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The three-term contingency (also known as the ABC contingency) in
The consequence of a behavior can be reinforcing or punishing.
operant conditioning
Operant conditioning, also called instrumental conditioning, is a learning process where behaviors are modified through the association of stimuli with reinforcement or punishment. In it, operants—behaviors that affect one's environment—are c ...
—or contingency management
Contingency management (CM) is the application of the three-term contingency (or operant conditioning), which uses stimulus control and consequences to change behavior. CM originally derived from the science of applied behavior analysis (ABA), bu ...
—describes the relationship between a behavior, its consequence, and the environmental context. The three-term contingency was first defined by B. F. Skinner
Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist, behaviorist, author, inventor, and social philosopher. He was a professor of psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974.
...
in the early 1950s. It is often used within ABA to alter the frequency of socially significant human behavior.
Components
Antecedent
The antecedent stimulus occurs first in the contingency and signals that reinforcement or punishment is available on the contingency of a specific behavior. A discriminative stimuli, or SD, directly affects the likelihood of a specific response occurring.Behavior
Thebehavior
Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as wel ...
, also referred to as the response, is any observable and measurable action a living organism can do. In the three-term contingency, behavior is operant, meaning it changes the environment in some way.
Consequence
The consequence of a behavior can be reinforcing or punishing. Reinforcing
In behavioral psychology, reinforcement is a consequence applied that will strengthen an organism's future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus. This strengthening effect may be measured as a higher freq ...
consequences increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring in the future; it is further divided into positive and negative reinforcement. Punishing consequences decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring in the future; like reinforcement, it is divided into positive and negative punishment. An example of punishment may include beatings (positive punishment), and taking away something desired or loved (negative punishment).
The effectiveness and value of a consequence are determined by the motivating operations the organism has. For example, deprivation of food can make food more effective as a consequence, and the satiation of hunger can make food less effective as a consequence.{{Cite book, title=Applied behavior analysis, last=O., first=Cooper, John, date=2007, publisher=Pearson/Merrill-Prentice Hall, others=Heron, Timothy E., Heward, William L., 1949-, isbn=978-0131421134, edition=2nd, location=Upper Saddle River, N.J., oclc=74942760
References