Editorial: Behaviorally oriented therapies, corrections, and public policy.

Abstract

As we release another issue of the Behavior Analyst Today, the first author was struck by the brightness of the future of the field of behavior analysis. Advances in basic research appear to demonstrate that many of the higher processes of the brain are automatized, such as social interaction, evaluations, and judgments, as well as goal setting suggesting these processes can be studied purely behaviorally without reference to conscious, will or internal guidance (Bargh & Ferguson, 2000). This places behavioral research as central in the discussion of public policy in issues such as socialization and social judgments. Readers of this journal of course will not be surprised by this for we have presented data and theoretical work for years on the role of reinforced function in establishing social behavior (see Patterson, 2002; Snyder, Stoolmiller, Patterson, Schrepferman, Oeser, Johnson, & Soetaert, 2003). In addition, a recent review by Dunst (2003) of 29 studies of infants including 862 infants found that response-contingent learning opportunities, in which the behavior of the child is clearly related to the consequences, produced the greatest amount of social responding and greatly attenuated both negative affect and negative social responding. This offers behaviorists with a clear explanation of positive social development in children and a method to help parents avoid emotional disturbances. ********** In studies with delinquents, while the effect size overall was moderate (Effect size .40) the long-term appropriateness of behavioral treatments for juvenile offenders was found by Gottschalk, Davidson, Mayer, and Gensheimer (1987)(1) and for social learning programs a larger moderate effect size (.77) (Mayer, Gensheimer, Davidson & Gottschalk, 1986) was found. Behavioral programs are well established according to APA criteria and should serve as the cornerstone to correctional practices. Indeed, with the growth in the prison population, it is far past the time for prisons (2), half way houses and diversionary programs to incorporate a resident behavior analyst to ensure that behavioral treatments are readily available for offender remediation in an effort to reduce recidivism. In addition, in a recent meta-analysis, French and Gendreau (2006) found that behaviorally oriented programs have a large effect size when reducing prison misbehavior and this correlates with post release recidivism. A recent survey found that we asked about theoretical orientation 69% of correctional psychologists reported adhering to behavioral model (Boothby & Clements, 2000). Outside of the residential environment behavioral treatments have also been effective. Behavioral parent training has not only received empirical validation (see Chambless, Baker, Baucom, et al. 1998) but has received support as the treatment of choice for children with disruptive disorders (e.g., Brestan & Eyberg, 1998). Behavioral parent training has support for both immediate and long-term outcomes (Bank, Marlowe, Reid, Patterson, & Weinrott, 1991; Barkley, 1997; Gallagher, 2003; McMahon & Wells, 1998; Webster-Stratton, 1996; Webster-Stratton, Kolpacoff, & Hollingsworth, 1988; Webster Stratton, Hollinsworth, & Kolpacoff, 1989). Conservative estimates show between of 50-66% of children with disruptive behavior patterns function in the normal range at the termination of treatment consisting of training parents in use of operant procedures (Dishion & Patterson, 1992)3. For a particular form of behavioral parent training, parent-child interaction therapy current research suggest that it not only reduces behavioral problems but also improves emotional adjustment (see Gallagher, 2003 for review). Behavioral parent training based on social learning principles has recently moved into the foster care environment. Both specialized foster care (Chamberlain & Reid, 1991; Bryant & Snodgrass, 1992) and multidimensional treatment foster care (Chamberlain & Moore, 1998; Fischer, Ellis, & Chamberlain, 1999) represent two program models built on the parent-training model. …