How to Identify, Define, & and Assess Behavior

1. How to Identify, Define, & and Assess Behavior Chapter 3

2. How to Identify, Define, & and Assess Behavior Identifying the goal of the program Defining the target behavior Conducting observations

3. Identifying the Goal of the Program • Behavior analysis unique among psychological approaches • emphasis and development of assessment methods • used as part of treatment

4. Identifying the Goal of a Program • Guidelines • Determined by societal standards • Regardless of source of intervention (behavioral or other)

5. What makes a behavior worthy of intervention? • Impairment • Illegal behaviors • Concern to individual or significant others • Preventive

6. What makes a behavior worthy of intervention? • Impairment • Extent to which everyday functioning is impeded by a particular problem or set of behaviors • Meet role demands? • Home, school, work, socially • No restrictions

7. Impairment • Is a criterion for psychiatric disorders • Depression • Schizophrenia • AD/HD • Impairment does not necessarily mean a person will meet criteria for psychiatric dx

8. Illegal • DUI • Skipping school • May not cause impairment

9. Concern to themselves or others • Social skills • Toilet training • Relevance to future functioning?

10. Prevention • Early intervention • Pre-academic behavior • Behaviors that promote safety or health • Breast self-exam • Proper handling of chemicals

11. Behaviors that bring clients to normative levels of functioning in relation to their peers Behaviors that are dangerous to self or others Behaviors that decrease risk Interaction with peers; exercise and activity of elderly persons SIB; fighting at school, spouse abuse Safe sex, not smoking, wearing seat belts Some Criteria for Identifying Goals of Intervention Programs

12. Behaviors that affect adaptive functioning Behaviors that can lead to other positive changes Behaviors that reduce felt problems of people with whom client is in contact Social skills; not attending school or work Increasing pro-social speech; taking medication as prescribed Tantrums; poor marital communication Criteria, cont.

13. Goals • Increase desirable behavior • Decrease undesirable behavior • Even if goal is to reduce undesirable behavior, focus of program can be on training adaptive alternatives or positive behaviors

14. Goals • Important to state goals in positive terms even if the goals is to reduce a behavior problem • Positive opposites

15. Positive opposites are those adaptive behaviors that denote how the individual is to behave instead of engaging in the maladaptive behavior.

16. Positive Opposite • Always helpful to add a second goal identifying the positive opposite • Be concrete

17. Example: Reduce tantrums • Positive opposites: • Walk away from provoking situation • Asking for help from an adult • Suggesting compromises

18. Considerations: Contexts • Context in which the behavior occurs • Stimulus control • Antecedent events and situational cues

19. Considerations: Consequence • Develop conditioned reinforcers • Pair neutral stimuli (praise) with primary reinforcers (food)

20. Considerations • What goal should take priority? • Address contextual issues (environment)

21. Class Activity • With a partner, develop a one to two sentence scenario that identifies person and a problem behavior • Based on your scenario • Identify a goal for a target behavior (problem) and • Identify a positive opposite for this problem and identify a goal for that behavior

22. Self Control Project • TASK ANALYSIS • Select a problem area. This can be related to a behavioral excess or deficit. • Complete a narrative (ABC) recording in a situation where the behavior occurs or could occur. • From the narrative recording and other observations, develop a functional analysis of contingencies maintaining the problem behavior. Also, develop a functional analysis for the positive opposite behavior. I WILL PROVIDE COACHING ON THIS. Complete a written summary of the functional analyses, including contingency diagrams. • Turn in narrative recording and functional analysis on October 8. • Develop goals for the project • Write operational definitions for the behavior problem and the positive opposite and design a data sheet to record these behaviors. • Turn in target behavior and data sheet on October 15. • Collect at least 1 week of baseline data before beginning intervention. • Design intervention that addresses problem behavior and the positive opposite behavior. Identify the type of intervention design you will use (AB, ABAB, Multiple Baseline across Settings or Behaviors). I would prefer you use something more than a simple AB design. • Implement intervention. Continue to collect data. • Prepare poster for in class poster session. (see task analysis for poster preparation)

23. Defining behavior • Begin with general domain: TANTRUMS • Then identify a specific definition that permits assessment

24. Defining the target behavior • What are the criteria? • Objectivity • Clarity • Completeness

25. Objectivity • The measure refers to observable characteristics of the behavior or to events in the environment that can be observed • EXAMPLES • The number of times a child hits, kicks, talks out of turn, asks a question, • Number of dishes in the dishwasher, number of dirty dishes in the sink, number of cigarettes in the ashtray, number of questions answered

26. Clarity • A definition is so unambiguous that it could be read, repeated, and paraphrased by an observer or someone initially unfamiliar with measure. Little explanation is needed to begin actual observation. • EXAMPLE: Hitting includes anytime the child’s elbow, forearm, or hand strikes another person or object

27. Completeness • Delineation of the boundary conditions so that the responses to be included and excluded are enumerated. • Example: Not included in hitting is incidental contact with others when walking in the hall or giving high fives when greeting or congratulating self or others

28. Operational Definitions • Defining a concept on the basis of the specific operations used for assessment • In behavior analysis, typically use direct observation of overt behavior • Ex. = concept of tantrums • Parents can tell about them – too far removed • Rather: observe them, see where they occur, under what circumstances, and whether there is change in response to intervention

29. Measures • Paper-pencil measures • Interviews • Reports from others • Physiological measures • DIRECT OBSERVATION

30. Operational Definition of Concept of Depression? • Use multiple sources • Beck Depression Inventory score • Physiological measures of arousal • Self report of depression • Nonverbal facial expression that suggests depressed mood • Direct signs of depression – crying, spending time in bed, avoiding work and social situations

31. Other Examples of Concepts • Hyper • Destructive • Aggressive • Self-injurious • ????

32. Class Activity • Select a behavior and write an operational definition that could be used to do observational assessment

33. Check • Does your definition meet these criteria? • Clarity • Objectivity • Completeness • Explain

34. Task Analysis • Goal of program to develop a complete set or sequence of behaviors? • Concretely describe (analyze) the sequence

35. Task Analysis • Definition: • A way of proceeding from the general goal of the program to a number of small, trainable, and highly concrete tasks • Each component behavior of a task analysis is called a step

36. How to write a task analysis • Identify the desired behaviors • By observing those who can perform the task well • Solicit input of experts

37. When writing a task analysis • Specify the behaviors in small, trainable units • No firm rules about the size of the unit • Individualize!

38. Changing oil in a car • Steps?

39. Remediating kitchen hazards • Grease on stove • Etc.

40. Tying a bow • Steps?

41. Ordering a pizza • Steps

42. Washing clothes in a washing machine • Steps?

43. Class Activity • Write an 8-10 step task analysis for a behavioral sequence • Purchasing 1 item in a store • Writing a check • Balancing a checkbook • Making scrambled eggs • Packing a gym bag • Hand washing • Putting on a band aid

44. Task Complexity • Many small units grouped into one step of a task analysis • Vs. • Many delineated steps

45. How many steps? • Decision based upon: • Complexity of the goal • Baseline level of behavior • Speed with which new behavior is acquired

46. Assessment • Next step after precise definition of behavior

47. Assessment • Essential (2 REASONS) • Identifies the extent to which the target behavior is performed before beginning the program (BASELINE or OPERANT RATE) • Does behavior change after program is implemented? • Compare baseline rates to rates following program implementation

48. Rely on judgment? • Distortion of what has actually happened

49. Judgment • Slippery slope • Influences (such as psychological state of person doing the judging) bias reports over and above what has actually taken place

50. Solution • Direct observation