Can you relate to this thought? “Why am I (_____-ing) so much?! What is the reason behind this behavior?!
This is where understanding the four functions (the purpose) of behavior, according to B.F. Skinner and the father of Behaviorism , can come in and help you understand your behavior. If you can decipher which circumstances need to be in place for this behavior to happen and how you feel BEFORE those circumstances are happening, then you have access to a formula that may help you find a healthier alternative behavior that serves the same purpose that can replace that behavior.
Before we dive into ALL four functions (purposes of) behavior let’s start with an in-depth example.
Behaviors That Get Attention
Let’s say you’re really trying to lose some extra weight because your doctor said you need to for health reasons. You’re aiming to change the way you eat but it’s been tough, and you can’t pinpoint what triggers this unwanted habit of either overeating or eating indulgent and unhealthy foods too often.
Let’s look at two scenarios:
(ANTECEDENT/What happens BEFORE the behavior) You get home from work and you’re by yourself with prepped meals in the fridge and you’re hungry (the state of your bodyàstomach empty and needs to be filled)
(BEHAVIOR) You eat a prepped meal, and all Is good! You’re satisfied.
(CONSEQUENCE)- Your body feels good, and you are proud of yourself
The function of (purpose of) this behavior is to attain an item (food) and the consequence is you’re full and happy😊
Now…Let’s switch the ATECEDENT and BEHAVIOR up a bit…
(ANTECEDENT) You arrive at a restaurant with your foodie friends that just LOVE extravagant pizzas and then a trip to a dessert boutique afterwards. You’re also hungry (the state of your bodyàstomach empty and needs to be filled)
(BEHAVIOR) You eat half of a delicious hyperpalatable (enhanced taste because of chemicals) pizza and then, begrudgingly, agree to go to this dessert boutique because you’d be labeled BORING if you didn’t join.
(CONSEQUENCE)
Immediate consequence: food is delicious and you’re happy because you’ve joined your friends in the enjoyment of indulgent foods.
Delayed consequence: you feel bloated and tired, have puffy eyes and fingers the next day from the sodium and you’re hurling insults at yourself throughout the day as a result of your overindulgence last night.
The function of (purpose of) this behavior is to attain an item (food) BUT the simultaneous purpose of this behavior is to attain attention from friends. And I don’t mean you’re doing something to GET attention I mean you’re doing something because it involves attention and socializing with friends.
Let’s compare the two situations:
Situation one:
You’re alone (no one to share in the fun of novel and delicious food) and hungry and you have a healthy but yummy meal prepped. So, you eat the food. Your hunger is satisfied. Simple. Done. You’re happy and no bad feelings arise.
Situation two:
You’re with friends and they enjoy this indulgent food, and you like your friends, so you want to join in on the same activities as them. And who WOULDN’T enjoy this highly altered but delicious food. It’s both yummy AND a conversation piece. A salad is not a conversation piece. A loaded and melty fresh pizza can be the whole POINT of getting together. So, you eat indulgent food with your friends (which will lead to an immediate feeling of gratification) EVEN THOUGH you know later (delayed consequence) you’re going to feel unhealthy and upset with your decisions.
I hope this all makes sense. After this analysis of two different situations involving foodyou’re your behavior you can see that the function (purpose of) your choosing unhealthy foods IS TO socialize (which can also be labeled as “attention” in the applied behavior analysis world).
All the text above is just an example of ONE of the four functions of behavior according to applied behavior analysis.
According to behaviorism, people act the way that they do because of their interactions with stimuli in their environment and what purpose that interaction serves.
With the knowledge of the function of a behavior you might be able to come up with an alternative behavior (a healthier or an improved behavior). Or you might change your motivation to engage in the behavior before the opportunity (antecedent) to engage in that behavior arises.
For example:
The person in our scenario might be able to eat a nice hearty and healthy meal JUST before eating out with friends and then sample a bit of the indulgent food. This is an example of changing your motivation to eat the unhealthy and indulgent food when that opportunity (antecedent) arises.
Introducing: The Four Functions of Behavior
Now that we’ve gone through our in-depth example, I’d like to begin to introduce the other functions of behavior
- Getting attention (can be considered socializing)
- Getting an item
- Self-stimulation
- Escape
Here are some other relatable scenarios for each “function” or “reason why” we behave in certain ways.
