Behavior Analytic Perspective Research Articles

Applied Behavior Analysis and the Abolitionist Neurodiversity Critique: An Ethical Analysis.

The behavior analytic literature on neurodiversity remains limited. This article aims to begin filling the lacuna. We will introduce the neurodiversity perspective and demonstrate an important congruence between the behavior analytic and neurodiversity perspectives on autism. Despite this congruence, applied behavior analysis is often targeted for criticism by proponents of the neurodiversity perspective. A central concern raises questions about the aims of behavior analytic interventions for clients with autism. Is it appropriate to teach clients with autism to behave as if they were neurotypical? Concerns about the aims of behavior analytic interventions mirror concerns that have been raised about the aims of language education in schools. Drawing on the literature regarding linguistically diverse classrooms, we will critically evaluate the abolitionist neurodiversity critique of ABA. We conclude by considering both concrete and theoretical implications for the ethics of behavior analytic work with autistic clients.

Environmental Uncertainty and Substance Use Disorders: A Behavior Analytic Perspective.

Substance use disorder (SUD) and drug overdose deaths represent major economic, health, and safety issues in the United States. The psychology of uncertainty provides a mechanism for understanding, reducing, and controlling the damage from substance misuse. Illicit drugs (such as heroin or cocaine) are uncertain in their availability, quality, and acquisition (the time and effort required to obtain them) compared with nondrug-related alternatives (such as consumable goods, hobbies, or paychecks). Furthermore, the severity and likelihood of negative outcomes associated with drug use likewise are uncertain. Such uncertainties worsen substance use outcomes. The current review conveys what is known about the impact of uncertainty on substance use: laboratory investigations of uncertain time and effort required to obtain a substance and uncertain drug quality show uncertainty exacerbates harm. Furthermore, uncertain negative outcomes are not likely to deter substance use in individuals with a SUD. Finally, several policy implications include access to agonist medications; creating a safer drug supply; access to clean syringes/needles, naloxone, and safe-injection sites; and ending incarceration for substance use.

Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice in Colleges and Universities: An Internal Researcher/Practitioner Model

Behavior analysis often operates at the level of individual behavior depending on reinforcement contingencies. Here, a behavior analytic perspective addresses the challenge of connecting research to organizations’ policy and practice in order to improve performance regarding the organizations’ strategic objectives. In colleges and universities, three potentially overlapping approaches are plausible: (a) applying published scholarly research literature, (b) contracting external vendors of predictive analytics, and (c) integrating internal researchers/practitioners. This article discusses a model that emphasizes the third approach—internal researcher/practitioners—and that focuses on fundamental concepts related to contingencies (consequences) and rule-governed behavior. The model's use is illustrated in a case study: Florida International University, a large, public, metropolitan, Research I university, located in Miami, Florida. The application of the model appears to relate to significant and rapid improvement in the university's targeted performance metrics (e.g., student success as measured by variables such as students’ retention and on-time graduation).

Verbal behavior development theory and relational frame theory: Reflecting on similarities and differences.

Relational frame theory and verbal behavior development theory are two behavior-analytic perspectives on human language and cognition. Despite sharing reliance on Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior, relational frame theory and verbal behavior development theory have largely been developed independently, with initial applications in clinical psychology and education/development, respectively. The overarching goal of the current paper is to provide an overview of both theories and explore points of contact that have been highlighted by conceptual developments in both fields. Verbal behavior development theory research has identified how behavioral developmental cusps make it possible for children to learn language incidentally. Recent developments in relational frame theory have outlined the dynamic variables involved across the levels and dimensions of arbitrarily applicable relational responding, and we argue for the concept of mutually entailed orienting as an act of human cooperation that drives arbitrarily applicable relational responding. Together these theories address early language development and children's incidental learning of names. We present broad similarities between the two approaches in the types of functional analyses they generate and discuss areas for future research.

Prolegomena to any future philosophy of behavior analysis as a science.

This tribute to Howard Rachlin speculates about scholarly work that might have been. It explores how behavioral data might bear on philosophical issues, with examples that might be called case studies in experimental philosophy. In 1964, an issue of the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society served a similar function. It was entitled "Psychology: A Behavioral Interpretation"; the papers included "Will," "Experience," "Appetite," "Humors," "Anxiety," and "Man." This presentation imagines what a contemporary project devoted to philosophical and behavior analytic perspectives on the topics of causation, freedom and volition, good and evil, time, words, and mind might have looked like. Along the way it notes how the project would have benefitted from Howard Rachlin's seminal contributions to both behavior analysis and philosophy. If ever such a project comes to pass, it will inevitably bear the stamp of his contributions.

