How pain influences problem behavior

A range of variables influence the occurrence of behavior. Some of these, such as reinforcing stimuli and contingencies of reinforcement, play a direct role in the selection and maintenance of behavior. Others, such as discriminative stimuli, predict the availability of reinforcement, setting the occasion for behavior to occur. Still others, such as motivating operations, alter the value of reinforcing stimuli and correspondingly change the likelihood that responses will be evoked. Each of these types of behavioral processes alter the probability that responses will be emitted by a person. The classification, estimation, and manipulation of these behavioral processes helps determine whether a person engages in socially acceptable behavior or behaviors that society deems inappropriate. There are, however, other variables influencing the probability of responding that have not been as extensively characterized. One such set of events � which I will call health conditions � can increase or decrease the occurrence of behaviors in ways that researchers are only beginning to understand. In this talk, I will outline various health conditions (e.g., sleep problems, dysmenorrhea, gastrointestinal disorders), the evidence for their influencing behaviors such as aggression, and pain as a possible mechanism of action that is best conceptualized as a motivating operation.