous dino-" "An adequate formulation of the interaction between an saur,” a teacher’s “Well done!” depends on the student’s response," "organism and its environment must always specify “Tyrannosaurus Rex” (or another dinosaur of the same class).22" "three things: (1) the occasion upon which a response The term contingency is also used in reference to the tem-" "occurs; (2) the response itself; and (3) the reinforcing poral contiguity of behavior and its consequences. As stated" "" "" "" "Future Frequency" "Antecedent Stimulus Behavior Consequence of Behavior in Operation" "Similar Conditions" "" "" "" "" "“Name a carnivorous Positive" "“Tyrannosaurus Rex.” “Well done!”" "dinosaur.” Reinforcement" "" "" "" "" "Foul smell under Negative" "Take trash outside Foul smell is gone" "kitchen sink Reinforcement" "" "" "" "" "Positive" "Icy road Drive at normal speed Crash into car ahead" "Punishment" "" "" "" "" "Popup box asks, “Warn" "Important e-mail Negative" "when deleting unread Click on “No”" "message is lost Punishment" "messages?”" "" "Figure 2.3 Three-term contingencies illustrating reinforcement and punishment operations." " 58 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "previously, behavior is selected by the consequences that imme- (e.g., “Pull the lever while simultaneously pushing the selec-" "diately follow it, irrespective of whether those consequences tion button.”) we behave effectively (e.g., operate a complex" "were produced by or depended on the behavior. This is the vending machine in a foreign country) without direct experience" "meaning of contingency in Skinner’s (1953) statement, “So far with contingencies. “Rules can be learned more quickly than the" "as the organism is concerned, the only important property of the behavior shaped by the contingencies they describe. . . . Rules" "contingency is temporal” (1953, p. 85). are particularly valuable when contingencies are complex or" "unclear or for any other reason not very effective” (Skinner," "1974, p. 129). Skinner referred to behavior controlled by verbal" "RECOGNIZING THE COMPLEXITY" "statements as rule-governed behavior, distinguishing it from" "OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR" "contingency-shaped behavior acquired by direct experience" "Behavior—human or otherwise—remains an extremely with contingencies.24" "­difficult subject matter. Operant learning does not always occur as a slow, gradual" "—B. F. Skinner (1969, p. 114) process. Sometimes new, complex repertoires appear quickly" "with little apparent direct conditioning (Epstein, 1991; Sidman," "The experimental analysis of behavior has discovered a number" "1994). Murray Sidman’s groundbreaking research on stimu-" "of basic principles—statements about how behavior works as" "lus equivalence showed that under certain conditions learners" "a function of environmental variables. These principles, sev-" "acquire new skills and verbal relations without direct instruction" "eral of which have been introduced in this chapter, have been" "on those skills and relations (cf., Critchfield, Barnes-Holmes," "demonstrated, verified, and replicated in thousands of experi-" "& Dougher, 2018). The new behaviors emerge as a product of" "ments; they are scientific facts.23 Tactics for changing behavior" "instruction on related skills and relations. This research, which is" "derived from these principles have been applied to a wide range" "found under various names in addition to stimulus equivalence," "of human behaviors in natural settings and analyzed in increas-" "including generative instruction, equivalence-based instruction," "ingly sophisticated and effective ways. An introduction to what" "and derived relational responding, is described in Chapters 19" "has been learned from those applied behavior analyses makes" "and 20." "up the majority of this book." "One type of rapid learning has been called contingency" "The systematic application of behavior analysis techniques" "adduction, a process whereby a behavior that was initially" "sometimes produces behavior changes of great magnitude and" "selected and shaped under one set of conditions is recruited by a" "speed, even for clients whose behavior had been unaffected by" "different set of contingencies and takes on a new function in the" "other forms of treatment and appeared intractable. When such" "person’s repertoire (Andronis, 1983; Layng & Andronis, 1984)." "a happy (but not rare) outcome occurs, the neophyte behavior" "Johnson and Layng (1992, 1994) described several examples" "analyst must resist the tendency to believe that we know more" "of contingency adduction in which simple (component) skills" "than we do about the prediction and control of human behavior." "(e.g., addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts, isolating" "As acknowledged in Chapter 1, applied behavior analysis is a" "and solving for X in a simple linear equation), when taught to" "young science that has yet to achieve anything near a complete" "fluency, combined without apparent instruction to form new" "understanding and technological control of human behavior." "complex (composite) patterns of behavior (e.g., factoring com-" "A major challenge facing applied behavior analysts is" "plex equations). Lessons can be designed in such a way that" "dealing with human behavior in applied settings where labora-" "teaching select concepts and relations results in students acquir-" "tory controls are impossible, impractical, or unethical. Numer-" "ing concepts and relations that were not taught directly." "ous factors contributing to this difficulty coalesce around the" "Intertwined lineages of different operants combine to form" "complexity of the human repertoire, the myriad controlling vari-" "new complex operants (Glenn, 2004), which produce response" "ables, and individual differences." "products that in turn make possible the acquisition of behav-" "iors beyond the spatial and mechanical restraints of anatomical" "Complexity of the Human Repertoire" "structure." "Humans are capable of learning an incredible range of behav-" "In the human case, the range of possibilities may be" "iors. Response sequences, sometimes of no apparent logical" "infinite, especially because the products of operant" "organization, contribute to the complexity of behavior (Skinner," "­behavior have become increasingly complex in the context" "1953). In a response chain, effects produced by one response" "of evolving cultural practices. For example, anatomical" "influence the emission of other responses. Returning a winter" "constraints prevented operant flying from emerging in a" "coat to the attic leads to rediscovering a scrapbook of old family" "human repertoire only until airplanes were constructed" "photographs, which evokes a phone call to Aunt Helen, which" "as ­behavioral products. Natural selection’s leash has" "sets the occasion for finding her recipe for apple pie, and so on." "been greatly relaxed in the ontogeny of operant units." "Verbal behavior may be the most significant contribu-" "(Glenn et al., 1992, p. 1332)" "tor to the complexity of human behavior (Donahoe & Palmer," "1994; Palmer, 1991; Skinner, 1957; see Chapter 18). Not only" "Complexity of Controlling Variables" "is a problem generated when the difference between saying and" "doing is not recognized, but verbal behavior itself is often a Behavior is selected by its consequences. This mega principle of" "controlling variable for many other verbal and nonverbal behav- operant behavior sounds deceptively (and naively) simple. How-" "iors. By following the contingency described in a verbal rule ever, “Like other scientific principles, its simple form masks the" " Chapter 2 • Basic Concepts and Principles 59" "" "complexity of the universe it describes” (Glenn, 2004, p. 134). positive emotional responses that influence the operant behavior" "The environment and its effects on behavior are complex. of purchasing the product." "Skinner (1957) noted that, “(1) the strength of a single All of these complex, concurrent, interrelated contingen-" "response may be, and usually is, a function of more than one cies make it difficult for behavior analysts to identify and control" "variable and (2) a single variable usually affects more than one relevant variables. It should not be surprising that the settings in" "response” (p. 227). Although Skinner was writing in reference which applied behavior analysts ply their trade are sometimes" "to verbal behavior, multiple causes and multiple effects are char- described as places where “reinforcement occurs in a noisy" "acteristics of many behavior–environment relations. background” (Vollmer & Hackenberg, 2001, p. 251)." "Many behaviors result from multiple causes. In a phe- Consequently, as behavior analysts, we should recognize" "nomenon called joint control (Lowenkron, 1998, 2006; Palmer, that meaningful behavior change might take time and many tri-" "2006), two separate but interrelated forms of a person’s own als and errors as we work to understand the interrelationships" "verbal behavior combine to acquire stimulus control of a and complexities of the controlling variables. Don Baer (1987)" "response that would not have occurred in the absence of either. recognized that some of the larger problems that beset society" "For example, a person writing on her laptop computer, while (e.g., poverty, substance addiction, illiteracy), given our pres-" "sitting in the kitchen, needs a particular book for a reference. ent level of technology, might be too difficult to solve at the" "She might say to herself, “I need About Behaviorism” and repeat moment. He identified three barriers to solving such complex" "the book’s title (an echoic) several times while walking to the problems:" "room containing her books. She reads the titles (another form" "(a) We are not empowered to solve these bigger remaining" "of verbal behavior) of the books on the bookcase until she emits" "problems, (b) we have not yet made the analysis of how" "the response, “About Behaviorism,” whose topography matches" "to empower ourselves to try them, and (c) we have not yet" "the self-echoic. The occurrence of these two sources of control" "made the system-analytic task analyses that will prove cru-" "mediates the selection of the desired book.25" "cial to solving those problems when we do empower our-" "Concurrent contingencies can also combine to make a" "selves sufficiently to try them. . . . In my experience, those" "behavior more or less likely to occur in a given situation. Per-" "projects that seem arduously long are arduous because" "haps we finally return our neighbor’s weed trimmer not just" "(a) I do not have a strong interim reinforcer compared to" "because he usually invites us in for a cup of coffee, but also" "those in the existing system for status quo and must wait" "because returning the tool reduces the “guilt” we feel for keep-" "for opportunities when weak control may operate, even" "ing it for 2 weeks." "so, or (b) I do not yet have a correct task analysis of the" "Concurrent contingencies often vie for control of" "problem and must struggle through trials and errors. By" "incompatible behaviors. We cannot watch “Baseball Tonight”" "contrast (c) when I have an effective interim reinforcer and" "and study (properly) for an upcoming exam. Although not a" "I know the correct task analysis of this problem, long prob-" "technical term in behavior analysis, algebraic summation is" "lems are simply those in which the task analysis requires a" "sometimes used to describe the effect of multiple, concur-" "series of many behavior changes, perhaps in many people," "rent contingencies on behavior. The behavior that is emitted" "and although each of them is relatively easy and quick, the" "is thought to be the product of the competing contingencies" "series of them requires not so much effort as time, and so it" "“canceling portions of each other out,” as in an algebraic" "is not arduous but merely tedious. (pp. 335, 336–337)" "equation." "Behavioral covariation illustrates one type of multiple" "effect. For example, Lerman, Kelley, Vorndran, and Van Camp Individual Differences" "(2003) found that blocking the emission of one problem behavior People often respond differently, sometimes drastically so, to" "decreased occurrences of that behavior but produced a collateral the same set of environmental conditions. This fact is sometimes" "increase in other topographies of problem behaviors in the same cited as evidence that principles of behavior based on environ-" "response class. As another example of multiple effects, the pre- mental selection do not exist, at least not in a form that could" "sentation of an aversive stimulus may, in addition to suppressing provide the basis for a robust and reliable technology of behav-" "future occurrences of the behavior it follows, elicit respondent ior change. It is then argued that because people often respond" "behaviors and evoke escape and avoidance ­behaviors—three differently to the same set of contingencies, control of behavior" "different effects from one event. must come from within each person. In refuting that argument," "Emotions are often a commingling of respondent and Sidman (2013) recognizes the complex learning histories that" "operant behaviors. Interactions between respondent and oper- account for much of our individual differences and points to the" "ant conditioning further the difficulty of determining causal excitement of discovering the scientific principles that link us" "variables. For example Pavlovian (stimulus-reinforcer) contin- with one another and with the universe at large." "gencies embedded in stimulus control arrangements may limit" "the effectiveness of operant (response-reinforcer) contingencies Among the most powerful sources of behavioral control are" "(see Nevin, 2009). A study by Gorn (1982) suggests the possi- our individual behavioral histories, in each of us a web of" "bility that pairing music a person likes (unconditioned stimulus such complexity that it tempts us to give up and claim inde-" "for positive emotional responses) with an advertisement for a pendence. . . . to claim control by an inner self. . . . Rather" "product (neutral stimulus) might condition emotional responses than needing to claim myself as prepotent, I have always" "to the product functioning as a conditioned stimulus that elicits found it exciting to recognize that I am at one with the rest" " 60 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "of the universe and to help discover the laws that relate me ethical considerations may also preclude determining experi-" "to everything else. (p. xvi) mentally the controlling variables for an important behavior." "Ethical considerations for behavior analysts are discussed in" "As each of us experiences varying contingencies of rein-" "Chapter 31." "forcement (and punishment), some behaviors are strengthened" "Each of these practical complexities combines with the" "(selected by the contingencies) and others are weakened. This" "behavioral and environmental complexities previously men-" "is the nature of operant conditioning, which is to say, human" "tioned to make the applied behavior analysis of socially import-" "nature. Because no two people ever experience the world in" "ant behavior a challenging task. However, the task need not be" "exactly the same way, each of us arrives at a given situation" "overwhelming, and few tasks are as rewarding or as important" "with a different history of reinforcement. The repertoire of" "for the betterment of humankind." "behaviors each person brings to any situation has been selected," "It is sometimes argued that the scientific study of behavior" "shaped, and maintained by his or her unique history of reinforce-" "cannot account for such human creations as beauty and humor" "ment. Each human’s unique repertoire defines him or her as a" "or the behavior of judging something to be beautiful. Hineline" "person. We are what we do, and we do what we have learned to" "(2005), Palmer (2018), Mechner (2017), and Neuringer and" "do. “He begins as an organism and becomes a person or self as" "­Jensen (2013) discuss aesthetics and creativity from a behavior" "he acquires a repertoire of behavior” (Skinner, 1974, p. 231)." "analytic point of view on topics ranging from literature aesthet-" "Individual differences in responding to current stimulus" "ics to the craftsmanship of woodworking tools." "conditions, then, do not need to be attributed to differences in" "Will knowing how such amazing behavior is learned some-" "internal traits or tendencies, but to the orderly result of different" "how diminish the quality or enjoyment of the human experience?" "histories of reinforcement. The behavior analyst must also con-" "For example, will our increasing knowledge of the variables" "sider people’s varying sensitivities to stimuli (e.g., hearing loss," "responsible for creative behavior lessen the feelings evoked by a" "visual impairment) and differences in response mechanisms" "powerful painting or a beautiful symphony, or reduce our appre-" "(e.g., cerebral palsy) and design program components to ensure" "ciation of the artists who produced them? We think not, and we" "that all participants have maximum contact with relevant contin-" "encourage you, as you read and study about the basic concepts" "gencies (Heward, Alber-Morgan, & Konrad, 2017)." "introduced in this chapter and examined in more detail throughout" "the book, to consider Nevin’s (2005) response to how a scientific" "Obstacles to Changing Behavior account of behavior adds immeasurably to the human experience:" "in Applied Settings" "At the end of Origin of Species (1859), Darwin invites us to" "Compounding the difficulty of tackling the complexity of human contemplate a tangled bank, with its plants and its birds, its" "behavior in the “noisy” applied settings where people live, work, insects and its worms; to marvel at the complexity, diver-" "and play, applied behavior analysts are sometimes prevented sity, and interdependence of its inhabitants; and to feel awe" "from implementing an effective behavior change program due to at the fact that all of it follows from the laws of reproduc-" "logistical, financial, sociopolitical, legal, and/or ethical factors. tion, competition, and natural selection. Our delight in the" "Most applied behavior analysts work for agencies with limited tangled bank and our love for its inhabitants are not dimin-" "resources, which may make the data collection required for a ished by our knowledge of the laws of evolution; neither" "more complete analysis impossible. In addition, participants, should our delight in the complex world of human activity" "parents, administrators, and even the general public may at times and our love for its actors be diminished by our tentative" "limit the behavior analyst’s options for effective intervention but growing knowledge of the laws of behavior. Tony" "(e.g., “We don’t want students working for tokens”). Legal or Nevin, personal communication (December 19, 2005.)" "" "" "" "" "SUMMARY" "Behavior 5. Response topography refers to the physical shape or form" "of behavior." "1. Behavior is the activity of living organisms." "6. A response class is a group of responses of varying" "2. Technically, behavior is “that portion of an organism’s topography, all of which produce the same effect on the" "interaction with its environment that involves movement environment." "of some part of the organism” (Johnston & Pennypacker," "2009, p. 31). 7. Repertoire can refer to all of the behaviors a person can do" "or to a set of behaviors relevant to a particular setting or task." "3. The term behavior is usually used in reference to a larger" "set or class of responses that share certain topographical Environment" "dimensions or functions." "8. Environment is the physical setting and circumstances in" "4. Response refers to a specific instance of behavior. which the organism or referenced part of the organism exists." " Chapter 2 • Basic Concepts and Principles 61" "" "9. Stimulus is “an energy change that affects an organism 25. Selection of behavior by consequences operates during" "through its receptor cells” (Michael, 2004, p. 7). the lifetime of the individual organism (ontogeny) and is" "a conceptual parallel to Darwin’s natural selection in the" "10. The environment influences behavior primarily by" "evolutionary history of a species (phylogeny)." "­stimulus change, not static stimulus conditions." "26. Operant conditioning, which encompasses reinforcement" "11. Stimulus events can be described formally (by their" "and punishment, refers to the process and selective effects" "p­ hysical features), temporally (by when they occur), and" "of consequences on behavior:" "functionally (by their effects on behavior)." "• Consequences can affect only future behavior." "12. A stimulus class is a group of stimuli that share specified" "• Consequences select response classes, not individual" "common elements along formal, temporal, and/or func-" "responses." "tional dimensions." "• Immediate consequences have the greatest effect." "13. Antecedent conditions or stimulus changes exist or occur" "• Consequences select any behavior that precedes them." "prior to the behavior of interest." "• Operant conditioning occurs automatically." "14. Consequences are stimulus changes that follow a behavior" "of interest. 27. Most stimulus changes that function as reinforcers or pun-" "ishers can be described as either (a) a new stimulus added" "15. Stimulus changes can have one or both of two basic effects to the environment or (b) an already present stimulus" "on behavior: (a) an immediate but temporary effect of removed from the environment." "increasing or decreasing the current occurrences of the" "behavior and/or (b) a delayed but relatively permanent 28. Positive reinforcement: A response is followed by the" "effect in terms of the future occurrences of that type of presentation of a stimulus that results in similar responses" "behavior in the future. occurring more often." "29. Negative reinforcement: A response is followed by the" "Respondent Behavior withdrawal of a stimulus that results in similar responses" "16. Respondent behavior is elicited by antecedent stimuli. occurring more often." "30. The term aversive stimulus is often used to refer to stimulus" "17. A reflex is a stimulus–response relation consisting of an" "antecedent stimulus and the respondent behavior it elicits conditions whose termination functions as reinforcement." "(e.g., bright light–pupil contraction). 31. Extinction (withholding all reinforcement for a previously" "18. All healthy members of a given species are born with the reinforced behavior) produces a decrease in response rate" "same repertoire of unconditioned reflexes. to the behavior’s pre-reinforcement level." "32. Positive punishment: A response is followed by the pre-" "19. An unconditioned stimulus (e.g., food) and the respondent" "behavior it elicits (e.g., salivation) are called uncondi- sentation of a stimulus that results in similar responses" "tioned reflexes. occurring less often." "33. Negative punishment: A response is followed by the" "20. Conditioned reflexes are the product of respondent con-" "ditioning: a stimulus–stimulus pairing procedure in which withdrawal of a stimulus that results in similar responses" "a neutral stimulus is presented with an unconditioned occurring less often." "stimulus until the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned 34. A principle of behavior describes a functional relation" "stimulus that elicits the conditioned response. between behavior and one or more of its controlling vari-" "21. Pairing a neutral stimulus with a conditioned stimulus ables that has thorough generality across organisms, spe-" "can also produce a conditioned reflex—a process called cies, settings, and behaviors." "higher-order (or secondary) respondent conditioning. 35. A behavior change tactic is a technologically consistent" "22. Respondent extinction occurs when a conditioned stimulus method for changing behavior that has been derived from" "is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus one or more basic principles of behavior." "until the conditioned stimulus no longer elicits the condi- 36. Unconditioned reinforcers and punishers function irre-" "tioned response. spective of any prior learning history." "37. Stimulus changes that function as conditioned reinforcers" "Operant Behavior" "and punishers do so because of previous pairing with other" "23. Operant behavior is selected by its consequences. reinforcers or punishers." "24. Unlike respondent behavior, whose topography and basic 38. One important function of motivating operations is alter-" "functions are predetermined, operant behavior can take a ing the current value of stimulus changes as reinforcement" "virtually unlimited range of forms. or punishment. For example, deprivation and satiation are" " 62 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "motivating operations that make food more or less effec- 43. All applied behavior analysis procedures involve manipulation" "tive as reinforcement. of one or more components of the three-term contingency." "39. A discriminated operant occurs more often under some" "Recognizing the Complexity of Human Behavior" "antecedent conditions than it does under others, an out-" "come called stimulus control. 44. Humans are capable of acquiring a huge repertoire of" "40. Stimulus control refers to differential rates of oper- behaviors. Response chains and verbal behavior also make" "ant responding observed in the presence or absence of human behavior extremely complex." "antecedent stimuli. Antecedent stimuli acquire the ability 45. The variables that govern human behavior are often highly" "to control operant behavior by having been paired with complex. Many behaviors have multiple causes." "certain consequences in the past. 46. Individual differences in histories of reinforcement and" "41. The three-term contingency—antecedent, behavior, and organic impairments also make the analysis and control of" "consequence—is the basic unit of analysis in the analysis human behavior difficult." "of operant behavior. 47. Applied behavior analysts are sometimes prevented from" "42. If a reinforcer (or punisher) is contingent on a particular conducting an effective analysis of behavior because of" "behavior, the behavior must be emitted for the conse- practical, logistical, financial, sociopolitical, legal, and/or" "quence to occur. ethical reasons." "" "" "" "KEY TERMS" "automatic reinforcement higher-order conditioning repertoire" "automaticity of reinforcement history of reinforcement respondent behavior" "aversive stimulus joint control respondent conditioning" "behavior motivating operation respondent extinction" "behavior change tactic negative punishment response" "conditioned punisher negative reinforcement response class" "conditioned reflex neutral stimulus rule-governed behavior" "conditioned reinforcer ontogeny selectionism" "conditioned stimulus operant behavior socially mediated contingency" "consequence operant conditioning stimulus" "contingency phylogeny stimulus class" "contingency-shaped behavior positive punishment stimulus control" "contingent positive reinforcement stimulus–stimulus pairing" "deprivation principle of behavior three-term contingency" "discriminated operant punisher unconditioned punisher" "discriminative stimulus (SD) punishment unconditioned reinforcer" "environment reflex unconditioned stimulus" "extinction reinforcement" "habituation reinforcer" "" "" "" "MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS" "1. The controlling variables of primary importance in applied 2. Two functionally distinct types of behavior important to" "behavior analysis are located in: behavior analysis include:" "a. The environment a. Learned and operant behavior" "b. Consequences b. Reflexive and respondent behavior" "c. The mental states c. Respondent and operant behavior" "d. Reinforcement d. Operant and conditioned behavior" "Hint: (See “Behavior”) Hint: (See “Behavior”)" " Chapter 2 • Basic Concepts and Principles 63" "" "3. Which of the following is considered a property of 9. Answering the door when you hear the door bell and not" "b­ ehavior amenable to measurement? when it is silent is an example of behavior being under:" "a. Temporal Weight a. Simultaneous prompting" "b. Temporal Locus b. Equivalence" "c. Temporal Displacement c. Stimulus control" "d. Temporal Size d. Premack principle" "Hint: (See “Behavior”) Hint: (See “Stimulus Changes That Function as Reinforcers" "and Punishers”)" "4. A _____ denotes a set or collection of knowledge and" "skills a person has learned that are relevant to particular 10. A behavior that occurs more frequently under some" "settings or tasks. antecedent conditions than it does in others is called a(n):" "a. Repertoire a. Stimulus control" "b. Behavior b. Operant behavior" "c. Skill c. Discriminative stimulus" "d. Response d. Discriminated operant" "Hint: (See “Behavior”) Hint: (See “Stimulus Changes That Function as Reinforcers" "and Punishers”)" "5. Behavior is affected by stimulus changes that occur" "prior to and immediately after the behavior. The term 11. Food deprivation may alter the momentary effectiveness of" "_____ refers to environmental conditions or stimulus food as a reinforcer. Food deprivation is an example of a(n):" "changes that exist or occur prior to the behavior of a. Satiation trial" "interest." "b. Motivating operation" "a. Consequence" "c. Operant behavior" "b. Stimulus" "d. Experimental control" "c. Event" "Hint: (See “Unconditioned Reinforcement and" "d. Antecedent Punishment”)" "Hint: (See “Environment”)" "12. The three-term contingency is made of these three terms:" "6. A behavior that is elicited by antecedent stimuli and is a. Attitude, behavior, reinforcement" "“brought about” by a stimulus that precedes it is:" "b. Antecedent, reinforcement, punishment" "a. Operant" "c. Antecedent, behavior, consequence" "b. Learned" "d. Antecedent, stimulus, control" "c. Respondent" "Hint: (See “The Discriminated Operant and Three-Term" "d. New Contingency”)" "Hint: (See “Respondent Behavior”)" "13. The term “contingent” as used in behavior analysis" "7. A response is followed by a stimulus change, the effect of refers to the dependent relationship of a particular conse-" "which is an increase in the future frequency of ­behavior. quence on the occurrence of behavior and is also used in" "Which type of stimulus-change operation most likely reference to the _________ contiguity of behavior and its" "occurred? consequences." "a. Reinforcement a. Temporal" "b. Punishment b. Independent" "c. Extinction c. Dependent" "d. Positive Punishment d. False" "Hint: (See “Operant Behavior”) Hint: (See “The Discriminated Operant and Three-Term" "Contingency”)" "8. Water is an example of a ______ reinforcer, while money" "is an example of a _______ reinforcer. 14. _______ behavior is elicited by antecedent stimuli." "a. Conditioned, unconditioned a. Operant" "b. Secondary, primary b. Temporal" "c. Unconditioned, conditioned c. Respondent" "d. Powerful, ineffective d. All" "Hint: (See “Reinforcement”) Hint: (See “Behavior”)" " 64 Part 1 • Introduction and Basic Concepts" "" "15. Conditioned _______ are the product of respondent c. Conditioners" "conditioning. d. Respondent" "a. Antecedents Hint: (See “Behavior”)" "b. Stimuli" "c. Punishers 17. Operant conditioning encompasses:" "" "d. Reflexes a. Time and stimuli" "Hint: (See “Behavior”) b. Antecedents and phylogeny" "16. Operant behavior is selected by its: c. Conditioned and unconditioned" "a. Consequences d. Reinforcement and punishment" "b. Antecedents Hint: (See “Behavior”)" "" "" "" "ESSAY-TYPE QUESTIONS" "1. Discuss the difference between a response and a behavior. 9. What effects do motivating operations have on reinforcers?" "Hint: (See “Behavior”) Hint: (See “Unconditioned Reinforcement and Punishment”)" "2. Discuss the importance of a functional analysis of behavior 10. Using an example from applied settings, construct a three-" "over a structural analysis of behavior. term contingency." "Hint: (See “Behavior”) Hint: (See “The Discriminated Operant and Three-Term" "Contingency”)" "3. Describe the effect of positive and negative reinforcement" "on subsequent behavior. 11. Diagram an example of respondent conditioning. Identify" "Hint: (See “Operant Conditioning”) and label the following: unconditioned stimulus, uncon-" "ditioned response, neutral response, conditioned stimulus," "4. Give an example of negative reinforcement. and conditioned response." "Hint: (See “Operant Conditioning”) Hint: (See “Respondent Conditioning”)" "5. Discuss the difference between a principle of behavior and 12. Classify the following behaviors as respondent or operant:" "a behavior-change tactic." "• Talking" "Hint: (See “Reinforcement”)" "• Walking" "6. Discuss the difference between conditioned and uncondi- • Baby’s grasp" "tioned reinforcers." "• Salivation at smell of food" "Hint: (See “Reinforcement”)" "• Baking a cake" "7. Describe the effect punishment contingencies have on sub- • Pupil constriction" "sequent behavior." "• Thinking about music" "Hint: (See “Selection by Consequences”)" "• Playing the piano" "8. State an example of stimulus control. • Withdrawing hand from a fire" "Hint: (See “The Discriminated Operant and Three-Term Hint: (See “Respondent Conditioning”)" "Contingency”)" "" "" "" "NOTES" "1. The reader should not be overwhelmed by the many technical terms and dead man would also be blown over), but moving arms and hands in front of" "concepts in this chapter. With the exception of respondent behavior, each one’s face, tucking and rolling, and yelling “Whoa!” as one is being blown" "concept introduced in this chapter is explained in detail in subsequent over are behaviors. Critchfield (2016) provides some historical background" "chapters. This initial overview of basic concepts and principles provides on the dead man test and a thoughtful critique of its usefulness as a guide" "background information that will facilitate understanding portions of the for measurement." "text that precede the more detailed explanations. 