I’m almost certain that you have heard of the ABCs in Applied Behavior Analysis like a broken record by now. What do these letters actually mean though, and how do they help us understand behavior better?
Let’s break it down…
A=Antecedent
B=Behavior
C=Consequence
Antecedent is what occurs right before the behavior, aka “triggers”. A trigger can be anything from a toy being taken away from a child, someone yelling at you, or the phone ringing, and these triggers cause some behaviors that have been learned over time.
Behavior is an event displayed by others that can be observed and measured – it is everything we do, from singing, to talking, to crying, and the list goes on and on. In ABA, we treat behaviors that are aggressive, dangerous, and inappropriate; however, we also teach appropriate behaviors, such as sharing, waiting, turn-taking, and functional communication.
Consequence is what occurs immediately after the behavior. For instance, the consequence for you answering the phone is that you get to talk to someone on the other line. A consequence for a child yelling for a toy is them getting the toy. Consequences give us a hint as to whether the behavior will increase or decrease in the future.
The ABCs of behavior are not the end all be all of human behavior. There are many other invisible factors that influence human behavior, such as a stomachache, anxiety, depression, the loss of a job, etc., but having an understanding of the antecedents (triggers) and consequences that encompass behavior allows us to better understand how to prevent certain triggers, and to change up certain consequences in order to see more desirable behaviors.
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