Behavior Analytic Theory Research Articles

Contrasting Accounts of Early Speech Perception and Production.

Language researchers have historically either dismissed or ignored completely behavioral accounts of language acquisition while at the same time acknowledging the important role of experience in language learning. Many language researchers have also moved away from theories based on an innate generative universal grammar and promoted experience-dependent and usage-based theories of language. These theories suggest that hearing and using language in its context is critical for learning language. However, rather than appealing to empirically derived principles to explain the learning, these theories appeal to inferred cognitive mechanisms. In this article, I describe a usage-based theory of language acquisition as a recent example of a more general cognitive linguistic theory and note both logical and methodological problems. I then present a behavior-analytic theory of speech perception and production and contrast it with cognitive theories. Even though some researchers acknowledge the role of social feedback (they rarely call it reinforcement) in vocal learning, they omit the important role played by automatic reinforcement. I conclude by describing automatic reinforcement as the missing link in a parsimonious account of vocal development in human infants and making comparisons to vocal development in songbirds.

Bringing Behavior-Analytic Theory to Eco-driving Research: Verbal Rules Mediate the Effectiveness of Feedback for Professional and Civilian Drivers

Suboptimal efficiency in activities involving the consumption of fossil fuels, such as driving, contributes to a miscellany of negative environmental, political, economic, and social externalities. Demonstrations of the effectiveness of feedback interventions can be found in countless settings, as can demonstrations of individual differences in sensitivity to feedback interventions. Mechanisms providing feedback to drivers about fuel economy are becoming standard equipment in new vehicles but vary considerably in their constitution. A keystone of the philosophy of radical behaviorism and its related scientific discipline, behavior analysis, is the acknowledgment that verbal behavior plays a role in mediating individual responses to delayed contingencies. In the current feasibility study, samples of individuals’ verbal behavior (rules about how to drive efficiently) were collected in the context of two eco-driving feedback interventions—one with commercial fleet drivers and one with civilian drivers. Analysis revealed that the rate at which drivers generated novel verbal rules (per week) accounted for a substantial proportion of the variability in relative efficiency gains across participants. Findings support the utility of behavior-analytic conceptual tools in this field of research, such as the basic distinction between contingency-shaped and rule-governed behaviors and the elaboration of direct-acting and indirect-acting contingencies.

Systemic Racism and Cultural Selection: A Preliminary Analysis of Metacontingencies

Racism is a pervasive social justice issue that has been addressed by a variety of fields, including psychology, neuroscience, and sociology. Behavior-analytic accounts of racism have primarily focused on individual and interpersonal acts of prejudice or bias and have used operant contingencies of reinforcement as a unit of analysis for conceptualizing the development of racism. However, the absence of behavior-analytic theories of systemic racism, which includes cultural practices that are discriminatory in nature, is apparent. In the present discussion, we provide a preliminary analysis of systemic racism through the lens of cultural selection and metacontingencies as units of analysis. We provide a learning-theory perspective on systems of racism, offer solutions to systemic racism based on metacontingencies as a conceptual tool, and describe barriers to those solutions by evaluating correlations between metacontingencies and individual operant contingencies.

Análise do comportamento de avaliação de marcas: nível de reforço informativo programado e ponto de venda


 Princípios da Análise do Comportamento têm sido aplicados para interpretar e explicar fenômenos relacionados ao consumo, por meio do Behavioral Perspective Model (BPM). O BPM torna possível interpretar parte dos fenômenos que a área de marketing denomina de diferenciação de marca como reforço informativo programado, tipicamente mensurado pela Média de Conhecimento e Qualidade (MCQ). Considerando que uma das variáveis importantes do contexto de uma marca é o local em que é vendida ao consumidor final, o principal objetivo da pesquisa foi examinar a relação entre a diferenciação das marcas e o ponto de venda. Os dados foram coletados por meio de um questionário, respondido por 120 pessoas, que continha marcas de lojas de moda feminina, com pontos de venda em três shoppings de Brasília, qualitativamente diferentes e frequentados por grupos distintos. Os resultados indicaram que uma mesma marca sinaliza níveis de reforços informativos diferentes a depender do ponto de venda, e que shoppings com nível informativo mais alto aumentam os potenciais reforços sociais associados às marcas. Além disso, o trabalho demonstra a utilidade da Teoria Analítico-Comportamental para examinar comportamentos de escolha de marcas ao utilizar o MCQ como medida proximal para mensurar reforços informativos como contingências sociais programadas.

