Information-Gathering Strategies in Behavioral Assessment

Abstract

Summary: In behavioral assessment, the strategy theoretically most coherent for case formulation is to carry out a functional analysis aimed at discovering, among other factors, functionally relevant stimuli acting upon the problem-behavior. However, little is known about the decision-making processes involved in this task. Although many authors have suggested prescriptive models for this process, the strategies used by clinicians when gathering information seem to be left to experience and common sense. The present research is an attempt to increase the knowledge about this process of information gathering. The study was carried out with psychology students in their final year who already had enough theoretical knowledge to gather this kind of information, but still lacked practical experience. Subjects were asked to gather information aimed at checking a hypothesis about the functional role on a given behavior of either an antecedent or a subsequent (i.e., reinforcing) stimulus. The results show that information gathered to test a reinforcing stimulus hypothesis is more homogeneous than information to test a hypothesis about a functionally relevant antecedent stimulus. The strategies used to test both types of hypotheses are different. In both instances, however, subjects more frequently gathered information useful to refute or refine the hypothesis than information useful to verify it.