Implications of functional analysis

This brief paper is intended to amplify three points which are contained in Slade (1982) and Owens & Ashcroft (1982). They are that (i) functional relationships must be demonstrated, not merely claimed; (ii) functional relationships are likely to be complex, and clinicians should be wary of superficial analysis; and (iii) there is a distinction between discriminative stimuli and setting conditions which has important implications for clinical practice.