There are many necessary steps that re involved when trying to come up with ways to either adjust or modify undesired behaviors. Approaching a problem scientifically is not different than the way approaching behavior analysis should be. A tool that will need to be used in order to find the problem contingencies is called a functional assessment. A functional assessment is often used to reveal contingencies that are encouraging a problem behavior before an intervention is able to be prepared (Malott and Shane, 2014). A doctor cannot start treatment of a problem before knowing exactly what the symptoms are and what is causing those symptoms. The same process must be applied when assessing undesirable behaviors in order to modify those behaviors as best as possible. What are some specifics that are involved with a functional assessment?

Source:

Malott, R. W., & Shane, J. T. (2014). Principles of behavior (7th ed.). London, England: Taylor & Francis.