What is Behavior?

Behavior is the activity of living organisms - the interaction between an organism and its environment. Human behavior includes those that we cannot directly see - thinking and feeling.  If you're unsure whether or not something is a "behavior" then you should apply the "Dead Man's test":  If a dead man can do it, it's not behavior. And if a dead man can't do it, then it is behavior. 

Behavior can be thought of in two ways: operant and respondent behavior.  In short, operant behavior "operates" on the environment and respondent behavior is "in response" to an environmental stimulus.  In order for a respondent behavior to occur, some environmental change must happen first.  For example, when I open a jar of jalepenos and get a whiff (environmental change), my salivary glands go crazy (respondent behavior).  In essence, a respondent behavior is a reflex.  When an operant behavior occurs, a change in the environment happens after the behavior occurs.  For example, when my daughter says "done" (operant behavior) at the dinner table, I remove her dinner plate (environmental change).

Behavior Analysis deals with both operant and respondent behavior; however, applied behavior analysis is most often concerned with operant behavior and this will be the focus of my blog.