3. Most behavior analysts use the word behavior both as a mass noun to refer to" "2. In the mid-1960s, Ogden Lindsley proposed what he called the dead man the subject matter of the field in general or a certain type or class of behavior" "test as a way to help teachers determine whether they were targeting real (e.g., operant behavior, study behavior) and as a count noun to refer to spe-" "behaviors for measurement and change as opposed to inanimate states such cific instances (e.g., two aggressive behaviors). The word behavior is often" "as “being quiet” (see Chapter 3). According to this test, if a dead man can implied and unnecessary to state. We agree with Friman’s (2004) recommen-" "do it, it isn’t behavior. Getting blown over by strong wind is not behavior (a dation that in most cases, “If the object of our interest is hitting and spitting," " Chapter 2 • Basic Concepts and Principles 65" "" "let’s just say ‘hitting’ and ‘spitting.’ Subsequently, when we are gathering our 14. Malott and Shane (2014) refer to these two operations as “stimulus addi-" "thoughts with a collective term, we can call them behaviors” (p. 105). tion” and “stimulus subtraction.”" "4. Respondent conditioning and the operant principles mentioned here are 15. For examples of inaccurate representations of behaviorism and behavior" "introduced later in this chapter. analysis and their implications for training practitioners and serving clients," "5. Gray (1979) provides an excellent and interesting description of Pavlov’s see Cooke (1984); Heward (2005); Heward and Cooper (1992); Morris" "research. “Although the experimental preparations for studying Pavlov- (2009); Schlinger (2018); and Todd and Morris (1983, 1992)." "ian conditioning have expanded over the years, Pavlov’s work with dogs 16. Foxx (1982) introduced the terms Type I punishment and Type II pun-" "describes many of the key empirical phenomena and theoretical processes ishment for positive punishment and negative punishment, respectively." "that modern researchers continue to pursue. . . . The study of basic asso- Some behavior analysts and practitioners continue to use Foxx’s terminol-" "ciative learning processes underlying Pavlovian conditioning has led to ogy. Malott and Shane (2014) refer to negative punishment as a penalty" "numerous insights into experimental design, how learning occurs, and how contingency." "basic processes may lay the foundation for many putative higher forms of 17. Michael (1975) and Baron and Galizio (2005) present cogent arguments" "learning” (K. M. Lattal, 2013, p. 283). that positive and negative reinforcement are examples of the same funda-" "6. Unconditioned stimulus and conditioned stimulus are the most commonly mental operant relation. This issue is discussed further in Chapter 12." "used terms to denote the stimulus component of respondent relations. How- 18. Some authors use the modifiers primary or unlearned to identify uncondi-" "ever, because the terms ambiguously refer to both the immediate evocative tioned reinforcers and unconditioned punishers." "(eliciting) effect of the stimulus change and its somewhat permanent and 19. In addition to using aversive stimulus as a synonym for a negative reinforcer," "delayed function-altering effect (the conditioning effect on other stimuli), Skinner (1953) used the term to refer to stimuli whose onset or presentation" "Michael (1995) recommended that the terms unconditioned elicitor (UE) functions as punishment, a practice continued by many behavior analysts" "and conditioned elicitor (CE) be used when referring to the evocative func- (e.g., Alberto & Troutman, 2013; Malott & Shane, 2014; ­Miltenberger," "tion of these variables. 2016). The term aversive stimulus (and aversive control when speaking of" "7. To learn more about Pavlovian conditioning, see the detailed descriptions behavior change techniques involving such stimuli) is used widely in the" "and numerous examples in Gottlieb and Begej (2014), K. M. Lattal (2013), behavior analysis literature to refer to one or more of three different behav-" "and Williams (2014). ioral functions: An aversive stimulus may be (a) a negative reinforcer if its" "8. The verb emit is used in conjunction with operant behavior. Its use fits well termination increases behavior, (b) a punisher if its presentation decreases" "with the definition of operant behavior, allowing reference to the conse- behavior, and/or (c) a motivating operation if its presentation increases" "quences of behavior as the major controlling variables. The verb elicit is inap- the current frequency of behaviors that have terminated it in the past (see" "propriate to use with operant behavior because it implies that an antecedent Chapter 16). When speaking or writing technically, behavior analysts must" "stimulus has primary control of the behavior. Domjan (2016) argues that the be careful that their use of omnibus terms such as aversive does not imply" "terms elicited and emitted are no longer useful or accurate for distinguishing unintended functions (Michael, 1995)." "classically conditioned (respondent) behavior from operant behavior. 20. Some authors use the modifiers secondary or learned to identify condi-" "9. To learn more about the role of selectionism in Darwinian evolutionary tioned reinforcers and conditioned punishers." "biology and Skinnerian behaviorism, see Leão, Laurenti, and Haydu 21. Contingency diagrams, such as those shown in Figure 2.3, are an effective" "(2016); Moxley (2004); and Reese (1994). way to illustrate temporal and functional relations between behavior and" "10. Unless noted otherwise, the term behavior will refer to operant behavior environmental events. Examples of other types of contingency diagrams" "throughout the remainder of the text. and suggestions for using them to teach and learn about behavior analysis" "11. Skinner (1966) used rate of responding as the fundamental datum for his can be found in Goldwater and Acker (1995); Malott and Shane (2014);" "research. To strengthen an operant is to make it more frequent. However, Mattaini (1995); and Toogood (2012). State notation is another means for" "rate is not the only measurable and malleable dimension of behavior. As we visualizing complex contingency relations and experimental procedures" "will see in Chapters 3 and 4, sometimes the duration, latency, magnitude, (Mechner, 1959; Michael & Shafer, 1995)." "and/or topography of behavior changes are of practical importance. 22. The phrase to make reinforcement contingent describes the behavior of the" "12. Automaticity of reinforcement and automatic reinforcement are different researcher or practitioner: delivering the reinforcer only after the target" "concepts. Automatic reinforcement refers to the hypothesis that a behav- behavior has occurred." "ior produces its own reinforcement, as in the sensory stimulation from 23. Like all scientific findings, these facts are subject to revision and even" "scratching an itch (Vaughn & Michael, 1982). In practice, when an exper- replacement should future research reveal more useful data." "imental analysis fails to identify the reinforcers maintaining a problem 24. In shaping, a new behavior is gradually acquired through reinforcement" "behavior, some form of automatic reinforcement is assumed. Automatic of successive approximations to a final form (see Chapter 22). Because" "reinforcement is described in Chapters 11 and 27. the natural environment seldom (if ever) truly shapes new behavior, con-" "13. Prominent behavior analysts disagree on whether delayed consequences tingency-selected behavior may be a better term than contingency-shaped" "can function as reinforcement (Bradley & Poling, 2010). Chapters 11, 29, behavior." "and 30 discuss the use and effects of delayed consequences in behavior 25. This example was adapted from Sidener (2006). More examples of joint" "change programs. control are presented in Chapter 18, Verbal Behavior." " This page intentionally left blank" " PAR T 2" "Selecting, Defining, and Measuring" "Behavior" "" "Because applied behavior analysts must achieve and document behavior changes that improve" "people’s quality of life, the careful selection and systematic measurement of behavior form the" "operational foundation of applied behavior analysis. Chapter 3 describes the role of assessment in" "behavior analysis, principal assessment methods used by behavior analysts, how to identify and" "assess the social significance of potential target behaviors, how to prioritize target behaviors, and" "how to define the selected behaviors to enable accurate and reliable measurement, and discusses" "options for setting criteria for behavior change. Chapter 4 explains the role of measurement in" "applied behavior analysis, defines measurable dimensions of behavior, describes procedures and" "tools for measuring behavior, and suggests guidelines for selecting a measurement system. Chapter 5" "identifies indicators of trustworthy measurement; elucidates common threats to the validity, accuracy," "and reliability of behavioral measurement; recommends strategies for combating those threats; and" "describes methods for assessing the accuracy and quality of behavioral measurement." "" "" "" "" "67" " CHAPTER 3" "Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors" "" "LEARNING OBJECTIVES" "• Understand and explain the role of assessment in applied behavior analysis." "• Identify the ethical and professional standards of professional applied behavior analysis." "• State target intervention outcomes in observable and measurable terms." "• Describe the four major methods for obtaining assessment information." "• Explain the importance of social validity in regard to selecting target behavior." "• Describe procedures for assessing the social significance of potential target behaviors." "• Discuss criteria for prioritizing target behaviors." "• Define behavior in observable and measurable terms." "• Explain the process for setting criteria for behavior change." "" "" "" "" "A" "pplied behavior analysis is concerned with producing anecdotal reports, and historical data to determine the learner’s" "predictable and replicable improvements in behavior. strengths and weaknesses within cognitive, academic, social," "However, not just any behavior will do: Applied behav- and/or psychomotor domains." "ior analysts improve socially significant behaviors that have Conversely, behavioral assessment includes indirect and" "immediate and long-lasting effects for the person and for those direct procedures such as interviews, checklists, and tests to iden-" "who interact with that person. Such behaviors include language, tify and define the specific target behavior. In addition to identify-" "social, motor, and academic skills. ing behavior(s) to change, comprehensive behavioral assessment" "An important preliminary and universally accepted first step can uncover functional relations between variables; it provides" "involves choosing the right behaviors to target for assessment, context on the resources, assets, significant others, competing" "measurement, and change (Lerman, Iwata, & Hanley, 2013). contingencies, maintenance and generalization factors, and rein-" "Lerman et al. (2013) state: “Specific target behaviors are usually forcers (or punishers) that can be combined to improve the effi-" "selected because they will improve a person’s quality of life in ciency of an intervention (Brown, McDonnell, & Snell, 2016).1" "the short and the long term by allowing the person access to new Wacker, Berg, Harding, and Cooper-Brown (2011) indi-" "reinforcers and additional reinforcing contexts” (p. 86). cated that the principal goal of behavioral assessment is “to" "This chapter describes the role of assessment in applied identify environmental variables that are related to increases or" "behavior analysis, three principal behavioral assessment methods, decreases in target behavior” (p. 165). Linehan (1977) offered" "how to assess and prioritize the social significance of potential target a succinct description of the purpose of behavioral assessment:" "behaviors, and how to apply criteria for defining target behaviors. “To figure out what the client’s problem is and how to change it" "for the better” (p. 31). Implicit in the definitions of both Wacker" "et al. and Linehan is the concept that behavioral assessment is" "ROLE OF ASSESSMENT IN APPLIED more than an exercise in describing and classifying behavioral" "BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS abilities and deficiencies. In short, behavioral assessment goes" "Assessment has long been considered the first of four phases in beyond trying to obtain a psychometric score, grade equivalent" "any systematic model of instruction that includes: a­ ssessment, data, or rating measure, as worthy as such findings might be for" "planning, implementation, and evaluation (Stephens, 1976). other purposes. Behavioral assessment discovers the function" "A comprehensive behavioral assessment informs planning, pro- that behavior serves in the person’s environment (e.g., obtaining" "vides guidance for implementation, and assists with evaluation. social attention, escaping or avoiding a task). A well-constructed" "and thorough assessment identifies the key variables controlling" "the behavior, and guides the practitioner to manipulate these" "Definition and Purpose of Behavioral" "variables to the benefit of the learner. Consequently, subsequent" "Assessment" "interventions can be targeted and have a much better chance" "Traditional psychological and educational assessments typically of success. As Bourret, Vollmer, and Rapp (2004) pointed out:" "involve a series of norm-referenced, criterion-referenced, or “The critical test of . . . assessment is the degree to which it" "curriculum-based assessments supplemented by observations, differentially indicates an effective teaching strategy” (p. 140)." "68" " Chapter 3 • Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors 69" "" "Phases of Behavioral Assessment who had requested assistance beforehand, the analyst would be able" "to offer an assessment and recommend an intervention." "Hawkins’s (1979) conceptualization of behavioral assessment" "The second question asks: What records, resources, or" "embraces five phases: (a) screening, (b) defining and quantifying" "data currently exist that shed light on what has been done in the" "problems and establishing outcome criteria, (c) pinpointing the" "past to identify, treat, and evaluate the target behavior? Mini-" "target behavior(s), (d) monitoring progress, and (e) following up." "mally, the behavior analyst should examine and review relevant" "Although the five phases form a general chronological sequence," "medical, educational, or historical data. Clearly, all medical rea-" "overlap often occurs. Part III of this book, “Evaluating and Ana-" "sons for suspected unusual behavior should be ruled out. A child" "lyzing Behavior Change,” describes the monitoring and follow-up" "with serious, but as yet undetected, eye (amblyopia), ear (otitis" "stages of assessment. This chapter is concerned primarily with the" "media), or prenatal conditions (fetal alcohol syndrome) may" "preintervention functions of assessment, the selection and definition" "exhibit behavior problems, which, if treated solely by behav-" "of a target behavior—the specific behavior selected for change." "ioral measures, will miss the mark. Pretreating these causal fac-" "To serve competently, applied behavior analysts must know" "tors medically allows for better focus in later educational and/" "what constitutes socially important behavior, have the technical" "or behavioral interventions." "skills to use appropriate assessment methods and instruments, ana-" "Likewise, the practitioner should conduct an analysis of" "lyze the data, and be able to match assessment data with an inter-" "prior educational and behavioral interventions. Through examin-" "vention strategy. For instance, the remedial reading specialist must" "ing narrative reports, analyzing data-based graphs or charts, and" "understand the critical behaviors of a competent reader; be able to" "interviewing caretakers, a skilled analyst can form a picture about" "determine the learner’s progress across a continuum of recognition," "the nature of the target behavior, its developmental scope and" "decoding, and comprehension skills; and deliver appropriate and" "sequence, and the reinforcers and punishers that appear to sustain" "effective instruction. In short, the analyst must be knowledgeable" "the behavior. Further, a judgment can be made about treatment" "about the full scope and sequence of the target behavior." "integrity with prior interventions. It’s possible that a past interven-" "tion (e.g., extinction) was employed to reduce calling out in class," "Preassessment Considerations" "but it was abandoned prematurely because the caretakers misinter-" "Before conducting an informal or formal behavioral assessment preted the gradual decrease in call outs as failure. Alternatively," "for the purpose of pinpointing a target behavior, the analyst must misbehaviors that were addressed successfully in a training envi-" "address two fundamental questions. First, who has the authority, ronment (e.g., special education classroom, developmental center)" "permission, resources, and skills to complete an assessment and might surface in an untrained setting (home, community setting)" "intervene with the client? If a practitioner does not have authority or because of a past failure to program for generalization." "permission, then the analyst’s role in assessment and intervention is In effect, applied behavior analysts must not only recog-" "restricted. For example, suppose that a behavior analyst is standing nize the role of assessment in the four-stage assessment-­planning-" "in a checkout line where a nearby parent is attempting to manage implementation-evaluation continuum, but also recognize all the" "an extremely disruptive child. Does the behavior analyst have the personal, social, and environmental factors that affect behavior." "authority to conduct an on-the-spot assessment of the problem or to Only then can they use their behavior analytic skills to assess and" "suggest an intervention to the parent? No. However, if the same epi- ultimately change behavior.2 Figure 3.1 outlines the four corner-" "sode occurred during an in situ “coaching session” with the parent stones of professional assessment." "" "Figure 3.1 Four cornerstones of professional assessment." "" "1. Recognize professional limitations. • Secure authority to assess the problem or suggest an intervention." "• Do not test beyond professional training or license capability." "• Decline to assess under poor conditions (e.g., the learner is ill, the environment is" "distracting, the analyst is rushed for time)." "2. Assume responsibility for your work. • Be careful, be thorough, be conservative with interpretations." "• Recognize the assumptions for referral and testing (i.e., change of placement," "generate intervention strategies)." "3. Maintain confidentiality. • Hold assessment information in confidence. Obtain a signed and dated Release of" "Information (ROI)." "• Ensure that assessment results are shared only with those who are eligible to" "receive them." "• Seek guidance in situations where confidentiality is in question" "(e.g., life-threatening situations)." "4. Adhere to professional, administration, • Use technically reliable and valid measures and procedures to assess." "and ethical standards. • Follow appropriate protocols." "• Examine and analyze all relevant medical, educational, and historical data." "• Recommend the strongest, but least intrusive interventions." " 70 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "ASSESSMENT METHODS USED BY BEHAVIOR rejected, by subsequent direct observation or empirical analysis." "ANALYSTS A behavioral interview differs from a traditional interview by" "the type of questions asked and the level of information sought." "Behavior analysts use a variety of assessment methods to identify Behavior analysts rely primarily on what and when questions," "which behavior(s) to target for change. A comprehensive behav- which tend to focus on the environmental conditions that exist" "ioral assessment often includes both indirect and direct methods.3 before, during, and after a behavioral episode. Identifying" "environmental events that correlate with the behavior provides" "Indirect Assessment valuable information for formulating hypotheses about the con-" "Interviews, checklists, and rating scales are indirect assessment trolling function of these variables and for planning interven-" "approaches because the data obtained from these methods are tions. Hypothesis generation leads to experimental manipulation" "derived from recollections, reconstructions, and/or subjective, and the discovery of functional relations (see Chapter 26)." "ordinal-scale ratings of events. Interviews, checklists, and rating Figure 3.3 provides examples of the appropriate kinds of" "scales can be conducted with the client and/or with people who what and when questions. This sequence of questions was devel-" "come into regular contact with the individual (e.g., teachers, oped by a behavioral consultant in response to a teacher who" "parents, care providers). wanted to reduce the frequency of her own negative reactions to" "Indirect assessments include open- and closed-ended for- acting out and disruptive students. Similar questions could be" "mats (Fryling & Baires, 2016). Open-ended indirect assessments generated to address situations in homes or community settings" "encourage the informant to comment freely and without restriction (Sugai & Tindal, 1993)." "on the number, rate, intensity, and duration of target behaviors and" "stimuli and conditions that surround the occurrence of these behav- Interviewing Significant Others" "iors (How often does Mario engage in self-injurious behavior?)." "The informant’s narrative across a range of questions often leads to Sometimes either the behavior analyst cannot interview the" "follow-up questions that provide more context and substance on the client personally or the analyst needs information from o­ thers" "possible variables controlling the behavior (Does Mario’s self-inju- who are important in the client’s life (e.g., parents, teachers," "rious behavior occur more often when he is at home or at school?). coworkers). In such cases, the analyst will interview one or more" "Closed-ended indirect assessments require the infor- of these significant others. When asked to describe a behav-" "mant to use a Likert scale to rate a series of questions, with ioral problem or deficit, significant others often begin with" "a total summary score being generated that provides direc- ­general terms or labels that do not identify specific behaviors" "tion on possible variables controlling the behavior (e.g., Rate to change and often imply causal factors thought to be intrinsic" "the occurrences of Mario’s self-injurious behavior using this to the ­client (e.g., fearful, aggressive, unmotivated, lazy, with-" "scale: 5 = frequently; 3 = sometimes; 1 = rarely). Figure 3.2 drawn). By asking structured questions, the behavior analyst" "­compares the relative strengths and limitations of closed- and helps significant others describe the problem in terms of specific" "open-ended indirect assessments. behaviors, environmental conditions, and events associated with" "The following sections describe the roles of the client, those behaviors. For example, when interviewing parents, the" "significant others, and checklists and rating scales with respect following questions help to target instances of “noncompliant”" "to conducting indirect assessments. and “immature” behaviors." "• What does Derek do that leads you to characterize his" "Interviewing the Client behavior as immature or noncompliant?" "A behavioral interview is often a first and important step in • During what time of day does Derek seem most immature" "identifying potential target behaviors, which can be verified, or (or noncompliant)?" "" "Figure 3.2 Strengths and limitations of closed- versus open-ended indirect assessments." "" "Closed-ended indirect assessments Open-ended indirect assessments" "Strengths -Assures information about common controlling -Information about a wide range of contextual ­variables" "­variables with some populations. may be obtained." "-Quick and easy to administer. -Opportunity to develop rapport with the informant and to" "-Few particular skills are required to administer listen to his or her experiences." "and interpret." "Limitations -Only asks questions about pre-determined variables. -Takes longer than closed-ended indirect assessments." "-May suggest a non-function (i.e., false-positives). -May include information that is not relevant to the function." "-May be misused by individuals without training in ABA. -Interpretation requires behavior analytic skills." "-Little opportunity to develop rapport with informants. -Requires clinical interviewing skills to obtain ­information" "and develop rapport." "" "From “The Practical Importance of the Distinction Between Open and Closed-Ended Indirect Assessments,” by M. J. Fryling and N. A. Baires," "2016, Behavior Analysis in Practice, 9(2), p. 150. Copyright 2016 by the Association for Behavior Analysis International. Reprinted by permission." " Chapter 3 • Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors 71" "" "• Are there certain situations or places where Derek is non- • How do you and other family members respond when" "compliant or acts immature? If so, where, and what does Derek exhibits these behaviors?" "he do? • If Derek were to be more mature and independent as" "• How many different ways does Derek act immature (or you would like, what would he do differently than he" "noncompliant)? does now?" "• What’s the most frequent noncompliant behavior that" "Figure 3.4 is a form with which parents, caregivers, and" "Derek has?" "significant others can identify possible target behaviors." "" "" "Figure 3.3 Sample behavioral interview questions." "" "Problem Identification Interview Form" "Reason for referral: The teacher requested help reducing her negative attention to acting out and disruptive students who were" "­yelling and noncompliant." "1. In your own words, can you define the problem behaviors that prompted your request?" "2. Are there any other teacher-based behaviors that concern you at this time?" "3. When you engage in negative teacher attention (i.e., when you attend to yelling or noncompliant behavior), what usually" "­happens immediately before the negative teacher attention occurs?" "4. What usually happens after the negative teacher attention occurs?" "5. What are the students’ reactions when you yell or attend to their noncompliant behavior?" "6. What behaviors would the students need to perform so that you would be less likely to attend to them in a negative way?" "7. Have you tried other interventions? What has been their effect?" "" "" "" "Figure 3.4 Form for generating possible target behaviors." "" "The 5 + 5 Behavior List" "" "Child’s name: _________________________________________________________________________________________" "Person completing this list: ______________________________________________________________________________" "Listmaker’s relationship to child: __________________________________________________________________________" "" "" "5 good things _______ does now 5 things I’d like to see ________ learn to do" "more (or less) often" "" "" "" "1. _______________________________________________ 1. _______________________________________________" "" "" "" "2. _______________________________________________ 2. _______________________________________________" "" "" "" "3. _______________________________________________ 3. _______________________________________________" "" "" "" "4. _______________________________________________ 4. _______________________________________________" "" "" "" "5. _______________________________________________ 5. _______________________________________________" "" "" "Directions: Begin by listing in the left-hand column 5 desirable behaviors your child (or student) does regularly now; things that you" "want him or her to continue doing. Next, list in the right-hand column 5 behaviors you would like to see your child do more often" "(things that your child does sometimes but should do with more regularity) and/or undesirable behaviors that you want him or her" "to do less often (or not at all). You may list more than 5 behaviors in either column, but try to identify at least 5 in each." " 72 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "In addition to seeking help from significant others to and validated information about the learner’s behavior. Stan-" "identify target behaviors and possible controlling variables, the dardized tests and observations are two principal methods of" "behavior analyst can sometimes use the interview to determine direct assessment." "the extent to which significant others are willing and able to help" "implement a subsequent intervention. Without the assistance of Standardized Tests" "parents, siblings, teacher aides, and staff, it is difficult for behav- Literally thousands of standardized tests have been developed" "ior change programs to succeed, or be sustained, with any degree to assess behavior (cf. Carlson, Geisinger, & Jonson, 2017)." "of treatment integrity after the initial intervention. Each time a standardized test is administered, the same ques-" "As an outgrowth of being interviewed, some clients, or tions and tasks are presented using specified procedures and the" "their significant others, may be asked to complete a question- same scoring criteria are applied. Some standardized tests yield" "naire or so-called needs assessment survey. Questionnaires norm-referenced scores, meaning that during the test’s develop-" "and needs assessment surveys have been developed in multiple ment it was administered to a large sample of people selected" "human services areas to refine or extend the interview process to represent the population for whom the test is designed, and" "(Altschuld & Witkin, 2000). Results from such assessments scoring tables and charts are produced that can later be refer-" "can be useful in selecting and defining target behaviors further, enced to plot, chart, or calculate results. Scores are charted on" "or in determining possible interventions. For example, a client a normalized curve. See Box 3.1: “Primer on Norm-referenced" "seeking behavioral treatment to quit smoking might respond Test Scores”." "to a questionnaire or survey by indicating the number of ciga- The majority of standardized tests on the market, however," "rettes smoked each day and the conditions under which smoking are not conducive to behavioral assessment because the results" "occurs (e.g., morning coffee break, after dinner, stuck in a traffic cannot be translated directly into target behaviors for instruc-" "jam). These client-collected data may shed light on antecedent tion or treatment. For example, results from standardized tests" "conditions correlated with the target behavior. commonly used in the schools, such as the Iowa Tests of Basic" "Skills (Hoover, Dunbar, & Frisbie, 2007), the Peabody Individ-" "Checklists and Rating Scales ual Achievement Test–R/NU (Markwardt, 2005), and the Wide" "Behavior checklists and rating scales can be used alone or in Range Achievement Test—5 (WRAT-5) (Wilkinson & Robert-" "combination with interviews to identify potential target behav- son, 2017), might indicate that a fourth-grader is performing at" "iors (Kelley, LaRue, Roane & Gadaire, 2011). A behavior the third-grade level in mathematics and at the first-grade level" "checklist provides a description of specific behaviors and the in reading. Such information is useful in determining how the" "conditions under which each behavior occurs (i.e., antecedent student performs with these subjects compared to students in" "and consequence events that may affect the frequency, intensity, general, but it indicates neither the specific math nor reading" "or duration of behaviors). Situation- or program-specific check- skills the student has mastered. Further, it does not provide suf-" "lists can be created to assess one particular behavior (e.g., tooth ficient direction with which to launch a remedial, intervention," "brushing) or a specific skill area (e.g., social skills). or enrichment program." "A rating scale using a Likert system (e.g., a range of Finally, and from a practical perspective, behavior ana-" "numbers from 1 to 5 or 1 to 10) attempts to more precisely lysts may not be able to administer a given standardized test" "describe and quantify the target behavior of interest by using because of licensing requirements. For instance, only a licensed" "an ordinal scale. When a numerically based scale is employed, psychologist can administer some types of intelligence and per-" "sometimes a total score is generated to provide further guid- sonality inventories." "ance on the significance of the target behavior. The Functional Tests are most useful as behavioral assessment devices" "Assessment Checklist for Teachers and Staff (March et al., 2000) when they provide a specific measure of the person’s perfor-" "combines checklist and rating scale components to help specify mance of the behaviors of interest. Practitioners often use crite-" "the target behavior and the conditions under which it occurs (see rion-referenced and curriculum-based assessments to help target" "Figure 3.5). Still, whenever