Premium
Brief report: Non‐intrusive operant analysis of aggressive behavior in persons with mental retardation
Author(s) -
Paisey Timothy J. H.,
Whitney Robert B.,
Hislop Pamela M.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
behavioral interventions
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.605
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1099-078X
pISSN - 1072-0847
DOI - 10.1002/bin.2360060105
Subject(s) - psychology , aggression , reinforcement , operant conditioning , extinction (optical mineralogy) , multiple baseline design , functional analysis , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , intervention (counseling) , social psychology , psychiatry , paleontology , biochemistry , chemistry , gene , biology
A procedure for operant analysis of aggressive behavior was derived from multi‐element assessment methods that have been previously applied to both self‐injurious and stereotypic responding. Analog sessions included No Interaction Baseline, Social Disapproval, Demand, Social Reinforcement, and Discriminated Extinction conditions, repeatedly presented within a multi‐element design. Three men with differing severity of mental retardation, communicative deficits and aggressive behavior were exposed to multiple brief analog sessions embedded within their normal meal‐time routines in group home settings. Mean frequencies of aggressive behavior and concurrent eating indicate that, while aggressive behavior was negatively reinforced in all three participants, both social and non‐social contingencies were also prominent. The same contingencies which have been demonstrated to maintain self‐injury and stereotypic behavior can therefore also maintain aggression. Results suggest the feasibility of conducting relatively non‐intrusive analog assessments in community residences, and support the‐extension of functional analysis across differing classes of aberrant behavior.