An Analysis of Feedback from a Behavior Analytic Perspective

Abstract

The present paper presents a systematic analysis from a behavior analytic perspective of procedures termed feedback. Although feedback procedures are widely reported in the discipline of psychology, including in the field of behavior analysis, feedback is neither consistently defined nor analyzed. Feedback is frequently treated as a principle of behavior; however, its effects are rarely analyzed in terms of well-established principles of learning and behavior analysis. On the assumption that effectiveness of feedback procedures would be enhanced when their use is informed by these principles, we sought to provide a conceptually systematic account of feedback effects in terms of operant conditioning principles. In the first comprehensive review of this type, we compare feedback procedures with those of well-defined operant procedures. We also compare the functional relations that have been observed between parameters of consequence delivery and behavior under both feedback and operant procedures. The similarities observed in the preceding analyses suggest that processes revealed in operant conditioning procedures are sufficient to explain the phenomena observed in studies on feedback.

Information, timing, and display: A design-behavior framework for improving the effectiveness of eco-feedback

“…Salience refers to how well eco-feedback captures attention, i.e., enters the user's awareness. Precision is a concept we adapted 1 from Mangiapanello and Hemmes [19]; it refers to the "precision of the programmed relation between parameters of responding and parameters of the resulting consequences" (p. 61). This concept is applicable to both feedback and operant conditioning.…”

“…Our framework for organizing behavioral implications was constructed both inductively and deductively. We considered theoretical assertions and empirical findings in the reviewed studies, but also relied heavily on Feedback Intervention Theory (FIT; [14]), and behavior analytic principles (e.g., reinforcement and punishment, schedule effects, stimulus control, and motivating operations; [15][16][17][18]), particularly as applied to the topic of performance feedback by Mangiapanello and Hemmes [19]. These theories were selected due to their applicability to the topic of ecofeedback and focus on observable behavior change as opposed to knowledge, attitudes, intentions, preferences, or usability.…”

Teacher Behavior Checklist: Psychometric Evidence in Teacher Evaluation by Brazilian University Students

“…An alternative is to use measurement instruments, with psychometric evidence, to assist in the evaluation of the teacher by the students. The result of this assessment is an opportunity for feedback (Mangiapanello & Hemmes, 2015) to the teachers about their performance, which can help them to identify how to improve their teaching performance. The Teacher Behavior Checklist -TBC (Buskist, Sikorski, Buckley, & Saville, 2002), whose name in English was maintained in Brazil because it is the international standard, has the advantage of being an internationally studied instrument that can assist in the formative assessment of university professors (Keeley, Smith, & Buskist, 2006).…”

Promoting Hand Sanitizer Use in a University Cafeteria

“…Only one third of the cafeteria patrons used the cafeteria regularly. Although the behavioral function of feedback is debated (Mangiapanello & Hemmes, 2015;Peterson, 1982), it is known that feedback works better when it is related to individual behavior (Alvero et al, 2001). If the person receiving the feedback cannot relate it to his or her own behavior (because he or she has not been to the cafeteria during the previous days), a feedback graphic of the percentage of patrons using hand sanitizer gel functions only as a behavioral antecedent, not as a consequence for individual behavior.…”