Behavioral Concepts and Applications

The behavioral approach views behavior as being responsive to the environment. In the most general sense, the environment consists of the antecedents that occur prior to a behavior (e.g., settings, tasks, presence of people, instructions, prompts) and the consequences that follow a behavior (e.g., reinforcers or punishers after a behavior occurs). Antecedents and consequences that are discriminated by a student define the behavioral context, and behavior is considered to be related to the context or situation within which it occurs. Thus, to understand why a behavior is occurring or not occurring, the behavior is evaluated within specific contexts and is often described as being a function of the antecedents and consequences that surround it.

Behavioral models have been used successfully with a wide range of appropriate ...