Question: This term is defined as a physical event that affects the behavior of an individual.
Answer: Stimulus.
In order to discuss the term stimulus, we first need to talk about the term environment.
An environment is an elaborate and always-changing universe of events. In ABA, the environment refers specifically to stimulus conditions that are internal and external to the individual. What we have to understand is that behavior cannot occur without an environment. These internal and external events are stimuli. A stimulus is a physical event that affects the behavior of an individual. This event can be external or internal to that individual. Things like muscle spasms, bright lights, loud noises, another person, a memory, a hunger pain.
Like a lot of things in ABA, stimuli also have features and properties. We have formal and physical features— that’s what the stimulus looks like. We’ have temporal features— this has to do with time-based things like, does the stimulus present itself as an antecedent or as a consequence. And, of course, functional, referring to the kind of effect the stimulus has on the environment or the behavior.
Jack Michael, who we sadly, said that a stimulus is an energy change that affects an organism through its receptor cells. This is why our coursework includes a conversation about our nervous system. A lot of my students say, “Why do we have to know this?” Well, because our nervous system and these receptor cells are how we come into contact with the stimuli in our environment. These receptors detect all the environmental changes that occur inside and outside of the human organism, our bodies.
There are three specific nervous systems or body systems that are impacted by stimuli. The first is proprioceptors or the proprioceptive nervous system. This is an internal event. This is how we receive stimulation from our joints, tendons, and muscles, and this is what we need for balance and posture, being able to move through space. It’s that weird feeling in your gut when an elevator drops too fast, or being on a swing or a roller coaster, car sickness.
Then we have interoceptors. This is also internal events, except this is how we receive stimulation from our organs. Headaches, increased heart rates, hunger pain.
The third is the exteroceptors or exteroceptive nervous system. This is the external process. This is most popularly referred to in ABA because it has to do with our five senses. An example would be smelling something: like fire or smoke, tasting something: like barbecue, hearing a song, or seeing a sunset. These body systems that are part of our organisms can contact a rich world of internal and external stimuli.