Applied Behavior Analysis: General Characteristics

Abstract

This chapter describes the general characteristics of applied behavior analysis. These characteristics include the emphasis on the current environment, establishing operations, antecedent stimuli, and contingencies of reinforcement and punishment which influence behavior, including the problematic behavior that occasions the use of restraint and the application of restraints itself. Applied behavior analysis is also characterized by the use of functional behavior assessment to understand and reduce the target behaviors that occasion the use of restraint and other restrictive behavior management practices. The chapter goes on to describe the functions of restraint. These include both consequential and antecedent functions. The chapter goes on to describe the interesting phenomenon of self-restraint and its functions, its relationship to self-injurious behavior, and the compulsion hypothesis of self-restraint. The chapter notes that self-restraint may have a number of potential relationships to self-injurious behavior. Applied behavior analysis provides a useful and conceptually sound framework for understanding restraint and self-restraint which informs intervention to reduce restraint.