Revised on 1/4/14
On p. 18 there's a definition of behavioral contingency. There's a little formula that you'll often see for this: ABC.
- A stands for antecedent, which means something that "comes before." The occasion for a response can be thought of as the situation or circumstances that exist right before the target behavior occurs.
- B stands for behavior, that is, the target behavior that we're interested in understanding or whose frequency we want to change.
- C stands for consequence. Every behavior has one or more consequences or outcomes, which may be the presentation or receipt of a reinforcer or an aversive stimulus.
I teach courses in the principles and applications of Behavior Analysis, the science and technology of behavior, which is different from other approaches in psychology in that it takes behavior as a subject matter in its own right, rather than as a tool for studying something else, such as the mind. The main purpose of this blog is to be a supplementary means of communication with students who are taking my courses.
1 comment:
The ABC's of behavior formula is more easier to understand. So, given the situation we have to observe the Antecedent-before the behavior occurs, behavior-which is the target to understand the behavior and consequence- the outcome of the scenario.
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