Jack Michael, Behavior Analyst.
Call quick momentary changes 'evocative' and lasting learning changes 'function-altering' to keep your analyses sharp.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Schlinger (2021) is a theory paper. It sorts the things that happen around us into two clean bins.
One bin is 'evocative' events. These are quick nudges that lift or drop behavior right now. The other bin is 'function-altering' events. These change how future events can push or pull behavior.
What they found
The paper gives clear rules. If an event only changes behavior in the moment, call it evocative. If it rewires what later events can do, call it function-altering.
Using the wrong word hides the process. Clear labels help you pick the right intervention.
How this fits with other research
Neuman (2004) did the same tidy-up job for the word 'intention.' Both papers swap fuzzy talk for plain, testable terms.
Cooper et al. (1990) warned against treating stimulus classes as real things. Schlinger (2021) makes the same warning about 'setting events' and 'motivating operations.'
Knapp (1982) asked us to apply behavior analysis to ourselves. Schlinger (2021) gives you the tool: speak in evocative versus function-altering so your team data stays clean.
Why it matters
Next time you write a plan, label each antecedent. Is it evocative or function-altering? The label tells you whether to track brief changes or long-term learning. Your supervision notes, parent handouts, and graphs will line up. Everyone sees the process, not just the topcoat.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Environmental operations may be classified according to whether they have evocative or function-altering effects. Evocative events, such as the presentation of unconditioned and conditioned stimuli, establishing operations, and discriminative stimuli, serve to increase, decrease, or maintain the momentary frequency of behavior. Function-altering operations, such as operant and respondent conditioning, the correlation of stimuli, and the presentation of certain verbal stimuli, serve to increase, decrease, or maintain the evocative and function-altering (e.g., reinforcing or punishing) functions of other events. This paper expands upon the functional taxonomy of environmental events described by Michael (1993a). The resulting classification scheme should permit behavior analysts to more easily respond to similarities and differences between functional environmental events. This paper discusses implications of the suggested taxonomy for how behavior analysts talk about motivational variables, discriminative stimuli, the operant unit of analysis, and the distinction between operant and respondent conditioning.
The Analysis of verbal behavior, 2021 · doi:10.1007/BF03392652