an ordinal scale is used, and data behaviors to change." "interpretation is involved, behavior analysts are advised to heed" "Merbitz, Morris, and Grip’s (1989) sage advice: Criterion-referenced Assessment" "A criterion-referenced assessment (CRA) measures a child’s" "Ordinal level scales are widely used in rehabilitation." "skill performance across recognized and commonly accepted" "Such scales provide a rank order characterization of" "“developmental milestones.” For instance, most 12-month-old" "­phenomena when the direction of an underlying dimen-" "toddlers can sit with trunk stability, stand independently, walk" "sion (such as consciousness) can be described and units" "a few steps, reach across their midline, and roll a ball with an" "of measurement cannot. Unfortunately, the information" "adult. In scoring CRAs, teachers might indicate a plus ( +)," "produced by these scales is difficult to interpret and easy" "minus (-), or (E) for each associated skill measured to signify" "to misuse. (p. 308)" "that the skill was present, not present, or emerging, respectively." "" "Direct Assessment Curriculum-based Assessment" "Tests and direct observations are direct assessment approaches A curriculum-based assessment (CBA), by contrast, is especially" "because the results from these procedures provide measurable useful because the data that are obtained bear uniquely on the" " Chapter 3 • Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors 73" "" "Figure 3.5 The Functional Assessment Checklist for Teachers and Staff." "" "Functional Assessment Checklist for Teachers and Staff (FACTS-Part A)" "" "Step 1   Student/Grade: ___________________________________  Date: _____________________________________" "Interviewer: ______________________________________   Respondent(s): _____________________________" "" "Step 2   Student Profile: Please identify at least three strengths or contributions the student brings to school." "______________________________________________________________________________" "" "Step 3   Problem Behavior(s): Identify problem behaviors" "" "____ Tardy ____ Fight/physical Aggression ____ Disruptive ____ Theft" "____ Unresponsive ____ Inappropriate Language ____ Insubordination ____ Vandalism" "____ Withdrawn ____ Verbal Harassment ____ Work not done ____ Other ____________" "____ Verbally Inappropriate ____ Self-injury" "Describe problem behavior: ___________________________________________________________" "" "Step 4   Identifying Routines: Where, when and with whom problem behaviors are most likely" "" "Schedule Activity Likelihood of Problem Behavior Specific Problem" "(Times) Behavior" "Before School Low High" "1 2 3 4 5 6" "Math 1 2 3 4 5 6" "Transition 1 2 3 4 5 6" "Language Arts 1 2 3 4 5 6" "Recess 1 2 3 4 5 6" "Reading 1 2 3 4 5 6" "Lunch 1 2 3 4 5 6" "Science 1 2 3 4 5 6" "Transition 1 2 3 4 5 6" "Block Studies 1 2 3 4 5 6" "Art 1 2 3 4 5 6" "" "" "Select 1–3 routines for further assessment: Select routines based on (a) similarity of activities (conditions)" "Step 5   " "with ratings of 4, 5 or 6 and (b) similarity of problem behavior(s). Complete the FACTS-Part B for each" "­routine identified." "" "Functional Assessment Checklist for Teachers & Staff (FACTS-Part B)" "" "Step 1   Student/Grade: ___________________________________  Date: ____________________________________" "Interviewer: ______________________________________   Respondent(s): ___________________________" "" "Step 2   Routine/Activities/Context: Which routine (only one) from the FACTS-Part A is assessed?" "" "Routine/Activities/Context Problem Behavior(s)" "" "" "" "" "(continued )" " 74 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "Figure 3.5 (continued)" "" "Step 3   Provide more detail about the problem behavior(s):" "" "What does the problem behavior(s) look like?" "" "How often does the problem behavior(s) occur?" "" "How long does the problem behavior(s) last when it does occur?" "" "What is the intensity/level of danger of the problem behavior(s)?" "" "Step 4   What are the events that predict when the problem behavior(s) will occur? (Predictors)" "" "Related Issues (setting events) Environmental Features" "____ illness Other:_______________________ ____ reprimand/correction ____ structured activity" "____ drug use ____________________________ ____ physical demands ____ unstructured time" "____ negative social ____________________________ ____ socially isolated ____ tasks too boring" "____ conflict at home ____________________________ ____ with peers ____ activity too long" "____ academic failure ____________________________ ____ Other ____ tasks too difficult" "______________________________________________" "" "" "Step 5   What consequences appear most likely to maintain the problem behavior(s)?" "" "Things that are Obtained Things Avoided or Escaped From" "____ adult attention Other: ______________________ ____ hard tasks Other: _____________________" "____ peer attention ____________________________ ____ reprimands ___________________________" "____ preferred activity ____________________________ ____ peer negatives ___________________________" "____ money/things ____________________________ ____ physical effort ___________________________" "____ adult attention ___________________________" "" "" "SUMMARY OF BEHAVIOR" "Step 6   Identify the summary that will be used to build a plan of behavior support." "" "Setting Events & Predictors Problem Behavior(s) Maintaining Consequence(s)" "" "" "" "" "Step 7   How confident are you that the Summary of Behavior is accurate?" "" "Not very confident Very confident" "1 2 3 4 5 6" "" "" "Step 8   What current efforts have been used to control the problem behavior?" "" "Strategies for preventing problem behavior Strategies for responding to problem behavior" "____ schedule change None: _____ Other ____ ____ reprimand None: ____ Other ____" "____ seating change _____________________ ____ office referral ____________________" "____ curriculum change _____________________ ____ detention ____________________" "" "" "From Functional Assessment Checklist for Teachers and Staff (FACTS), by R. E. March, R. H. Horner, T. Lewis-Palmer, D. Brown, D. Crone, A. W." "Todd, and E. Carr, 2000, Educational and Community Supports, College of Education, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR. Reprinted with permission." " Chapter 3 • Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors 75" "" "" "BOX 3.1" "" "Primer on Norm-Referenced Test Scores" "" "" "" "" "Percent of cases" "under portions of" "the normal curve 0.13% 2.14% 13.59% 34.13% 34.13% 13.59% 2.14% 0.13%" "" "Standard" "deviations −4σ −3σ −2σ −1σ 0 +1σ +2σ +3σ +4σ" "Selected" "percentile" "ranks 0.1 2 16 50 84 98 99.9" "Zn-scores" "−4.0 −3.0 −2.0 −1.0 0 +1.0 +2.0 +3.0 +4.0" "" "T-scores" "20 30 40 50 60 70 80" "Figure A Relationship among percentile scores, z-scores, and t-scores in a normal distribution." "From Educational Assessment of Students, 8th ed., p. 391, by S. M. Brookhart and A. J. Nitko, 2019, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Reprinted by" "permission." "" "" "Norm-referenced tests compare an individual’s performance T-scores" "with a comparable norm group. These tests provide a num-" "A t-score is a standard score with an average of 50 and a stan-" "ber of metrics that practitioners use to make decisions. Three" "dard deviation of 10. In our highlighted example, a t-score" "widely used and reported norm-referenced scores are percen-" "of 50, located in the middle of the distribution, equates to a" "tiles, z-scores, and t-scores. Figure A shows the relationships" "percentile score of 50 (read the percentile scale above)." "of these and other norm-referenced scores within a normal" "Two other derived scores of interest are the grade" "distribution" "equivalent score and the age equivalent (not shown on the" "Standardized tests yield a number of metrics that prac-" "normal curve)." "titioners use to make decisions. Plotted beneath this “normal" "curve” are key measures that can be used to compare an indi-" "Grade Equivalent Score" "vidual’s performance with that of a comparable norm group." "Test scores of most interest are percentile ranks, z-scores, and A grade equivalent score—say, a GES of 5.5—means that the" "t-scores. learner’s raw score (the number of total items answered cor-" "rectly on the test) equaled the average number raw score by" "Percentile Ranks learners midway through fifth grade in the norm group. This" "score does not provide information on the specific skills the" "A percentile rank aligns a score with a standard deviation. An individual possesses or lacks." "average score is the 50th percentile, located in the middle of" "the distribution. A score of 84 means that the tester’s score Age Equivalent Score" "was equal to or better than the scores of 84% of the individuals" "who took the standardized test and equates with 1 standard An age equivalent score—say, 4.6—means that the learner’s" "deviation above the mean. raw score (the number of total items answered correctly on the" "test) equaled the average number of raw score points earned" "by learners midway through age 4 in the norm group. This" "Z-scores" "score does not provide information on the specific skills the" "A z-score represents the number of standard deviations that a individual possesses or lacks." "score appears below, at, or above the mean of the population To learn more about standardized testing and interpreting" "who completed the assessment. A z-score of +1.0 equates to norm-referenced scores, see assessment texts such as those by" "1 standard deviation, and also the 84th percentile. Brookhart and Nitko (2019) and Salvia, Ysseldyke, and Bolt (2013)." " 76 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "daily or weekly tasks the learner performs in response to planned a mathematics problem on the chalkboard, or conducting a" "lessons (i.e., the curriculum) (Overton, 2006). A learner taking a classwide peer tutoring session. Following are some addi-" "spelling test at the end of the week based on a 5-day list of words, tional guidelines and suggestions for conducting anecdotal" "or a middle school student taking a science quiz on a chapter direct observations:" "from the text, serves as a prime example of curriculum-based" "• Record everything the client does and says and everything" "assessments. CBA data can be collected on a formative basis" "that happens to the client." "(e.g., to note error patterns or relative progress) or on a summa-" "• Use homemade shorthand or abbreviations to make record-" "tive schedule (e.g., yearly) across motor (gross and fine), language" "ing more efficient, but be sure the notes can be and are accu-" "(receptive and expressive), self-help, or cognition areas. Teach-" "rately expanded immediately after the observation session." "ers would record aggregate scores or, depending on the learner’s" "• Record only actions that are seen or heard, not interpreta-" "developmental level, mark associated tasks within the skill area as" "tions of those actions." "occurring independently, semi-independently, or not at all." "• Record the temporal sequence of each response of inter-" "est by writing down what happened just before and just" "Direct Observations" "after it." "Direct and repeated observations of the client’s behavior in the • Record the estimated duration of each instance of the" "natural environment are useful for determining behaviors to ­client’s behavior. Mark the beginning and ending time of" "assess and ultimately to select as a target behavior. Practitioners, each behavioral episode." "­however, should be advised that observations could produce • Be aware that continuous anecdotal observation is often" "­limited and skewed information. For instance, if data are collected an obtrusive recording method. Most people behave" "only during morning sessions, at home, or with a specific care- ­differently when they see someone with a pencil and" "taker, the “target” behavior may be masked in the afternoon, at ­clipboard staring at them. Knowing this, observers should" "school, or with different caretakers. Expanding the direct observa- be as unobtrusive as possible (e.g., stay a reasonable dis-" "tions to include a wider range of s­ ettings, persons, or behaviors is tance away from the subject, avoid eye contact)." "likely to improve the overall ­quality of direct assessment, but until • Carry out the observations over a period of several days so" "the manipulation of ­variables occurs, it will fall short of being a that the novelty of having someone observe the client will" "complete analysis ­(Thompson & Borrero, 2011). lessen and the repeated observations can produce a valid" "One basic form of direct continuous observation, first picture of day-to-day behavior." "described by Bijou, Peterson, and Ault (1968), is called ABC," "or anecdotal observation, recording. With ABC recording, the Ecological Assessment" "observer records a descriptive, temporally sequenced account" "Behavior analysts understand that human behavior is a function" "of all behaviors of interest and the antecedent conditions and" "of multiple events and that many events have multiple effects" "consequences for those behaviors as those events occur in the" "on behavior (cf. Michael, 1995). An ecological approach to" "client’s natural environment (Cooper, 1981). This technique pro-" "assessment recognizes the complex interrelationships between" "duces behavioral assessment data that can be used to identify" "environment and behavior. In an ecological assessment a" "potential target behaviors.4" "great deal of information is gathered about the person and the" "Anecdotal observation yields an overall description of a" "various environments in which that person lives and works." "client’s behavior patterns. This detailed record of the client’s" "Among the many factors that can affect a person’s behavior are" "behavior within its natural context provides accountability to" "­physiological conditions, physical aspects of the environment" "the individual and to others involved in the behavior change plan" "(e.g., lighting, seating arrangements, noise level), interactions" "and is extremely helpful in designing interventions." "with others, home environment, and past reinforcement history." "Accurately describing behavioral episodes as they occur" "Each of these factors represents a potential area for assessment." "in real time is aided by using a form to record relevant anteced-" "Although a thorough ecological assessment will provide" "ents, behaviors, and consequences in temporal sequence." "a tremendous amount of descriptive data, the basic purpose of" "For example, Lo (2003) used the form shown in Figure 3.6" "assessment—to identify the most pressing behavior problem and" "to record anecdotal observations of a fourth-grade special" "possible ways to alleviate it—should not be forgotten. It is easy" "­education ­student whose teacher had complained that the boy’s" "to go overboard with the ecological approach, gathering far more" "frequent talk-outs and out-of-seat behavior were impairing his" "information than necessary. Ecological assessment can be costly" "learning and often disrupted the entire class. ABC observa-" "in terms of professional and client time, and it may raise ethical" "tions can also be recorded on a checklist of specific anteced-" "and perhaps legal questions regarding confidentiality (Koocher" "ents, behaviors, and consequent events individually created for" "& Keith-Spiegel, 1998). Ultimately, good judgment must be used" "the client based on information from interviews and/or initial" "in determining how much assessment information is necessary." "observations (see ­Figure 27.3)." "Writing about the role of ecological assessment for special edu-" "ABC recording requires the observer to commit full" "cation teachers, Heron and Heward (1988) suggested that" "attention to the person being observed for upwards of 20 to 30" "minutes. Hence, a classroom teacher, for example, could not The key to using an ecological assessment is to know" "easily use this assessment procedure while engaging in other when to use it. . . . Educators must strive to become" "activities, such as managing a reading group, demonstrating keen discriminators of: (1) situations in which a" " Chapter 3 • Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors 77" "" "Figure 3.6 Example of an anecdotal ABC recording form." "" "Student: Student 4 Date: 3/10/03 Setting: SED resource room (math period)" "Observer: Experimenter Starting time: 2:40 P.M. Ending time: 3:00 P.M." "" "Time Antecedents (A) Behavior (B) Consequences (C)" "2:40 T tells students to work quietly Walks around the room and T says, “Everyone is working," "on their math worksheets looks at other students but you. I don’t need to tell" "you what to do.”" "✓ Sits down, makes funny noises A female peer says: “Would" "with mouth you please be quiet?”" "✓ Says to the peer, “What? Me?” Peer continues to work" "Stops making noises" "2:41 Math worksheet Sits in his seat and works quietly No one pays attention to him" "" "Math worksheet Pounds on desk with hands SED aide asks him to stop" "2:45 Math worksheet Makes vocal noises Ignored by others" "Math worksheet Yells-out T’s name three times T helps him with the questions" "and walks to her with his" "worksheet" "2:47 Everyone is working quietly Gets up and leaves his seat T asks him to sit down" "and work" "✓ Sits down and works Ignored by others" "" "Everyone is working quietly Gets up and talks to a peer T asks him to sit down" "and work" "✓ Comes back to his seat and works Ignored by others" "" "2:55 Math worksheet, no one is Hand grabs a male peer and asks Peer refuses" "attending to him him to help on the worksheet" "" "✓ Asks another male peer to help Peer helps him" "him" "2:58 ✓ Tells T he’s finished the work and T asks him to turn in his work" "it’s his turn to work on computer and tells him that it’s not his" "turn on the computer" "✓ Whines about why it’s T explains to him that other" "not his turn students are still working on" "the computer and he needs to" "find a book to read" "✓ Stands behind a peer who is Ignored by T" "playing computer and watches" "him play the game" "" "Adapted from Functional Assessment and Individualized Intervention Plans: Increasing the Behavior Adjustment of Urban L­ earners" "in General and Special Education Settings (p. 317) by Y. Lo. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State" "­University. Used by permission." "" "" "" "" "planned intervention has the potential for affecting Reactive Effects of Assessment" "­student ­behaviors other than the behavior of concern;" "and (2) situations in which an intervention, estimated" "Reactivity refers to the effects that an assessment has on the" "to be effective if the target behavior were viewed in" "behavior being assessed. Reactivity is most likely when obser-" "­isolation, may be ineffective because other ecological" "vation is obtrusive—that is, the person being observed is" "variables come into play. (p. 231)" "aware of the observer’s presence and purpose (Kazdin, 2010)." "Studies have demonstrated that the presence of observers in" " 78 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "applied ­settings can influence a subject’s behavior (Mercatoris who may be affected (i.e., society). In s­ electing target b­ ehaviors," "& ­Craighead, 1974; White, 1977). Perhaps the most obtrusive practitioners should first consider whose behavior is being" "assessment procedures are those that require the participant assessed—and changed—and why." "to monitor and record her own behavior. Research on self-­ Target behaviors should not be selected solely for the pri-" "monitoring shows that the procedure commonly affects the mary benefit of others (e.g., “Be still, be quiet, be docile,” in Winett" "behavior under assessment (Kirby, Fowler, & Baer, 1991).5 & Winkler, 1972), to simply maintain the status quo (Budd & Baer," "Research suggests, however, that even when the pres- 1976; Holland, 1978), or because they pique the interest of some-" "ence of an observer alters the behavior of the person being one in a position to change the behaviors. For instance, assume that" "observed, the reactive effects are temporary (e.g., Kazdin, a newly hired director of an early childhood developmental day-" "1982). Nevertheless, behavior analysts mitigate reactivity care center announces an annual goal that all the children learn to" "when they make observations as unobtrusive as possible, talk, when in fact, it would be a more appropriate option to assess" "repeat observations until apparent reactive effects subside, and (and later intervene) on a fuller range of communication options" "take possible reactive effects into account when interpreting (e.g., signing, picture exchange communication). Selecting “speak-" "the results of observations. ing” as a target goal for all children stands in stark contrast to" "the more fundamental and laudable goal of providing specialized" "Choosing an Assessment Method services to meet the individual needs of the children." "Admittedly, judgments about which behaviors to change" "In addition to selecting assessment methods and tools for iden- are difficult to make. Still, practitioners are not without direc-" "tifying target behaviors, behavior analysts conduct assessments tion when choosing target behaviors. Numerous authors have" "to guide the design of effective interventions. These require suggested guidelines and criteria for selecting target behaviors" "the experimental manipulation of variables and are described (e.g., Bailey & Lessen, 1984; Bosch & Fuqua, 2001; Hawkins," "elsewhere in this text: preference and reinforcer assessment 1984; Komaki, 1998; Rosales-Ruiz & Baer, 1997). Overall," "(Chapter 11), punisher assessment (Chapter 14), and functional these guidelines revolve around this central question: To what" "behavior analysis (Chapter 27). extent will the proposed behavior change improve the person’s" "Given that multiple possibilities exist across assessment life experience? A key answer to this question rests squarely on" "methods, how might a behavior analyst proceed when trying to the concept of habilitation." "weigh the cost-benefit of delaying an intervention in favor of gath-" "ering more “assessment” data versus launching an intervention Habilitation Defined" "prematurely? Kelley and colleagues (2011) provide a guideline:" "Hawkins (1984) suggested that the potential meaningfulness of" "Ultimately, best practice is likely to include an assessment" "any behavior change should be considered within the context" "package that contains a structured interview, at least one" "of habilitation, which he defined as “the degree to which the" "rating scale, direct observation, and experimental manipu-" "person’s repertoire maximizes short- and long-term reinforcers" "lation of environmental variables. A combination of these" "for that individual and for others, and minimizes short- and long-" "assessment methods is likely to produce . . . a desirable" "term punishers.” (p. 284)" "outcome. (p. 189)" "Hawkins (1986) cited several advantages of the definition" "We restate a key point: Assuming the assessment tools in that it (a) is conceptually familiar to behavior analysts, (b)" "have reasonable reliability and validity, and are conducted defines treatment using measurable outcomes, (c) is applicable" "according to professional standards, the most important element to a wide range of habilitative activities, (d) deals with individual" "of the assessment process is not so much the gathering of the and societal needs nonjudgmentally, (e) treats adjustment along" "data as it is the analysis of that data. If the analysis should prove a non-deficit-driven, adaptive continuum, and (f) is culturally" "not to produce a desirable outcome as Kelley et al. (2011) proj- and situationally relative." "ect, practitioners should not be dismayed. Instead, they should It is difficult to make a priori decisions about how a par-" "try again “based on the original failure and previous ineffective ticular behavior change will contribute to a person’s overall" "analysis. . . . Failure is always informative in the logic of behav- habilitation (adjustment, competence). We simply do not know" "ior analysis” (Baer, 2005, p. 8). beforehand how useful or functional a given behavior change will" "prove to be in the future (Baer, 1981, 1982), even when its short-" "term utility can be predicted. Applied behavior ­analysts, how-" "ASSESSING THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE" "ever, must place the highest importance on the selection of target" "OF POTENTIAL TARGET BEHAVIORS" "behaviors that are truly useful and habilitative ­(Hawkins, 1991)." "In the past, few questions were asked when a teacher, ­therapist, In effect, if a potential target behavior meets the ­habilitation stan-" "or other human services professional determined that a c­ lient’s dard, then the individual is much more likely to (a) acquire addi-" "behavior should be assessed. For a well-trained behavior ­analyst, tional reinforcers in the future and (b) avoid potential punishers." "this is not the case. Because behavior analysts p­ ossess an From ethical and pragmatic perspectives, any target" "­effective technology to change behavior, accountability must be ­behavior must benefit the person either directly or indirectly." "served. Both the goals and the rationale supporting assessment Examining prospective target behaviors according to the" "and intervention programs must be open to critical e­ xamination 10 key questions described in the following sections should help" "by the consumers (i.e., clients and their families) and by others ­clarify their ­relative social significance and habilitative value." " Chapter 3 • Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors 79" "" "Figure 3.7 Worksheet for evaluating the social significance of potential target behaviors." "" "Client’s/Student’s Name: ________________________________________ Date: __________________________" "" "Person Completing Worksheet: ____________________________________________________________________" "" "Rater’s Relationship to Client/Student: ______________________________________________________________" "" "Behavior: ________________________________________________________________________________________" "" "Considerations Assessment Rationale/Comments" "Is this behavior likely to produce Yes No Not Sure" "reinforcement in the client’s natural" "environment after intervention ends?" "Is this behavior a necessary prereq- Yes No Not Sure" "uisite for a more complex and func-" "tional skill?" "Will this behavior increase the cli- Yes No Not Sure" "ent’s access to environments where" "other important behaviors can be" "acquired and used?" "Will changing this behavior pre- Yes No Not Sure" "dispose others to interact with the" "client in a more appropriate and sup-" "portive manner?" "Is this behavior a pivotal behavior or Yes No Not Sure" "behavioral cusp?" "Is this an age-appropriate behavior? Yes No Not Sure" "If this behavior is to be reduced or Yes No Not Sure" "eliminated from the client’s reper-" "toire, has an adaptive and functional" "behavior been selected to replace it?" "Does this behavior represent the Yes No Not Sure" "actual problem/goal, or is it only indi-" "rectly related?" "Is this “just talk,” or is it the real Yes No Not Sure" "behavior of interest?" "Is the goal itself is not a specific Yes No Not Sure" "behavior (e.g., losing 20 lb), will this" "behavior help achieve it?" "" "Summary notes/comments: _________________________________________________________________________" "_________________________________________________________________________________________________" "_________________________________________________________________________________________________" "" "" "" "" "­ igure 3.7 ­consolidates these questions in a worksheet that can" "F proposed behavior change will be reinforced in the person’s" "be used to evaluate the social significance of target behaviors. daily life. Ayllon and Azrin (1968) called this the relevance" "of behavior rule; it means that a target behavior should be" "selected only when it can be determined that the behavior is" "Will This Behavior Produce Reinforcement" "likely to produce reinforcement in the person’s natural envi-" "in the Client’s Natural Environment After" "ronment. The likelihood that a new behavior will result in" "Treatment Ends?" "reinforcement after the behavior change program is termi-" "To determine whether a particular target behavior is func- nated is the primary determinant of whether the new behavior" "tional for the client, the behavior analyst, significant others, will be maintained, thereby having the possibility of long-" "and, whenever possible, the client should ask whether the term benefits for that person." " 80 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "Judging whether occurrences of the target behavior will are not as important to the child’s ultimate welfare as language" "be reinforced in the absence of intervention can also help to development, these tasks may be important target behaviors if" "clarify whether the proposed behavior change is primarily for a sloppy room and a sink full of dirty dishes impede positive" "the individual’s benefit or for someone else’s. For instance, parent–child interactions (including playing the teacher’s vocab-" "despite parental wishes or pressure, it would be of little value ulary-building games). In this case, the daily chores might be" "to try to teach math skills to a student with severe develop- selected as the target behaviors for the direct, immediate benefit" "mental disabilities with pervasive deficits in communication of the parents, with the expectation that the parents will be more" "and social skills. Teaching communication skills that would likely to help their daughter with school-related activities if they" "enable the student to have more effective interactions in her are happier with her because she straightens her bedroom and" "current environment should take precedence over skills that helps with the dishes." "she might be able to use in the future (e.g., making change in" "the grocery store). Sometimes target behaviors are selected Is This Behavior a Behavioral Cusp or" "appropriately not because of their direct benefit to the person, a Pivotal Behavior?" "but because of an important indirect benefit. Indirect benefits" "Behavior analysts often use a building block method to develop" "can occur in several different ways, as described by the ques-" "repertoires for clients. For example, in teaching a complex skill" "tions that follow." "(e.g., two-digit multiplication), simpler and more easily attain-" "able skills are taught first (e.g., addition, regrouping, single-digit" "Is This Behavior a Necessary Prerequisite multiplication), or with shoe tying, crossing laces, making bows," "for a Useful Skill? and tying knots are taught systematically. As skill elements are" "Some behaviors that, in and of themselves, are not important are mastered, they combine into increasingly complex behaviors." "targeted for instruction because they are necessary prerequisites At any point along this developmental skill continuum when the" "to learning other functional behaviors. For example, advances person performs the skill to criterion, reinforcement follows, and" "in reading research have demonstrated that teaching phonemic the practitioner makes the determination to advance to the next" "awareness skills has positive effects on the acquisition of read- skill level. As systematic and methodical as this approach has" "ing skills (e.g., initial, medial, and final isolated and blended proven to be, behavior analysts are researching ways to improve" "sound combinations) (National Reading Panel, 2000).6 the efficiency of developing new behavior (see Chapters 19" "through 23). Choosing target behaviors that are behavioral cusps" "Will This Behavior Increase the Client’s Access to and pivotal behaviors may improve this effort." "Environments Where Other Important Behaviors" "Can Be Learned and Used? Behavioral Cusps" "Hawkins (1986) described the targeting of “access behaviors” A behavioral cusp occurs when a learner performs a new" "as a means of producing indirect benefits to clients. For exam- behavior that sets the occasion to access reinforcers that other-" "ple, students in special education are taught to complete their wise would not have been available. Stated in different terms," "assignments, interact politely and appropriately with the teacher a behavioral cusp can be claimed when what has been learned" "and their peers, and follow teacher instructions because these exposes the individual to an array of contingencies that go" "behaviors not only will help their personal progress in their cur- beyond the reinforcers that would have been delivered had only" "rent setting but also will likely increase their acceptance and the target behavior, or a series of behaviors, occurred." "adaptation into a general education classroom. Rosales-Ruiz and Baer (1997) defined a behavioral" "cusp as:" "Will Changing This Behavior Predispose [A] behavior that has consequences beyond the change" "Others to Interact with the Client in a More itself, some of which may be considered important. . . ." "Appropriate and Supportive Manner? What makes a behavior change a cusp is that it exposes" "the individual’s repertoire to new environments, especially" "Another type of indirect benefit occurs when a behavior change" "new reinforcers and punishers, new contingencies, new" "is of primary interest to a significant other in the person’s life." "responses, new stimulus controls, and new communities of" "The behavior change may enable the significant other to behave" "maintaining or destructive contingencies. When some or all" "in a manner more beneficial to the person. For