Engineering technology and behavior analysis for interdisciplinary environmental protection

Engineering strategies for saving environmental resources have been widespread. However, many of those engineering advances have not been widely accepted nor generally applied by large segments of the general population. This paper considers the need to examine behavioral/environmental variables in the application of engineering technology, with particular reference to specific behavioral strategies for encouraging the use of engineering technology from an interdisciplinary perspective. A model for the study of factors contributing to the solution of ecological/environmental problems is presented and examples of interdisciplinary research are described. The model implies a need for the examination of the effects of antecedent and consequent manipulation of a variety of variables including: behavioral, physiological, environmental, technical and legal conditions. It is concluded that while interdisciplinary research efforts between engineering technologists and behavioral analysts are necessary, they have not received sufficient attention in the literature nor have they focused on the comprehensive study of antecedents and consequences as they relate to ecological/environmental problems. Thus, an extended "family" of research efforts is important for the success of these efforts.     

Some historical relationships between science and technology with implications for behavior analysis

The relationship between science and technology is examined in terms of some implications for behavior analysis. Problems result when this relationship is seen as one in which science generally begets technology in a one-way, or hierarchical, relationship. These problems are not found when the relationship between science and technology is seen as two-way, or symmetrical, within a larger context of relationships. Some historical examples are presented. Collectively, these and other examples in the references weaken the case for a prevailing one-way, hierarchical relationship and strengthen the case for a two-way, symmetrical relationship. In addition to being more accurate historically, the symmetrical relationship is also more consistent with the principles of behavior analysis.     

Experimental analysis of human vocal behavior: applications of speech-recognition technology

Recent developments in speech recognition make it feasible to apply the technology to study vocal behavior. The present study illustrates the use of this technology to establish functional stimulus classes. Eight students were taught to say nonsense words in the presence of arbitrarily assigned sets of symbols consistent with three three-member experimenter-defined stimulus classes. Computer-controlled speech-recognition software was used to record, analyze, and differentially reinforce vocal responses. When the stimulus classes were established, students were taught to say a new nonsense word in the presence of one member of each stimulus class. Transfer of function was tested subsequently to determine if the novel stimulus names transferred to the remaining stimulus class members. Most subjects required two iterations of the training and testing procedures before transfer occurred. The data illustrate the usefulness of recording vocal behavior during stimulus control procedures and demonstrate the use of speech-recognition technology. The paper also describes the current state of speech-recognition technology and suggests several other areas of research that might benefit from using vocal behavior as its primary datum.     

Positive behavior support and applied behavior analysis

This article reviews the origins and characteristics of the positive behavior support (PBS) movement and examines those features in the context of the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA). We raise a number of concerns about PBS as an approach to delivery of behavioral services and its impact on how ABA is viewed by those in human services. We also consider the features of PBS that have facilitated its broad dissemination and how ABA might benefit from emulating certain practices of the PBS movement.     

Countercontrol in behavior analysis

Countercontrol is a functional class of behavior that is part of Skinner's analysis of social behavior. Countercontrol refers to behavioral episodes comprised of socially mediated aversive controlling conditions and escape or avoidance responses that do not reinforce, and perhaps even punish, controllers' responses. This paper suggests that neglect of countercontrol in modern behavior analysis is unfortunate because the concept applies to interpersonal and social relations the fundamental operant principle that human behavior is both controlled and controlling-humans are not passive and inflexible. Countercontrol is addressed here in terms of conceptual status, contemporary developments in behavior analysis, its importance in a behavior-analytic approach to freedom and cultural design, applications, and research. The main conclusion is that Skinner's formulation of counter-control is scientifically supported and worthy of increased prominence in behavior analysis.     

Zen and behavior analysis

Zen's challenge for behavior analysis is to explain a repertoire that renders analysis itself meaningless-a result following not from scientific or philosophical arguments but rather from a unique verbal history generated by Zen's methods. Untying Zen's verbal knots suggests how meditation's and koans' effects on verbal behavior contribute to Enlightenment and Samādhi. The concept of stimulus singularity is introduced to account for why, within Zen's frame of reference, its methods can be studied but its primary outcomes (e.g., Samādhi and Satori) cannot be described in any conventional sense.     

