In other blogs, we discussed the other two parts of the behavioral process, antecedents and consequences. The third part is the response. This is the part that people generally identify as behavior. However, it is only part of what we call behavior. In terms of managing or controlling behavior, it is probably the least important part. However, there are six aspects of the response that are important for you to understand.
Part of an Environment
The response in behavior is not something separate from the environment but is actually part of it. Because our responses come from our efforts, we tend to think of them as something that belongs to us and not to the environment. To understand a response, we have to discover its connections to its environment. A report of only characteristics about the response falls short of describing the behavior. The events that occur just prior to the response and just following the response are important for understanding the response. Responses never stand alone; they are always connected to some environment.
For example, try to understand a person screaming and jumping up and down without mentioning that the person is at a football game and her team has just made a touchdown. The more specific you can be about the context, the more you can understand about the behavior. In the example just stated, it clarifies the person’s behavior more to know that he is standing in a row of cheer leaders of which he is a part.
Can Be Observed
All responses that we classify as behavior must be observable. Our bodies are constantly responding to the environment in ways that are not observable. For that reason, we don’t consider them behavior. The beating of your heart is not behavior. The operation of your brain is not behavior. The fact that responses are observable makes them objective; it means we can do research on them and learn more about them. For example, it’s difficult to do research on your dreams, because only you have access to them. As far as the rest of us are concerned, your dreams are whatever you say they are. You may not even had a dream, I can never know. It’s not that your dreams are not important; they are just not objective, they are subjective. Subjective information is not as useful as objective information. We can come to an agreement with other observers about our responses, whereas we cannot do so with responses that can’t be observed.
Controlled by the Environment
Our behavior is controlled, not by us, but by our environment. This does not mean that you have no control over your responses. While the environment controls your responses you control your environment, thus you control your responses. You use your environment to control your responses. This fact provides us a very powerful tool of self-control. While the environment controls your responses, it really doesn’t care about them. Your environment will control your responses, but it will never manipulate them. Your access to your environment makes it possible for you to manipulate your own responses. That gives you much power of self control.
Position of the Response
The response’s position in the environment is universal. The response always occurs after the antecedent and before the consequence. When you see a response, look again and find the antecedent and consequences. You will no longer be viewing responses as isolated events. You will never again see just a response. This fact is important, because it provides a way of viewing behavior and of identifying how it is connected to the environment. To know that someone hit another person and he really hit him hard, is to know not much about the behavior. To know something about the environment, such as they were playing football, gives us more information about the response of hitting. In fact, it changes the definition of the term, “hitting.” Defining this structure of the response, makes the behavior observable. It provides us with a universal language to discuss and think about behavior.
Inserted in Environment
The response is not a loose cannon in the environment; it is a structural part of the environment. Sometimes we feel that our responses are quite independent of the environment, but they are not. One can think of the environment as having energy and the responses tap into that energy. In order to talk about behavior, you have to talk about the environment. When a response occurs in an environment, we say the response has been elicited by the environment. Our responses come from the skills we have, and those skills are ones required by the environment. The skills we have acquired are ones that make us successful in the environment in which we live, not in some other environment. Essentially, our responses act upon the environment and are acted upon by the environment. We are a product of our environment.
Precise, Observable Descriptions
Our responses are capable of precise descriptions that can be observed by everyone. If a response cannot be precisely described in a manner observable by everyone, then it does not have characteristics that make it a response for our behavior. We will have to redefine the response until it can be precisely described. With this characteristic others are able to observe what we observe, and we can come to agreements about our behavior. We can know that we are all looking at the same thing. Thus, we can make clear statements about our behavior. We can communicate with one another about what we are observing. When we discuss a particular behavior, we can know that we are all discussing the same thing. This precision of communication is important for gaining knowledge about our behavior.
Function of Characteristics
The six characteristics discussed above present an important understanding of the response. They clear some common misunderstandings about the response. Our own responses are very personal and subjective. Naturally, we have come to understand them through this subjectivity. But the concept of behavior as antecedent-response-consequence gives us an objective way to see our behavior. Using these concepts, you can more accurately identify behavior and more precisely response to it. This accuracy and precision will give you much more power over your own behavior and over that of others. It will reduce much confusion in your interactions with others.