example, sup-" "of those events happen, the individual’s repertoire expands;" "pose a teacher wants the parents of his students to implement" "it encounters a differentially selective maintenance of the" "a home-based instruction program, believing that the students’" "new as well as some old repertoires, and perhaps that leads" "language skills would improve considerably if their parents" "to some further cusps. (p. 534)" "spent just 10 minutes per night playing a vocabulary game" "with them. In meeting with one student’s parents, however, the Rosales-Ruiz and Baer (1997) cited crawling, reading," "teacher realizes that although the parents are also concerned and generalized imitation as examples of behavioral cusp" "about poor language skills, they have other and, in their opinion, behaviors because the occurrence of such behaviors “sud-" "more pressing needs—the parents want their child to clean her denly open the child’s world to new contingencies that will" "room and help with the dinner dishes. Even though the teacher develop many new, important behaviors” (p. 535, italics added" "believes that straightening up a bedroom and washing dishes for emphasis)." " Chapter 3 • Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors 81" "" "Cusps differ from component or prerequisite behaviors in By identifying and assessing target behaviors based on" "that cusps ultimately occasion new behaviors in novel environ- their cusp potential, practitioners provide “added value” to their" "ments that bring the learner under different social, sensory, or programming. Bosch and Hixson (2004) proposed a series of" "personal stimulus control (Lerman et al., 2013; Twyman, 2011). actions behavior analysts can take and questions to determine" "For an infant, specific arm, head, leg, or positional movements behavioral cusps (see Figure 3.8). If the answer is “yes” to the" "would be component behaviors for crawling. Crawling is the majority of these questions in the right-hand column, a good" "cusp because it enables the infant to contact new stimuli as case can be made that the behavior is a cusp." "sources of reinforcement (e.g., toys, parents), which, in turn, Finally, Twyman (2011) sheds much-needed light on" "open a host of contingencies that can shape and select other how present or future technologies can assist practitioners with" "adaptive behaviors. These novel contingencies become avail- developing and refining behavioral cusps. Whether it be through" "able for the learner and the significant others in the learner’s websites, smartphones, iPad/tablet applications, social media," "community. simulations, virtual learning applications, or access to on-line" "Rosales-Ruiz and Baer (1997) distinguish between a instruction, behavior analysts can further explore programming" "learner performing a series of tasks in a task analysis and cusp behaviors to enhance the learning of those they serve." "receiving the associated reinforcer for completing each step," "and a behavioral cusp that exposes the learner to a host of new Pivotal Behavior" "contingencies of reinforcement altogether. In plain language," "A pivotal behavior is a behavior that, once learned, produces" "a cusp might be akin to tree branches shooting off the trunk," "corresponding modifications or covariations in other adap-" "and providing the possibility of still more offshoots from that" "tive untrained behaviors. For instance, Koegel, Carter, and" "“cusp” branch." "Koegel (2003) indicated that teaching children with autism to" "Rosales-Ruiz & Baer (1997) sum up the role of identify-" "­“self-­initiate” (e.g., approach others) may be a pivotal behav-" "ing cusps as target behaviors by stating:" "ior. Choice making, self-management, and functional commu-" "The importance of cusps is judged by (a) the extent of the nication training may also be considered pivotal behaviors in" "behavior changes they systematically enable, (b) whether that once these behaviors are learned, they are likely to produce" "they systematically expose behavior to new cusps, and (c) adaptive variations in untrained settings." "the audience’s view of whether these changes are import- Koegel and Koegel (2018) and their colleagues have" "ant for the organism, which in turn is often controlled by examined pivotal behavior assessment and treatment approaches" "societal norms and expectations of what behaviors should across a wide range of areas (e.g., social skills, communication," "develop in children and when that development should academic performance disruptive behavior) (Koegel, Bradshaw," "­happen. (p. 537) Ashbaugh, & Koegel, 2014; Koegel, Koegel, Green-Hopkins," "" "" "" "Figure 3.8 Actions and questions to determine behavioral cusps." "" "Information Needed Behavioral Cusp Determination" "List the direct reinforcers for that target behavior: Social, Will the behavior contact new reinforcers?" "automatic, conditioned, unconditioned." "List and describe the environments that the new target Will the behavior allow access to new selective" "behavior will access. environments?" "List school personnel or familial beliefs and expectations that Does the behavior meet the demands of the social" "may strengthen or weaken the value of the behavior change. ­community of which the person is a member?" "List the audience reactions, such as smiles, laughter, etc. Is the behavior a reinforcer for the audience?" "List the inappropriate behaviors and their severity, including Is the behavior interfering with or replacing inappropriate" "frequency, duration, strength, etc. and the effects on the behaviors?" "environment." "List the behaviors/repertoires subsequently affected. Is the behavior facilitating subsequent learning by being" "either a prerequisite or a component of more complex" "responses?" "Approximate number of people physically or emotionally Is the behavior impacting a large number of people?" "affected over time." "Give a dollar amount by estimating the cost of physical/ Is the failure to establish this behavior costly?" "property damage, health care, lawsuits, etc. over time." "" "From “The Final Piece to a Complete Science of Behavior: Behavior Development and Behavioral Cusps,” by S. Bosch and M. D. Hixson," "The Behavior Analyst Today, 5(2), 2004, pp. 244–254." " 82 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "& Barnes, 2010; Koegel, Koegel, & Schreibman, 1991). The If the Proposed Target Behavior Is to Be" "­“longitudinal outcome data from children with autism suggest Reduced or Eliminated, What Adaptive" "that the presence of pivotal initiation behaviors may be a prog- Behavior Will Replace It?" "nostic indicator of more favorable long-term outcomes and" "A practitioner should never plan to reduce or eliminate a behav-" "therefore may be ‘pivotal’ in that they appear to result in wide-" "ior from a person’s repertoire without first (a) determining an" "spread positive changes in a number of areas” (Koegel, Carter," "adaptive behavior that will take its place (also known as the fair" "& Koegel, 2003, p. 134). Improvement in self-initiations may" "pair rule) and (b) designing the intervention plan to ensure that" "be critical for the emergence of untrained response classes, such" "the replacement behavior is learned. Teachers and other human" "as asking questions and increased production and diversity of" "services professionals should be in the business of building pos-" "talking." "itive, adaptive repertoires, not merely reacting to and eliminat-" "Assessing and targeting pivotal behaviors can be advanta-" "ing behaviors they find troublesome (Brown et al., 2016). Even" "geous for the practitioner and the client. From the practitioner’s" "though a child’s maladaptive behaviors may be exceedingly" "perspective, it might be possible to assess and then train pivotal" "annoying to others, or even damaging physically, those unde-" "behaviors within relatively few sessions that would later be emit-" "sirable responses have proven functional for the child. That is," "ted in untrained settings or across untrained responses (Koegel" "the maladaptive behavior has worked for the child in the past by" "et al., 2003). From the client’s perspective, learning a pivotal" "producing reinforcers and/or helping the child avoid or escape" "behavior would shorten intervention, provide the person with" "punishers. A program that only denies that avenue of reinforce-" "a new repertoire with which to interact with his environment," "ment is a nonconstructive approach. It does not teach adaptive" "improve the efficiency of learning, and increase the chances of" "behaviors to replace the inappropriate behavior." "coming into contact with reinforcers. As Koegel and colleagues" "Some of the most effective and recommended methods for" "concluded: “The use of procedures that teach the child with dis-" "eliminating unwanted behavior focus primarily on the develop-" "abilities to evoke language learning opportunities in the natural" "ment of desirable replacement behaviors. Goldiamond (1997) rec-" "environment may be particularly useful for speech and language" "ommended that a “constructional” approach—as opposed to an" "specialists or other special educators who desire ongoing learn-" "eliminative approach—be used for the analysis of and intervention" "ing outside of language teaching ­sessions” (p. 143)." "into behavioral problems. Under the constructional approach the" "“solution to problems is the construction of repertoires (or their" "Is This an Age-Appropriate Behavior? reinstatement or transfer to new situations) rather than the elim-" "A number of years ago it was common to see adults with ination of repertoires” (Goldiamond, 1974, p. 14). Finally, using" "developmental disabilities being taught behaviors that an adult the “fair pair” rule helps to ensure that maladaptive behaviors are" "without disabilities would seldom, if ever, do. It was thought— replaced with incompatible, adaptive behaviors." "perhaps as a by-product of the concept of mental age—that If a strong case cannot be made for specific, positive" "a 35-year-old woman with the verbal skills of a 10-year-old replacement behaviors, then a compelling case has not been" "should play with dolls. Not only is the selection of such target made for eliminating the undesirable target behavior. The class-" "behaviors demeaning, but their occurrence reduces the proba- room teacher, for example, who wants a behavior change pro-" "bility that other people in the person’s environment will set the gram to maintain students staying in their seats during reading" "occasion for and reinforce more desirable, adaptive behaviors, period must go beyond the simple notion that “they need to be" "leading to a more normal and rewarding life. in their seats to do the work.” The teacher must select materials" "The principle of normalization refers to the use of pro- and design contingencies that facilitate that goal and motivate" "gressively more typical environments, expectations, and proce- the students to accomplish their work." "dures “to establish and/or maintain personal behaviors which are" "Does This Behavior Represent the Actual" "as culturally normal as possible” (Wolfensberger, 1972, p. 28)." "Problem or Goal, or Is It Only Indirectly Related?" "Normalization is not a single technique, but a philosophical" "position that holds the goal of achieving the greatest possible An all-too-common error in education is teaching a related" "physical and social integration of people with disabilities into behavior, not the behavior of interest. Numerous behav-" "the mainstream of society. ior change programs have been designed to increase on-task" "In addition to the philosophical and ethical reasons for behaviors when the primary objective should have been to" "selecting age- and setting-appropriate target behaviors, it should increase production or work output. On-task behaviors are cho-" "be re-emphasized that adaptive, independent, and social behav- sen because people who are productive also tend to be on task." "iors that come into contact with reinforcement are more likely However, as on task is typically defined, it is possible for a" "to be maintained than are behaviors that do not. For example, student to be on task (e.g., in her seat, quiet, and oriented toward" "instruction in leisure-time skills such as sports, hobbies, and or handling academic materials) yet produce little or no work." "music-related activities would be more functional for a 17-year- Targeting needed prerequisite skills should not be con-" "old boy than teaching him to play with toy trucks and building fused with selecting target behaviors that do not directly rep-" "blocks. An adolescent with those behaviors—even in an adapted resent or fulfill the primary reasons for the behavior analysis" "way—has a better chance of interacting in a typical fashion with effort. Prerequisite skills are not taught as terminal behaviors for" "his peer group, which may help to ensure the maintenance of his their own sake, but as necessary elements of the desired terminal" "newly learned skills and provide opportunities for learning other behavior. Related, but indirect, behaviors are not necessary to" "adaptive behaviors. perform the true objective of the program, nor are they really" " Chapter 3 • Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors 83" "" "intended outcomes of the program by themselves. In attempting a mower. However, once hired, he will hold his job if he is skilled" "to detect indirectness, behavior analysts should ask two ques- and efficient in repairing mowers. It is highly unlikely that a person" "tions: Is this behavior a necessary prerequisite to the intended will last long on the job if he talks about how he would fix a lawn" "terminal behavior? Is this behavior what the instructional pro- mower but not be able to do so. Target behaviors must be functional." "gram is really all about? If either question can be answered affir-" "matively, the behavior is eligible for target behavior status. What if the Goal of the Behavior Change" "Program Is Not a Behavior?" "Is This Just Talk, or Is It the Real Behavior" "Some of the important changes people want to make in their" "of Interest?" "lives are not behaviors, but are instead the result or product of" "A characteristic of nonbehavioral therapies is that they rely certain other behaviors. Weight loss is an example. On the sur-" "heavily on what people say about what they do and why they do face, it appears that target behavior selection is obvious and" "it. The client’s verbal behavior is considered important because straightforward—losing weight. The number of pounds can" "it is believed to reflect the client’s inner state and the mental be measured accurately; but weight, or, more precisely, los-" "processes that govern the client’s behavior. Therefore, getting a ing weight, is not a behavior. Losing weight is not a specific" "person to talk differently about himself (e.g., in a more healthful, response that can be defined and performed; it is the product or" "positive, and less self-effacing way) is viewed as a significant result of other behaviors—notably reduced food consumption" "step in solving the person’s problem. This change in attitude is and/or increased exercise. Eating and exercise are definable," "considered by some to be the primary goal of therapy. observable behaviors that can be measured in precise units." "Behavior analysts, in contrast, distinguish between what Some otherwise well-designed weight loss programs have" "people say and what they do (Skinner, 1953). Knowing and not been successful because behavior change contingencies were" "doing are not the same. Getting someone to understand his placed on the goal—reduced weight—and not on the behaviors" "maladaptive behavior by being able to talk logically about it necessary to produce the goal. Target behaviors in a weight loss" "does not necessarily mean that his behavior will change in more program should be measures of food consumption and exer-" "constructive directions. The gambler may know that compulsive cise level, with intervention strategies designed to address those" "betting is ruining his life and that his losses would cease if he behaviors (e.g., De Luca & Holborn, 1992; McGuire, Wing," "simply stopped placing bets. He may even be able to verbalize Klem, & Hill, 1999). Weight should be measured and charted" "these facts to a therapist and state convincingly that he will not during a weight loss program, not because it is the target behav-" "gamble in the future. Still, he may continue to bet. ior of interest, but because weight loss shows the positive effects" "Because verbal behavior can be descriptive of what people of increased exercise or decreased food consumption." "do, it is sometimes confused with the performance itself. A teacher There are numerous other examples of important goals that" "at a school for juvenile offenders introduced a new math program are not behaviors, but are the end products of other behaviors. Earn-" "that included instructional games, group drills, timed tests, and ing higher grades, for example, is a goal accomplished by practicing" "self-graphing. The students responded with negative comments: skills longer, complying with feedback on practiced performance," "“This is stupid,” “Man, I’m not writin’ down what I do,” “I’m joining groups that perform even higher than the learner and imi-" "not even going to try on these tests.” If the teacher had attended tating that performance, and so forth. Behavior analysts help clients" "only to the students’ talk about the program, it would probably achieve their goals by selecting target behaviors that are the most" "have been discarded on the first day. But the teacher was aware directly and functionally related to those goals." "that negative comments about school and work were expected in Some goals expressed by and for clients are not the direct" "the peer group of adolescent delinquents and that her students’ product of a specific target behavior, but are broader, more gen-" "negative remarks had enabled them in the past to avoid tasks they eral goals: To be more successful, to have more friends, to be" "thought they would not enjoy. Consequently, the teacher ignored creative, to learn good sportsmanship, to develop an improved" "the negative comments and attended to and rewarded her students self-concept. Clearly, none of these goals are defined by specific" "for accuracy and rate of math computation when they participated behaviors, and all are more complex in terms of their behavioral" "in the program. In 1 week, the negative talk had virtually ceased, components than losing weight or earning a higher grade. Goals" "and the students’ math production was at an all-time high. such as being successful represent a class of related behaviors" "There are, of course, situations in which the behavior of or a general pattern of responding. They are labels that are" "interest is what the client says. Helping a person reduce the used to describe people who behave in certain ways. Selecting" "number of self-effacing comments he makes and increase the target behaviors that will help clients or students attain these" "frequency of positive self-descriptions is an example of a pro- kinds of goals is even more difficult than their complexity sug-" "gram in which talk should be the target behavior—not because gests because the goals themselves often mean different things" "the self-effacing comments are indicative of a poor self-concept, to different people. Being a success entails a wide variety of" "but because the client’s verbal behavior is the problem. behaviors. One person may view success in terms of income" "In every case, a determination must be made of exactly which and job title. For another, success means job satisfaction and" "behavior is the desired functional outcome of the program: Is it ample leisure time. An important role of the behavior analyst" "a skill or motor performance, or is it verbal behavior? In some during assessment and target behavior identification is to help" "instances, doing and talking behaviors might be impor­tant. A trainee the client select and define personal behaviors, the sum of which" "applying for a lawn mower repair position may be more likely to get will result in a better quality of life for the client and others" "a job if he describes verbally how he would fix a cranky starter on evaluating her repertoire in the intended fashion." " 84 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "PRIORITIZING TARGET BEHAVIORS mannerisms may be high-priority target behaviors if their" "modification is likely to provide access to more normalized" "Once a “pool” of eligible target behaviors has been identified, deci- settings or important learning environments." "sions must be made about their relative priority. Sometimes the" "information obtained from behavioral assessment points to one 7. Will this new behavior produce reinforcement for signifi-" "particular aspect of the person’s repertoire in need of improvement cant others? Even though a person’s behavior should sel-" "more so than another. More often, though, assessment reveals a dom, if ever, be changed simply for the convenience of" "constellation of related, and sometimes not-so-related, behaviors in others or for maintaining the status quo, neither should" "need of change. Direct observations, along with a behavioral inter- the effect of a person’s behavior change on the significant" "view and needs assessment, may produce a long list of important others in his life be overlooked. This question is answered" "behaviors to change. When more than one eligible target behavior best by the significant others themselves because people" "remains after careful evaluation of the considerations described not directly involved in the person’s life would often have" "in the previous section, the question becomes, Which behavior no idea how rewarding it is to see your 19-year-old" "should be changed first? Judging each potential target behavior in with severe intellectual disabilities acquire the skill of" "light of the following nine questions may help determine which toilet flushing on command or pointing to food when" "behavior deserves attention first, and the relative order in which she wants a second helping. I suspect that the average" "the remaining behaviors will be addressed. taxpayer would not consider it “meaningful” to him" "1. Does this behavior pose any danger to the client or to or her for Karrie to acquire such skills. And, although" "others? Behaviors that cause harm or pose a serious threat we cannot readily say how much Karrie’s being able" "to the client’s or to others’ personal safety or health must to flush the toilet enhances her personal reinforcement/" "receive first priority. punishment ratio, I can testify that it enhances mine as" "a parent. (Hawkins, 1984, p. 285)" "2. How many opportunities will the person have to use this" "new behavior? or How often does this problem behavior 8. How likely is success in changing this target behavior? Some" "occur? A student who consistently writes reversed let- behaviors are more difficult to change than others. At least" "ters presents more of a problem than does a child who four sources of information help assess the level of difficulty" "reverses letters only occasionally. If the choice is between or, more precisely, predict the ease or degree of success in" "first teaching a prevocational student to pack his lunch or changing a particular behavior. First, what does the literature" "to learn how to plan his 2-week vacation each year, the say about attempts to change this behavior? Many of the tar-" "former skill takes precedence because the employee-to-be get behaviors that confront applied behavior analysts have" "may need to pack his lunch every workday. been studied. Practitioners should stay abreast of published" "3. How long-standing is the problem or skill deficit? research reports in their areas of application. Not only is such" "A chronic behavior problem (e.g., bullying) or skill deficit knowledge likely to improve the selection of proven and effi-" "(e.g., lack of social interaction skills) should take prece- cient techniques for behavior change, but also it may help to" "dence over problems that appear sporadically or that have predict the level of difficulty or chance of success." "just recently surfaced. Second, how experienced is the practitioner? The" "practitioner’s own competencies and experiences with" "4. Will changing this behavior produce higher rates of rein- the target behavior in question should be considered. A" "forcement for the person? If all other considerations are teacher who has worked successfully with acting-out," "equal, a behavior that results in higher, sustained levels aggressive children may have an array of effective behav-" "of reinforcement should take precedence over a behavior ior management strategies to employ. However, that same" "that produces little additional reinforcement for the client. teacher may believe that he is less able to improve signifi-" "5. What will be the relative importance of this target ­behavior cant deficits in a student’s written language skills." "to future skill development and independent functioning? Third, to what extent can important variables in the cli-" "Each target behavior should be judged in terms of its rela- ent’s environment be controlled effectively? Whether a cer-" "tion (i.e., prerequisite or supportive) to other critical behav- tain behavior can be changed is not the question. In an applied" "iors needed for optimal learning and development and setting, however, identifying and then consistently manipu-" "maximum levels of independent functioning in the future. lating the controlling variables for a given target behavior will" "6. Will changing this behavior reduce negative or unwanted determine whether the behavior will be changed." "attention from others? Some behaviors are not maladap- Fourth, are the resources available to implement" "tive because of anything inherent in the behavior itself, but and maintain the intervention at a level of fidelity and" "because of the unnecessary problems the behavior causes intensity that is long enough to achieve the desired out-" "the client. Some people with developmental and motoric comes? No matter how expertly designed a treatment plan," "disabilities may have difficulty at mealtimes with using implementing it without the personnel and other resources" "utensils and napkins appropriately, thus reducing opportu- needed to carry out the intervention properly is likely to" "nities for positive interaction in public. Granted, public edu- yield disappointing results." "cation and awareness are warranted as well, but it would be 9. How much will it cost to change this behavior? Cost should" "naive not to consider the negative effects of public reaction. be considered before implementing any systematic behav-" "Also, not teaching more appropriate mealtime skills may be ior change program. However, a cost–benefit analysis of" "a disservice to the person. Idiosyncratic public displays or several potential target behaviors does not mean that if" " Chapter 3 • Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors 85" "" "a teaching program is expensive, it should not be imple- consumes so much of the child’s day that there is little time" "mented. Major courts have ruled that the lack of public for her to learn communication, leisure, or self-help skills," "funds may not be used as an excuse for not providing an the fine motor skill objective may be too costly." "appropriate education to all children regardless of the sever-" "ity of their disability (cf., Yell & Drasgow, 2000). The cost Developing and Using a Target Behavior" "of a behavior change program cannot be determined by Ranking Matrix" "simply adding aggregate expenditures for equipment, mate-" "rials, transportation, staff salaries, and the like. Consider- Assigning a numerical rating to each of a list of potential target" "ation should also be given to how much of the client’s time behaviors produces a priority ranking of those behaviors. One" "the behavior change program will demand. If, for example, such ranking matrix is shown in Figure 3.9; it is an adaptation of" "teaching a fine motor skill to a child with severe disabilities a system described by Dardig and Heward (1981) for prioritizing" "" "Figure 3.9 Worksheet for prioritizing potential target behaviors." "" "Client’s/Student’s Name: ________________________________________ Date: _______________" "" "Person Completing Worksheet: _______________________________________________________" "" "Rater’s Relationship to Client/Student: _________________________________________________" "" "Directions: Use the key below to rank each potential target behavior by the extent to which it meets or" "fulfills each prioritizations criteria. Add each team member’s ranking of each potential target behavior." "The behavior(s) with the highest total scores would presumably be the highest priority for intervention." "Other criteria relevant to a particular program or individual’s situation can be added, and the criteria can" "be differentially weighted." "" "Key: 0 = No>Never; 1 = Rarely; 2 = Maybe>Sometimes; 3 = Probably>Usually; 4 = Yes>Always" "" "Potential Target Behaviors" "(1) (2) (3) (4)" "Prioritization Criteria" "Does this behavior pose dan- 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4" "ger to the individual or to" "others?" "How many opportunities will 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4" "the individual have to use this" "new skill in the natural envi-" "ronment? or How often does" "problem behavior occur?" "How long-standing is the 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4" "problem or skill deficit?" "Will changing this behavior 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4" "produce a higher rate of rein-" "forcement for the individual?" "What is the relative impor- 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4" "tance of this target behavior" "to future skill development" "and independent functioning?" "Will changing this behavior 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4" "reduce negative or unwanted" "attention from others?" "Will changing this behavior 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4" "produce reinforcement for" "significant others?" "How likely it success in chang- 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4" "ing this behavior?" "How much will it cost to 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4" "change this behavior?" "Totals" " 86 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "and selecting learning goals for students with disabilities. Each r­eplication is less likely. Without replication, the usefulness" "behavior is given a number representing the behavior’s value on or meaningfulness of data cannot be determined beyond the" "each of the prioritizing variables (e.g., 0 to 4, with 0 representing ­specific participants themselves, thereby limiting the orderly" "no value or contribution and 4 representing maximum value or development of the discipline as a useful technology (Baer," "benefit). Wolf, & Risley, 1968). Without explicit, well-written definitions" "Professionals planning behavior change programs for of ­target behaviors, researchers would be unable to ­accurately" "senior citizens would probably insist that target behaviors with and reliably measure the same response classes within and across" "immediate benefits receive high priority. Educators serving studies; or to aggregate, compare, and interpret their data.7" "secondary students with disabilities would likely advocate for Explicit, well-written definitions of target behavior are" "behaviors that focus on skill development and independent also necessary for the practitioner, who may not be so con-" "functioning. cerned with replication by others or development of the field." "At times, the behavior analyst, the client, and/or signif- Most behavior analysis programs are not conducted primar-" "icant others have conflicting goals. Parents may want their ily for the advancement of the field; they are implemented by" "adolescent daughter in the house by 10:30 pm on weekends, educators, clinicians, and other human services professionals" "but the daughter may want to stay out until midnight. The to improve the lives of their clients. However, implicit in the" "school may want a behavior analyst to develop a program application of behavior analysis is an accurate, ongoing eval-" "to increase students’ adherence to an unpopular dress code. uation of the target behavior, for which an explicit definition" "The behavior analyst may believe that elements of the dress of behavior is a must." "codes are negotiable, but not to the point that the adminis- A practitioner concerned only with evaluating his efforts" "tration wants the code enforced. Who decides what is best to provide optimum service to his clients might ask, “As long as" "for whom? I know what I mean by [name of target behavior], why must I" "One way to minimize conflicts is to obtain client, parent, write down a specific definition?” First, a good behavioral defini-" "and staff/administration participation in the goal determination tion is operational. It provides the opportunity to obtain complete" "process. For example, the active participation of parents and information about the behavior’s occurrence and nonoccurrence," "students, when possible, in the selection of short- and long-term and it enables the practitioner to apply procedures in a consis-" "goals is desirable. Such participation by all of the significant tently accurate and timely fashion. Second, a good definition" "parties can avoid and resolve goal conflicts, not to mention increases the likelihood of an accurate and believable evaluation" "the invaluable information the participants can provide rela- of the program’s effectiveness. Not only does an