Behavior
Behavior is anything a living person does that involves movement and can be observed and measured; a single instance of behavior is called a response.
In behavior analysis, behavior is the activity of a living organism as it interacts with its environment. It involves movement of some part of the body and has a measurable effect on the environment. Talking, walking, writing, hitting, smiling and blinking are all behavior. Private events such as thinking are also considered behavior in behavior analysis, but RBTs measure behavior that others can see or hear.
A response is one occurrence of a behavior, such as one hit or one request. A group of responses that have the same effect on the environment is a response class; for example, saying "I want juice", signing "juice" and pointing to a picture of juice may all produce juice.
For RBT work, the key test is whether something is observable and measurable. Labels such as "angry", "lazy", "bored" or "being good" are not behavior; they are interpretations of behavior. Descriptions of what someone is not doing ("not paying attention", "sitting still") also fail, because a dead person could meet them. Behavior is written in active, specific terms, then turned into an operational definition so it can be measured consistently.
Example and non-example
| Example | "The client placed 10 puzzle pieces in the board" describes behavior: it involves movement and can be observed and counted. |
|---|---|
| Non-example | "The client was calm" is not a description of behavior; it is a label that could cover many actions and names no specific observable action. |
Don't confuse it with
| Stimulus | Behavior is what the person does; a stimulus is a change in the environment that can affect what the person does. |
|---|---|
| Operational definition | Behavior is the action itself; the operational definition is the written description used to measure it. |
Test yourself
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Question 1Which description of a client's behavior is written in observable and measurable terms?
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A: Tears paper or throws objects off the desk. This names specific actions that anyone watching could see and count. The other options rely on feelings or labels that each observer might interpret differently.
- B: Anger is an inferred feeling, and "ruins things" does not say what the client does.
- C: "Destructively" is a general label that does not say which actions count.
- D: "Meltdown" and "wrecks things" are labels that observers could interpret differently.
Task A.5 · 40-hour curriculum section C
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Question 2Which target fails the dead man's test?
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D: Not calling out during group. The dead man's test asks whether a dead person could do it. A dead person can "not call out," so it is not a behavior; the other options are actions a person actively performs.
- A: Raising a hand is an action a dead person cannot perform, so it passes.
- B: Speaking is an action a dead person cannot perform, so it passes.
- C: Walking is an action a dead person cannot perform, so it passes.
Task A.5 · 40-hour curriculum section C
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Question 3Which session note describes a school-age client's behavior objectively?
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C: Pushed the worksheet off the table and said "no". This note reports exactly what the client did and said, so anyone reading it knows what happened without having to interpret.
- A: Frustration is an inferred feeling, not an observed action.
- B: This guesses at the reason for the behavior instead of describing it.
- D: "Bad attitude" is a judgment that does not say what the client did.
Task A.5 · 40-hour curriculum section C
Answer every question to see your score.
On the RBT exam
This term belongs to task A.5 Describing behavior in observable, measurable terms in content area A, Data Collection and Graphing, which is 13 of the 75 scored questions.