Behavioral Assessment Methods:

There are a variety of different approaches that one may employ in sampling an individual's
response to certain life situations. Behavioural assessment has made use of
(l) Direct observation in naturalistic settings;
It allows one to measure the various dimensions of the behaviour of interest (e.g., frequency,
strength, pervasiveness), but it can also provide a good opportunity for understanding those
variables that may be currently maintaining the behaviour.
Depending on the particular purpose of the assessment, behavioural codes are customarily
devised that outline the categories of behaviour to be attended to during the observation
procedure. Different codes have been devised by investigators for observing behaviour as it
occurs in various settings, such as schools, homes, and hospitals. These observations are
typically carried out at specified periods of time and are tailored to the particular subject
population being assessed. An observation code has also been developed for the assessment
of positively reinforcing behaviour.

(2) Situation
The observation of responses to situations that have been contrived by the assessor. Although
situation tests have been used for assessment purposes in the past (e.g., Office of Strategic
Services Assessment Staff), their use by behavioural assessors has focused specifically on
confronting the subject with situations likely to elicit the type of behaviour toward which the
assessment is specifically directed. Not only is the individual's behaviour objectively
observed in such situations but, whenever relevant, subjective and physiological measures of
anxiety are employed as well.
The situation test, which was used as a measure of improvement, required subjects to present
a 4-minute speech before a live audience. Immediately before giving the talk, they were
administered self-report and physiological measures of anxiety. During the speech itself,
trained observers in the audience recorded various overt signs of anxiety, coding such
behaviours as extraneous hand movements, hand tremors, pacing, and absence of eye contact.
This type· of situation test has proved useful in a variety of other clinical outcome studies.
(3) Role Playing
Situation test focuses on placing subjects in the real-life situation, whereas role playing
requires subjects to react "as if' the event were occurring to them in real life.
(4) Self-Report
In using self-report procedures, behavioural assessors have focused on the report of specific
behavioural interactions, on subjective reports of emotional response, and on perceptions of
environmental settings. Each of these areas of assessment is described below. Self-Report of
Overt Behaviour. The behavioural characteristic that has been the focus of most self-report
measures of overt behaviour is assertiveness.
Self-Report of Emotion- A measure frequently used by behavioural assessors in the self-
report of anxiety is the Fear Survey Schedule. The schedule consists of a series of 51
potentially anxiety-arousing situations and objects (e.g., snakes, being alone, looking foolish),
which subjects are asked to rate for the degree of fear typically elicited in them. The schedule
is at best a gross screening device and should probably be viewed as nothing more than that.
Pleasant Events Schedule includes items generated from an actual situational analysis.
College students were asked to specify "events, experiences, or activities which you find
pleasant, rewarding, or fun," and the net result of this sampling was a series of 320 items of
both a social and a non-social type. In responding to the Pleasant Events Schedule, subjects
are asked to indicate not only how often each of these various events might have occurred
within the past month but also how pleasant and enjoyable they were. If for some reason
subjects have not experienced any particular event, they are simply asked to estimate how
enjoyable it might have been if it had occurred.