Behaviors That Are "Self-Stimulatory"
What in the heck do I mean by self-stimulatory you might ask. These are behaviors that we engage in just because we like the way they make us feel. We’re bored at a doctor’s office? We tap our foot. We’re stuck in traffic? We pop in some gum to chew and turn on our favorite music.
Another example of a behavior that is self-stimulating can be scrolling social media a little too often/too frequently.
Here’s a little scenario:
You get home from work, you plan on eating leftovers, all chores are done and it’s just you and your animal companion. You’re bored… so what to do? Knit? Practice playing guitar? Read a book? Yoga? Of course not! Those all take a little more effort than you’re willing to put out so the NEXT best/easiest thing to do? Pop out your pocket computer (your phone
) and start scrolling. SO MUCH entertainment in one little rectangle and SUCH little effort and voila! You’re not bored anymore.
So, let’s make it into a formula:
(ANTECEDENT) You’re bored. There’s nothing at all to do after work.
(BEHAVIOR) You pop out your phone and you’re exposed to so much fast paced and convenient entertainment.
(CONSEQUENCE) You’re not bored anymore.
This behavior might be a problem to some people because they are aiming to start a new and brain-healthy leisure activity versus scrolling social media or watching endless reels. But instead of making the effort to start these new and healthy habits the entertainment rectangle is calling, and it easily solves the problem of “boredom.”
Something that might help with scrolling social media is to turn your phone off and take the batteries out of the remote.
THEN begin to engage in your new leisure skill for at least 5 minutes before you ask yourself if you want to stop or not. Each day that you can attend to your new leisure activity add 1 minute to the time that you’ve engaged in your new leisure skill. The phone and TV will always be there afterwards
Behaviors That Lead to Escape
An example of behavior that leads to escaping from a non-preferred activity can be ALL of the behaviors that you engage in EXCEPT for the non-preferred task.
Here is a scenario that I suspect you can relate to…
You have a work deadline that involves a very technical power point presentation. It’s due Monday and you didn’t have the week prior to get it done. Great news! You have all weekend to work on it! And you’ll need all weekend to get it done for sure! BUT you find yourself getting the dishes done first (dishes can’t sit around, right?!), and then the laundry. Ok, NOW you’ll start working on the presentation…BUT reorganizing that darn pantry sure would make life easier. Ok! Pantry reorganized! Great! Now you’ll get to the presentation. BUT now that you’re in reorganizing mode you might as well apply your productivity to your messy closet.
Are you catching my drift here? Sometimes we complete other LESS non-preferred tasks before we get to the MORE non-preferred task. In other words, those OTHER CHORES are behaviors that lead to escaping a very non-preferred task.
We are tricky, aren’t we? We think we’re being productive because we’re completing chores BUT really…we’re escaping a more non-preferred task.
It’s helpful to know this so that, before we start reorganizing the closet, we recognize that behavior for what it is (to escape) and stop ourselves.
We can set a goal for ourselves. FIRST finish the presentation in chunks of 1 our increments AND THEN you can do what you want😊
Behaviors That Get You Access to an Item
Last, but not least, let’s talk about behaviors we might engage in that lead us gaining access to an item…
I left gaining access to an item for last because there are not a lot of widespread and relatable examples but here are several that SOMEONE might be able to relate to…
Here are some scenarios…
You flirt with someone, that you don’t really like, at a bar because the free drinks from this person are flowing.
You stay out later with a client than you want to because you need to close a sale
You work much later than you want to or way more often than you want to because you’re aiming to get that big bonus
You’ve entered a hotdog eating contest because you really want to win that cool trophy!
If you are engaging in a behavior because you want access to an item and that behavior is a problem, then you may want to CHANGE the behavior that leads to that item.
I hope this was helpful!
Understanding WHY you’re engaging in a problematic behavior can help you come up with a plan of action to REPLACE that behavior with a healthy/ not harmful behavior that serves the same purpose.
This gives you some power!
As always, I hope this post shed some light on why we do what we do and how we can use this information to change our behavior so that we feel healthier and happier. Behaviorism is SUCH a cool approach to understanding our behavior and I’m looking forward to continuing to write about it for my readers!
Until next time,
Kristi
Written by Kristi on April 18th, 2023