Envisioning cultural practices

Graphic visualization has demonstrated its value for organizing transactional data and modeling complex phenomena in a wide variety of fields, from theoretical physics to medicine. Behavior analysts have historically used a variety of graphic tools not only for presentation but also for analysis and teaching. As they turn increasingly to the analysis and design of cultural practices, the phenomena behavior analysts study are becoming increasingly complicated. Many cultural practices of interest are embedded in extensive webs of interlocking practices and contingencies that can be difficult to grasp comprehensively. Building on contingency diagrams, which have proven to be useful for the analysis of operant behavior, and graphic tools developed for object-oriented systems analysis, this paper suggests graphic tools for capturing the interlocking contingencies that constitute cultures. These diagrams offer a broad-bandwidth technology for analyzing and designing cultural practices.     

The educational boundary1

In this contribution, the authors defi ne and discuss the educational boundary in analytic training, which they believe is an often neglected and useful concept in psychoanalytic education. The framework on which their discussion rests includes the recent attention of psychoanalysts to issues of boundaries and ethics. Their understanding of how clinical work affects the mind of the analyst educator, as well as the ways the personalities of various analysts affect their dealings with faculty peers and students, are the other cornerstones of their discussion. The authors contend that many of the institutional problems encountered in the training of analysts can be better understood when viewed through the prism of the educational boundary. They present examples which illustrate several of the ways psychoanalytic educators complicate the training experience of candidates, offer specifi c explanations as to why analysts struggle as they try to manage their educational interventions, and indicate in a discussion of potential remedies that those behaviors might be avoided if the educational boundary is in focus. They also provide an example of how the educational boundary can be more effectively managed.     

BRIDGING THE DISCONNECTION BETWEEN APPLIED RESEARCH AND PRACTICE: A REVIEW OF TREATMENTS THAT WORK: EMPIRICALLY SUPPORTED STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING CHILD BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS BY ED CHRISTOPHERSEN AND SUSAN MORTWEET

In recent years, behavior analysts have lamented a disconnection between applied research and practice. In their book, Treatments That Work: Empirically Supported Strategies for Managing Child Behavior Problems, Christophersen and Mortweet (2001) have attempted to bridge this gap for medical and behavioral health providers alike by describing empirically supported treatments, derived from behavior therapy and its application, that are specifically designed for challenging problems commonly seen in typical children. The book is clearly intended for both primary care physicians and behavior therapists, and in this article, we review the extent to which the book meets the needs of each. Discussion centers on the extent to which the book can meet the need for both technical precision and conceptual breadth in training of behavior therapists. We conclude that, in making explicit the connections between research and practice, the authors have provided a useful clinical teaching tool and have also raised important questions about how best to establish collaborative relationships with physicians and promote the use of behavioral technology in primary care.     

Community Counselling in African Contexts

This article explores community counselling as a form of professional practice for psychologists, with a particular focus on practices that are relevant in African contexts. The discussion identifies and discusses various models of practice identified in community psychology, including an ecological perspective, a public health and community mental health framework, interventions that focus on promoting a sense of community, indigenous approaches to community counselling and a critical or social action framework. Examples relating to each of these models of practice are drawn from various African settings, providing practitioners with some insights into how theory can be operationalised into practices that are relevant to African contexts. The article concludes with a discussion on community research, with a particular focus on ethical considerations relevant to a community approach in African contexts. The latter discussion emphasises the importance of working with the community as partners, and suggests the possibility of developing a Code of Ethics aimed specifically at guiding community counselling practice in African contexts.     

Supervision and Analysis at a Crossroad: The Development of the Analytic Therapist: Discussion of Papers by Joan Sarnat and Emanuel Berman

This discussion of papers by Sarnat and Berman on psychoanalytic supervision explores the complex nature of the contemporary psychoanalytic supervisory relationship. It considers how developments in psychoanalytic theory and practice, reflecting relational, intersubjective, attachment, and field theory influences over the past 30 years, have changed the ways in which many analysts practice and theorize supervision. Contemporary supervisors attend not just to the patient being presented, or to the therapeutic dyad, but to the supervisory relationship itself as part of the clinical/supervisory frame of reference. Similarities and differences between therapy and supervision are considered.     

Private events: Do they belong in a science of human behavior?