Performance Feedback in Organizations: Understanding the Functions, Forms, and Important Features

ABSTRACT Feedback surrounds our personal and professional worlds, informing us about what worked and what did not. Within workplace settings, it is important to understand how feedback operates in order to deliberately and carefully craft performance information that, when delivered, generates desirable organizational outcomes. The current paper examines the many potential functions of feedback, including details on how such functions might be established. Behavioral investigations into how to best structure and deliver feedback are detailed, along with considerations of factors that may impact the reception of feedback. Finally, using the current literature as a blueprint, several possible research directions are suggested that would fit well within a behavior analytic perspective.

The Development and Treatment of Conduct Disorder: A Hypothetical Applied Behavior Analytic Perspective

This paper discusses conduct disorder-312.8x (F91.x) as a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) Axis 1 condition from an applied behavior analytic perspective. It explores the definition, development, causes, consequences, and coexisting conditions of conduct disorder. The paper also reviews a theoretical intervention treatment approach that utilizes parent management training (PMT) to support the view that if conduct disorder is diagnosed early, the child can live a “normal” life, especially with appropriate parental training and support. This intervention utilizes an applied behavior analytic perspective to provide training that targets socially unacceptable behavior, parent buy-in, and parental willingness to learn and use parent management training.

Countercontrol: A Relational Frame Theory (RFT) Account and Revival of a 70-Year-Old Skinnerian Term.

Countercontrol is a Skinnerian operant concept that posits that an individual’s attempts to exert control over another person’s behavior may evoke a countercontrolling response from the person being controlled that functions to avoid or escape the potentially aversive conditions generated by the controller. Despite Skinner’s historical concerns regarding the detrimental effects of countercontrol in terms of hindering optimal societal growth and cultural evolution, the concept has not been widely applied within behavior analysis. Drawing from recent developments in rule-governed behavior and relational frame theory, this article seeks to explicate countercontrol from a contemporary behavior analytic perspective and presents several modern-day societal applications. In particular, a relational frame theory account of rule-governed behavior is used as a framework to elucidate the behavioral processes by which rule-following occurs (or fails to occur) in the context of countercontrol. Implications of a renewed focus on countercontrol for understanding pressing societal issues are also discussed.

What Can We Learn by Treating Perspective Taking as Problem Solving?

Perspective taking has been studied extensively using a wide variety of experimental tasks. The theoretical constructs that are used to develop these tasks and interpret the results obtained from them, most notably theory of mind (ToM), have conceptual shortcomings from a behavior-analytic perspective. The behavioral approach to conceptualizing and studying this class of behavior is parsimonious and pragmatic, but the body of relevant research is currently small. The prominent relational frame theory (RFT) approach to derived perspective taking asserts that "deictic framing" is a core component of this class of behavior, but this proposal also appears to be conceptually problematic. We suggest that in many cases perspective taking is problem solving; when successful, both classes of behavior involve the emission of context-appropriate precurrent behavior that facilitates the appropriate response (i.e., the "solution"). Conceptualizing perspective taking in this way appears to have many advantages, which we explore herein.

A Behavior Analytic Perspective on Treatment of Problem Gaming and Problem Social Media Use

To characterize treatment studies for some forms of problematic internet use and identify ways behavior analysts might contribute, we reviewed published treatment studies for two subtypes of problematic internet use, problem gaming and problem social media use. Our search identified 41 treatment studies for problem gaming and none for problem social media use. Problem gaming treatment studies used a range of pharmaceutical, psychotherapeutic, and other treatment approaches and a variety of methods to measure problem gaming. None of the treatment approaches were primarily behavior analytic. Because there is no published research that focuses in particular on treating problem social media use, any research on interventions for problem social media use would be a novel contribution. Behavior analytic approaches could help to clarify the mechanisms involved in gaming, social media use, and related behaviors, and to differentiate problematic from healthy use. Behavior analysts could also contribute to this field by recording response patterns directly, developing standardized functional assessment questionnaires, and applying functional analysis to problem gaming and problem social media use. This is an emerging area of study that presents many opportunities for behavior-analytic research and practice.

Treatment Manuals, Single-Subject Designs, and Evidence-Based Practice: A Clinical Behavior Analytic Perspective

Empirical support of procedures linked to processes of therapeutic change is emerging as an alternative foundation for evidence-based treatment development and selection in clinical psychology, in particular within cognitive-behavioral practice. Single-subject designs conducted with treatment manuals have contributed to the existing evidentiary base of research-supported treatment packages organized around psychiatric diagnoses, but as a rule have not been afforded the same status as randomized clinical trials. From a clinical behavior analytic perspective, single-subject experiments may be positioned to proportionately contribute more to emerging evidence-based practice that is itself more process focused, in particular if at least two recommended adjustments are made in how they are conducted. The first of these is to maximize efficacy and minimize rigidity in developing treatment manuals by creating them in a post-hoc rather than a-priori manner and with an emphasis on therapeutic procedures linked to specific processes. The second recommendation is that clinical behavior analysts routinely collect repeated process as well as outcome measures in conducting single-subject research.

