Contingency Analysis
Instructions and Forms

A contingency analysis (CA) is an analysis of a behavioral contingency.

What is a behavioral contingency?

A very brief definition of behavioral contingency is "the conditions under which a response/behavior produces a consequence." Malott discusses the concept on pages 19-21 of Principles of Behavior, and his definition appears on page 20. Malott explains that all behavioral contingencies have three parts - the response, itself; the occasion for the response; and the outcome of the response. Behavior is governed, controlled, caused (there are many other terms we could include here) by its contingencies. This is easiest to see in the case of the outcome or consequence of a behavior. If the consequence of a particular behavior is reinforcing, the behavior is more likely to occur in the future. If the consequence of the behavior is punishing, the behavior is less likely to occur in the future. So if a child cries (response/behavior), and an adult immediately provides attention (outcome/consequence), the child is more likely to cry in the future. But if the crying is immediately followed by a slap, it's less likely to happen in the future.

But there are limits to these generalizations. Imagine that a child's crying has been reinforced in the past by the mother's immediate attention, but seldom by attention from the grandmother, who is hard of hearing. In this scenario, the child is more likely to cry when mother is around, but less likely to cry when only grandmother is around. This illustrates the importance of the third part of the behavioral contingency - the occasion for the response. The frequency of the child's crying is controlled, in part, by the occasion or situation in which the child finds itself. On occasions when mother is present, crying is more likely to happen, but on occasions when only grandmother is present, crying is less likely to happen.

So a complete understanding of behavior requires clearly identifying the three components of the behavioral contingency. If you wish to understand why a particular behavior has happened, you must (1) identify the exact behavior of interest (the target behavior), (2) determine the outcomes or consequences that have immediately followed the behavior in the past, and (3) determine the type of occasion or situation in which the behavior has happened and been followed by those consequences in the past. Knowing the components of a behavioral contingency also allows you to predict behavior, and to more effectively manage behavior in the future.

So what is a contingency analysis?

A CA of a behavior explains why the behavior happens by identifying the three components of the contingency that controls the behavior. Your CAs will consist of a description (a story or scenario) and a diagram. The description will present the three elements of the contingency you're describing: the target behavior, the occasion for the behavior, and the outcome of the behavior. The diagram will illustrate the contingency. The first examples of contingency diagrams in your textbook appear in the second column of p. 5.

The table below lists the contingencies for which you may prepare analyses. The name of each contingency is a link that will open a blank, full-size diagram form. When the diagram form opens in your browser, use the Save As function to save it on your computer. Give it a name that's appropriate for the type of contingency you're illustrating, such as "Reinforcement," Punishment," or "Escape." Then, using your word processing program (like Microsoft Word), you can write on the diagram and save it. Then attach the document to a WebCT email and send it to me.

Remember that a contingency diagram is not complete unless all of its parts are properly labeled and the name of the contingency (e.g., reinforcement, punishment, etc.) is written at the top of the diagram. In most cases, every box that is colored yellow requires something to be written in it. Use the examples in the textbook to see which parts of the diagram need to be labeled.

Chapter Contingency Analyses Example
2 Reinforcement p. 17
3 Escape p. 37
4 Punishment p. 59
7 Differential Reinforcement p. 128
8 Fixed Outcome Shaping with Reinforcement p. 152
12 Reinforcement-Based Discrimination p. 207
15 Avoidance of an Aversive Condition p. 261
20 Behavioral Chain p. 332
21 First Order Respondent Conditioning p. 356
24 Three Contingency Model Using Reinforcer p. 422