ABSTRACT
A functional analysis of behavior is predicated on the assumption that operant behavior is controlled by its consequences. Through the manipulation of differential consequences, behavioral frequencies can readily and predictably be increased or decreased and responses can be shaped into increasingly precise and complex topographies. Similarly, by differentially correlating specific stimuli with particular behavioral consequences, the stimuli can acquire antecedent control over the occurrence or nonoccurrence of the behavior, thereby restricting and refining the occasions on which the behavior is likely to be emitted in the future. Thus, a thorough analysis of behavior requires that the functional properties of specific stimuli that are antecedent and consequent to a given behavior be delineated, manipulated, and assessed.