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.

The Emergence of Stimulus Relations: Human and Computer Learning.

Traditionally, investigations in the area of stimulus equivalence have employed humans as experimental participants. Recently, however, artificial neural network models (often referred to as connectionist models [CMs]) have been developed to simulate performances seen among human participants when training various types of stimulus relations. Two types of neural network models have shown particular promise in recent years. RELNET has demonstrated its capacity to approximate human acquisition of stimulus relations using simulated matching-to-sample (MTS) procedures (e.g., Lyddy & Barnes-Holmes Journal of Speech and Language Pathology and Applied Behavior Analysis, 2, 14-24, 2007). Other newly developed connectionist algorithms train stimulus relations by way of compound stimuli (e.g., Tovar & Chavez The Psychological Record, 62, 747-762, 2012; Vernucio & Debert The Psychological Record, 66, 439-449, 2016). What makes all of these CMs interesting to many behavioral researchers is their apparent ability to simulate the acquisition of diversified stimulus relations as an analogue to human learning; that is, neural networks learn over a series of training epochs such that these models become capable of deriving novel or untrained stimulus relations. With the goal of explaining these quickly evolving approaches to practical and experimental endeavors in behavior analysis, we offer an overview of existing CMs as they apply to behavior-analytic theory and practice. We provide a brief overview of derived stimulus relations as applied to human academic remediation, and we argue that human and simulated human investigations have symbiotic experimental potential. Additionally, we provide a working example of a neural network referred to as emergent virtual analytics (EVA). This model demonstrates a process by which artificial neural networks can be employed by behavior-analytic researchers to understand, simulate, and predict derived stimulus relations made by human participants.

Internalities and Their Applicability for Organizational Practices

ABSTRACTThe economic concept of externalities was introduced to the field of behavior analysis (BA) by Biglan (2009). Since then, practitioners of BA have been able to apply this economic concept to behavior analytic theory, and create strategies to improve organizational practices. A similar economic concept to the externality is the internality, a cost imposed on an individual that is not taken into account when the person consumes the good or service. This paper will introduce the concept of internalities and discuss how it can be integrated into existing behavior analytic literature. Practices that produce “organizational internalities” will be analyzed using meta and macrocontingencies, with a discussion on how positive internalities can be promoted by an organization’s leadership. It will conclude with a discussion on how strategies regarding Organizational Behavior Management and Behavioral Systems Analysis can use the concept of organizational internalities to mitigate the negative outcomes of internalities, while simultaneously promoting positive outcomes of internalities.

The challenge of stimulus control: a comment on Poelman et al.

