The Functional Analysis of Behavior in a Juvenile Detention Facility

Abstract

Abstract An empirical analysis of human behavior has demonstrated a functional relationship between behavior and its environmental consequences. In residential care settings the consequences for resident behavior are arranged by the italT. This set of circumstances may result in the adventitious strengthening of inappropriate resident behavior and a concomitant reduction of appropriate behavior. Moreover, only precise and systematic observations can discover these program flaws. This report describes a set of procedures designed to analyze the causal relationships between staff and resident behavior. The data resulting from the observational procedure point up behavior change strategies. In addition, the observational procedure is adaptable for most settings. Many years of research in both applied and laboratory settings have established a causal relationship between an individual's behavior and environmental consequences (Skinner, 1938; 1953; Baer, Wolf & Risley, 1968). Moreover, this research has concluded that subjective and internal events, i.e., emotions, beliefs, attitudes, are merely the by-products of environmental events and not the causes of behavior (Wood, 1980). The methodological technology arising out of this scientific view of behavior has been labelled as the applied analysis of behavior. This approach has emphasized the careful and precise measurement of observable behaviors and events. Precise measurement techniques have provided the tools necessary to make judgements regarding the causal or functional relationships between a behavior and its consequence.