We throw around the term "behavior" everywhere! It's common for us to say "oh my clients behavior is becoming worse or better" or his school report states he needs to work on his behavior. There are all sorts of therapies that use the term behavior as well, for example cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, ABA, psychoanalytic and more. Today we are only going to focus on behavior as it applies to the field of ABA.
A behavior is observable, definable and measurable.
For example, Jon sneezed is a behavior because we can track sneezing, define sneezing and observe sneezing. If you were to say Jon felt like sneezing, the feeling to sneeze is not a behavior because we can not track it, observe it or define it.
An additional test you can ask yourself is if a 'dead man' can do it? The dead man test was created by Ogden Lindsley in 1965, to help teachers better define their definitions for behavior. The rule to remember is "If a dead man can do it, it's NOT a behavior, if a dead man can't do it, IT IS a behavior" . Lets circle back to Jon sneezing and put it to the test.
Jon sneezed -> Can a dead man sneeze? No = It is a behavior
Jon felt like sneezing -> Can a dead man feel like sneezing? Hm maybe, who know what's going on when we're dead, right?= It's not a behavior
Lets try another one, let's say the behavior we are tracking is jumping and your supervisor provides you the following definition: When provided the Sd of "lets jump" Jon will jump 1-2 inches off the ground with one or both feet which is considered 1 trial.
Test #1: Is Jon jumping observable, definable and measurable? Yes, yes and yes! - we are off to a good start
Test #2: Can a dead man jump 1-2 inches off the ground with 1 or both feet? Nope = It IS a behavior
So, why does it matter? In our field we make decisions based only on data. Everything is objective and measured, and if you are provided a definition for a behavior that is very vague your interpretation to track data will be different then someone else's.
Lets take for example, the behavior of jumping. Below are 2 examples of a behavior written, which one is easier to track?
a. Jon will jump when told jump "jump"
b. When provided the Sd of "lets jump" Jon will jump 1-2 inches off the ground with one or both feet which is considered 1 trial during gym class
(I hope you said b! haha)
Happy Studying!
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