Stimulus control interventions attempt to reduce unhealthy behavior (or increase healthy behavior) by identifying and modifying environmental factors that repeatedly trigger that behavior [1]. In the context of weight management, modifying the food environment has been a focus given the omnipresence of energy-dense foods in the home, workplace, and marketplace. Poelman and colleagues conducted a randomized trial of an intervention that aimed to reduce BMI by educating participants about portion control and the environmental triggers that lead to overconsumption [2]. Unfortunately, their intervention showed a very modest and short-lived effect on body mass index. A key intermediate outcome of this trial was participants’ use of 32 portion control strategies, including buying food packaged in small portions, keeping tempting foods out of the home, keeping leftovers off the table during a meal, splitting restaurant meals, and avoiding snack tables at parties.Many of these portion control strategies involve stimulus control, meaning they attempt to manage stimuli that trigger overeating behavior. Stimulus control strategies capitalize on individuals’ capacity to exercise inhibitory control over their food choices when palatable food is not immediately available. The challenge of stimulus control strategies in a toxic food environment is that palatable foods are omnipresent. For example, grocery shopping habits are often targeted because it might seem easier to resist the temptation of a favorite treat when it is packaged on the supermarket shelf than when it is in a bowl on the kitchen counter. However, supermarkets are stocked with a wide variety of highly palatable, heavily processed, readyto-eat foods which may significantly burden inhibitory control in ways that make the difference between this environment and the candy bowl possibly inconsequential. Crucial to stimulus control strategies is implementing them when inhibitory control is strongest. A greater understanding is needed about factors affecting an individual’s inhibitory control across different settings and how best to employ stimulus control strategies in the individual’s food environment, including home, food stores, and restaurants. Other portion control strategies that were included in the intervention tested by Poelman and colleagues did not rely exclusively on stimulus control but similarly require significant inhibitory control (e.g., leaving food on the plate during meals, not snacking on ingredients when cooking) [2]. These strategies are to be implemented at the point when tempting food is immediately available. Direct exposure to palatable food activates the brain’s reward circuitry and increases the motivational drive to eat, even in the absence of physical hunger [3]. Thus, the capacity for inhibitory control may be most compromised when we are preparing and eating a meal. Implementing portion control strategies in these contexts is equivalent to instructing a participant to simply exercise willpower. Essentially, advising people to just resist an unhealthy temptation ignores the very processes that make this request difficult to follow. According to behavior analytic theory, a stimulus triggers a behavior given a history of that behavior being reinforced in the presence of that stimulus. To reduce or eliminate a behavior from occurring, access to the stimulus must be revoked (e.g., individual no longer has access to settings that contain tempting food), its reinforcing value decreased (e.g., tempting food becomes less palatable), the cost of behavior increases, or avoidance behavior is immediately reinforced (e.g., individual receives immediate rewards for abstaining). Some of S. Pagoto (*) Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA e-mail: Sherry.pagoto@umassmed.edu

Publishing Outside the Box: Popular Press Books.

Writing and publishing popular press books requires a set of skills, not natural to basic and applied researchers trained to publish in peer-referred behavior analytic journals or to practice behavior analysis in applied settings. This article provides suggestions and examples. These include finding a distinctive idea, securing a contract, hiring an agent (or not), deciding on a publisher, and writing engagingly for a broad audience. The last is the greatest challenge. Among my recommendations are to read good prose, good models, and good books about publishing; talk to experienced colleagues; read aloud to judge the appropriateness of your vocabulary and style; and interject humor, imagery, and drama. Book publishing is a long and difficult process, but it is possible. It has a great potential for bringing behavior analytic research, practice and theory to the attention of the general public.

The ABCs of incentive-based treatment in health care: a behavior analytic framework to inform research and practice

Behavior plays an important role in health promotion. Exercise, smoking cessation, medication adherence, and other healthy behavior can help prevent, or even treat, some diseases. Consequently, interventions that promote healthy behavior have become increasingly common in health care settings. Many of these interventions award incentives contingent upon preventive health-related behavior. Incentive-based interventions vary considerably along several dimensions, including who is targeted in the intervention, which behavior is targeted, and what type of incentive is used. More research on the quantitative and qualitative features of many of these variables is still needed to inform treatment. However, extensive literature on basic and applied behavior analytic research is currently available to help guide the study and practice of incentive-based treatment in health care. In this integrated review, we discuss how behavior analytic research and theory can help treatment providers design and implement incentive-based interventions that promote healthy behavior.

Editorial: Behavioral interventions and considerations.

INTRODUCTION In this issue, we are pleased to publish four contributions that all focus on the use of behavior analytic theory and procedures in institutions. Two of the articles focus on the prison population, and analyzing the verbal behavior and metacontingencies surrounding how prisoners behave and their likelihood of recidivism. The other two articles focus on using behavioral procedures to provide effective educational systems for use in both higher education and in training practitioners. Hence, we can see the value of using behavior analysis in these articles in terms of the relevance to real-world problems. Weatherly, Montes, Peters, and Wilson (2013) suggest that we look at gambling in prison populations as a function of escape-maintained behavior. The over-representation of gambling behavior among this population, and of those who gain release (and reentry to the prison system), provides a strong reason to study this behavior. This paper, rightly so, is a call to action to study this problem both generally, and specifically as it applies to prison populations. Bowman and Travis (2013) present an empirical study of verbal behavior among those who were previously incarcerated, their family members, service providers, and parole officers. Their study leads to the following position: Those who are incarcerated undergo an establishing operation (deprivation) that leads them to try to behave according to the verbal stimuli that are presented (i.e., follow rule-governed behavior). If the verbal stimuli are relatively clear and easy to follow, then the individual receives verbal praise and other reinforcers. If the verbal stimuli are ambiguous or unclear, then the behavior is much more difficult to achieve, and verbal praise and other reinforcers are less likely. In the former condition, recidivism is less likely, and in the latter it is much more likely. Here too, then is an important call to action for further research. Oliveria, Goyos, and Pear (2013) report on the use of a computer-aided personalized system of instruction (CAPSI) to provide instruction for matching-to-sample training provides an initial comparison of the traditional use of a training manual versus using the manual and CAPSI together. This study is an important addition in that it tackles the issues surrounding the use of technology to provide greater access to behavioral principles and procedures for training purposes, mastery-based criteria, and the mode in which it is delivered. …

