What is Adjunctive Behavior? Why You Might Care.

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What is Adjunctive Behavior? Why You Might Care

By Olivia Wood


Have you ever noticed yourself drinking excessively from your water bottle or picking your nails? In many instances, these behaviors can be described as adjunctive. Adjunctive behaviors are ones that arise when one finds themself in-between reinforcements during an intermittent reinforcement schedule (Honey, Symbaluk, & Powell, 2016). In other words, they are the things we do when we are waiting for something to happen to us. These behaviors are often found to be done excessively during these periods of time.


Adjunctive behavior is not a phenomenon often researched in humans, though some believe it could be an important topic to explore regarding applied behavior analysis (ABA). If you or someone you know has been enrolled in ABA therapy, you might have heard about these types of behaviors or read about them in informational packets or on a website. Some instances of stereotypy–or stimming–when individuals engage in repetitive movements, are thought to be related to adjunctive behavior, though there is no definitive answer (Allen, 2023; Rainbow ABA Therapy, n.d.).


These time-filling behaviors are reliable; they will consistently happen across similar situations. Personally, I always find myself drinking from my water bottle repeatedly when I am waiting for someone to call on me, whether that is in the doctor’s office or the classroom. Other adjunctive behaviors could be anything from vaping to twirling your hair, as long as they are being induced after one reinforcement while waiting for the next. There is just something about the need for reinforcement during that time of deprivation that makes us engage in these unique behaviors.


Now that you know how to identify these actions, what adjunctive behaviors do you find yourself engaging in? Do you think you could catch these behaviors in action?



References

Allen, R. (2023, October 10). Whatever Happened to Adjunctive Behavior? Association for Behavior Analysis International. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://science.abainternational.org/2023/10/10/whatever-happened-to-adjunctive-behavior/

Honey, P. L., Symbaluk, D. G., & Powell, R. A. (2016). Introduction to Learning and Behavior (5th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Rainbow ABA Therapy. (n.d.). What Are Adjunctive Behaviors? Rainbow ABA Therapy. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://rainbowtherapy.org/adjunctive-behaviors/


Comments

  1. Lex ZangJune 29, 2025 at 8:03 PM

    never knew there was actually a name for this! I’m constantly twirling my pen or refreshing my feed when I’m waiting for something—especially during long lectures or even in between texts. Reading this helped me realize those habits might be more than just “random quirks.” The idea that these behaviors come from waiting between reinforcements really makes sense, and it kind of explains why they show up so consistently. I also think it's cool (and a little surprising) that this concept isn't talked about more in human research, especially since it's something so many of us experience every day. This post definitely made me more aware of my own little habits—and now I’m wondering how many of them are actually adjunctive behaviors!

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