Setting events in social networks: Ally or enemy in child behavior therapy?

Abstract

This paper addresses some current procedural and conceptual problems in child behavior therapy. Recent studies indicate that the production and maintenance of improvements to child behavior problems are not always guaranteed by dealing with the immediate environmental contingencies of these behaviors. In some cases, environmental events temporally distant from the child behaviors and their stimulus contingencies appear to exert control over these stimulus-response interations. These environmental events, called “setting events,” are discussed and principles of their operation are examined. Finally, a possible means of reducing setting event control is outlined.