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.     

The speciation of behavior analysis

The relationship between the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB) and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) has been the subject of several editorials and commentaries in recent years. Various authors have argued that researchers in these two fields (a) have become isolated from each other, (b) face different requirements for survival in their respective fields, and (c) possess different skills to meet those requirements. The present paper provides an allegory for the relationship between EAB and ABA in terms of biological speciation. The conditions that have changed the relationship between EAB and ABA are parallel to those responsible for biological speciation: (a) isolation of some members of a species from the rest of the population, (b) different contingencies of survival for members of the two separate groups, and (c) divergence in the adaptive characteristics displayed by the two groups. When members of two different groups, descendants of common ancestors, no longer are capable of producing viable offspring by interbreeding, the different groups then represent different species. To the extent that members of the EAB group and members of the ABA group interact with each other only trivially, they each represent allegorically different species. Changes in the relationship between EAB and ABA are part of a natural process that takes place in many other sciences, and the course of that process can hardly be reversed by us.     

Multilevel analysis of matching behavior

Multilevel modeling has been considered a promising statistical tool in the field of the experimental analysis of behavior and may serve as a convenient statistical analysis for matching behavior because it structures data in groups (or levels) to account simultaneously for the within‐subject and between‐subject variances. Heretofore, researchers have sometimes pooled data erroneously from different subjects in a single analysis by using average ratios, average response and reinforcer rates, aggregation of subjects, etc. Unfortunately, this leads to loss of information and biased estimations, which can severely undermine generalization of the results. Instead, a multilevel approach is advocated to combine several subjects' matching behavior. A reanalysis of previous data on matching behavior is provided to illustrate the method and point out its advantages. It illustrates that multilevel regression leads to better estimations, is more convenient, and offers more behavioral information. We hope this paper will encourage the use of multilevel modeling in the statistical practices of behavior analysts.     

The analysis of categorizing behavior

Latent partition analysis enables an examination of the modal population categorizations of a set of items. The initial model proposed by Wiley is reformulated, extended and generalized. Firstly, the effects of judges are regarded as random, rather than fixed. In a second model, several latent partitions, rather than one, are allowed, resulting in a type of multidimensional approach. Finally, both the single and multiple partition models are shown to be specializations of a less restrictive model, called the category focusing model. In each of these three cases, properties implicit in the model are used to derive appropriate solution procedures. Measures of individual differences are considered, and the application of the procedure to experimental work in concept formation is discussed. Several sets of data are used to demonstrate the characteristics of the techniques evolved. This project was commenced while the author was on the staff of the University of Queensland.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

A correlational analysis of tracking behavior

This study reveals the usefulness of multiple correlation techniques in estimating the relative importance of different aspects of a tracking task in the operator's tracking behavior. The technique is applied to a compensatory tracking task with a position control.The authors wish to express their appreciation of the many persons who have so generously offered encouragement and advice. Particularly helpful were S. F. George and H. Glaser of the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory and W. J. McGill of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The authors are also deeply indebted to Miss Jean B. Henson, who performed the many long and laborious statistical computations, for which she deserves more than this footnote.     

Toward the globalization of behavior analysis

Globalization could facilitate the long-term growth of behavior analysis, and although progress has been made, much yet needs to be done. Given the scarcity of resources, it is suggested that we draw from successes in the development of behavior analysis and establish behavioral programs around the world that embrace research, education, and practice as a focus of systematic globalization efforts. The strategy would require the implementation of cultural contingencies that support initiation and long-term program expansion. For program initiation, contingencies are needed to place pioneer behavior analysts in university units that would be unlikely to start a behavioral program otherwise. The task of these pioneers would be to build a critical mass that would multiply behavior-analytic repertoires, obtain research funding, conduct publishable research, and establish applied settings. For long-term program development, the field should expand internationally as it continues building the infrastructure needed to accelerate the demand for behavioral programs in higher education, scholarly work in behavior analysis, behavior analysts in existing jobs, and behavioral technology in the market place.     

The dimensions of clinical behavior analysis

In most talk therapies for outpatient adults, the therapist has no contro over the client's daily life or contingencies outside the treatment session. The fundamental theoretical issue facing the behavior analyst is, "How can the talking that goes on during the session help the client with problems that occur outside the session in the client's daily life?" An historical analysis and the application of verbal behavior principles are used to answer the question and form the basis of clinical behavior analysis (CBA). The implications of CBA range from providing a theoretical base for psychotherapy to suggesting new forms of treatment.