I work with staff who tells me that James engages in problem behavior for seemingly “no reason at all”. The behavior analyst who works with us has explained that it is somewhat unusual for problem behavior to occur for no reason at all. He says that there may be some “setting event” operating. What does he mean?

A setting event is a variable that in and of itself does not serve as a direct cue to the learner that if they engage in problem behavior they are apt to be reinforced. Instead, it simply increases the probability that in the presence of a provoking stimulus problem behavior will occur. For example, assume that when a task demand is given to James there is about a 20% probability that he will engage in problem behavior. However, when his work environment is extremely noisy, the probability of problem behavior when given a task demand is much higher at 90%.

Because sometimes the setting event is present while other times it is absent, the behavior may appear to be very inconsistent to an observer.