evaluation need" "tive to other aspects of program planning (e.g., identification of to be accurate to guide ongoing program decisions, but also the" "likely reinforcers). Reviewing the results of assessment efforts data must be believable to those with a vested interest in the pro-" "and allowing each participant to provide input on the relative gram’s effectiveness. Thus, even though the practitioner may not" "merits of each proposed goal or target behavior can often pro- be interested in demonstrating an analysis to the field at large, he" "duce consensus on the best direction. Program planners should must always be concerned with demonstrating effectiveness (i.e.," "not commit a priori that whatever behavior is ranked first will accountability) to clients, parents, and administrators." "necessarily be considered the highest priority target behavior." "However, if the important people involved in a person’s life go Two Types of Target Behavior Definitions" "through a ranking process such as the one shown in Figure 3.9," "they are likely to identify areas of agreement and disagreement, Target behaviors can be defined functionally or topographically." "which leads to further discussions of target behavior selection" "and concentration on the critical concerns of those involved. Function-based Definitions" "A function-based definition designates responses as members" "DEFINING TARGET BEHAVIORS of the targeted response class solely by their common effect on" "the environment. For example, Irvin, Thompson, Turner, and" "Before a behavior undergoes analysis, it must be defined in Williams (1998) defined hand mouthing as any behavior that" "a clear, objective, and concise manner. In constructing target resulted in “contact of the fingers, hand, or wrist with the mouth," "behavior definitions, applied behavior analysts must consider the lips, or tongue” (p. 377). Figure 3.10 shows several examples of" "functional and topographical implications of their definitions. function-based definitions." "Applied behavior analysts should use function-based defi-" "Role and Importance of Target Behavior nitions of target behaviors whenever possible for the following" "Definitions in Applied Behavior Analysis reasons:" "Applied behavior analysis derives its validity from its systematic • A function-based definition encompasses all relevant" "approach to seeking and organizing knowledge about human forms of the response class. However, target behavior" "behavior. Validity of scientific knowledge in its most basic definitions based on a list of specific topographies might" "form implies replication. When predicted behavioral effects omit some relevant members of the response class and/" "can be reproduced, principles of behavior are confirmed and or include irrelevant response topographies. For exam-" "­methods of practice developed. If applied behavior analysts ple, defining children’s offers to play with peers in terms" "employ ­definitions of behavior not available to other scientists, of specific things the children say and do might omit" " Chapter 3 • Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors 87" "" "Figure 3.10 Function-based definitions of various target behaviors." "" "Creativity In Children’s Blockbuilding" "The child behaviors of blockbuilding were defined according to their products, block forms." "The researchers created a list of 20 arbitrary, but frequently seen forms, including:" "Arch—any placement of a block atop two lower blocks not in contiguity." "Ramp—a block leaned against another, or a triangular block placed contiguous to" "another, to simulate a ramp." "Story—two or more blocks placed one atop another, the upper block(s) resting solely" "upon the lower." "Tower—any story of two or more blocks in which the lowest block is at least twice as" "tall as it is wide. (Goetz & Baer, 1973, pp. 210–211)." "" "Exercise by Obese Boys" "Riding a stationary bicycle—each wheel revolution constituted a response, which was auto-" "matically recorded by magnetic counters (DeLuca & Holborn, 1992, p. 672)." "Compliance at Stop Signs by Motorists" "Coming to a complete stop—observers scored a vehicle as coming to a complete stop if the" "tires stopped rolling prior to the vehicle entering the intersection (Van Houten & Retting," "2001, p. 187)." "Recycling by Office Employees" "Recycling office paper—number of pounds and ounces of recyclable office paper found in" "recycling and trash containers. All types of paper accepted as recyclable were identified as" "well as examples of nonrecyclable paper (Brothers, Krantz, & McClannahan, 1994, p. 155)." "Safety Skills to Prevent Gun Play by Children" "Touching the firearm—the child making contact with the firearm with any part of his or her" "body or with any object (e.g., a toy) resulting in the displacement of the firearm." "Leaving the area—the child removing himself or herself from the room in which the ­firearm was" "located within 10 seconds of seeing the firearm (Himle, Miltenberger, Flessner, & ­Gatheridge," "2004, p. 3)." "" "" "" "" "responses to which peers respond with reciprocal play or safety reasons. In such cases, a function-based definition" "and/or include behaviors that peers reject. by proxy can be considered. For example, the natural outcome" "• The outcome, or function, of behavior is most important. of elopement (i.e., running or walking away from a caregiver" "This holds true even for target behaviors for which form without consent) is a lost child. By defining elopement as “any" "or aesthetics is central to their being valued as socially movement away from the therapist more than 1.5 m without per-" "significant. For example, the flowing strokes of the cal- mission” (p. 240), Tarbox, Wallace, and Williams (2003) were" "ligrapher’s pen and the gymnast’s elegant movements able to measure and treat this socially significant target behavior" "during a floor routine are important (i.e., have been in a safe and meaningful manner." "selected) because of their effects or function on others" "(e.g., praise from the calligraphy teacher, high scores Topography-based Definitions" "from gymnastics judges)." "A topography-based definition identifies instances of the" "• Functional definitions are often simpler and more concise" "target behavior by the shape or form of the behavior. Topog-" "than topography-based definitions, which leads to easier" "raphy-based definitions should be used when the behavior" "and more accurate and reliable measurement and sets the" "analyst (a) does not have direct, reliable, or easy access to the" "occasion for the consistent application of intervention. For" "functional outcome of the target behavior and/or (b) cannot" "example, in their study on skill execution by college foot-" "rely on the function of the behavior because each instance of" "ball players, Ward and Carnes (2002) recorded a correct" "the target behavior does not produce the relevant outcome in" "tackle according to the clear and simple definition, “if the" "the natural environment or the outcome might be produced" "offensive ball carrier was stopped” (p. 3)." "by other events. For example, Silvestri (2004) defined and" "Function-based definitions can also be used in some sit- measured two classes of positive teacher statements accord-" "uations in which the behavior analyst does not have direct and ing to the words that made up the statements, not according" "reliable access to the natural outcome of the target behavior, or to whether the comments produced specific outcomes (see" "cannot use the natural outcome of the target behavior for ethical Figure 3.11)." " 88 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "Figure 3.11 Topography-based definitions for two types of teacher statements." "" "Generic Positive Statements" "Generic positive statements were defined as audible statements by the teacher that referred to one or more student’s" "behavior or work products as desirable or commendable (e.g., “I’m proud of you!”, “Great job, everyone.”). State-" "ments made to other adults in the room were recorded if they were loud enough to be heard by the students and" "made direct reference to student behavior or work products (e.g., “Aren’t you impressed at how quietly my students" "are working today?”). A series of positive comments that specified neither student names nor behaviors with less than 2" "seconds between comments was recorded as one statement. For example, if the teacher said, “Good, good, good. I’m so" "impressed” when reviewing three or four students’ work, it was recorded as one statement." "Teacher utterances not recorded as generic positive statements included (a) statements that referred to specific behavior" "or student names. (b) neutral statements indicating only that an academic response was correct (e.g., “Okay”, “Correct”)," "(c) positive statements not related to student behavior (e.g., saying “Thanks for dropping off my attendance forms” to a" "colleague), and (d) incomprehensible or inaudible statements." "Behavior-Specific Positive Statements" "Behavior-specific positive statements made explicit reference to an observable behavior (e.g., “Thank you for putting" "your pencil away”). Specific positive statements could refer to general classroom behavior (e.g., “You did a great job" "walking back to your seat quietly”) or academic performance (e.g., “That was a super smart answer!”). To be recorded" "as separate responses, specific positive statements were separated from one another by 2 seconds or by differentiation of" "the behavior praised. In other words, if a teacher named a desirable behavior and then listed multiple students who were" "demonstrating the behavior, this would be recorded as one statement (e.g., “Marissa, Tony, and Mark, you did a great job" "of returning your materials when you were finished with them”). However, a teacher’s positive comment noting several" "different behaviors would be recorded as multiple statements regardless of the Interval between the end of one comment" "and the start of the next. For example, “Jade, you did a great job cleaning up so quickly; Charles, thanks for putting the" "workbooks away; and class, I appreciate that you lined up quietly” would be recorded as three positive statements." "" "Adapted from The Effects of Self-Scoring on Teachers’ Positive Statements during Classroom Instruction (pp. 48–49) by S. M. Silvestri." "Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University. Used by permission." "" "" "" "" "Topography-based definitions can also be used for target behavior definition that are as valid and useful today as they" "behaviors for which the relevant outcome is sometimes pro- were when published more than 40 years ago:" "duced in the natural environment by undesirable variations of" "the response class. For example, because a duffer’s very poor 1. The definition should be objective, referring only to" "swing of a golf club sometimes produces a good outcome (i.e., observable characteristics of the behavior (and environ-" "the ball lands on the green), it is better to define a correct swing ment, if needed) or translating any inferential terms (such" "by the position and movement of the golf club and the golfer’s as “expressing hostile feelings,” “intended to help,” or" "feet, hips, head, and hands. “showing interest in”) into more objective ones." "A topography-based definition should encompass all 2. The definition should be clear in that it should be readable" "response forms that would typically produce the relevant and unambiguous so that experienced observers could" "outcome in the natural environment. Although topography read it and readily paraphrase it accurately." "provides an important element for defining target behaviors, 3. The definition should be complete, delineating the" "the applied behavior analyst must be especially careful not “boundaries” of what is to be included as an instance of" "to select target behaviors solely on the basis of topography the response and what is to be excluded, thereby directing" "(see Box 3.2). the observers in all situations that are likely to occur and" "leaving little to their judgment. (p. 169)" "Writing Target Behavior Definitions" "Stated succinctly, first, a good definition must be objec-" "A good definition of a target behavior provides an accu- tive, ensuring that specific instances of the defined target" "rate, complete, and concise description of the behavior to behavior are observed and recorded reliably. An objective" "be changed (and therefore measured). It also states what definition increases the likelihood of an accurate and believ-" "is not included in the behavioral definition. Asking aloud able evaluation of program effectiveness. Second, a clear defi-" "to be excused from the dinner table is an observable and nition is technological, meaning that it enables others to use" "measurable behavior that can be counted. By comparison, and replicate it (Baer et al., 1968). A clear definition therefore" "“exercising good manners” is not a description of any par- becomes operational for present and future purposes. Finally," "ticular behavior; it merely implies a general response class a complete definition discriminates between what is and what" "of polite and socially acceptable behaviors. Hawkins and is not an instance of the target behavior. A complete definition" "Dobes (1977) described three characteristics of a good target allows others to record an occurrence of a target behavior, but" " Chapter 3 • Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors 89" "" "" "BOX 3.2" "" "How Serious Are These Behavior Problems?" "Suppose you are a behavior analyst in a position to design and Appropriate answers to these questions cannot be found" "help implement an intervention to change the following four in topographical descriptions alone. The meaning and relative" "behaviors: importance of any operant behavior can be determined only in" "the context of the environmental antecedents and consequences" "1. A child repeatedly raises her arm, extending and retract-" "that define the behavior. Here is what each of the four people" "ing her fingers toward her palm in a gripping/releasing" "in the previous examples were actually doing:" "type of motion." "2. An adult with developmental disabilities pushes his hand 1. An infant learning to wave “bye-bye.”" "hard against his eye, making a fist and rubbing his eye 2. A man with allergies rubbing his eye to relieve the" "rapidly with his knuckles. itching." "3. Several times each day a high school student rhyth- 3. A student typing unpredictable text to increase her key-" "mically drums her fingers up and down, sometimes in boarding fluency and endurance." "bursts of 10 to 15 minutes in duration. 4. A massage therapist giving a relaxing, deep-muscle mas-" "4. A person repeatedly grabs at and squeezes another sage to a grateful and happy customer." "­person’s arms and legs so hard that the other person" "winces and says “Ouch!” Applied behavior analysts must remember that the" "meaning of any behavior is determined by its function, not its" "How much of a problem does the behavior pose for the form. Behaviors should not be targeted for change on the basis" "person or for others who share his or her current and future of topography alone." "environments? Would you rate each behavior as a mild, moder-" "ate, or serious problem? How important do you think it would" "be to target each of these behaviors for reduction or elimination" "from the repertoires of the four individuals? Note: Examples 1 and 2 are adapted from Meyer and Evans. 1989. p. 53." "" "" "" "" "not record instances of nonoccurrence, in a standard fashion. A behavior analysis programs are implemented because someone" "complete definition is a precise and concise description of the (e.g., teacher, parent, individual himself) has “complained” that" "behavior of interest. Note how the target behavior definitions a behavior needs to be changed. A behavioral definition has" "in Figures 3.10 and 3.11 meet the standard for being objective, validity in applied behavior analysis only if it enables observers" "clear, and complete. to capture every aspect of the behavior that the complainer is" "Morris (1985) suggested testing the definition of a target concerned with and none other. Thus, to be valid from an applied" "behavior by asking three questions: perspective, definitions of target behaviors should be situation" "specific. Attempts to standardize behavior definitions assume an" "1. Can you count the number of times that the behavior" "unlikely similarity across all situations." "occurs in, for example, a 15-minute period, a 1-hour" "period, or 1 day? Or, can you count the number of minutes" "that it takes for the child to perform the behavior? That SETTING CRITERIA FOR BEHAVIOR CHANGE" "is, can you tell someone that the behavior occurred “x”" "Target behaviors are selected for study in applied behavior" "number of times or “x” number of minutes today? (Your" "analysis because of their importance to the people involved." "answer should be “yes.”)" "Applied behavior analysts attempt to increase, maintain, and" "2. Will a stranger know exactly what to look for when you generalize adaptive, desirable behaviors and decrease the" "tell him or her the target behavior you are planning to mod- occurrence of maladaptive, undesirable behaviors. Behavior" "ify? That is, can you actually see the child performing the analysis efforts that not only target important behaviors but" "behavior when it occurs? (Your answer should be “yes.”) also change those behaviors in a positive and meaningful way" "3. Can you break down the target behavior into smaller are said to have social validity.8 But how much does a target" "behavioral components, each of which is more specific behavior need to change before it makes a meaningful differ-" "and observable than the original target behavior? (Your ence in the person’s life?" "answer should be “no.”) Van Houten (1979) made a case for specifying the desired" "outcome criteria before efforts to modify the target behavior" "In responding to the suggestion that perhaps a source-" "begin." "book of standard target behavior definitions be developed" "because it would increase the likelihood of exact replications This step [specifying outcome criteria] becomes as import-" "among applied researchers and would save the considerable ant as the previous step [selecting socially important target" "time spent in developing and testing situation-specific defini- behaviors] if one considers that for most behaviors there" "tions, Baer (1985) offered the following perspectives. Applied exists a range of responding within which performance is" " 90 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "most adaptive. When the limits of this range are unknown people judged to be highly competent and (b) experimentally" "for a particular behavior, it is possible to terminate treatment manipulate different levels of performance to determine empir-" "when performance is above or below these limits. Hence, the ically which produces optimal results." "behavior would not be occurring within its ­optimal range. . . . Regardless of the method used, specifying treatment" "In order to know when to initiate and terminate a goals before intervention begins provides a guideline for" "treatment, practitioners require socially validated standards continuing or terminating a treatment. Further, setting objec-" "for which they can aim. (pp. 582, 583) tive, predetermined goals helps to eliminate disagreements" "or biases among those involved in evaluating a program’s" "Van Houten (1979) suggested two basic approaches to" "effectiveness." "determining socially valid goals: (a) assess the performance of" "" "" "SUMMARY" "Role of Assessment in Applied Behavior Analysis 9. Direct observation with a behavior checklist that contains" "specific descriptions of various skills can indicate possible" "1. Behavioral assessment involves using indirect, direct, and" "target behaviors." "empirical methods to identify, define, and determine the" "function of target behaviors. 10. Anecdotal observation, also called ABC recording, yields" "a descriptive, temporally sequenced account of all behav-" "2. Behavioral assessment consists of five phases or" "iors of interest and the antecedent conditions and conse-" "functions: (a) screening, (b) defining and quantifying quences for those behaviors as those events occur in the" "problems or goals, (c) pinpointing the target client’s natural environment." "behavior(s) to be treated, (d) monitoring progress," "and (e) following up. 11. Ecological assessment entails gathering a large amount" "of information about the person and the environments in" "3. Before conducting a behavioral assessment, the which that person lives and works (e.g., physiological con-" "behavior analyst must determine whether she has the ditions, physical aspects of the environment, interactions" "authority and permission, resources, and skills to assess with others, past reinforcement history). A complete eco-" "and change the behavior. Past and current records logical assessment is neither necessary nor warranted for" "related to medical, educational, and historical events most applied behavior analysis programs." "should be examined and analyzed as part of a complete" "behavioral assessment. 12. Reactivity refers to the effects that an assessment pro-" "cedure has on the behavior being assessed. Behavior" "analysts should use assessment methods that are as" "Assessment Methods Used by Behavior Analysts unobtrusive as possible, repeat observations until appar-" "4. Subsumed under the three major methods for assess- ent reactive effects subside, and take possible reactive" "ment information—indirect, direct, and empirical—are effects into account when interpreting the results of" "(a) interviews, checklists/rating scales, (b) tests and observations." "direct observations, and (c) functional behavior analysis 13. Choose assessment methods that produce reliable and" "and reinforcer/punishment preference assessment meth- valid results, conduct assessments according to profes-" "ods, respectively. sional standards, and apply conservative analyses when" "interpreting results." "5. The client interview is used to determine the client’s" "description of problem behaviors or achievement goals." "Assessing the Social Significance of Potential" "What, when, and where questions are emphasized, focus-" "Target Behaviors" "ing on the actual behavior of the client and the responses" "of significant others to that behavior. 14. Target behaviors in applied behavior analysis must" "be socially significant behaviors that will increase a" "6. Questionnaires and needs assessment surveys are some-" "­person’s habilitation (adjustment, competence, and" "times completed by the client to supplement the informa-" "­quality of life)." "tion gathered in the interview." "15. The relative social significance and habilitative value of a" "7. Clients are sometimes asked to self-monitor certain situ- potential target behavior can be clarified by viewing it in" "ations or behaviors. Self-collected data may be useful in light of the following considerations:" "selecting and defining target behaviors." "• Will the behavior be reinforced in the person’s daily" "8. Significant others can also be interviewed to gather assess- life? The relevance of behavior rule requires that a tar-" "ment information and, in some cases, to find out whether get behavior produce reinforcement for the person in the" "they will be willing and able to assist in an intervention. postintervention environment." " Chapter 3 • Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors 91" "" "• Is the behavior a necessary prerequisite for a useful ­ embers, staff, and administration in identifying and" "m" "skill? ­prioritizing target behaviors can help reduce goal" "• Will the behavior increase the person’s access to envi- conflicts." "ronments in which other important behaviors can be" "learned or used? Defining Target Behaviors" "• Will the behavior predispose others to interact with" "18. Explicit, well-written target behavior definitions are nec-" "the person in a more appropriate and supportive" "essary for researchers to accurately and reliably measure" "manner?" "the same response classes within and across studies or to" "• Is the behavior a cusp or pivotal behavior? Behavioral aggregate, compare, and interpret their data." "cusps have sudden and dramatic consequences that extend" "well beyond the idiosyncratic change itself because they 19. Good target behaviors definitions are necessary for prac-" "expose the person to new environments, reinforcers, con- titioners to collect accurate and believable data to guide" "tingencies, responses, and stimulus controls. Learning a ongoing program decisions, apply procedures consis-" "pivotal behavior produces corresponding modifications or tently, and provide accountability to clients, parents, and" "covariations in other untrained behaviors. administrators." "• Is the behavior age appropriate? 20. Function-based definitions designate responses as mem-" "• Whenever a behavior is targeted for reduction or elim- bers of the targeted response class solely by their common" "ination, a desirable, adaptive behavior must be selected effect on the environment." "to replace it." "21. Topography-based definitions define instances of the tar-" "• Does the behavior represent the actual problem or geted response class behavior by the shape or form of the" "achievement goal, or is it only indirectly related? behavior." "• A person’s verbal behavior should not be confused" "22. A good definition must be objective, clear, and complete," "with the actual behavior of interest. However, in" "and must discriminate between what is and what is not an" "some situations the client’s verbal behavior should" "instance of the target behavior." "be selected as the target behavior because it is the" "behavior of interest. 23. A target behavior definition is valid if it enables observers" "• If a person’s goal is not a specific behavior, a target to capture every aspect of the behavior that the “com-" "behavior(s) must be selected that will produce the plainer” is concerned with and none other." "desired results or state." "Setting Criteria for Behavior Change" "Prioritizing Target Behaviors" "24. A behavior change has social validity if it changes some" "16. Assessment often reveals more than one possible behavior aspect of the person’s life in an important way." "or skill area for targeting. Prioritization can be accom-" "plished by rating potential target behavior against key 25. Outcome criteria specifying the extent of behavior change" "questions related to their relative danger, frequency, desired or needed should be determined before efforts to" "long-standing existence, potential for reinforcement, rele- modify the target behavior begin." "vance for future skill development and independent func-" "26. Two approaches to determining socially validated perfor-" "tioning, reduced negative attention from others, likelihood" "mance criteria are (a) assessing the performance of people" "of success, and cost." "judged to be highly competent and (b) experimentally" "17. Participation by the person whose behavior is to manipulating different levels of performance to determine" "be changed, parents and/or other important family which produces optimal results." "" "" "" "" "KEY TERMS" "ABC recording ecological assessment reactivity" "anecdotal observation function-based definition relevance of behavior rule" "behavior checklist habilitation social validity" "behavioral assessment normalization target behavior" "behavioral cusp pivotal behavior topography-based definition" " 92 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "" "MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS" "1. All of the following are assessment methods used in 7. The ________ of behavior rule states that a target" "applied behavior analysis except: behavior should only be selected when it can be" "a. Direct observation determined that the behavior will produce natural" "reinforcement." "b. Interview" "a. Functionality" "c. Medical evaluations" "b. Validity" "d. Checklists" "c. Relevance" "Hint: (See “Role of Assessment in Applied Behavior" "Analysis”) d. Importance" "Hint: (See “Will This Behavior Likely to Produce" "2. Behavior assessment seeks to determine the ______ of a" "Reinforcement in the Client’s Natural Environment" "behavior." "after Treatment Ends?”)" "a. Function" "8. The principle of ________ determines the degree to which" "b. Replacement" "a person’s behavior repertoire maximizes short and long-" "c. Importance term reinforcers for that individual and for others, and" "d. Structure minimizes short and long-term punishers." "Hint: (See “Role of Assessment in Applied Behavior a. Normalization" "Analysis”) b. Habilitation" "3. All of the following are competencies of a behavior c. Functionality" "­analyst except: d. Justification" "a. Knowledge of socially important behavior Hint: (See “Assessing the Social Significance of Potential" "b. Technical skills Target Behaviors”)" "c. Ability to conduct statistical analyses of data 9. Behavior that exposes an individual to new contingencies," "d. Ability to match assessment data with intervention reinforcers, and stimulus controls is called:" "strategies a. Pivotal behavior" "Hint: (See “Phases of Behavioral Assessment”) b. Access behavior" "4. Potential target behaviors should not be selected if the c. Behavior cusp" "p­ rimary reason for selection is the: d. Contingent behavior" "a. Benefit of others Hint: (See “Is This Behavior a Behavioral Cusp or a ­Pivotal" "b. Safety of the person Behavior?”)" "c. Safety of family members 10. When a problem behavior has been targeted for reduction" "d. Potential to increase independence or elimination, the behavior analyst must always include" "Hint: (See “Assessing the Social Significance of Potential a(n) ________ in the intervention plan." "Target Behaviors”) a. Replacement behavior" "5. Interview questions should avoid “why” questions because b. Appropriate response" "these tend to encourage _______ explanations of behavior. c. Pivotal behavior" "a. Defensive d. Performance criterion" "b. Mentalistic Hint: (See “If the Proposed Target Behavior is to be" "c. Lengthy Reduced or Eliminated, What Adaptive Behavior Will" "Replace It?”)" "d. Direct" "Hint: (See “Interviewing the Client”) 11. Juan is a six-year-old boy with a developmental disability" "who attends an integrated kindergarten class. Assessments" "6. A descriptive and temporally sequenced account of behavior have identified four target behaviors. Which behavior" "in the natural environment is called a(n): should be the first target for intervention?" "a. Anecdotal observation a. Flicking his fingers in front of his eyes" "b. Behavioral assessment b. Bolting from the playground" "c. Ecological assessment c. Toilet training" "d. Real time observation d. Humming loudly during group activities" "Hint: (See “Direct Observations”) Hint: (See “Prioritizing Target Behaviors”)" " Chapter 3 • Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors 93" "" "12. In determining the likelihood of success in changing a c. Topography-based" "behavior, all of the following should be considered except: d. Ecological" "a. Research on changing this behavior Hint: (See “Defining Target Behaviors”)" "b. Experience of the behavior analyst" "15. A behaviors has ________ if it changes some aspect of the" "c. Social validity of the behavior person’s life in an important way." "d. Available resources a. Social validity" "Hint: (See “Prioritizing Target Behaviors”) b. Functional application" "13. Explicit behavior definitions are important in research of c. Observable benefit" "applied behavior analysis for all of the following except: d. Normalized outcomes" "a. Replication by other scientists Hint: (See “Setting Criteria for Behavior Change”)" "b. Accurate and reliable measurement of behavior" "16. Outcome criteria should be established before intervention" "c. Comparison of data across studies commences for all of the following reasons except:" "d. Agreement between assessment and intervention data a. To establish the target performance level" "Hint: (See “Defining Target Behaviors”) b. To know when to terminate intervention" "14. A(n) ________ definition designates responses in terms of c. To ensure accurate data collection" "their effect on the environment. d. To ensure agreement on outcomes among" "a. Observable stakeholders" "b. Function-based Hint: (See “Setting Criteria for Behavior Change”)" "" "" "ESSAY-TYPE QUESTIONS" "1. How does behavioral assessment differ from educational 5. Describe the relevance of behavior rule and briefly explain" "or psychological assessment? how it can be used to identify socially significant behavior." "Hint: (See “Role of Assessment in Applied Behavior Hint: (See “Habilitation Defined”)" "Analysis”)" "6. What is the first question to ask when prioritizing potential" "2. Describe one of the competencies of an applied behavior target behaviors and why should it be asked first?" "analyst. Hint: (See “Prioritizing Target Behaviors”)" "Hint: (See “Phases of Behavioral Assessment”)" "7. Explain one research benefit of explicit, well-written defi-" "3. Describe one of the four major assessment methods nitions in applied behavior analysis." "used in behavior analysis. Hint: (See “Defining Target Behaviors”)" "Hint: (See “Assessment Methods Used by Behavior" "8. What are two features of a function-based behavior definition?" "Analysts”)" "Hint: (See “Two Types of Target Behavior Definitions”)" "4. Identify one reason social validity has become a major" "focus of applied behavior analysis. 