Functions of research in radical behaviorism for the further development of behavior analysis.

The experimental analysis of behavior began as an inductively oriented, empirically based scientific field. As the field grew, its distinctive system of science-radical behaviorism-grew with it. The continuing growth of the empirical base of the field has been accompanied by the growth of the literature on radical behaviorism and its implications. In this article the case is made that radical behaviorism is more than an abstract description of the assumptions and practices of the field; it is an active area of research within the field itself, and that such theoretical research is of great importance to the development of the field. Some of the characteristics of radical behaviorism are described in brief, along with the functions of organization, clarification, and extension of various aspects of behavior-analytic science. Research examples are given from the areas of work on the system itself, behavior-analytic theory, and implications of behavior analysis for issues and findings in other fields. The unique characteristics of radical behaviorism provide an integrative and generative scientific framework for the continuing development of behavior analysis.

Control aversivo en humanos: El papel de procesos verbales

The opinion put forward in this article is that verbal processes may play a crucial role in the establishment and maintenance of aversive control in humans, and can give rise to behaviors that are not predicted by traditional behavioranalytic theories. For example, behavior can be controlled by aversive consequences that have never been contacted. These verbal processes may play a key role in some psychopathologies, such as phobias and anxiety. The basic research on this topic – although limited – is supportive, but more studies are needed to fully explore this important area.

A review of the behavioral theories of autism and evidence for an environmental etiology.

Abstract The behavior analytic theories of autism are reviewed and evidence related to the theo ries and environmental causes of autism are discussed. There is little evidence that autism is caused by deviant parenting practices. However, changing parenting practices can lead to improvements in child behavior, and functional analyses have shown that the behaviors of children with autism can be explained and treated using the principles of behavior analysis. The research lends some support for two theories. The first is that autism consists of a mismatch between the child’s nervous system and the envir onment. The second is that children with autism have a special difficulty in the development of stimulus control and that is especially pronounced in the area of social behavior because the contingencies are less reliable in the social world relative to th e nonsocial. Keyw ords : etiology, behavior analytic theories, autism Introduction Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder -not otherwise specified (PDD -NOS ) represent the Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD s). Currently considered a low -incidence disability, autism is the fastest growing developmental disability (Autism Society of America, 2003). The average age of diagnosis is 3 -4 years of age (Filipek et al., 1999), however some studies suggest diagno sis is possible as early as 15 months (Klin et al., 2004), others suggest 18 to 24 months (Eaves & Ho, 2004). The importance of early identification is tied to providing intervention services. The earlier intervention services are provided, the better the outcome. Lovaas (1987, 1993) demonstrated the effectiveness of early intervention for children with autism. More recently, Harris and Handleman (2000) indicated age at which intervention is provided is a predictor of later outcome, with children younger th an 48 months benefiting from intervention more than older children. Autism includes impairment across several areas of functioning, however general descriptions will not describe all individuals with autism perfectly, as severity and symptoms are idiosy ncratic. Often referred to as the “triad problems,” the essential features of autism include impaired communication (verbal and gestural), social functioning, and behavioral variability (i.e., restricted and repetitive activities) that appear in the first 36 months of life (American Psychiatric Association, 2000; Wetherby et al., 2004). Other problems associated with autism include sensory and perceptual deficits, behavior problems, and intellectual disability (American Psychiatric Association, 2000; Carpen tieri & Morgan, 1996; Freeman et al., 1991; Joseph, Tager -Flushbery, & Lord, 2002; Lovaas, 2003; Scheuffgen, Happe, Anderson, & Frith, 2000; Shriver, Allen, & Matthews, 1999; Sigman, 1998). Ten to thirty -seven percent of individuals with autism have a como rbid medical condition (Rutter, Bailey, Bolton, & Le Couteur, 1994). Autism is considered a neurodevelopmental disorder (Bailey, Phillips & Rutter, 1996) that is biologically mediated. However, there is no clear mode of inheritance and no reliable biomarke rs have been identified ( Dawson, 2007). Comprehensive reviews of the evidence for genetic and biological evidence for autism have been written (e.g., Volkmar, Paul, Klin, & Cohen, 2005). The purpose of this paper is to review the behavior analytic theories of autism and evidence related to them. A review of the theories and research related to them may stimulate further research on understanding the characteristics of autism from a behavior analytic perspective, which may in turn lead to more targe ted interventions.

