A model of cause-effect relations in the study of behavior.

The authors built a one-page teaching sheet called the Behavior Inventory Diagram, or BID.

Students use it to draw boxes that link three things: the stimulus field, the learner’s history, and the behavior you want to change.

No data were collected; the paper simply shows the blank diagram and explains each box.

The model gives future BCBAs a fast way to map cause-effect chains before writing a program.

Repeated practice with the sheet is meant to make causal thinking automatic.

Dall et al. (1997) picks up where the BID stops. After students finish the diagram, S et al. tell them to turn each arrow into a numbered, repeatable procedure so the idea can travel to other staff.

Roberts et al. (2018) moves the same arrows into statistics. They show how to run a causal-mediation analysis to prove, with group data, that the path you drew on the BID really carries the treatment effect.

Kincaid (2023) gives a cousin framework. Instead of mapping causes, it sorts gradual-change tactics into three bins—stimulus, response, reinforcement—so you can label what you actually do after the BID is complete.

Use the blank BID handout as a five-minute warm-up in staff meetings. Ask each RBT to fill one box set for the client they just saw. The quick sketch forces them to state the trigger, the history, and the payoff in plain English before you approve the next program change.