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Functional analysis in behavioral psychology is the application of the laws of operant conditioning to establish the relationships between stimuli and responses. To establish the function of a behavior, one typically examines the "four-term contingency": first by identifying the Motivating Operations (EO or AO), then identifying the antecedent or trigger of the behavior, identifying the behavior itself as it has been operationalized, and identifying the consequence of the behavior which continues to maintain it. Functional assessment in behavior analysis employs principles derived from the natural science of behavior analysis to determine the "reason", purpose, or motivation for a behavior. The most robust form of functional assessment is functional analysis, which involves the direct manipulation, using some experimental design (e.g., a multielement design or a reversal design) of various antecedent and consequent events and measurement of their effects on the behavior of interest; this is the only method of functional assessment that allows for demonstration of clear cause of behavior. ==Applications in clinical psychology== Functional analysis and consequence analysis are commonly used in certain types of psychotherapy to better understand, and in some cases change, behavior. It is particularly common in behavioral therapies such as behavioral activation,〔Kanter, J.W.; Cautilli, J.D.; Busch, A.M. & Baruch, D.E. (2005). Toward a Comprehensive Functional Analysis of Depressive Behavior: Five Environmental Factors and a Possible Sixth and Seventh. ''The Behavior Analyst Today'', 6(1), 65–81.(BAO )〕 although it is also part of Aaron Beck's cognitive therapy. In addition, functional analysis modified into a behavior chain analysis is often used in dialectical behavior therapy.〔Sampl, S.; Wakai, S.; Trestman, R. & Keeney, E.M. (2008). Functional Analysis of Behavior in Corrections: Empowering Inmates in Skills Training Groups. ''Journal of Behavior Analysis of Offender and Victim: Treatment and Prevention'', 1(4), 42–51 (BAO )〕 There are several advantages to using functional analysis over traditional assessment methods. Firstly, behavioral observation is more reliable than traditional self-report methods. This is because observing the individual from an objective stand point in their regular environment allows the observer to observe both the antecedent and the consequence of the problem behavior. Secondly, functional analysis is advantageous as it allows for the development of behavioral interventions, either antecedent control or consequence control, specifically designed to reduce a problem behavior. Thirdly, functional analysis is advantageous for interventions for young children or developmentally delayed children with problem behaviors, who may not be able to answer self-report questions about the reasons for their actions. Despite these benefits, functional analysis also has some disadvantages. The first that no standard methods for determining function have been determined〔Angela Waguespack, Terrence Vaccaro & Lauren Continere (2006). Functional Behavioral Assessment and Intervention with Emotional/Behaviorally Disordered Students: In Pursuit of State of the Art. ''IJBCT'', 4(2), 463–74 (BAO )〕 and meta-analysis shows that different methodologies appear to bias results toward particular functions as well as not effective in improving outcomes.〔Delfs, C.H. & Campbell, J.M. (2010). A quantitative synthesis of developmental disability research: The impact of functional assessment methodology on treatment effectiveness. ''The Behavior Analyst Today'', 11(1), 4–19 (BAO )〕 Second, Gresham and colleagues (2004) in a meta-analytic review of JABA articles found that functional assessment did not produce greater effect sizes compared to simple contingency management programs.〔Gresham, F.; McIntyre, L.L.; Olson-Tinker, H.; Dolstra, L.; McLaughlin, V. & Van, M. (2004). Relevance of functional behavioral assessment research for school based behavioral intervention and positive behavioral support. ''Research in Developmental Disabilities'', 25, 19–37.〕 However, Gresham et al. combined the three types of functional assessment, of which descriptive assessment and indirect assessment have been reliably found to produce results with limited validity〔Thompson, R. H., & Iwata, B. A. (2001). A comparison of outcomes from descriptive and functional analyses of problem behavior. "Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis", 40, 333-338.〕〔Smith, C. A., Smith, R. G., Dracobly, J. D., & Pace, A. P. (2012). Multiple-respondent anecdotal assessments: An analysis of interrupter agreement and correspondence with analogue assessment outcomes. "Journal of Applied Behavior Analysi"s, 45, 779-795.〕 Third, although functional assessment has been conducted with a variety host of populations (i.e.〔Bonem, M.; Stanely-Klime, K.L. & Corbin, M. (2008). A behavioral approach to domestic violence: A functional assessment based on batter contingencies. ''Journal of Behavior Analysis of Offender and Victim: Treatment and Prevention'', 1(2) 210–3. (BAO )〕) much of the current functional assessment research has been limited to children with developmental disabilities.〔Gadaire, D.M.; Kelley, M.E. & DeRosa, N.M. (2010). Research Needed for Focusing on Additional Generality of Applied Behavior Analysis. ''The Behavior Analyst Today'', 11(1), 49–58.(BAO )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Functional analysis (psychology)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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