What is the standard assessment approach in applied behavior analysis that directly manipulates environmental factors to identify causes and consequences of behavior?

What is the standard assessment approach in applied behavior analysis that directly manipulates environmental factors to identify causes and consequences of behavior?

• A. Single-Subject Research
• B. Functional Analysis
• C. Stimulus Control
• D. Reinforcement

Answer: (B)

Functional analysis involves systematically changing the environment to see how those changes affect behavior, which reveals the function or purpose of the behavior. By directly manipulating antecedents and consequences and observing the resulting changes in behavior, you identify what events maintain or reinforce the behavior (such as escape, attention, access to tangibles, or automatic reinforcement). This experimental manipulation establishes functional relations rather than just describing behavior or relying on correlation. This differs from other approaches: single-subject research is a broader research design used to study behavior over time; stimulus control focuses on whether a specific cue reliably elicits a response; reinforcement is the consequence that increases behavior but isn’t itself an assessment method.

Functional analysis involves systematically changing the environment to see how those changes affect behavior, which reveals the function or purpose of the behavior. By directly manipulating antecedents and consequences and observing the resulting changes in behavior, you identify what events maintain or reinforce the behavior (such as escape, attention, access to tangibles, or automatic reinforcement). This experimental manipulation establishes functional relations rather than just describing behavior or relying on correlation.

This differs from other approaches: single-subject research is a broader research design used to study behavior over time; stimulus control focuses on whether a specific cue reliably elicits a response; reinforcement is the consequence that increases behavior but isn’t itself an assessment method.