9. Describe one benefit to setting the criteria for behavior" "change prior to initiating intervention." "Hint: (See “Assessing the Social Significance of Potential" "Target Behavior”) Hint: (See “Setting Criteria for Behavior Change”)" "" "" "NOTES" "1. Problem behaviors can be assessed empirically using a three-step process called 6. A target behavior’s indirect benefit as a necessary prerequisite for another" "functional behavior assessment that is designed to identify and systematically important behavior should not be confused with indirect teaching. Indirect" "manipulate antecedents and/or consequences that may control the occurrence teaching involves selecting a target behavior different from the true pur-" "of the problem behavior(s). Chapter 27 describes this process in detail. pose of the behavior because of a belief that they are related (e.g., having" "2. Chapter 31, “Ethical and Professional Responsibilities of Applied Behavior a student with poor reading skills practice shape discrimination or balance" "Analysts,” examines this important issue in detail. beam walking). The importance of directness in target behavior selection" "3. Behavior analysts use other forms of assessment to guide the design of effec- is discussed later in this section." "tive interventions. Those assessment methods are described elsewhere in this 7. Procedures for measuring behavior accurately and reliably are discussed in" "text: preference assessment and reinforcer assessment (Chapter 11), punisher Chapter 4." "assessment (Chapter 14), and functional behavior assessment (Chapter 27). 8. A third component of social validity concerns the social acceptability of the" "4. ABC recording is discussed further in Chapter 27, “Functional Behavior procedures used to change the behavior. Chapter 10 describes procedures" "Assessment.” for assessing the social validity of behavior change." "5. Reactive effects of assessment are not necessarily negative. Self-monitoring" "has become as much a treatment procedure as it is an assessment procedure;" "see Chapter 29." " CHAPTER 4" "Measuring Behavior" "" "" "LEARNING OBJECTIVES" "• Describe the functions of measurement in applied behavior analysis." "• Identify the measurable dimensions of behavior." "• Describe the different procedures for measuring behavior." "• State the advantages and disadvantages of using continuous measurement procedures and" "sampling procedures." "• Explain the procedure for measuring behavior by permanent products." "• Explain computer-assisted measurement of behavior." "• Select the appropriate measurement procedure given the dimensions of the behavior and" "the logistics of observing and recording." "" "" "" "" "When I awoke this morning, I looked at the clock to see environment, it is the foundation of all activity in applied" "how many hours I slept. (Do I stay in bed or get up? I behavior analysis." "got up.) I showered, shaved, brushed my teeth, and then" "stepped onto the bathroom scale to check my weight." "(Did I weigh the same, less, or more than yesterday? I" "" "" "" "M" "gained two pounds.) I started thinking about how much easurement provides the basis for all scientific" "we humans use measurement in our everyday activities, ­discoveries and for the development and success-" "and for the most part we are completely oblivious of the ful application of technologies derived from those" "behavioral measurement. ­discoveries. Direct and frequent measurement constitutes the" "For breakfast I made coffee (4 scoops of coffee, with foundation for applied behavior analysis. Applied behavior" "4½ cups of water) and placed an English muffin in the analysts use measurement to detect and compare the effects of" "toaster (set the toaster to the correct temperature for toast- various environmental arrangements on the acquisition, mainte-" "ing the muffin). I had breakfast and then I was off to the nance, and generalization of socially significant behaviors." "community rec center for morning exercise. What is it about behavior that applied behavior analysts" "I got in the car, and the speedometer told me how can and should measure? How should those measures be" "many miles per hour I was driving. (I stayed within the obtained? And, what should we do with these measures once we" "speed limit.) The gas gauge told me how much gas was in have obtained them? This chapter identifies the dimensions by" "the tank. (Enough to drive to the rec center, return home, which behavior can be measured and describes the measurement" "and then some.) methods behavior analysts commonly use. First, we examine the" "At the rec center, I observed people walking or run- definition and functions of measurement in applied behavior" "ning on the track. One walker recorded the number of laps analysis." "on a hand-held tally counter, a runner glanced at the clock" "after each lap, and several walkers and runners wore digital" "step counters on their wrists. In other places in the rec cen- DEFINITION AND FUNCTIONS" "ter, people counted and recorded the number of repetitions" "OF MEASUREMENT IN APPLIED" "they completed with free weights and strength-building" "BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS" "machines." "And on and on it goes throughout the day. Mea- Measurement is the process of applying quantitative labels" "surement makes up a large portion of our everyday lives. to describe and differentiate objects and natural events. “[It]" "It greatly improves the quality of our interaction with our involves attaching a number representing the observed extent" "environment. Just as measurement is so important in our of a dimensional quantity to an appropriate unit. The number" "" "" "94" " Chapter 4 • Measuring Behavior 95" "" "and the unit together constitute the measure of the object or of virtually everything that has been discovered about the" "event” (Johnston & Pennypacker, 1993a, p. 95). Measurement effects of the environment on behavior. The empirical data-" "in applied behavior analysis entails three steps: (a) identifying bases of the basic and applied branches of behavior analysis" "the behavior to be measured, (b) defining the behavior in consist of organized collections of behavioral measurements." "observable terms, and (c) selecting an appropriate observation Virtually every graph in the Journal of Applied Behavior Anal-" "and data-recording method (Gast, 2014). Chapter 3 covered ysis and Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior" "selecting and defining target behavior; this chapter details displays an ongoing record or summary of behavioral mea-" "measurement methods. surement. In short, measurement provides the very basis for" "Bloom, Fischer, and Orme (2003)—who described learning and talking about behavior in scientifically mean-" "measurement as the act or process of applying quantitative or ingful ways.1" "qualitative labels to events, phenomena, or observed properties" "using a standard set of consensus-based rules by which to Practitioners Need Measurement" "apply labels to those occurrences—pointed out that the concept Behavioral practitioners are dedicated to improving their clients’" "of measurement includes the characteristics of what is being lives by changing socially significant behaviors. Practitioners" "measured, the quality and appropriateness of the measurement measure behavior initially to determine the current level of a" "tools, the technical skill of the measurer, and how the measures target behavior and whether that level merits intervention. If" "obtained are used. In the end, measurement gives researchers, intervention is warranted, the practitioner measures the extent to" "practitioners, and consumers a common means for describing and which his efforts are successful. Practitioners measure behavior" "comparing behavior with a set of labels that convey a common to find out whether and when it has changed; the extent and" "meaning. duration of behavior changes; the variability or stability of" "behavior before, during, and after treatment; and whether" "Researchers Need Measurement important behavior changes have occurred in other settings or" "situations and spread to other behaviors." "Dr. Watson: “What do you imagine that means?”" "Frequent measures of behavior during treatment" "Sherlock Holmes: “I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake" "­( formative assessment) enable dynamic, data-based deci-" "to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist" "sion making ­concerning the continuation, modification, or" "facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”" "termination of treatment. Practitioners also compare mea-" "—from A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle" "surements of the target behavior before and after treatment" "Measurement is how scientists operationalize empiricism. (sometimes including pre- and post-treatment measures" "Objective measurement enables (indeed, it requires) scientists obtained in nontreatment settings or situations) to evaluate" "to describe the phenomena they observe in precise, consistent, the overall effects of behavior change programs (summative" "and publicly verifiable ways. Without measurement, all three evaluation)." "levels of scientific knowledge—description, prediction, and The practitioner who does not obtain and attend to frequent" "­control—would be relegated to guesswork subject to the “indi- measures of the target behavior is vulnerable to committing" "vidual prejudices, tastes, and private opinions of the scientist” ­mistakes: (a) continuing an ineffective treatment when no real" "(Zuriff, 1985, p. 9). We would live in a world in which the behavior change has occurred or (b) discontinuing an effective" "alchemist’s suppositions about a life-prolonging elixir would treatment because subjective judgment detects no improvement" "prevail over the chemist’s formulated compounds derived from (e.g., without measurement, a teacher would be unlikely to" "experimentation. know that a student’s oral reading rate has increased from 70 to" "Behavior analysts measure behavior to answer questions 80 words per minute). Direct and frequent measurement enables" "about the existence and nature of functional relations between practitioners to detect their successes and, equally important," "socially significant behavior and environmental variables. their failures so they can make changes to transform failure into" "Measurement enables comparisons of a person’s behavior success (Bushell & Baer, 1994; Greenwood & Maheady, 1997;" "within and between different environmental conditions, Gast, 2014)." "thereby affording the possibility of drawing empirically based Our technology of behavior change is also a tech­" "conclusions about the effects of those conditions on behavior. nology of behavior measurement and of experimental" "For example, Dunlap and colleagues (1994) measured students’ design; it developed as that package, and as long as" "task engagement and disruptive behaviors during choice and it stays in that package, it is a self-evaluating enter-" "no-choice conditions. Measurement revealed the level of both prise. Its successes are successes of known magnitude;" "target behaviors during each condition, whether and how its ­failures are almost immediately detected as ­failures;" "much the behaviors changed when choice was introduced or and ­whatever its ­outcomes, they are attributable to" "withdrawn, and how variable or stable the behaviors were during known inputs and ­procedures rather than to chance" "each condition. events or coincidences. (D. M. Baer, October 21, 1982)" "The researcher’s ability to achieve a scientific under-" "standing of behavior change depends on her ability to measure In addition to enabling ongoing program monitoring" "it. Measurement makes possible the detection and verification and data-based decision making, frequent measurement" " 96 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "provides other important benefits to practitioners and the cli- Miller (2005) argued that practitioners would be better" "ents they serve: served by casting aside pseudo-educational theories and" "philosophies and adopting a scientific approach. Practi-" "• Measurement helps practitioners optimize their effec- tioners who directly and frequently measure the effects" "tiveness. To be optimally effective, a practitioner must of their intervention and treatment programs have empir-" "maximize behavior change efficiency in terms of time ical support to defend against political or social pressures" "and resources. Only by maintaining close, continual con- to adopt unproven treatments. In a real sense they arm" "tact with relevant outcome data can a practitioner hope to themselves with what Carl Sagan (1996) called a “baloney" "achieve optimal effectiveness and efficiency (Bushell & detection kit.”" "Baer, 1994). Commenting on the critical role of direct and • Measurement helps practitioners be accountable to cli-" "frequent measurement in maximizing the effectiveness ents, consumers, employers, and society. Practitioners" "of classroom practice, Sidman (2000) noted that teach- should use direct and frequent measurement of behavior" "ers “must remain attuned to the pupil’s messages and be to answer parent and caregiver questions about the devel-" "ready to try and to evaluate modifications [in instructional opment of their children or clients." "methods]. Teaching, then, is not just a matter of changing • Measurement helps practitioners achieve ethical standards." "the behavior of pupils; it is an interactive social process” Ethical codes of conduct for behavior analytic practitioners" "(p. 23, words in brackets added). Direct and frequent mea- require direct and frequent measurement of client behavior" "surement is the process by which practitioners hear their (Behavior Analyst Certification Board, 2018; Chapter 31 this" "clients’ messages. text). Determining whether a client’s right to effective treat-" "• Measurement enables practitioners to verify the legit- ment is being honored requires measurement of the behav-" "imacy of treatments touted as “evidence based.” Prac- ior(s) for which treatment was sought or intended. Failing to" "titioners are increasingly expected, and in some fields measure the nature and extent of relevant behavior changes" "mandated by law, to use evidence-based interventions. of clients borders on malpractice. Kauffman (2005) offered" "An evidence-based practice is a treatment or intervention this perspective on the relationship between measurement" "that has been shown to be effective by a substantial body and ethical practice in education:" "of high-quality, peer-reviewed scientific research. When" "implementing any treatment, regardless of the type or [T]he teacher who cannot or will not pinpoint and measure" "amount of research evidence to support it, practitioners the relevant behaviors of the students he or she is teach-" "can and should verify its effectiveness with the students ing is probably not going to be very effective. . . . Not to" "or clients they serve by direct and frequent measurement. define precisely and to measure these behavioral excesses" "• Measurement helps practitioners identify and ­terminate and deficiencies, then, is a fundamental error; it is akin" "treatments based on pseudoscience, fad, fashion, or to the malpractice of a nurse who decides not to measure" "ideology. Many controversial treatments and proposed vital signs (heart rate, respiration rate, temperature, and" "cures for ­people with developmental disabilities and blood pressure), perhaps arguing that he or she is too" "autism (e.g., ­facilitated communication, holding therapy, busy, that subjective estimates of vital signs are quite" "megadoses of vitamins, strange diets, weighted vests, adequate, that vital signs are only superficial estimates" "dolphin-­assisted therapy) have been promoted in the of the patient’s health, or that vital signs do not signify" "absence of sound s­cientific evidence of effectiveness the nature of the underlying pathology. The teaching" "(Foxx & Mulick, 2016). The use of so-called breakthrough profession is dedicated to the task of changing behavior—­" "therapies has led to d­ isappointment and loss of precious changing behavior demonstrably for the better. What can" "instructional or ­therapeutic time and, in some cases, to one say, then, of educational practice that does not include" "disastrous consequences (Maurice, 1993; Todd, 2012). precise definition and reliable measurement of the behav-" "Even though w ­ ell-­controlled studies have shown many ioral change induced by the teacher’s methodology? It is" "of these ­methods to be ineffective, and even though ­indefensible. (p. 439)" "these programs are not justified because they lacked" "sound scientific evidence of effects, risks, and benefits," "MEASURABLE DIMENSIONS OF BEHAVIOR" "­parents and practitioners are still bombarded with sincere" "and well-­meaning testimonials. Measurement is the If a friend asked you to measure a coffee table, you would prob-" "practitioner’s best ally in the quest to find and verify ably ask why he wants the table measured. In other words, what" "effective treatments, and to root out those whose strongest does he want measurement to tell him about the table? Does" "support consists of ­testimonials and slick Internet ads. he need to know its height, width, and depth? Does he want to" "Practitioners should ­m aintain a healthy skepticism know how much the table weighs? Perhaps he is interested in" "regarding claims for effectiveness. See Box 31.5 for the color of the table? Each of these reasons for measuring the" "further discussion on this topic. table requires measuring a different dimensional quantity of the" "Using Plato’s Allegory of the Cave as a metaphor table (e.g., length, mass, light reflection)." "for teachers and other practitioners who use untested and Behavior, like coffee tables and all entities in the physical" "pseudo-­instructional ideas, Heron, Tincani, Peterson, and world, also has features that can be measured. Because behavior" " Chapter 4 • Measuring Behavior 97" "" "occurs within and across time, it has three fundamental and Rate is defined as the number of responses per unit of" "measurable dimensional quantities. Johnston and Pennypacker time.2 A rate measure is a ratio consisting of the dimensional" "(2009) described these dimensional quantities as: quantity of count (number of responses) and time (observation" "period in which the count was obtained). Converting count" "• Repeatability (also called countability): Instances of a" "to rate of response makes measurement more meaningful. For" "behavior can occur repeatedly through time (i.e., behavior" "example, k­ nowing that Yumi read 95 words correctly and 4 words" "can be counted)." "­incorrectly in 1 ­minute, that Lee wrote 250 words in 10 minutes," "• Temporal extent: Every instance of behavior occurs" "and that Joan’s s­ elf-­injurious behavior occurred 17 times in 1 hour" "during some amount of time (i.e., the duration of behavior" "provides important ­information and context. Expressing the" "can be measured)." "­previously reported counts of Katie’s performance in math class" "• Temporal locus: Every instance of behavior occurs at" "as rate reveals that she correctly answered long division problems" "a certain point in time with respect to other events (i.e.," "at rates of 1.0, 0.5, and 0.25 per minute over three consecutive" "when behavior occurs can be measured)." "class periods." "Figure 4.1 shows a schematic representation of repeat- Rate is often reported as a count per 30 seconds, count per" "ability, temporal extent, and temporal locus. Alone and in com- minute, count per hour, count per day—or occasionally, count" "bination, these dimensional quantities provide the basic and per week, count per month, or count per year. As long as the" "derivative measures used by applied behavior analysts. In the unit of time is standard within or across experiments, rate mea-" "following pages these and two other measurable dimensions of sures can be compared. For example, a student who, over four" "behavior—its form and strength—will be discussed. daily class activities of different durations, had 12 talk-outs in" "20 minutes, 8 talk-outs in 12 minutes, 9 talk-outs in 15 minutes," "Measures Based on Repeatability and 12 talk-outs in 18 minutes had response rates of 0.60, 0.67," "0.60, and 0.67 per minute." "Count" "The six rules and guidelines that follow will help research-" "Count is a simple tally of the number of occurrences of a behav- ers and practitioners obtain, describe, and interpret count and" "ior. Although how often a behavior occurs is often of primary rate data most appropriately." "interest, measures of count alone may not provide enough" "information to allow behavior analysts to make useful program Reference the Counting Time. Behavior analysts use two" "decisions or analyses. For example, data showing that Katie methods to calculate rate of response: (a) total observation time" "wrote correct answers to 5, 10, and 15 long division problems and (b) total interresponse time (IRT) (Johnston & Pennypacker," "over three consecutive math class periods suggests improving 2009). Applied behavior analysts most often use the total obser-" "performance. However, if the three measures of count were vation time to calculate rate. To calculate total IRT, the analysts" "obtained in observation periods of 5 minutes, 20 minutes, and first measure the IRT for each response (i.e., the amount of time" "60 ­minutes, respectively, a much different interpretation of that elapses between two consecutive instances of a behavior)" "Katie’s performance is suggested. Therefore, the observation and then calculate the sum of the IRTs. (See the section on IRT" "period, or c­ ounting time, should always be noted when reporting later in this chapter.)" "measures of count. When using rate of response, behavior analysts must" "include the duration of the observation time. Comparing rate" "Rate measures without reference to the counting time can lead to" "Combining count and observation time yields rate, one of the faulty interpretations of data. Consider, for example, that Sally" "most widely used measures in behavior analysis. Skinner (1953) and Lillian each ran at a rate of 7 minutes per mile. We cannot" "considered rate of response the basic measurement for behav- compare their performances without reference to the distances" "ioral research. He invented the cumulative recorder, a device they ran. Running 1 mile at a rate of 7 minutes per mile is a" "that automatically produced a graphic record of operant response different class of behavior than running a marathon (26.2 miles)" "rates by his experimental subjects (see Figure 1.1). at a rate of 7 minutes per mile." "" "" "S1 S2 Figure 4.1 Schematic representation of the" "L ­dimensional quantities of repeatability, temporal" "R1 R2 L R4" "extent, and temporal locus. Repeatability is shown by" "Time a count of four instances of a given response class" "R3 (R1, R2, R3, and R4) within the observation period." "The temporal extent (i.e., duration) of each response" "is represented by the raised and shaded portions" "of the time line. One aspect of the ­temporal locus" "(response latency) of two responses (R2 and R4) is" "­represented by the elapsed time 1 d L S 2 between" "the onset of two antecedent stimulus events (S1 and" "S2) and the initiation of the responses that follow." " 98 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "The counting time used for each session needs to accom- Helwig (1973) used the number of operations needed to pro-" "pany each rate measure when the counting time changes from duce the answers to mathematics problems to calculate response" "session to session. For instance, rather than having a set counting rates. Each session, students were given 20 multiplication and" "time to answer arithmetic facts (e.g., a 1-minute timing), the division problems selected at random from a set of 120 prob-" "teacher records the total time required for the student to com- lems. The teacher recorded the duration of time for each session." "plete an assigned set of arithmetic problems during each class All the problems were of two types: a * b = c and a , b = c." "session. In this situation, the teacher could report the student’s For each problem, the students were asked to find one of the" "correct and incorrect answers per minute for each session, and factors: the product, the dividend, the divisor, or the quotient." "also report the counting times for each session because they Depending on the problem, finding the missing factor required" "changed from session to session. from one to five operations. For example, writing the answer 275" "in response to the problem 55 * 5 = ? would be scored as four" "Calculate Correct and Incorrect Rates of Response When correct responses because finding the missing factor requires" "Assessing Skill Development. When a participant has an four operations:" "opportunity to make correct and incorrect responses, a rate of" "1. Multiply the ones: 5 * 5 = 25." "response for each behavior should be reported. Calculating rates" "of correct and incorrect responses is crucial for evaluating skill 2. Record the 5 ones and carry the 2 tens." "development because knowing only the correct rate does not 3. Multiply the tens: 5 * 5102 = 25102." "allow the behavior analyst or participant to assess an improving 4. Add the 2 tens carried and record the sum (27)." "performance. The rate of correct responses alone could show an" "improving performance, but if the rate of incorrect responding If multiple ways to find the answer were possible, the" "is also increasing, the improvement may be illusionary. mean number of operations was counted. For example, the" "Correct and incorrect rate measures together provide important answer to the problem 4 * ? = 164 can be obtained by two" "information to help the teacher evaluate how well the student operations with multiplication and by four operations with divi-" "is progressing. Ideally, the correct response rate accelerates sion. The mean number of operations is three. Helwig counted" "toward a performance criterion, while the incorrect response the number of operations completed correctly and incorrectly" "rate decelerates to a performance criterion. Also, reporting rate per set of 20 problems and reported correct and incorrect rates" "correct and rate incorrect enables an assessment of proportional of response." "accuracy while maintaining the dimensional quantities of the" "measurement (e.g., 20 correct and 5 incorrect responses per Use Rate to Measure Free Operants. Rate of response is a" "minute = 80% accuracy, or a multiple of *4 proportional useful measure for all behaviors characterized as free oper-" "accuracy). ants. The term free operant refers to behaviors that have" "Correct and incorrect response rates provide essential data discrete onsets and offsets, do not depend on discriminative" "for assessing fluent performance (i.e., proficiency) (Kubina, 2005). stimuli, involve minimal displacement of the organism in time" "The assessment of fluency requires measuring the number of and space (upon completion of one response, the organism is" "­correct and incorrect responses per unit of time (i.e., proportional immediately ready to emit another response in the class), and" "accuracy). Fluency cannot be evaluated using correct rate only can be emitted over a wide range of response rates. Skinner" "because fluent performance must be accurate also. (1966) used rate of response of free operants as the primary" "dependent variable when developing the experimental analysis" "Consider the Varied Complexity of Responses. Rate of of behavior. The bar press by rats and key peck by pigeons" "responding is a sensitive and appropriate measure of skill acqui- are typical free operant responses used in nonhuman animal" "sition and the development of fluent performances only when laboratory studies. Many socially significant behaviors meet" "the level of difficulty and complexity from one response to the the definition of free o­ perants: words read during a 1-minute" "next remains constant within and across observations. The rates counting period, head slaps per minute, letter strokes written" "of response previously discussed have been with whole units in in 3 minutes." "which the response requirements are essentially the same from Rate of response is a preferred measurement for free" "one response to the next. Many important behaviors, however, operants because it is sensitive to changes in behavior values" "are composites of two or more component behaviors, and differ- (e.g., oral reading may occur at rates ranging from 0 to 250 or" "ent situations call for varied sequences or combinations of the more correct words per minute) and because it offers clarity and" "component behaviors. ­precision by defining a count per unit of time." "One method for measuring rate of responding that takes" "varied complexity into account for multiple-component behav- Do Not Use Rate to Measure Behaviors That Occur Within" "iors is to count the operations required to achieve a correct Discrete Trials. Rate of response is an inappropriate measure" "response. For example, in measuring students’ math calcula- for behaviors that can occur only within limited or restricted" "tion performance, instead of counting answers to a two-digit situations. For example, response rates of behaviors that occur" "plus three-digit addition problem with regrouping as correct or within discrete trials are controlled by a given opportunity to" "incorrect, a behavior analyst might consider the number of steps emit the response. Typical discrete trials used in nonhuman ani-" "that were completed in correct sequence within each problem. mal laboratory studies include moving from one end of a maze" " Chapter 4 • Measuring Behavior 99" "" "or shuttle box to another. Applied examples of discrete trials as a child with developmental disabilities who has tantrums for" "include responding to teacher-presented flash cards; answering more than an hour at a time, or a student who sticks with an" "a question prompted by the teacher; and, when presented with academic task for no more than 30 seconds." "a sample color, pointing to a color from an array of three colors Duration is also an appropriate measure for behaviors that" "that matches the sample color. In each of these examples, rate occur at very high rates (e.g., rocking, rapid jerks of the head," "of response is controlled by the presentation of a discriminative hands, legs) or task-oriented continuous behaviors that occur" "stimulus. Because behaviors that occur within discrete trials are for an extended time (e.g., cooperative play, on-task behavior," "opportunity bound, measures such as percentage of response off-task behavior)." "opportunities in which a response was emitted or trials-to-­ Behavioral researchers and practitioners commonly" "criterion should be used. measure one or both of two kinds of duration measures: total" "duration per session or observation period and duration per" "Do Not Use Rate to Measure Continuous Behaviors That occurrence." "Occur for Extended Periods. Rate is also a poor measure" "for continuous behaviors that occur for extended periods, Total Duration per Session. Total duration is a measure of the" "such as participating in a playground game or being on task cumulative time a person engages in the target behavior. Applied" "during a classroom activity. Such behaviors are best measured behavior analysts use two procedures to measure and report total" "by whether they are “on” or “off” at any given time, yielding duration. One method involves recording the cumulative amount" "data on duration or estimates of duration obtained by interval of time a target behavior occurs during an observation period." "recording. An observer measuring the total time a child engages in solitary" "play during free-play periods activates a stopwatch when the" "Celeration child begins to play alone. The moment solitary play ceases," "Just like a car that goes faster when the driver presses the gas the observer stops the stopwatch but does not reset it. When" "pedal and slows down when the driver releases the pedal or the child drifts into solitary play again, the observer restarts the" "steps on the brake, rates of response accelerate and decelerate. stopwatch. The observer continues to start and stop the stop-" "Celeration, the root word of acceleration and deceleration, watch, matching the child’s starting and ending bouts of solitary" "is a measure of how rates of response change over time. Rate play. If the duration of the observation periods remains constant" "accelerates when a participant responds faster over successive (e.g., 10 minutes), total duration per session data can be reported" "counting periods and decelerates when responding slows over in standard units of time (e.g., 6 min and 30 sec of free play)." "successive observations. Applied behavior analysts should use If the duration of observation periods varies, total duration per" "the terms acceleration or deceleration when describing increas- session data must be converted to a percentage of total time" "ing or decreasing rates of response. observed (e.g., 6 min and 30 sec of solitary play in a 10-min" "Celeration is a measure of count per unit time/per unit of session = 65%)." "time; or expressed another way, rate/per unit of time (Graf & Zhou, Iwata, Goff, and Shore (2001) used total duration" "Lindsley, 2002; Kubina, 2005). Celeration—changes in rate—is measurement to assess leisure-item preferences of people with" "a direct measure of dynamic patterns of behavior change, such profound developmental disabilities. They used a stopwatch to" "as transitions from one steady state of responding to another and record physical engagement with an item (i.e., contact between" "the acquisition of fluent levels of performance (Cooper, 2005). both hands and the item) during 2-minute trials. They reported" "The Standard Celeration Chart provides a standard format for total contact in seconds by summing the duration values across" "displaying