The importance of multiple exemplar instruction in the establishment of novel verbal behavior.

According to traditional linguistic accounts language, and its generative nature, cannot be taught. From a behavior analytic perspective, language is like any other behavior; it is learned and amenable to change. Based upon Skinner's radical behavioral analysis of verbal behavior, specific procedures have been designed to promote novel verbal relations. However, despite the strength and utility of this approach, using behavioral principles to understand the generativity of language has been challenging. Dependent upon the specific theory (e.g., stimulus equivalence, relational frame theory, bidirectional naming) within the radical behavioral orientation, researchers arrange unique procedures to evaluate the variables responsible for this phenomenon. This paper presents the commonalities and differences of two procedures (i.e., multiple exemplar training, multiple exemplar instruction) with examples of research highlighting the use of both in producing generativity. Further, it describes how multiple exemplar instruction is independent from other procedures leading to this outcome, and concludes by providing recommendations for both research and practice.

Uma perspectiva analítico-comportamental do desenvolvimento

In this article, I describe how my behavior-analytic perspective on infant and child development evolved andwhat a behavior-analytic theory of development might look like. I begin by describing how my approach toteaching child development courses changed from focusing mostly on behavior analysis to teaching criticalthinking skills that would enable students to evaluate traditional developmental research and theory and thento find a behavior-analytic perspective more appealing. I describe the critical thinking skills I teach students,including nominal fallacy, circular reasoning, reification, and parsimony. Throughout, I contrast a traditionaldevelopmental approach to research and theory with a behavior-analytic approach. In particular, I notedifferences between the between-subjects experimental designs used by developmental researchers and thewithin-subjects experimental designs used by behavior analysts in terms of internal and external validity andtheir implications for theory construction. I argue that, because behavior-analytic theory is inductively derivedfrom decades of experimental analysis, it is in a better position to achieve the goals of prediction, control, andunderstanding and can generate successful technologies of behavior change.

Tutorial: Selection of Cultures and the Role of Recurrent Contingencies and Interlocking Behavioral Contingencies

The interplay between a population’s traits and environmental events feeds evolution by natural selection. These traits may vary from innate predispositions to acquire specific behavioral topographies to the ability to learn through local environmental changes (operant behavior). Thus, learning capability is historically inseparable from evolution by natural selection. In humans, besides inheriting behavioral predispositions and the ability to acquire novel behavioral repertoires, learning is dependent on social learning of culturally transmitted practices. Cultural practices are selected by environmental events as a function of their adaptive value to the group and also enhance members’ adaptive capability. Within a verbal community, individuals cooperate and coordinate their behavior, producing environmental changes that would not be possible otherwise. Those cooperative and coordinated responses are under the control of the verbal community’s sets of contingencies (i.e., culture), which also evolve over time. In this paper, the coevolutionary processes involving natural selection, selection of operant behavior, and selection of cultures (environmental settings) will be discussed within a behavior-analytic perspective. A special focus will be given to interlocking behavioral contingencies (IBCs) involved in maintaining and transmitting practices (controlling IBCs) and in the verbal community’s joint efforts (execution IBCs).

Performance Perspectives on Undergraduate Student Success at Public Metropolitan Research Universities

This study is part of a line of research that focuses on intentional, large-scale, and effective change in complex, dynamical, organizational systems. This research utilizes the behavior analytic perspective of organizational behavior management and connects multiple levels of analysis ranging from individual learning to cultural evolution. This study examined a national sample of public metropolitan research universities (N = 35) regarding their performance in sustained improvement in undergraduate student success with simultaneous improvement in access. The specific objective of the study was to examine university performance from a variety of perspectives, such as Excellence (variable sum) and Improvement (variable change). Data from the Integrated Postsecondary Educational Data System were analyzed over a nine year period, 2008–2016. This study built on an earlier case study of Florida International University, a public metropolitan research university. The objective of the study reported here was to select candidates for future case studies within this same line of research.

