Behavioral Assessment

Types of behavioral assessment

Interviews: clinician assesses behavior by asking questions and collecting information on the persons verbal and nonverbal responses. Behavioral observation: psychologist collects verbal and nonverbal information about the person.

usually there is no verbal interaction between the observer and the subject.
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Methodological Issues

Reactivity to measurement: the phenomenon in which a persons behavior changes by the mere fact that the behavior is being observed. Selection and training of observers. One must select observers that are going to be good at collecting information. This includes knowledge about the behaviors being observed, and being able to rate these behaviors reliably.
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Behavioral observations

Appearance

physical description dress hygiene

Behavioral observations

Behavior and attitude

compliance activity level appropriateness of activity

Behavioral observations

Verbal behavior

expressive language (e.g., clarity, vocabulary, appropriateness) receptive language (e.g., tracking, understanding) presence of bizarre language (e.g., neologisms, echolalia, perseverations)

Behavioral observations

Mood and affect

current mood range of affect Intensity appropriateness

Behavioral observations

Cognitive processes

thought process (e.g., flow of ideas, organization) thought content (e.g., delusions, obsessions, etc) attention orientation & memory (person, place, and time) brief impression of intellect and insight/judgment

Behavioral assessment

Behavioral assessment tends to be restricted to samples of observable behavior. The best known type of behavioral assessment was established by B.F. Skinner in the 1950s and it is known as functional analysis.

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Functional analysis

Observation of environmental events that serve to maintain behavior (usually problem behavior). To be a functional analysis, the observations must be conducted within an experimental design (e.g., control of the environment and reinforcements).

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Functional analysis

The main purpose of functional analysis is to

1. identify the stimuli that elicit the target behavior 2. determine the consequences that follow

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Functional analysis

In most cases a functional analysis involves hypothesis testing and it is conducted by alternating control and treatment conditions (i.e., reversal, ABAB) to demonstrate that the effects are consistent. The assessment usually continues until a consistent pattern of behavior occurs.

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Functional analysis

This type of behavioral analysis is frequently used with individuals whose communication skills are not well developed (e.g., children, individuals with developmental disabilities).

Example of problem behavior in a toddler:

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Example: control condition

This condition consists of a "free play" condition in which the child has continuous access to toys and attention and no demands are presented. During this condition, motivation to engage in problem behavior tends to be quite low and problem behavior is usually absent.

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Example: test condition

During this condition, some reinforcement is manipulated (e.g., access to toys, attention, etc) either through positive reinforcement (a.k.a. "gain" function) or negative reinforcement (a.k.a. "escape" function).

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Example: test condition

test of "gain" function Antecedent Behavior Consequence parent ignores child problem behavior parent attends to child

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Example: test condition

test of "escape" function Antecedent Behavior Consequence demand presented problem behavior demand removed

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S-O-R-C

Another method of behavioral analysis is the S-O-R-C model, which is similar to functional analysis with one additional element (organismic variables).

S - Stimulus or antecedent conditions that bring on the problematic behavior. O - Organismic variables related to the problem behavior (e.g., diatheses, stressors, emotional and cognitive variables) R - Response or problematic behavior C - Consequences of the problematic behavior

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Additional methods of behavioral assessment

Self-report/self-monitoring

Clinical Interview Inventories and Checklists Naturalistic Controlled Self-monitoring

Direct observation

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