Determining the Function of Behavior

Determining the Function of Behavior

When you use the word “behavior” in conversation, you may be referring to anything from the days weather to the failure of the photocopier machine to produce desired results. When psychologists use the term behavior, they think about more than the observed activity. They also consider what the behavior achieves for the person. This function of behavior is important in understanding why the behavior is repeated.

For this Discussion, you will analyze a scenario from the perspective of functions of behavior. You will consider the circumstances of the case and describe what you believe to be the function of the observed behavior. You will also develop a hypothesis regarding the observed behavior and share ideas for how the hypothesis could be tested.

Learning Resources

• Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson.
• Chapter 27, Functional Behavior Assessment (pp. 628654)
• Gresham, F. M., McIntyre, L. L., Olson-Tinker, H., Dolstra, L., McLaughlin, V., & Van, M. (2004).
• Links to an external site.
• . Research in Developmental Disabilities, 35, 19-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2003.04.003
• Ward-Homer, J., Seiverling, L. J., & Sturmey, P. (2011).
• . In J. L. Matson, & P. Sturmey (Eds.), International handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders (pp. 271286). New York, NY: Springer.

To Prepare

• Review the Learning Resources for this week, including the required weekly media programs, to develop an understanding of how to determine the function of behavior.
• Consider the following scenario:

Amanda is a 14-year-old regular education student in the eighth grade. She lives with her biological father and stepmother. There are no other children in the home. The chief concern is that Amanda often visits the school nurses office with complaints of headache and nausea. The typical course of action is to provide her with ibuprofen and, if this fails to resolve her complaints, her parents are called to take her home or to her physician. These events occur about 10 percent of school days and always during the afternoon. Her symptoms and their rate of occurrence have remained unchanged for several weeks. Her parents, who are quite concerned about her health, have scheduled an evaluation by a pediatric neurologist.

Post your response to the following:

• What hypotheses do you have about the function of Amandas behavior?
• How might you test these hypotheses?

Read your colleagues postings.