ABC Model

A behavioural-science framework, rooted in B. F. Skinner's operant conditioning, that analyses any observed behaviour as a three-part sequence: Antecedent (the situation, trigger, or context immediately before the behaviour), Behaviour (what the person actually did), and Consequence (what happened afterward — the reaction, outcome, or reinforcement). ABC analysis is a workhorse tool in applied behaviour analysis, classroom management, and autism education, used both to understand challenging behaviour and to plan interventions. Accessibility and assistive-technology designers increasingly borrow the ABC structure as a scaffolding pattern — for example, to segment open-ended journaling, reflection, or self-tracking tasks into chunkable questions that reduce executive-function load for autistic, ADHD, or cognitively disabled users.