Escape function
A behavior has an escape function when it is maintained by negative reinforcement: it ends, delays or avoids a task, demand, person or situation.
Escape-maintained behavior is strengthened because it removes something the person finds aversive. Common examples are demands, difficult or long tasks, transitions, noisy rooms, being touched, or unwanted social interaction. If the behavior reliably ends the demand or delays it, the behavior is negatively reinforced and becomes more likely the next time that demand appears. When the behavior prevents the demand from being presented at all, it is often called avoidance.
ABC data for this function usually show the behavior occurring when demands are presented and being followed by the task stopping, being made easier, being delayed, or the person being sent away from it. Even a brief pause in the demand, such as an adult stopping to calm the person, can reinforce escape.
Function-based interventions designed by the supervisor may include antecedent strategies (choices, demand fading, high-probability request sequences, task changes), teaching an appropriate way to request a break or help, reinforcing task completion with breaks, and escape extinction, in which the problem behavior no longer ends the demand. Some procedures that are common for other functions can backfire here. Time-out, for example, removes the person from the task and may reinforce escape-maintained behavior.
The RBT records demands, behavior and what happened to the demand afterward, and follows the plan's instructions on whether and how to continue the task.
Example and non-example
| Example | Each time an RBT presents toothbrushing, a client screams and pushes the brush away, and the caregiver puts the toothbrush down. The screaming produces an end to toothbrushing. |
|---|---|
| Non-example | A child cries when another child takes their toy and stops crying once the toy is returned. The crying produces access to an item, which suggests a tangible function, not escape. |
Don't confuse it with
| Attention function | Attention-maintained behavior adds social contact, while escape-maintained behavior removes a demand or situation. |
|---|---|
| Escape and avoidance (side effect of punishment) | As a secondary effect of punishment, escape and avoidance means moving away from punishers, while an escape function describes what maintains a target behavior. |
Test yourself
-
Question 1In a functional analysis session, the RBT presents learning tasks with prompts. Each time the client hits, the RBT removes the task for 30 seconds. Which condition is this?
Show answer
B: Escape (demand) condition. In the escape condition, problem behavior produces a short break from demands. This tests whether escape from tasks maintains the behavior.
- A: In the attention condition, problem behavior produces attention, not a break from tasks.
- C: In the tangible condition, problem behavior produces access to a preferred item.
- D: In the play condition, there are no demands to escape from.
Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D
-
Question 2In a functional analysis, head hitting occurred often in the demand condition and rarely in the attention, tangible, alone and play conditions. Which function do these results suggest?
Show answer
B: Escape from demands. When problem behavior is high only in the condition where it produces a break from tasks, the results suggest the behavior is maintained by escape (negative reinforcement).
- A: Behavior was low in the attention condition, so attention is not suggested.
- C: Behavior was low in the tangible condition, so access to tangible items is not suggested.
- D: Behavior was low in the alone condition, which does not suggest automatic reinforcement.
Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D · Task D.1
-
Question 3Which list contains the four common functions of behavior?
Show answer
A: Attention, escape, tangible and automatic. Problem behavior is most often maintained by social attention, escape from something unpleasant, access to tangible items or activities, or automatic (sensory) reinforcement.
- B: Punishment, extinction and shaping are procedures or processes, not functions.
- C: These are measurement dimensions.
- D: These are parts of ABC recording and context, not functions.
Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D · Task D.1
Answer every question to see your score.
On the RBT exam
This term belongs to task D.1 Functions of behavior in content area D, Behavior Reduction, which is 14 of the 75 scored questions.