An Operant Analysis of Joint Attention Skills

Joint attention, a synchronizing of the attention of two or more persons, has been an increasing focus of research in cognitive developmental psychology. Research in this area has progressed mainly outside of behavior analysis, and behavior-analytic research and theory has tended to ignore the work on joint attention. It is argued here, on the one hand, that behavior-analytic work on verbal behavior with children with autism needs to integrate the research body on joint attention. On the other hand, research on joint attention should integrate behavior-analytic principles to produce more effective analyses of basic processes involved. An operant analysis of phenomena typically considered under the heading of joint attention is followed by examples of training protocols aimed at teaching joint attention skills, such as social referencing, monitoring, gaze following, and such skills interwoven with mands and with tacts. Finally, certain research questions are pointed out.

A behavior analytic look at contemporary issues in the assessment of child sexual abuse.

The assessment of child sexual abuse has largely been ignored by behavior analysts, although behavior analytic theory and methodology, if applied, likely would advance the field. Three classic cases demonstrate historic errors that might have been avoided, had a behaviorally based approach been employed. Functional analytic interpretations are provided for phenomena that have been explored in a representative sample of studies that, though empirical, do not appear in the behavioral literature. Specific recommendations for practice, and a call for greater involvement of behavior analysis, are presented. Keywords: Child sexual abuse; behavioral assessment; behavior analysis, behavioral assessment of child sexual abuse. ********** When considering the assessment of child sexual abuse, one may ask, What are the characteristics of a behavioral approach that make it suited to the task? The natural science of behavior analysis and the philosophy of behaviorism appear to be well suited to address the assessment of child sexual abuse--especially when examined in contrast to the practices and philosophies that have been heavily relied upon up to now. To make this latter point clear it is helpful to briefly review several high-profile cases. (See Ceci & Bruck, 1995, for more extensive presentations of the cases.) They demonstrate what may occur when a non-scientific approach is applied to the assessment of sexual abuse in young children, specifically to those aged six and under. In reviewing the following cases it is important to remember that the majority of reports of child sexual abuse are true. Estimates of false accusations range from 5% to 35% (Bruck, Ceci & Hembrook, 1998). For example, in a Denver study of 576 reports in a single year it was found that 53% were indicated (likely true), 24% contained insufficient information on which to make a true/untrue decision, and 23% were unfounded (clearly untrue). Within the last group about three-fourths were thought to have been made in good faith, with the remainder thought to have been knowingly false (Jones & McGraw, 1987). Studies in Michigan looked at true and false allegations of child sexual abuse in divorce cases. One review of 169 cases found that 33% were unlikely to be true, based upon Child Protective Services and the court appointed evaluators' opinions, while another review of 215 cases found that 20% were unlikely based on extensive (a mean of 62 hours) multi-disciplinary investigation (Faller, 2001). Thus, the parallel imperatives of child protection and fair treatment of the accused mandate a scientific skepticism about the methods by which reports of child sexual abuse are assessed. Wee Care Nursery School Kelly Michales was a staff member at the Wee Care Nursery School in Maplewood, New Jersey, where she was accused of sexual abuse of numerous children. The accusations began when a 4-year-old was having his temperature taken rectally by his doctor and said, Her takes my temperature. The child's mother contacted Child Protective Services and the boy was then interviewed by an examiner who used anatomically detailed dolls. The child disclosed that Michales had also molested two other boys, although when they were interviewed they denied it. At that point the school's staff sent letters to all parents advising them of the disclosures and had a social worker make a presentation to the parents. Many parents, convinced that the allegations were true, placed their children in therapy. Following many interviews by various professionals (therapists, prosecutors, and mental health professionals hired by the prosecution), twenty children accused Michales of molestation. Many of the accusations seemed incredible, such as that Michales had penetrated them with a sword, smeared peanut butter all over their bodies and licked it off, and had done all of these things at the school although it was open and accessible by parents and staff at all times. …

