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IDENTIFYING POSSIBLE CONTINGENCIES DURING DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSES OF SEVERE BEHAVIOR DISORDERS
Author(s) -
Vollmer Timothy R.,
Borrero John C.,
Wright Carrie S.,
Camp Carole Van,
Lalli Joseph S.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of applied behavior analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1938-3703
pISSN - 0021-8855
DOI - 10.1901/jaba.2001.34-269
Subject(s) - psychology , contingency , context (archaeology) , reinforcement , contingency management , functional analysis , self destructive behavior , developmental psychology , descriptive statistics , applied behavior analysis , cognitive psychology , social psychology , autism , poison control , human factors and ergonomics , intervention (counseling) , psychiatry , environmental health , medicine , statistics , philosophy , mathematics , linguistics , chemistry , biology , paleontology , biochemistry , gene
Contingencies of reinforcement involve, in part, relations between behavior and subsequent environmental events. In this study we observed 11 individuals with developmental disabilities and severe behavior problems while they interacted with their primary care providers in simulated environments (hospital therapy rooms). We compared the probability of obtaining attention, escape from instructional demands, or access to materials following instances of problem behavior with the background probability of those events. However, the focus of our analysis was the evaluation of comparative probabilities (“contingency values”) in the context of relevant establishing operations such as diverted attention, instructional demands, and restricted access to materials. Results showed that the method was useful in identifying relations between behavior and subsequent environmental events. Implications for linking descriptive and functional analyses are discussed, and difficulties in identifying naturally occurring contingencies are considered.