The role of thinking, feeling, and other private events has received a great deal of attention in mainstream psychology but has been virtually ignored in behavior analysis until recently. This paper introduces a series of papers from a symposium that explored the roles of private events in a science of human behavior. We briefly explore the role private events are assigned in several behavioral orientations. Next, we discuss several positions on how private events might be conceptualized within a behavior-analytic framework. We conclude by noting that the dearth of research and conceptualizations about private events unnecessarily limits the theoretical or conceptual understanding on which applied behavior analysts base their work. With this paper and the papers that follow, we hope to spark research, discussion, and yes, thinking, about the roles of thinking and feeling.     

Misconception and miseducation: Presentations of radical behaviorism in psychology textbooks

Behavior analysts have recently expressed concern about what appear to be misrepresentations of behaviorism in psychology textbooks. This paper presents an analysis of currently used textbooks in the areas of introductory, social, cognitive, personality, and developmental psychology that confirms this. Topics on which behavior analysis is most often misrepresented relate to the role of animal learning research, environmentalism, the "empty organism," language, and the overall utility of the approach. Because textbooks are often a major medium of interaction between the public and behaviorism, behavior analysts must work to correct these errors and to prevent possible negative consequences of widespread misunderstanding. Several potential solutions to these problems are presented that take into account current publishing practices and the monetary contingencies which support them.     

Values and the scientific culture of behavior analysis

As scientists and practitioners, behavior analysts must make frequent decisions that affect many lives. Scientific principles have been our guide as we work to promote effective action across a broad spectrum of cultural practices. Yet scientific principles alone may not be sufficient to guide our decision making in cases with potentially conflicting outcomes. In such cases, values function as guides to work through ethical conflicts. We will examine two ethical systems, radical behaviorism and functional contextualism, from which to consider the role of values in behavior analysis, and discuss potential concerns. Finally, we propose philosophical pragmatism, focusing on John Dewey's notions of community and dialogue, as a tradition that can help behavior analysts to integrate talk about values and scientific practices in ethical decision making.     

Separating discriminative and function-altering effects of verbal stimuli

Ever since Skinner's first discussion of rule-governed behavior, behavior analysts have continued to define rules, either explicitly or implicitly, as verbal discriminative stimuli. Consequently, it is not difficult to find, in the literature on rule-governed behavior, references to stimulus control, antecedent control, or to rules occasioning behavior. However, some verbal stimuli have effects on behavior that are not easily described as discriminative. Such stimuli don't evoke behavior as discriminative stimuli, but rather alter the functions of other stimuli in a manner analogous to operant and respondent conditioning. Hence, this type of control has been called function altering. Any known stimulus function (e.g., evocative, or [conditioned] reinforcing or punishing functions) can apparently be altered by such function-altering stimuli. Describing these stimuli as discriminative stimuli obscures their possible function-altering effects and consequently may retard inquiry into them. This paper encourages behavior analysts to begin separating the discriminative and function-altering effects of verbal stimuli and suggests that by doing so, behavior analysts may better understand what may be most unique about these stimuli. Results from several experiments, especially those in which children served as subjects, are analyzed. Finally, some speculations are offered concerning the genesis of function-altering stimuli.     

A primer for using multilevel models to meta-analyze single case design data with AB phases

Meta-analytic methods provide a way to synthesize data across treatment evaluation studies. However, these well-accepted methods are infrequent with behavior analytic studies. Multilevel models may be a promising method to meta-analyze single-case data. This technical article provides a primer for how to conduct a multilevel model with single-case designs with AB phases using data from the differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate behavior literature. We provide details, recommendations, and considerations for searching for appropriate studies, organizing the data, and conducting the analyses. All data sets are available to allow the reader to follow along with this primer. The purpose of this technical article is to minimally equip behavior analysts to complete a meta-analysis that will summarize a current state of affairs as it relates to the science of behavior analysis and its practice. Moreover, we aim to demonstrate the value of analyses of this sort for behavior analysis.     

Presumed Guilty: Constructing Deviance and Deviants through Techniques of Neutralization

Techniques of neutralization have become one of the most ubiquitous concepts in the study of deviance. This article examines the way in which analysts who use neutralization theory construct the nature of deviance and those who engage in it. The author argues that by invoking the concept of neutralizations, analysts endorse the deviant label being applied to those they study and engage in the practice of “motive mongering.” In many cases, assumptions about the behavior and disposition of those who engage in deviant behavior have been accepted without empirical justification. The implications of this practice for objectivist and subjectivist approaches to defining deviance are examined.     