Maximizing the effectiveness of environmental enrichment: Suggestions from the experimental analysis of behavior

Environmental enrichment programs provide benefits to both captive animals and the facilities that house them, but cost time and resources to design, implement, and maintain. As yet, there have been few theoretically based guidelines to assist animal care staff in establishing cost-efficient enrichment methods that both elicit the desired behavioral changes and maintain their success over time. We describe several well-studied principles from the field of experimental analysis of behavior, including intrinsic reinforcement, extrinsic reinforcement, habituation, extinction, and schedules of reinforcement that could be very useful for evaluating the short- and long-term effectiveness of enrichment. We use this theoretical framework to generate testable hypotheses and provide examples of enrichment studies relevant to our predictions. In particular, we suggest that enrichment devices that offer extrinsic reinforcement (food, social access, etc. as a result of performing behaviors) should produce greater and more prolonged changes in behavior than devices that rely on the behavior itself being reinforcing to the animal. For techniques that provide no extrinsic reinforcement, using stimuli that are novel, are more different from the environment, have been withheld or altered in some way, or are presented less frequently may help reduce habituation. For techniques that provide extrinsic reinforcement, making reinforcement more difficult to obtain and providing more or higher quality reinforcers may increase the long-term success of the enrichment program. In addition, enrichment may be more effective if animal care staff avoid continuously reinforcing behaviors after they are established, enriching immediately after feeding, and exposing animals to enrichment when reinforcement is no longer available. While the current enrichment literature supports the application of behavior analytic theory, empirical evaluation of many of our predictions is still needed.

Cognitive-Developmental and Behavior-Analytic Theories: Evolving into Complementarity

Historically, cognitive-developmental and behavior-analytic approaches to the study of human behavior change and development have been presented as incompatible alternative theoretical and methodological perspectives. This presumed incompatibility has been understood as arising from divergent sets of metatheoretical assumptions that take the form of ontological and epistemological principles, and constitute worldviews. Classically, cognitive-developmental approaches have been cast as deriving from an organismic worldview and behavior-analytic approaches from a contextualist worldview. Previous attempts at uniting the two approaches have entailed privileging one and radically modifying the other. The present paper argues that a meaningful integration requires a set of metatheoretical assumptions that transcends both worldviews, and, while maintaining their distinct qualities, unites them. This metatheoretical framework termed relational metatheory is described and its integrative implications explained.

Peer-Assisted Learning in Physical Education: A Review of Theory and Research

In this article we provide a review of theory and research on the use of peers to influence learning outcomes in physical education. First, we summarize the empirical literature on the use of peers in general education. Next, Piaget’s equilibration theory, Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, and Skinner’s behavior analytic theory are discussed with particular reference to their implications for the use of peers in educational settings. This is followed by a review of findings from research studies using peers in physical education settings and includes suggestions for future research. We conclude with a discussion of implications for practice.

Stability over time: Is behavior analysis a trait psychology?

Historically, behavior analysis and trait psychology have had little in common; however, recent developments in behavior analysis bring it closer to one of the core assumptions of the trait approach: the stability of behavior over time and, to a lesser extent, environments. The introduction of the concept of behavioral momentum and, in particular, the development of molar theories have produced some common features and concerns. Behavior-analytic theories of stability provide improved explanations of many everyday phenomena and make possible the expansion of behavior analysis into areas that have been inadequately addressed.