ABSTRACT
In many applied and clinical situations the behavior analyst is faced with the task of decreasing behaviors that may be maladaptive for the client. In such situations there should of course be a very clear rationale for the need to reduce behaviors. Maladaptive behaviors may be generally defined as behaviors that result in some form of negative outcome for the person or for others. For example, a child's aggression towards other classroom students may result in physical harm to those students, or harm to the aggressive child through retaliation. The aggressive child might also be removed from the classroom setting, thereby losing access to appropriate educational opportunities. Again, the behavior analyst must conduct a rigorous assessment of the function of the behavior and establish a firm rationale for reducing such behavior prior to any intervention (see Chapter 7).