DESIGNING A NEW ENVIRONMENT AND A NEW TECHNIQUE SUBSTANTIATED WITH AUTHENTIC AND VISUAL MATERIALS IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

Communication and learning problems occurs very early in development and serves many functions for the young autistic child. It has been implicated in the development of social, cognitive, and language skills. Processing information that is presented via the visual modality reinforces learning (Courchesne et al. 1994; Dubois & Vail, 2001). A substantial number of children with autism fail to develop these important skill and therefore experimenters with both developmental and behavior analytic perspectives have researched methods to teach with the help of visuals, videos and authentic materials in learning environment. It has been used and suggested by many research that visually presented material be used for educating children with autism (Schopler, Mesibov, & Hearsey, 1995). The purpose of this case study was to extend the analysis of typical development of social and communicative skills to the teaching of English with the help of visual, authentic materials and videos to the children with autism. Data from case study of four children with autism are provided.

(I Think) You Are Pretty: a Behavior Analytic Conceptualization of Flirtation.

Much research in flirtation has been approached from a socio-cognitive perspective and has overemphasized subjective self-reports rather than overt behavior. Existing work pertinent to flirtation is reviewed here in addition to proposing a behavior-analytic perspective on the topic with a conception that includes both rule-governed and contingency-shaped behavior. Of particular interest within a verbal behavior conception of flirtation is the importance of autoclitics-features of a verbal response that affect the listener's reaction to the rest of the verbal response. Applications of a behavior analytic conception of flirtation and future directions relevant to research on interpersonal relationships are discussed.

Problem Solving from a Behavioral Perspective: Implications for Behavior Analysts and Educators

The nature of problem solving has been a difficult one to pin down, with much of the focus placed on hypothetical cognitive structures based on technological metaphors that change as quickly as the currently popular technologies after which they are modeled. While behavior analysts have made use of several effective instructional methodologies to produce reliable and impressive convergent learning outcomes, mainstream education has increasingly shifted toward divergent learning outcomes. Educators desire instructional models that are free flowing, spontaneous, and creative, producing students capable of solving problems in a wide array of domains. The analysis provided by a science of human behavior, combined with the aforementioned effective instructional strategies, reveals problem solving to be an area ripe for behavior analytic dissemination and interdisciplinary coordination. Behavior analysis offers a distinctly selectionist account of problem solving that focuses on the interaction between the learner and the environment. This paper serves three functions. First, the authors present a detailed and comprehensive account of human problem solving from a behavior analytic perspective, with a special focus on the role of verbal behavior. Second, research that supports this conceptualization is thoroughly detailed. Lastly, the authors describe effective problem solving curricula and instructional methods derived from a behavior analytic framework to assist educators as to how to create optimal learning environments to promote and nurture cultures of successful problem solving.

Behavior of Programa Bolsa FamÍLia Beneficiaries: A Behavior Analytic Perspective on Fulfillment of Education and Health Conditionalities

From a Behavior Analysis perspective, this paper identifies the metacontingencies established by the Programa Bolsa Familia legislation that focus on the fulfillment of education and health conditionalities by its beneficiaries. The Programa Bolsa Familia is a conditional cash transfer program, analyzed here as an intervention for an inefficient cultural practice. This cultural practice constitutes interlocked contingencies that hinder school attendance and nutrition of poor and extremely poor children, who turn into adults unprepared for the labor market, perpetuating a cycle of poverty throughout generations. Analysis of the Programa Bolsa Familia legislation enabled us to find two main types of metacontingencies: 1) one for behavioral change of members of the beneficiary families; and 2) another for managing the education and health requirements, from a chain of behaviors emitted by public workers of three government levels – municipal, state, and federal. The direct interaction of Programa Bolsa Familia with education and health policies – because of the conditionalities on beneficiaries –, as well as the indirect interaction with policies for generating work and income, allow to conclude that other variables must be considered to guarantee selection of a new and more efficient cultural practice in order to break the poverty cycle throughout generations.

A Behavioral Analysis of Apologies, Forgiveness, and Interpersonal Conflict

Instances of conflict can be of the most distressful experiences within a relationship or in interacting with others. There are a number of behaviors that occur to compose a conflict, however there are two behaviors that serve to restore a relationship following conflict, those of apologizing and forgiving. While plenty of attention has been provided to the issues of interpersonal conflict, apologizing, and forgiving from more traditional approaches, these accounts contrast the views of behavior analysis in a number of ways. When the behaviors involved in interpersonal conflict are assessed from a behavior-analytic perspective, many of these traditional views are directly challenged. Furthermore, we find that the manner in which conflicts are normally resolved within relationships may be contributing to harmful patterns of interactions. The present paper aims to provide a thorough behavioral analysis of the operating contingencies and behaviors that occur during episodes of interpersonal conflict. With such an understanding, suggestions are made based on behavioral principles as to how resolution may be more readily achieved and further conflict may be avoided.