Antecedent, Behavior, & Consequences (ABC) for goal setting
Overview
When helping students set and achieve mastery oriented behaviors is is sometimes useful to analyze their behavior. One way to do this is to think about what happens before (antecedent), during (behavior) and after (consequences) their behavior.
Information here explores each of these times and suggestions and guidelines for processing and imposing consequences to help people choose mastery oriented behaviors.
Antecedent
Antecedent - Actions (external) or thoughts (internal) that comes before a behavior. May or may not be observable.
Antecedent examples:
- Thoughts
- Experiences
- Internal drives
- Emotions
- Wants
- Needs fulfillment
- Mistaken goal, wanting something
- External stimuli - sound, images, smells, touches, tastes
- Signs or symptoms that surface before the behavior (surface behaviors)
- Health issues - general Health, nutrition, sleep, physical, injury
- Confusion
- Psychological State
- Sociological State
- Lack of preparedness
- Feelings such as fear, shame, humiliation
- Beliefs
- Internal chemistry
- Other causes
Behavior
Behavior is the actions a person uses. What they say or do.
Behavior Examples:
- Argue, yell
- Help, advocate
- Hit, kick, hurt, fight
- Slander, threaten, starting rumors, harass, bully
- Obey, disobey
- Empathize
- Assist
- Exclude
- Report, tattle
- Problem solving
- Problem creating
- Praise, encourage
- Lye, cheat, steal, break rules
- Refuse to work
Behaviors can be though of in different ways:
Misbehavior or self-limiting is acting in a way that creates problems and or puts one or more people at risk.
Compliant or defiant.
- Compliance is the skill you use to handle authority. James Lehman
- Defiance is the skill you use to rebel against authority. Tim Sharer
Consequence
Consequence -
The result, outcome, effect, aftermath of any behavior.
Natural: the natural outcome, result, effect or aftermath of any behavior.
- Unavoidable; may be imposed from within.
- Hurting Other’s Feelings
- Scaring Others
- Injuring Others
- Insulting Others
- Taking Other’s Property
- Destroying Other’s Property
- Offending Others
- Losing Your Dignity
- Losing Friendships
- Losing Cooperation from Others Being Socially Isolated
- Feeling such as Sadness, Happiness, Joyful, Depression, Anger, etc.
Consequences can be considered as:
Common or natural consequences occurrences that result as an outcome or aftermath math of a behavioral action. The price a person pays for their actions:
Logical consequences are outcomes that are obvious, resulting from sound thinking, and directly connected to the behavior. Imposed externally, such as:
- Loss of privilege
- Removal from the environment
- Giving up something: such as valued time
- Require them to relearn, restore, repay, repair, resolve, and reconcile
- Suspension or Expulsion
Given consequence is a logical outcome revealed ahead of time resulting from sound logical thinking before initiating the behavior.
Suggestions and guidelines for processing & imposing consequences
It is helpful to have guidelines to considered when imposing consequences for misbehavior.
Guidelines can include goals for using consequences and how to select them.
Goals such as:
- Help students stop their self-limiting thoughts and behaviors and choose mastery oriented thoughts and behaviors.
- Stop reacting to misbehavior and start responding in calm, clear and reasonable ways to start a conversation to help the person choose mastery oriented choices.
An initial conversations might be started with something like:
The decisions you make are choices:
Right now this is a small problem.
If you choose to not follow the class code of conduct, you are choosing to create conflict.
I’m hoping you’ll choose to learn mastery oriented behaviors to solve problems that do not create conflict.
I’ll give you a minute to think about your choice and I’ll be back for your answer.
To review the appropriateness of an imposed consequence use some guiding principles such as, is it: reasonable, respectful, appropriate, and possibly be helpful. Other suggestions:
RSVP
- Reasonable
- Simple
- Valuable
- Practical
From: Kids Are Worth It by Coloroso
Four Rs
- Related
- Respectful
- Reasonable
- Revealed
From: Positive Discipline in the Classroom by Nelson, Lott & Glenn