"The function of a behavior refers to the source of environmental reinforcement for it."
Tarbox et al (2009, p. 494)
Everyday and in the very beginning of life, as an infant, we have learned to do things because of the consequences that were put in place. These consequences were put in place based on the environment that we were in. For example: A baby has learned to cry when hungry so he/she will be fed, cleaned or picked up.
Therefore, in applied behavior analysis, behavior is maintained by several functions. In other words, behavior happens for certain reasons and understanding the reason why certain behaviors occur, will help us understand why a person does what he/she does. Behavior could be maintained by the following functions: attention, escape/avoidance, tangible/activities or automatically maintained. Sometimes, behavior can serve multiple functions. For example, a child might learn to hurt themselves during class to get out of having to complete academic tasks and then also hurt themselves in the playground to get attention from the teachers.
Attention
You tell a joke and your friends laugh. You love your friends laughing at your joke because you absolutely love the attention, so you tell another joke. This joke telling behavior, is maintained by attention. You are more likely to tell a joke in their presence again because you love the attention.
Another example, your child kicks his sibling and his mother gives him attention for this. The child continues to kick his sibling because every time he kicks his sibling, his mother takes away attention from the sibling and giver her attention to the child kicking. His kicking behavior then is maintained by his mother's attention.
It may seem weird that a person would engage in a behavior to deliberately have someone scold them. However, it can occur because for some people it’s better to obtain “bad” attention than no attention at all (Cooper, Heron & Heward, 2007).
Escape/Avoidance
Not all behaviors occur so the person can “get access” to something. Some behaviors occur because the person wants to get away from something or avoid something (Miltenberger, 2008).
For example, You see a cop on the road while you are speeding, you slow down. The reason why you slow down is because you want to avoid a speeding ticket.
Another great example is that you keep putting off your dentist appointment even though your teeth needs attention because going to the dentist is aversive and you want to avoid going as much as possible.
Tangible/Activities
Your child cries or screams whenever they want a specific toy (tangible) in the store until you buy it for your child or your child kicks and cries every time he wants to go to the pool (activities) because every time he does this, you take him to the pool.
Automatic
Some behaviors, have no particular environment function. Some behaviors we only do because it feels good when we do it. It is pleasing to us internally or in other words, they are “self-stimulating” (O’Neill, Horner, Albin, Sprague, Storey, & Newton, 1997) For example, rocking back and forth and twirling our hair while we read a book.
Behaviors always occur for a reason and it is very important to understand the reasons as to why these behaviors occur. Understanding the reasons, will help us determine how to improve a behavior or decrease an undesired behavior.
If you wish to learn more, please sign up for the following workshop on functions of behavior.
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