What term describes a potential change in behavior when someone is being observed?

• A. Target behavior
• B. Reactivity
• C. Analogue
• D. Interval recording

Answer: (B)

Reactivity is the tendency for behavior to change when people know they are being observed. The awareness of being watched can prompt someone to act more in line with social expectations or to modify their behavior in other ways, so the data collected during observation may not reflect typical, unobserved behavior. In counseling assessment, this bias matters because it can skew ratings or counts of behavior. The term specifically captures this measurement effect, whereas target behavior refers to what is being measured, an analogue describes a simulated setting used to approximate real life, and interval recording is simply a method of data collection at set time intervals.