Citation

Adelinis JD, Hagopian LP. J. Appl. Behav. Anal. 1999; 32(4): 519-523.

Affiliation

Kennedy Krieger Institute and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Wiley-Blackwell)

DOI

10.1901/jaba.1999.32-519

PMID

10641305

PMCID

PMC1284213

Abstract

The results of a modified functional analysis demonstrated that aggression, displayed by a 27-year-old man, was occasioned by the use of "don't" requests to interrupt the client's ongoing and often inappropriate activities (e.g., lying on the floor, pica, inappropriate touching of others). Subsequent analyses demonstrated that aggression was lower when ongoing activities were interrupted with symmetrical "do" requests than with "don't" requests. An intervention utilizing symmetrical "do" requests (i.e., prompting an individual to engage in an incompatible behavior) to interrupt such activities resulted in reduced levels of aggression.

Language: en