Contingency and behavior analysis

The concept of contingency is central to theoretical discussions of learned behavior and in the application of learning research to problems of social significance. This paper reviews three aspects of the contingency concept as it has been developed by behavior analysts. The first is the empirical analysis of contingency through experimental studies of both human and nonhuman behavior. The second is the synthesis of experimental studies in theoretical and conceptual frameworks to yield a more general account of contingency and to integrate the concept with other behavioral processes. The third aspect is one of practical considerations in the application of the contingency concept in both laboratory and applied settings.     

Women in applied behavior analysis

The status of women in applied behavior analysis was examined by comparing the participation of women in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) to their participation in three similar journals. For all journals, the percentage of articles with at least one female author, the percentage of authors who are female, and the percentage of articles with a female first author increased from 1978 to 1997. Participation by women in JABA was equal to or greater than participation by women in the comparison journals. However, women appeared as authors on papers in special sections of Behavior Modification substantially more often when the editor was female than when the editor was male. In addition, female membership on the editorial boards of JABA, Behavior Modification, and Behaviour Research and Therapy failed to increase from 1978 to 1997. We conclude that a "glass ceiling" reduces the participation of women at the highest levels of applied behavior analysis and related fields.     

Trends in behavior analysis in education

The preparation of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis Reprint Series: Behavior Analysis in Education (1988) provided an opportunity to survey and analyze trends in the field, as reflected by publications in the journal. Apparently, the large volume of behavior-analytic papers on educational topics has been declining and its contents undergoing some interesting but not uniformly welcome shifts. Although the intense concern with classroom conduct has diminished somewhat, that topic continues to be heavily emphasized. Simultaneously, reports of social skills and language studies have accelerated, but analyses of academic performance have progressively declined. Explanations for the findings remain speculative, but behavior analysts are encouraged to address these areas of essential social need.     

Cognition, behavior, and the experimental analysis of behavior

A case history illustrates how one research program in the experimental analysis of behavior evolved somewhat differently from the modal research program represented in this journal. A chief issue that seems to be responsible for this difference is the role attributed to theory in behavioral research: Skinner's views on the nature and function of theory and on the nature of observation combine to produce a certain kind of picture of behavior. The classic conception of reinforcement contingencies is tied to this particular picture. But this picture may be incompatible with, and certainly is different from, other possible pictures. Reinforcement contingencies that place greater emphasis on the local temporal patterning of behavior seem tied to some of these alternative pictures of what behavior is. These other pictures encourage a wide range of theoretical approaches, including cognitive ones, various kinds of mathematical analyses, and computer-simulation methods to characterize entire behavior streams. In the future, perhaps the experimental analysis of behavior will accept a somewhat different range of views on the nature and function of theory, a correspondingly different set of experimental methods, and alternative ways of talking about behavior.     

Replicability and randomization test logic in behavior analysis

Randomization tests are a class of nonparametric statistics that determine the significance of treatment effects. Unlike parametric statistics, randomization tests do not assume a random sample, or make any of the distributional assumptions that often preclude statistical inferences about single‐case data. A feature that randomization tests share with parametric statistics, however, is the derivation of a p‐value. P‐values are notoriously misinterpreted and are partly responsible for the putative “replication crisis.” Behavior analysts might question the utility of adding such a controversial index of statistical significance to their methods, so it is the aim of this paper to describe the randomization test logic and its potentially beneficial consequences. In doing so, this paper will: (1) address the replication crisis as a behavior analyst views it, (2) differentiate the problematic p‐values of parametric statistics from the, arguably, more useful p‐values of randomization tests, and (3) review the logic of randomization tests and their unique fit within the behavior analytic tradition of studying behavioral processes that cut across species.