THE EFFECTS OF SEVERE BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN ON THE TEACHING BEHAVIOR OF ADULTS

Applied behavior analysts have focused on how adults can influence the problem behavior of children using a variety of behavior modification strategies. A related question, virtually unexplored, is how the behavior problems of children influence adults. This child-effects concept was explored empirically in a study involving 12 adults who were asked to teach four pairs of children in which one member of the pair exhibited problem behavior and the other typically did not. Results demonstrated that problem children displayed tantrums, aggression, and self-injury contingent on adult instructional attempts but not at other times, whereas nonproblem children showed little or no problem behavior at any time. Importantly, from a child-effects perspective, adults engaged in teaching activities with nonproblem children more often than with problem children. Also, when an adult worked with a problem child, the breadth of instruction was more limited and typically involved those tasks associated with lower rates of behavior problems. The implications of these results are discussed with respect to theories of escape behavior, current assessment practices, and intervention issues related to maintenance. The existence of child effects suggests that problem behavior may be better understood when it is conceptualized as involving a process of reciprocal influence between adult and child.     

The professional credential in behavior analysis

The quality of behavior analysis is of interest to many individuals within the community. Other professionals are including behavior analysis in their credentials and excluding from practice those qualified behavior analysts who do not have their credentials. Existing credentialing programs do not seem to regulate behavior analysis adequately. This article examines reasons for a professional credential in behavior analysis, various components of credentialing programs, the forms of programs available, and alternative professional credentials for behavior analysts.     

The Idea of Practice and Why It Matters in the Teaching of Preaching

Abstract. The concept of practice helps us better understand how preaching works, as well as how we can teach that practice more effectively. This essay develops a compact but wide‐ranging view of practices, reflecting the current scholarly discussion. It also argues that preaching is a particular instance of this larger concept of practices. Understanding preaching as a practice gives new perspectives on what preaching is and allows us to consider how to employ broadly recognized standards of excellence to evaluate particular instances of students’ preaching. Further, this essay explores how the teaching of preaching is a practice in its own right. The value of this insight is that it allows us then to explore how the character of the teaching and the character of what is taught can be consonant with one another, and in ways that can guide. This essay is from “Teaching Preaching as a Christian Practice,” edited by Thomas G. Long and Nora Tisdale. Used by permission of Westminster John Knox Press.     

The Need for a More Effective Science of Cultural Practices

Behavior analysis has produced a robust theoretical analysis of the contingencies involved in cultural evolution. Yet, thus far, the empirical yield of this work remains quite limited. With this paper, I attempt to provide specific examples of the ways to advance an experimental analysis of the contingencies involved in cultural evolution. I begin with a review of the theoretical analyses developed by behavior analysts and other contextually oriented scientists. Next, I submit that, if the goal of our science is both predicting and influencing cultural phenomena, we must produce experimental analyses of the impact of meta-contingencies on organizations’ practices. There is no more pressing reason for doing this than the threat of climate change posed by the continuing growth in human use of fossil fuels. Therefore, the paper provides an analysis of the contingencies influencing organizational practices now affecting continued use of fossil fuels and the contingencies for organizations seeking to prevent their use. One concrete step to advance a science of cultural change relevant to climate change would be to create a database of organizations that are promoting vs. working to prevent fossil fuel consumption and the consequences that seem to maintain their practices. I call for experimental analysis of the impact of altering consequences for these practices and for experimental analyses of interventions intended to change the norms, values, and behavior of organizational leaders who can influence fossil fuel consumption. I then discuss the role of prosocial behavior and values in affecting behavior relevant to reducing fossil fuel consumption because the empirical evidence shows that prosociality favors more “green” behavior. Recent advances in prevention research have identified interventions to promote prosociality, but we need experimental analyses of how advocacy organizations can be more effective in getting these interventions widely adopted.     

Positive behavior support: Expanding the application of applied behavior analysis

Positive behavior support (PBS) is an approach to providing services to individuals who exhibit challenging behavior. Since its inception in the early 1990s, PBS has received increasing attention from the behavior-analytic community. Some behavior analysts have embraced this approach, but others have voiced questions and concerns. In this paper we describe the framework of PBS and show that it is consistent with the tenets of behavior analysis. Also, we illustrate how the framework of PBS might be used to guide practitioners and researchers in the field of applied behavior analysis. We hope to demonstrate that PBS offers useful suggestions regarding how applied behavior analysts can design and evaluate effective programs for people with developmental disabilities or behavioral challenges.