measures of celeration. There are four Standard three 2-minute trials of each assessment. McCord, Iwata, Galen-" "­Celeration Charts, showing rate as count (a) per day, (b) per sky, Ellingson, and Thomson (2001) measured the total duration" "week, (c) per month, and (d) per year. These four charts provide in seconds that two adults with severe or profound intellectual" "different levels of magnification for viewing and interpreting disabilities engaged in problem behavior (see Figure 6.6)." "celeration. Methods for plotting and interpreting celeration data The other measure of total duration recording is the" "on the Standard Celeration Chart are described in Chapter 6. amount of time a person spends completing a specific task, with-" "out specifying a minimum or maximum observation period—for" "Measures Based on Temporal Extent example, the number of minutes a person takes getting washed" "and dressed for work, after arising in the morning, or the time" "Duration needed to complete a flat tire repair by a high school student" "Duration, the amount of time from the onset to the end point enrolled in a work-study program." "of a response, is the basic measure of temporal extent. Applied" "behavior analysts measure duration in standard units of time Duration per Occurrence. Duration per occurrence is a mea-" "(e.g., Enrique worked cooperatively with his peer tutor for 6 sure of the duration of time that each instance of the target" "minutes and 24 seconds today). behavior occurs. For example, Greene, Bailey, and Barber" "Duration is important when measuring the amount of time (1981) used a sound-recording device to automatically record" "a person engages in a target behavior. Applied behavior analysts (a) the number of times noisy disruptions by children on a" "measure the duration of target behaviors that a person has been school bus exceeded a specified sound threshold and (b) the" "engaging in for too long or for too short of a time period, such duration in seconds that each disruption remained above that" " 100 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "threshold. The researchers used the mean duration per occur- Latency" "rence of noisy disruptions as one measure for evaluating the Latency is a measure of the elapsed time between the onset of" "intervention’s effects. a stimulus and a subsequent response.3 Latency is an appro-" "priate measure when the applied behavior analyst is interested" "Selecting and Combining Measures of Count and Duration. in how much time occurs between the opportunities to emit" "Measurements of count, total duration, and duration per occur- a behavior and when the subject initiates the target behavior." "rence provide different views of behavior. Count and duration For example, Edwards, La Londe, Cox, Weetjens, and Poling" "measure different dimensional quantities of behavior, and these (2016) researched the effects of schedules of reinforcement (see" "differences provide the basis for selecting which dimension(s) Chapter 13) on rats’ search for living people trapped under rub-" "to measure. Count measures repeatability, whereas duration ble. “Rats were exposed to 10 trials each day. For each trial, the" "recording measures temporal extent. For instance, a teacher release point for rats and the location of the two human targets," "concerned about a student who is out of her seat “too much” who assumed seated positions within the rubble, were selected" "could tally each time the student leaves her seat. The behavior from random lists” (p. 200). The researchers recorded (a) the" "is discrete and is unlikely to occur at such a high rate that count- latency from the rat’s search-area release point to finding and" "ing the number of occurrences would be difficult. Because any placing both front paws on a prepositioned human target under" "instance of out-of-seat behavior has the potential to occur for an simulated rubble and (b) after an initiation buzzer sounded, a" "extended time and the total time the student is out of her seat is second latency measure from the target back to the release point." "a socially significant aspect of the behavior, the teacher could This significant research emphasized the importance of quickly" "also use total duration recording. locating and p­ roviding treatment to living people who have been" "Using count to measure out-of-seat behavior provides the trapped under rubble." "number of times the student left her seat. A measure of total Interest can also focus on latencies that are too short. A" "duration will indicate the amount and proportion of time that student may answer incorrectly because she does not wait for" "the student was out of her seat during the observation period. the teacher to complete the questions. An adolescent who, at" "Because of the relevance of temporal extent in this case, duration the slightest provocation from a peer, immediately retaliates has" "would be a better measure than count. The teacher might observe no time to consider alternative behaviors that could defuse the" "that the student left her seat once in a 30-minute observation situation and lead to improved interactions." "period. One occurrence in 30 minutes might not be viewed as a Behavior analysts typically report response latency data" "problem. However, if the student left her seat at minute 1 of the as the mean, median, and range of individual latency measures" "observation period and did not return for the remainder of the per observation period. For example, Lerman, Kelley, Vorn-" "period, a very different view of the behavior is obtained. dran, Kuhn, and LaRue (2002) used a latency measure to assess" "In this situation, duration per occurrence would make the effects of different reinforcer magnitudes (i.e., 20 seconds," "a better measurement selection than count or total duration 60 seconds, or 300 seconds of access to a reinforcer) on post-­" "recording because duration per occurrence measures repeat- reinforcement pause—the absence of responding for a period" "ability (i.e., the rate of response) and the temporal extent of following reinforcement. The researchers measured the number" "the behavior. A duration-per-occurrence measure will give the of seconds from the end of each reinforcer-access interval to the" "behavior analyst information on the number of times the stu- first instance of the target behavior (a communication response)." "dent was out of her seat and the duration of each occurrence. They then calculated and graphed the mean, median, and range" "Duration per occurrence is often preferable to total duration of response latencies measured during each session (see Lerman" "because rate is sensitive to the number of instances and dura- et al., 2002, p. 41)." "tion of the target behavior. Further, if a total duration measure" "is useful for other purposes, the individual durations of each Interresponse Time" "of the counted and timed occurrences can be summed. How-" "ever, if behavior endurance (e.g., academic responding, motor Interresponse time (IRT) is a measure of the amount of" "movements) is the major consideration, then total duration time that elapses between two consecutive instances of a" "recording may be sufficient (e.g., 5 minutes of oral reading, behavior. Like response latency, IRT is a measure of tem-" "10 minutes of free writing). poral locus because it identifies when a specific instance of" "behavior occurs with respect to another event (i.e., the previ-" "ous response). ­Figure 4.2 shows a schematic representation of" "Measures Based on Temporal Locus" "interresponse time." "Temporal locus refers to (a) when a behavior occurs with Although a direct measure of temporal locus, IRT is func-" "respect to other events of interest (e.g., the latency between tionally related to rate of response. Shorter IRTs coexist with" "the onset of an antecedent event and the occurrence of the higher rates of response, and longer IRTs occur within lower" "behavior) and (b) the amount of time that elapses between two response rates. Applied behavior analysts measure IRT when" "consecutive instances of a response class. These two points of the time between instances of a response class is important." "reference provide the context for measuring response latency IRT provides a basic measure for implementing and evaluat-" "and interresponse time (IRT), the two measures of temporal ing interventions using differential reinforcement of low and" "locus most frequently reported in the behavior analysis high rates (DRL & DRH), a procedure for using reinforce-" "literature. ment to reduce (i.e., DRL) or increase (i.e., DRH) the rate of" " Chapter 4 • Measuring Behavior 101" "" "Figure 4.2 Schematic representation of three" "­interresponse times (IRT). IRT, the elapsed time" "R1 IRT R2 IRT R3 IRT R4 between the termination of one response and the" "initiation of the next response, is a commonly used" "Time measure of temporal locus." "" "" "" "responding (see Chapter 25). Like latency data, IRT measures Applied behavior analysts often use percentage to" "are typically reported and displayed graphically by mean (or report the proportion of observation intervals in which the tar-" "median) and range per observation period. get behavior occurred. These measures are typically reported" "IRT measures appear frequently in basic behavior analysis as a ­p ercentage of intervals within a session (e.g., see" "experiments examining the effects of schedules of reinforce- ­Figures 6.4 and 12.7). Percentage can also be calculated for" "ment (Tanno, Silberberg, & Sakagami, 2009) and variables an entire observation session. In a study analyzing the differ-" "related to conditioned reinforcement (Bejarano & Hackenberg, ential effects of reinforcer quality, immediacy, and response" "2007), delayed reinforcement (Lattal & Ziegler, 1982), and pun- effort on the impulsive behavior of students with attention-­" "ishment (Galbicka & Platt, 1984). In one of the few applied deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Neef, Bicard, and Endo (2001)" "studies featuring IRT measures, Lennox, Miltenberger, and Don- reported the percentage of time each student allocated to" "nelly (1987) reduced rapid eating by three adults with profound two sets of concurrently available math problems (e.g., time" "intellectual disabilities. The intervention combined differential allocated to math problems yielding high-quality delayed" "reinforcement of low rate responding (DRL; see Chapter 25) reinforcers , total time possible * 100 = %)." "(an IRT of 15 sec was required before an eating response was Percentages are used widely in education, psychology," "permitted), response interruption (blockage of eating responses and the popular media, and most people understand proportional" "before 15 seconds had elapsed since the previous response), and relationships expressed as percentages. However, percentages" "prompting participants to engage in an incompatible behavior are often used improperly. Accordingly, we offer several notes" "(putting their forks down and hands in their laps) during the of caution on the use and interpretation of percentages." "15-second interval. Percentages most accurately reflect the level of and" "changes in behavior when calculated with a divisor (or denom-" "Derivative Measures inator) of 100 or more. However, most percentages used by" "behavior analysts are calculated with divisors much smaller" "Behavior analysts frequently use percentage and trials-to-­ than 100. Percentage measures based on small divisors are" "criterion, two forms of data derived from direct measures of unduly affected by small changes in behavior. For example, a" "dimensional quantities of behavior. change in count of just 1 response per 10 opportunities changes" "the percentage by 10%. Guilford (1965) cautioned that it is" "Percentage unwise to compute percentages with divisors smaller than 20." "Percentage is a ratio (i.e., a proportion) formed by combin- For research purposes, we recommend that whenever possible," "ing the same dimensional quantities, such as count (i.e., a tally applied behavior analysts design measurement systems in which" "divided by a tally) or time (i.e., a duration divided by a dura- resultant percentages are based on no fewer than 30 response" "tion; a latency divided by a latency). Percentage expresses opportunities or observation intervals." "the proportional quantity of some event in terms of the num- Changes in percentage may erroneously suggest improv-" "ber of times the event occurred per 100 opportunities that the ing performance. For example, an accuracy percentage could" "event could have occurred. For example, if a student correctly increase even though the occurrence of incorrect responses" "answered 39 of 50 exam items, an accuracy percentage would remains the same or worsens. Consider a student whose accu-" "be calculated by dividing the number of correct answers by racy in answering math problems on Monday is 50% (5 of 10" "the total number of items and multiplying that product by 100 problems answered correctly) and on Tuesday is 60% (12 of" "139 , 50 = 0.78 * 100 = 78%2. 20 problems answered correctly). Even with the improved pro-" "Percentage is frequently used in applied behavior analy- portional accuracy, the number of errors increased (from 5 on" "sis to report participants’ response accuracy. For example, Ward Monday to 8 on Tuesday)." "and Carnes (2002) used a percentage-of-correct-­performances Although no other measure communicates proportional" "measure in their study evaluating the effects of goal setting and relationships better than percentage, its use as a behavioral" "public posting on skill execution of three defensive skills by quantity is limited because a percentage has no dimensional" "linebackers on a college football team. The researchers recorded quantities.4 For example, percentage cannot be used to assess" "counts of correct and incorrect reads, drops, and tackles by the development of proficient or fluent behavior because" "each player and calculated accuracy percentages based on the an assessment of proficiency must reference count and time." "number of opportunities for each type of play. (Data from this Percentage can, however, show the proportional accuracy of a" "study are shown in Figure 9.3.) Petursdottir and Aguilar (2016) targeted behavior during the development of proficiency." "reported percentage correct data on three kindergarten boys’ Another limitation of percentage as a measure of behavior" "acquisition of receptive identification tasks as a function of change is that it imposes lower and upper limits on the data." "the order of stimulus presentation in matching-­to-­sample trials. For example, using percent correct to assess a student’s" " 102 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "reading performance establishes an artificial ceiling on the two-digit subtraction problems requiring borrowing could be" "measurement of performance. A learner who correctly reads the number of practice sheets of 20 randomly generated and" "100% of the words she is presented cannot improve according sequenced problems a learner completes before she is able to" "to the measure used. solve all 20 problems on a single sheet in 3 minutes or less." "Different percentages can be reported from the same Trials-to-criterion data are often calculated and reported as" "data set, with each percentage suggesting significantly dif- an ex post facto measure of one important aspect of the “cost” of" "ferent interpretations. For example, consider a student who a treatment or instructional method. For example, Trask-Tyler," "scores 4 correct (20%) on a 20-item pretest and 16 correct Grossi, and Heward (1994) reported the number of instructional" "(80%) when the same 20 items are given as a posttest. The trials needed by each of three students with visual impairments" "most straightforward description of the student’s improvement and developmental disabilities to prepare three recipes without" "from pretest to posttest (60%) compares the two m ­ easures assistance on two consecutive times over two sessions. Each" "using the original basis or divisor (20 items). Because the recipe entailed from 10 to 21 task-analyzed steps." "student scored 12 more items correct on the posttest than Trials-to-criterion data are used frequently to compare the" "he did on the pretest, his performance on the posttest could relative efficiency of two or more treatments or instructional" "be reported as an increase (gain score) over his pretest per- methods. For example, by comparing the number of practice" "formance of 60%. And given that the student’s posttest score trials needed for a student to master weekly sets of spelling" "represented a fourfold improvement in correct responses, words practiced in two different ways, a teacher could determine" "some might report the posttest score as a 300% improvement whether the student learns spelling words more efficiently with" "of the pretest—a completely different interpretation from an one method than with another. Sometimes trials-to-criterion data" "improvement of 40%. are supplemented by information on the number of minutes of" "Although percentages greater than 100% are sometimes instruction needed to reach predetermined performance crite-" "reported, strictly speaking, doing so is incorrect. Although a ria (e.g., Holcombe, Wolery, Werts, & Hrenkevich 1993; Repp," "behavior change greater than 100% may seem impressive, it Karsh, Johnson, & Van Laarhoven, 1994)." "is a mathematical impossibility. A percentage is a proportional Trials-to-criterion measures can also be collected and" "measure of a total set, where x (the proportion) of y (the total) analyzed as a dependent variable throughout a study. For exam-" "is expressed as 1 part in 100. A proportion of something cannot ple, R. Baer (1987) recorded and graphed trials-to-criterion on" "exceed the total of that something or be less than zero (i.e., there a paired-associates memory task as a dependent variable in a" "is no such thing as a negative percentage). Every coach’s favorite study assessing the effects of caffeine on the behavior of pre-" "athlete who “always gives 110%” simply does not exist.5 school children." "Trials-to-criterion data can also be useful for assessing a" "learner’s increasing competence in acquiring a related class of" "Trials-to-Criterion" "concepts. For instance, teaching a concept such as the color red" "Trials-to-criterion is a measure of the number of response to a child could consist of presenting “red” and “not red” items to" "opportunities needed to achieve a predetermined level of per- the child and differentially reinforcing correct responses. Trials-­" "formance. What constitutes a trial depends on the nature of the to-­criterion data could consist of the number of “red” and “not" "target behavior, the relevant setting variables and antecedent red” exemplars required before the child achieves a specified" "stimuli, and the desired performance level. For a skill such as level of performance with the discrimination. The same instruc-" "shoe tying, each opportunity to tie a shoe could be considered tional and data collection procedures could then be used in teach-" "a trial, and trials-to-criterion data are reported as the number ing other colors to the child. Data showing that the child achieves" "of trials required for the learner to tie a shoe correctly without mastery of each newly introduced color in fewer instructional" "prompts or assistance. For behaviors involving problem solving trials than required to learn previous colors might be evidence of" "or discriminations that must be applied across a large number of the child’s increasing agility in learning color concepts." "examples to be useful, a trial might consist of a block, or series" "of response opportunities, in which each response opportunity" "Definitional Measures" "involves the presentation of a different exemplar of the prob-" "lem or discrimination. For example, a trial for discriminating In addition to the basic and derived dimensions already dis-" "between the short and long vowel sounds of the letter o could cussed, behavior can also be defined and measured by its form" "be a block of 10 consecutive opportunities to respond, in which and intensity. Neither form (i.e., topography) nor intensity (i.e.," "each response opportunity is the presentation of a word con- magnitude) of responding is a fundamental dimensional quantity" "taining the letter o, with short-vowel and long-vowel o words of behavior, but each is an important parameter for defining and" "(e.g., hot, boat) presented in random order. Trials-to-criterion verifying the occurrence of many response classes. Behavior" "data could be reported as the number of blocks of 10 trials analysts measure the topography or magnitude of a response to" "required for the learner to correctly pronounce the o sound in determine whether the response represents an occurrence of the" "all 10 words. Count would be the basic measure from which the target behavior. Occurrences of the target behavior verified on" "trials-to-criterion data would be derived. the basis of topography or magnitude are then measured by one" "Behavior analysts can also use other basic measures as or more aspects of count, temporal extent, or temporal locus." "trials-­to-criterion data (i.e., rate, duration, latency). For exam- In other words, measuring topography or magnitude is some-" "ple, a trials-to-criterion measure for solving two-digit minus times necessary to determine whether instances of the targeted" " Chapter 4 • Measuring Behavior 103" "" "response class have occurred, but the subsequent quantification Topography is of obvious and primary importance in" "of those responses is recorded, reported, and analyzed in terms activities in which form, style, or artfulness of behavior is valued" "of the fundamental and derivative measures of count, rate, dura- in its own right (e.g., painting, sculpting, dancing, gymnastics)." "tion, latency, IRT, percentage, and trials-to-criterion. Measuring and providing differential consequences for" "responses of varied topographies is also important when the" "Topography functional outcomes of the behavior correlate highly with" "Topography, the physical form or shape of a behavior, is a specific topographies. A student who sits with good posture" "measurable and malleable dimension of behavior. Topography and looks at the teacher is more likely to receive positive" "is a measurable dimension of behavior because responses of attention and opportunities to participate academically than is" "varying form can be detected from one another. That topogra- a student who slouches, with her head on the desk (Schwarz" "phy is a malleable aspect of behavior is evidenced by the fact & Hawkins, 1970). Basketball players who execute foul shots" "that responses of varying form are shaped and selected by their with a certain form make a higher percentage of shots than" "consequences. when they shoot idiosyncratically (Kladopoulos & McComas," "A group of responses with widely different topographies 2001; see Figure 6.3)." "may serve the same function (i.e., form a response class). For Trap, Milner-Davis, Joseph, and Cooper (1978) measured" "example, each of the different ways of writing the word topog- the topography of cursive handwriting by first-grade students." "raphy shown in Figure 4.3 would produce the same effect on Plastic transparent overlays were used to detect deviations from" "most readers. Membership in some response classes, however, model letters in lower- and uppercase letters written by the" "is limited to responses within a narrow range of topographies. children (see Figure 4.4). The researchers counted the number" "Although each of the response topographies in Figure 4.3 would of correct letter strokes—those that met all of the specified" "meet the functional requirements of most written communica- topographical criteria (e.g., all letter strokes contained within" "tions, none would meet the standards required of an advanced the 2-mm parameters of the overlay, connected, complete," "calligraphy student. sufficient length)—and used the percentage correct of all strokes" "" "" "" "" "Figure 4.4 Examples of outlines on a transparent overlay" "used to measure inside and outside boundaries of manu-" "script letters and an illustration of using the transparent" "overlay to measure the letter m. Because the vertical stroke" "of the letter m extends beyond the outline boundary, it did" "not meet the topographical criteria for a correct response." "From “The Measurement of Manuscript Letter Strokes” by J. J. Helwig," "J. C. Johns, J. E. Norman, J. O. Cooper, 1976. Journal of Applied Behavior" "Figure 4.3 Topography, the physical form or shape of Analysis, 9, p. 231. Copyright 1976 by the Society for the Experimental" "behavior, is a measurable dimension of behavior. Analysis of Behavior, Inc. Used by permission." " 104 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "written by each student to assess the effects of visual and verbal intervention’s effects.6 Table 4.1 summarizes the measurable" "feedback and a certificate of achievement on the children’s dimensions of behavior and considerations for their use." "acquisition of cursive handwriting skills." "" "Magnitude METHODS FOR MEASURING BEHAVIOR" "Magnitude refers to the force or intensity of a response. The Methods for measuring behavior used most often by applied" "desired outcomes of some behaviors are contingent on respond- behavior analysts involve one or a combination of the following:" "ing at or above (or below) a certain intensity or force. A screw- event recording, timing, and various time sampling methods." "driver must be turned with sufficient force to insert or remove" "screws; a pencil must be applied to paper with enough force to Event Recording" "leave legible marks. In contrast, applying too much torque to a" "misaligned screw or bolt is likely to strip the threads, and push- Event recording encompasses a wide variety of procedures for" "ing too hard with a pencil will break its point. detecting and recording the number of times a behavior of inter-" "Several studies have measured the magnitude of speech est occurs. For example, Cuvo, Lerch, Leurquin, Gaffaney, and" "or other vocalizations that were considered too loud or too Poppen (1998) used event recording to measure the effects of" "soft (Koegel & Frea, 1993). Schwarz and Hawkins (1970) work requirements and reinforcement schedules on the choice" "measured the voice loudness of Karen, a sixth-grade girl who behavior of adults with intellectual disabilities and preschool" "spoke so softly in class that her voice was usually inaudible to children while they were engaged in age-­appropriate tasks (e.g.," "others. Karen’s voice was recorded on videotape during two adults sorting silverware, children tossing beanbags or jump-" "class periods each day. (The videotape was also used to obtain ing hurdles). The researchers recorded each piece of silverware" "data on two other behaviors: face touching and the amount of sorted, each beanbag tossed, and each hurdle jumped." "time Karen sat in a slouched position). The researchers then Event recording is also used to measure discrete trial" "played the videotape into an audiotape recorder with a loudness behaviors, in which the count for each trial or opportunity to" "indicator and counted the number of times the needle went respond is either 1 or 0, representing the occurrence or nonoc-" "above a specified level on the loudness meter. Schwarz and currence of the target behavior. Figure 4.5 shows a form used to" "Hawkins used the number (proportion) of needle inflections record the occurrence of imitation responses by a preschooler" "per 100 words spoken by Karen as the primary measure for with disabilities and his typically developing peer partner within" "evaluating the effects of an intervention on increasing her voice a series of instructional trials embedded into ongoing classroom" "volume during class. activities (Valk, 2003). For each trial, the observer recorded the" "Edgerton and Wine (2017) used a digital tablet and app occurrence of a correct response, no response, an approxima-" "(Voice Meter Pro™) to measure the voice volume of a boy with tion, or an inappropriate response by the target child and the" "autism who frequently spoke below conversational volume. The peer by circling or marking a slash through letters representing" "app displayed a thermometer gauge that rose and fell with the each behavior. The form also allowed the observer to record" "surrounding sound level and signaled changes in voice volume whether the teacher prompted or praised the target child’s imi-" "with different background colors, an animated figure, and text tative behavior." "prompts (“Speak up, I can’t hear you!”, “That’s better”, and" "“That’s too loud!”). The investigators calibrated the app to detect Considerations for Event Recording. Many applied behavior" "three levels of magnitude (too soft, conversational, and too loud) analysts in practice use non-automated event recording." "and recorded the number of times the boy’s responses to ques- It is easy to do. Most people can tally discrete behaviors" "tions were spoken at conversational volume. accurately, often on the first attempt. If the response rate is" "Greene, Bailey, and Barber (1981) measured the magni- not too high, non-automated event recording may not interfere" "tude of noisy disruptions by middle school students on a school with other activities. For example, a teacher can continue with" "bus with an automated sound-recording device. The recording instruction while tallying occurrences of the target behavior." "device could be adjusted so that only sound levels above a pre- Event recording provides useful data for most behaviors." "determined threshold activated it. The device automatically However, each instance of the target behavior must have" "recorded both the number of times outbursts of sound exceeded discrete beginning and ending points. Event recording is" "a specified threshold (93 dB) and the total duration in seconds applicable for target behaviors such as students’ oral responses" "that the sound remained above that threshold. When the noise to questions, students’ written answers to math problems," "level exceeded the specified threshold, a light on a panel that all and a parent praising a son or daughter’s behavior. Behaviors" "students could see was activated automatically. When the light such as humming are hard to measure with event recording" "was off, students listened to music during the bus ride; when the because an observer would have difficulty determining when" "number of noisy disruptions was below a criterion, they partici- one hum ends and another begins. Event recording is difficult" "pated in a raffle for prizes. This intervention drastically reduced for behaviors defined without specific discrete action or object" "the outbursts and other problem behaviors as well. Greene and relations, such as engagement with materials during free-play" "colleagues reported both the number and the mean duration per activity. Because engagement with materials does not present" "occurrence of noisy disruptions as measures of evaluating the a specific discrete action or object relation, an observer may" " TABLE 4.1 Fundamental, derived, and definitional dimensions by which behavior can be measured and described." "Fundamental measures How calculated Considerations" "Count: The number of responses emitted. Simple tally of the number of responses observed. • Used in calculating rate, celeration, percentage, and" "• Judah contributed 5 comments to the class discussion. trials-to-criterion." "" "Rate: A ratio of count per observation time; Report number of responses recorded per unit of time in which • Minimize faulty interpretations by reporting counting time." "often expressed as count per standard unit observations were conducted. • Evaluating skill development and fluency requires" "of time (e.g., per minute, per hour, per • If Judah’s comments were counted during a 10-minute class measurement of correct and incorrect response rates." "day). discussion, his rate of responding would be 5 comments per • Account for varied complexity and difficulty when" "10 minutes. calculating response rates." "Often calculated by dividing the number of responses recorded • Rate is the most sensitive measure of changes in" "by the number of standard units of time in which observations repeatability." "were conducted." "• Preferred measure for free operants." "• Judah commented at a rate of 0.5 per minute." "• Poor measure for behaviors that occur within discrete trials" "or for behaviors that occur for extended durations." "• Most sensitive measure of behavior repeatability." "" "Celeration: The change (acceleration or Based on count per unit of time (rate)/per unit of time • Reveals dynamic patterns of behavior change, such as" "deceleration) in rate of responding over expressed as the factor by which responding is accelerating/ transitions from one steady state to another and acquisition" "time. decelerating (multiplying or dividing). of fluency." "• A trend line connecting Judah’s mean rates of commenting • Displayed with a trend line on a Standard Celeration Chart" "over 4 weeks of 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8 comment per minute, (see Chapter 6)." "respectively, would show an acceleration of *2 per week. • Minimum of seven measures of rate recommended for" "calculating." "" "Duration: The amount of time from the Total duration: Two methods: (a) Add the individual amounts • Important measure when target behavior is problematic" "onset to the end point of a response. of time for each response during an observation period; or (b) because it occurs for durations that are too long or too" "record the total time the individual is engaged in an activity, short." "or needs to complete a task, without a minimum or maximum • Useful measure for behaviors that occur at very high rates" "observation period. and for which accurate event recording is difficult" "• Judah commented for 1.5 minutes in class today. (e.g., finger flicking)." "Duration per occurrence: Record duration of time for each • Useful measure for behaviors that do not have discrete" "instance of the behavior; often reported by mean or median beginnings and for which event recording is difficult" "and range of durations per session. (e.g., humming)." "• Judah’s 5 comments today had a mean duration of 11 • Useful measure for task-oriented or continuous behaviors" "seconds, with a range of 3 to 24 seconds. (e.g., cooperative play)." "• Duration per occurrence often preferred over total duration" "because it includes data on count and total duration." "(continued)" "Chapter 4 • Measuring Behavior 105" " TABLE 4.1 (continued)" "Fundamental measures How calculated Considerations" "• Use total duration when increasing the endurance of" "behavior is the goal." "• Measuring duration per occurrence entails counting" "responses, which can be used to calculate rate of" "responding." "" "Latency: The elapsed time between the Record time elapsed from the onset of the antecedent stimulus • Important measure when target behavior is a problem" "onset of stimulus and the initiation of a event and the beginning of the response; often reported by because it is emitted with latencies that are too long or too" "subsequent response. mean or median and range of latencies per session. short." "• Judah’s comments today had a mean latency of 30 seconds • Decreasing latencies may reveal increasing mastery of some" "following a peers’ comment (range, 5 to 90 seconds). skills." "" "Interresponse time (IRT): The amount of Record time elapsed from the end of previous response and the • Important measure when the time between responses, or" "time that elapses between two consecutive beginning of next response; often reported by mean or median pacing of behavior, is a concern." "instances of a response class. and range of IRTs per session. • Although a measure of temporal locus, IRT is correlated with" "• Judah’s comments today had a median IRT of 2 minutes and rate of responding." "106 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "" "" "" "a range of 10 seconds to 5 minutes. • An important measure when implementing and evaluating" "DRL (see Chapter 23)." "" "Derived measures How calculated Considerations" "Percentage: A proportion, expressed as a Divide number of responses meeting specified criteria • Percentages based on divisors smaller than 20 are unduly" "number of parts per 100; typically a ratio (e.g., correct responses, responses with minimum IRT, responses influenced by small changes in behavior. Minimum of 30" "of the number of responses of a certain of particular topography) by the total number of responses observation intervals or response opportunities recommended" "type per total number of responses (or emitted (or response opportunities) and multiply by 100. for research." "opportunities or intervals in which such a • 70% of Judah’s comments today were relevant to the dis- • Change in percentage may erroneously suggest improved" "response could have occurred). cussion topic. performance." "• Always report the divisor on which percentage measures are" "based." "• Cannot be used to assess proficiency or fluency." "• Imposes upper and lower limits on performance (i.e., cannot" "exceed 100% or fall below 0%)." "• Widely different percentages can be reported from the same" "data set." " TABLE 4.1 (continued)" "Fundamental measures How calculated Considerations" "• To calculate an overall percentage from percentages based" "on different denominators (e.g., 90% [9/10], 87.5% [7/8]," "33% [1/3], 100% [1/1], divide the total numerators of" "the component percentages (e.g., 18) by the total" "" "percentages themselves yields a different outcome" "denominators (e.g., 18 > 22 = 81.8%). A mean of the" "" "(e.g., 90% + 87.5% + 33% + 100% > 4 = 77.6%)." "" "Trials-to-criterion: Number of responses, Add number of responses or practice trials necessary for learner • Provides an ex post facto description of the “cost” of a" "instructional trials, or practice opportunities to achieve specified criterion. treatment or instructional method." "needed to reach a predetermined • Judah needed 14 blocks of 10 opportunities to comment • Useful for comparing relative efficiency of different methods" "performance criterion. to achieve the criterion of 8 on-topic comments per 10 of instruction or training." "opportunities for 2 consecutive sessions. • Useful in assessing changes in the rate at which a learner" "masters new skills (agility)." "" "Definitional measures How calculated Considerations" "Topography: The form or shape of behavior. Used to determine whether responses meet topographical • Important measure when desired outcomes of behavior are" "criteria; responses meeting those criteria are measured and contingent on responses meeting certain topographies." "reported by one or more fundamental or derivative measures • Important measure for performance areas in which form," "(e.g., percentage of responses meeting topographical criteria). style, or artfulness is valued." "• The plane of the golf club remained within plus or minus" "2 degrees from backswing to follow-through on 85% of" "Amanda’s swings." "" "Magnitude: The strength, intensity, or force Used to determine whether responses meet magnitude criteria; • Important measure when desired outcomes of behavior" "of behavior. responses meeting those criteria are measured and reported by are contingent on responses within a certain range of" "one or more fundamental or derivative measures (e.g., count of magnitudes." "responses meeting magnitude criteria)." "• Jill bench pressed 60 pounds 20 times." "Chapter 4 • Measuring Behavior 107" " 108 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "Session date: May 21 Session no: 16 Observer: Jennie" "Target child: Jordan Peer: Ethan IOA day: YES NO" "Target behavior: Place block on structure Condition: 5-sec time delay" "Code: C = Correct N = No response A = Approximation I = Inappropriate" "Trial Target child's behavior Teacher behavior Peer’s behavior Teacher" "toward target child praise" "1 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "2 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "3 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "4 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "5 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "6 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "7 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "8 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "9 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "10 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "" "No. corrects by target child: 8 No. corrects by peer: 9" "************************************************" "Target behavior: Place sticker on paper Condition: 5-sec time delay" "Trial Target child's behavior Teacher behavior Peer’s behavior Teacher" "toward target child praise" "1 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "2 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "3 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "Figure 4.5 Data collection form for recording 4 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "the behavior of two children and a teacher 5 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "during a series of discrete trials. 6 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "7 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "Adapted from The Effects of Embedded Instruction Within 8 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "the Context of a Small Group on the Acquisition of Imita- 9 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "tion Skills of Young Children with Disabilities by J. E. Valk 10 C N A I Prompt Praise C N A I Praise" "(2003), p. 167. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The" "Ohio State University. Used by permission. No. corrects by target child: 4 No. corrects by peer: 8" "" "" "" "have difficulty judging when one engagement starts and ends, Timing" "and then another engagement begins." "Another consideration with non-automated event record- Behavior analysts use a variety of timing devices and procedures" "ing is that the target behaviors should not occur at such high to measure duration, response latency, and IRT." "rates that an observer would have difficulty counting each dis-" "crete occurrence accurately. High-rate behaviors that may be Timing Duration" "difficult to measure with event recording include rapid talking, Researchers often use semi-automated computer-driven systems" "body rocks, and tapping objects. for recording durations. Practitioners, however, will most likely" "Also, event recording does not produce accurate measures use non-automated instruments for recording duration. The most" "for target behaviors that occur for extended time periods, such as precise non-automated instrument is a digital stopwatch. Prac-" "staying on task, listening, playing quietly alone, being out of one’s titioners can use wristwatches and wall clocks to measure dura-" "seat, or thumb sucking. Task-oriented or continuous behaviors tion, but the measures obtained will be less precise than those" "(e.g., being “on task”) are examples of target behaviors for which obtained with a stopwatch." "event recording would not be indicated. Classes of continuous The procedure for recording the total duration of a tar-" "behaviors occurring across time are usually not a prime concern get behavior per session with a stopwatch is to (a) activate the" "of applied behavior analysts. For example, reading per se is of less stopwatch when the behavior starts and (b) stop the watch at" "concern than the number of words read correctly and incorrectly, the end of the episode. Then, without resetting the stopwatch," "or the number of reading comprehension questions answered the observer starts the stopwatch again at the beginning of the" "correctly and incorrectly. Similarly, behaviors that demonstrate second occurrence of the behavior and stops the watch at the end" "understanding are more important to measure than “listening of the second episode. The observer continues to accumulate the" "behavior,” and the number of academic responses a student emits durations of time in this fashion until the end of the observation" "during an independent seatwork period is more important than period, and then transfers the total duration of time showing on" "being on task. the stopwatch to a data sheet." " Chapter 4 • Measuring Behavior 109" "" "Timing Latency and IRT not occur for the remaining two intervals, the whole-interval" "Procedures for measuring latency and IRT are similar to those recording would yield a total duration estimate of 40 seconds." "used to measure duration. Measuring latency requires the precise Figure 4.6 shows an example of a whole-interval record-" "detection and recording of the time that elapses from the onset ing form used to measure the on-task behavior of four students" "of each occurrence of the antecedent stimulus event of interest during academic seatwork time (Ludwig, 2004). Each minute" "to the onset of the target behavior. Measuring IRTs requires was divided into four 10-second observation intervals; each" "recording the precise time that elapses from the termination of observation interval was followed by 5 seconds in which the" "each occurrence of the target behavior to the onset of the next observer recorded the occurrence or nonoccurrence of target" "response. behavior during the preceding 10 seconds. The observer first" "watched Student 1 continuously for 10 seconds, and then she" "Time Sampling looked away during the next 5 seconds and recorded whether" "Student 1 had been on task throughout the previous 10 seconds" "Time sampling refers to a variety of methods for observing by circling YES or NO on the recording form. After the 5-second" "and recording behavior during intervals or at specific moments interval for recording Student 1’s behavior, the observer looked" "in time. The basic procedure involves dividing the observation up and watched Student 2 continuously for 10 seconds, after" "period into time intervals and then recording the presence or which she recorded Student 2’s behavior on the form. The same" "absence of behavior within or at the end of each interval. procedure for observing and recording was used for Students" "Ethologists originally developed time sampling to study 3 and 4. In this way, the on-task behavior of each student was" "the behavior of animals in the field (Altmann, 1974). Because it observed and recorded for one 10-second interval per minute." "was not possible or feasible to observe the animals continuously, Continuing the sequence of observation and recording" "these scientists arranged systematic schedules of relatively brief intervals over a 30-minute observation period provided thirty" "but frequent observation intervals. The measures obtained from 10-second measures (i.e., samples) of each student’s on-task" "these “samples” are considered representative of the behavior behavior. The data in Figure 4.6 show that the observer judged" "during the total time period from which they were collected. the four students to have been on task during Session 17 for 87%," "For example, much of our knowledge about the behavior of 93%, 60%, and 73% of the intervals, respectively. Although the" "chimpanzees and other primates is based on data collected with data are intended to represent the level of each student’s behav-" "time sampling observation methods by researchers such as Jane ior throughout the observation period, it is important to remem-" "Goodall (1991). ber that each student was observed for a total of only 5 of the" "Applied behavior analysts use three forms of time sam- observation period’s 30 minutes." "pling––whole-interval recording, partial-interval recording, and Observers using any form of time sampling should always" "momentary time sampling.7 make a recording response of some sort in every interval. For exam-" "ple, an observer using a form such as the one in F ­ igure 4.6 would" "Whole-Interval Recording record the occurrence or nonoccurrence of the target behavior in" "Whole-interval recording is often used to measure continuous each interval by circling YES or NO. Leaving unmarked intervals" "behaviors (e.g., cooperative play) and behaviors that occur at increases the likelihood of losing one’s place on the recording form" "such high rates that observers have difficulty distinguishing and marking the result of an observation in the wrong interval space." "one response from another (e.g., rocking, humming) but can All time sampling methods require a timing device to sig-" "detect whether the behavior is occurring at any given time. The nal the beginning and end of each observation and recording" "observation period for whole-interval recording is divided interval. Observers using pencil, paper, clipboard, and timers" "into a series of brief time intervals (e.g., 5 to 10 seconds). At for interval measurement will often attach a stopwatch to a clip-" "the end of each interval, the observer records whether the tar- board. However, observing and recording behavior while having" "get behavior occurred throughout the interval. Data obtained to look simultaneously at a stopwatch is likely to have a neg-" "with whole-­interval recording usually underestimate the over- ative impact on the accuracy of measurement. As an effective" "all percentage of the observation period in which the behav- solution to this problem, the observer can listen by earphone to" "ior actually occurred. The longer the observation intervals, prerecorded audio cues signaling the observation and recording" "the greater the degree to which whole-­interval recording may intervals. For example, observers using a whole-interval record-" "underestimate the actual occurrence of the behavior. ing procedure like the one just described could listen to an audio" "Data collected with whole-interval recording are reported recording with a sequence of prerecorded statements such as" "as the percentage of total intervals in which the target behavior the following: “Observe Student 1”; 10 seconds later, “Record" "was recorded as occurring. Because whole-interval recording Student 1”; 5 seconds later, “Observe Student 2”; 10 seconds" "represents the proportion of the entire observation period that later, “Record Student 2”; and so on." "the person was engaged in the target behavior, whole-interval Tactile prompting devices can also be used to signal" "recording data yield an estimate of total duration. For example, observation intervals. For example, the Gentle Reminder (dan@" "assume a whole-interval observation period consisted of six gentlereminder.com) and MotivAider (www.habitchange.com)" "10-second intervals (a 1-minute time frame). If the target behav- are small timing instruments that vibrate at the time intervals" "ior occurred for four of these 10-second whole intervals and did programmed by the user." " 110 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "On-Task Recording Form" "Date: May 7 Group no: 1 Session no: 17" "Observer: Robin IOA session: Yes X No" "Experimental condition: Baseline On task Productivity" "" "Obs. start time: 9:42 Stop time: 10:12" "10-sec intervals Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Student 4" "1 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "2 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "3 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "4 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "5 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "6 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "7 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "8 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "9 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "10 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "11 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "12 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "13 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "14 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "15 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "16 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "17 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "18 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "19 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "20 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "21 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "22 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "23 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "Figure 4.6 Observation form used for whole-­ 24 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "interval recording of on-task behavior by four 25 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "26 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "students during independent seatwork time. 27 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "Adapted from Smiley Faces and Spinners: Effects of 28 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "Self-Monitoring of Productivity with an Indiscriminable 29 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "Contingency of Reinforcement on the On-Task Behavior 30 YES NO YES NO YES NO YES NO" "Totals 26 4 28 2 18 12 22 8" "and Academic Productivity by Kindergarteners During" "% Intervals" "­Independent Seatwork by R. L. Ludwig, 2004, p. 101. 86.6% 93.3% 60.0% 73.3%" "on task" "Unpublished master’s thesis, The Ohio State University. Used" "by permission. Yes = On-task No = Off-task" "" "" "" "" "Partial-Interval Recording represent the proportion of the entire observation period in" "When using partial-interval recording, the observer records which the target behavior occurred, but the results of partial-in-" "whether the behavior occurred at any time during the interval. terval recording, unlike those of whole-interval recording, do" "Partial-interval time sampling is not concerned with how many not provide any information on duration per occurrence. That is" "times the behavior occurred during the interval or how long the because any instance of the target behavior, regardless of how" "behavior was present, just that it occurred at some point during brief its duration, will cause an interval to be scored." "the interval. If the target behavior occurs multiple times during If the observer uses partial-interval recording with brief" "the interval, it is still scored as occurring only once. An observer observation intervals to measure discrete responses of short" "using partial-interval recording to measure a student’s disruptive duration per occurrence, the data obtained provide a crude esti-" "behavior would mark an interval if disruptive behavior of any mate of the minimum rate of responding. For example, data" "form meeting the target behavior definition occurred for any showing that a behavior measured by partial-interval recording" "amount of time during the interval. That is, an interval would be consisting of 6-second contiguous intervals (i.e., successive" "scored as disruptive behavior even if the student were disruptive intervals are not separated by time in which the behavior is" "for only 1 second of a 6-second interval. Because of this, data not observed) occurred in 50% of the total intervals indicate" "obtained with partial-interval recording often overestimate the a minimum response rate of five responses per minute (on the" "overall percentage of the observation period (i.e., total duration) average, at least one response occurred in 5 of the 10 intervals" "that the behavior actually occurred. per minute). Although partial-interval recording often overes-" "Partial-interval data, like whole-interval data, are most timates the total duration, it is likely to underestimate the rate" "often reported as a percentage of total intervals in which the of a high-count behavior. This is because an interval in which" "target behavior was scored. Partial-interval data are used to a person made eight nonverbal sounds would be scored the" " Chapter 4 • Measuring Behavior 111" "" "same as an interval in which the person made only one sound. As with interval recording methods, data from momentary" "When the evaluation and understanding of a target behavior time sampling are typically reported as percentages of the total" "require a more sensitive measure than interval recording, use intervals in which the behavior occurred and are used to estimate" "rate of response. the proportion of the total observation period that the behavior" "Because an observer using partial-interval recording occurred." "needs to record only that a behavior has occurred at any point A major advantage of momentary time sampling is that the" "during each interval (compared to having to watch the behav- observer does not have to attend continuously to measurement," "ior throughout the entire interval with whole-interval record- whereas interval-recording methods demand the undivided" "ing), it is possible to measure multiple behaviors concurrently. attention of the observer." "­Figure 4.7 shows a portion of a form for measuring four response Because the person is observed for only a brief moment," "classes by three students, using partial-interval recording with much behavior will be missed with momentary time sampling." "20-second intervals. The observer watches Student 1 throughout Momentary time sampling is used primarily to measure contin-" "the first 20-second interval, Student 2 for the next 20 seconds, uous activity behaviors such as engagement with a task or activ-" "and Student 3 for the next 20 seconds. Each student is observed ity, because such behaviors are easily identified. Momentary" "for 20 seconds out of each minute of the observation period. time sampling is not recommended for measuring low-count," "If a student engages in any of the behaviors being measured at short-duration behaviors." "any time during an observation interval, the observer marks the Numerous studies have compared measures obtained by" "letter(s) corresponding to those behaviors. If a student engages momentary time sampling and interval recording using i­ ntervals of" "in none of the behaviors being measured during an interval, the varying duration with measures obtained by c­ ontinuous ­duration" "observer marks N to indicate no occurrences of the target behav- recording (e.g., Alvero, Struss, & R" "­ appaport, 2007; Gunter, Venn," "iors. For example, during the first interval in which Student 1 Patrick, Miller, & Kelly, 2003; H ­ anley, C" "­ ammilleri, Tiger, &" "was observed, he said, “Pacific Ocean” (an academic response). Ingvarsson, 2007; Meany-Daboul, ­Roscoe, Bourret, & Ahearn," "During the first interval in which Student 2 was observed, she 2007; Powell, Martindale, Kulp, Martindale, & B ­ auman, 1977;" "left her seat and threw a pencil (a behavior within the response Saudargas & Zanolli 1990; Test & Heward, 1984). In ­general," "class “other disruptive behavior”). Student 3 emitted none of this research has found that momentary time sampling both" "the four target behaviors during the first interval that he was ­overestimates and underestimates continuous duration m ­ easures" "observed. when intervals are greater than 2 minutes. With intervals up to" "1 minute, the data obtained using momentary time ­sampling" "Momentary Time Sampling ­produce data paths similar to those of c­ontinuous d­ uration" "recording." "An observer using momentary time sampling records whether" "the target behavior occurred at the moment the time interval" "ends. If conducting momentary time sampling with 1-minute Planned Activity Check" "intervals, an observer would look at the person at the 1-minute A variation of momentary time sampling, planned activity" "mark of the observation period, determine immediately whether check (PLACHECK), uses head counts to measure “group" "the target behavior was occurring, and indicate that decision on behavior.” A teacher using PLACHECK observes a group of" "the recording form. One minute later (i.e., 2 minutes into the students at the end of each time interval, counts the number" "observation period), the observer would look again at the person of students engaged in the targeted activity, and records the" "and then score the presence or absence of the target behavior. tally with the total number of students in the group. Doke and" "This procedure would continue until the end of the observation ­Risley (1972) used data obtained by PLACHECK measure-" "period. ment to compare group participation in required and optional" "" "" "" "" "1 2 3 4" "" "Student 1 A T S D N A T S D N A T S D N A T S D N" "" "Student 2 A T S D N A T S D N A T S D N A T S D N" "" "Student 3 A T S D N A T S D N A T S D N A T S D N" "" "Key:" "A = Academic response" "T = Talk-out" "S = Out-of-seat" "D = Other disruptive behavior Figure 4.7 Portion of a form used for partial-interval" "N = No occurrences of target behaviors recording of four response classes by three students." " 112 Part 2 • Selecting, Defining, and Measuring Behavior" "" "before-­school activities. Observers tallied the number of stu- and PIR of various interval sizes (10-sec, 20-sec, 30-sec, 1-min," "dents in either the required or the optional activity area at the end and 2-min intervals) within varied observation periods (10-min," "of 3-minute intervals, and then the number of children actually 30-min, and 60-min sessions) with data provided by continuous" "participating in an activity in either area. They reported these measurement (duration or event recording). Rapp et al. (2008)" "data as separate percentages of children participating in required found that MTS with intervals up to 30 seconds reliably detected" "or optional activities. most moderate and large changes in duration events, that MTS" "Dyer, Schwartz, and Luce (1984) used a variation of with 1-minute intervals detected most large changes in duration" "PLACHECK to measure the percentage of students with events, and that PIR with 10-second or larger intervals failed to" "­disabilities living in a residential facility who were engaged in detect a large percentage of changes in duration events. Given" "age-­appropriate and functional activities. As students entered the longer observation sessions, momentary time sampling with" "observation area, they were observed individually for as long as interval sizes up to 30 sec detected a wide range of changes in" "it took to determine the activity in which they were engaged. The both duration and rate events." "students were observed in a predetermined order not exceeding Devine and colleagues (2011) found that momentary time" "10 seconds per student. sampling with interval sizes up to 30 seconds detected a wide" "In a study examining the effects of response cards on range of changes in duration and rate events during lengthier" "the disruptive behavior of third-graders during daily math observation periods. These authors concluded that" "­lessons, Armendariz and Umbreit (1999) recorded at 1-minute [P]ractitioners with limited resources may measure behav-" "­intervals whether each student in the class was being disrup- ior changes with smaller interval sizes of PIR or MTS" "tive. By combining the PLACHECK data obtained across all of during shorter observation sessions or with a larger interval" "the ­no-­response cards (baseline) sessions, and graphing those size of MTS during lengthier sessions with comparable" "results as the percentage of students who were disruptive at sensitivity. For instance, 10-s MTS during 10-min sessions" "each 1-­minute mark, and doing the same with the PLACHEK and 30-s MTS during 30-min sessions yielded comparable" "data from all response cards sessions, Armendariz and Umbreit detection of changes in duration events. Similarly, both" "­created a clear and powerful picture of the differences in “group 10-s PIR during 10-min sessions and 30-s MTS during" "behavior” from the beginning to the end of a typical lesson in 30-min sessions were sensitive to changes in frequency" "which response cards were or were not used. events. In both cases, the number of observations required" "Other variations of the PLACHECK measurement can in the 10-min session is the same as the number of observa-" "be found in the literature, though they usually are called time tions required in the 30-min session. (pp. 120–121)" "­sampling or momentary time sampling. For example, M ­ cKenzie" "and ­colleagues have developed two PLACHECK-type observa- Figure 4.8 illustrates just how different the results obtained" "tional systems, SOPLAY and SOPARC, for measuring children’s by measuring the same behavior with different time sampling" "physical activity in school and community play environments methods can be. The shaded bars indicate when the behavior" "(­McKenzie & Cohen, 2006; McKenzie, Marshall, Sallis, & was occurring within an observation period divided into 10" "­Conway, 2000). “SOPLAY and SOPARC use a group momen- contiguous intervals. The shaded bars reveal the three-dimen-" "tary time-sampling format (i.e., serial observation ­‘snapshots’) sional quantities of behavior: repeatability (seven instances of" "to record the physical activity level (i.e., sedentary, walking/­ the behavior), temporal extent (the duration of each response)" "moderate, vigorous) in specific target areas. . . . Counting the and temporal locus (IRT time is depicted by the space between" "number of people in an area is itself an important endeavor the shaded bars)." "because it provides an indication of how well the space/­ Because the time sampling methods used in applied" "facility supports school or community physical activity goals” behavior analysis are most often viewed and interpreted as mea-" "­(McKenzie, 2016, p. 335, 336). sures of the proportion of the total observation period in which" "the behavior occurred, it is important to compare the results" "of time sampling methods with those obtained by continuous" "Recognizing Discrepancies Among and Between Time measurement of duration. Continuous measurement reveals that" "Sampling Measures and Continuous Measurement the behavior depicted in Figure 4.8 occurred 55% of the time" "As stated previously, all time sampling methods provide only an during the observation period. When the same behavior during" "estimate of the actual occurrence of the behavior. Different time the same observation period was recorded using whole-inter-" "sampling procedures produce different results, which can influ- val recordings, the measure obtained grossly underestimated" "ence decisions and interpretations. A series of studies by Rapp the actual occurrence of the behavior (i.e., 30% versus 55%)," "and colleagues compared the sensitivity of momentary time sam- partial-­interval recording grossly overestimated the actual occur-" "pling (MTS) and partial-interval recording (PIR) to detect small, rence (i.e., 70% versus 55%), and momentary time sampling" "moderate, and large behavior changes evident with continuous yielded a fairly close estimate of actual occurrence of the behav-" "duration measures (Carroll, Rapp, Colby-Dirksen, & Linden- ior (50% versus 55%)." "berg, 2009; Devine, Rapp, Testa, Henrickson, & Schnerch, Although momentary time sampling resulted in a mea-" "2011; Rapp, Colby-Dirksen, Michalski, Carroll, & Lindenberg, sure that most closely approximated the actual behavior, it is" "2008). These researchers compared measures obtained by MTS not always the preferred method. Different distributions of the" " Chapter 4 • Measuring Behavior 113" "" "Consecutive Observed Intervals" "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10" "Duration 55%" "" "" "WI − − + + − − − + − − 30%" "Measurement Method" "" "" "" "" "PI − + + + − + − + + + 70%" "" "" "MTS − + + + − − − + − + 50%" "" ""