Which of the following statement best define the antecedent factors in behavioral analysis under behaviour therapy?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Those that predispose a person to engage in a particular behaviour.
Behavioural analysis looks for three things: the malfunctioning behaviours, the antecedents of faulty learning, and the factors that maintain it.
Option (1) Those that appear after the behaviour is stopped. — Incorrect. Antecedent means ‘coming before’. These factors are the causes that lead up to a behaviour, not events that follow it once it has stopped.
Option (2) Those that predispose a person to engage in a particular behaviour. — Correct. Antecedent factors are those causes which predispose the person to indulge in that behaviour. In the smoking example, the anxiety of preparing for the annual examination is the antecedent of the young man’s smoking.
Option (3) Those that reinforces the behaviour. — Incorrect. Factors that reinforce a behaviour and keep it going are the maintaining factors, which lead to the persistence of the faulty behaviour, such as the relief from anxiety that the smoker reported.
Option (4) Those that eliminate the behaviour immediately. — Incorrect. Removing a behaviour is the work of the treatment techniques the therapist chooses after the analysis, such as aversive conditioning. Antecedents are causes, not cures.
NCERT (2025-26): “Behaviour Therapy … The client with psychological distress or with physical symptoms, which cannot be attributed to physical disease, is interviewed with a view to analyse her/ his behaviour patterns. Behavioural analysis is conducted to find malfunctioning behaviours, the antecedents of faulty learning, and the factors that maintain or continue faulty learning. Malfunctioning behaviours are those behaviours which cause distress to the client. Antecedent factors are those causes which predispose the person to indulge in that behaviour. Maintaining factors are those factors which lead to the persistence of the faulty behaviour.…” |