Newsletter
Volume 31 | 2008 | Number 2
Developmental Behavior Analysis SIG
By Dr. Martha Pelaez
The Developmental Behavior Analysis SIG has focused on behavior-analytic functional relations in a developmental frame, that is, where those relationships are examined across two or more points in a developmental sequence. The SIG’s emphases are upon environmental-unit behavior-unit interactions in basic and applied contexts, in mammalian species, and across any sequences or combinations of developmental points (and, in initial phases, at single developmental points). Species-specific considerations are taken into account in relation to the functional relationships. Use of demographic independent variables is not encouraged, except when they could facilitate clearly uncovering the underlying behavioral processes. Occasionally, the environment-behavior interactions in a developmental frame are grouped under a superordinate concept (e.g., “attachment,” “learned helplessness”), to allow the behavior-analytic description/explanation to be evaluated against an alternative description/explanation. More generally, the SIG examines also how different theoretical positions, within and without behavior analysis, approach identical questions. The historical bases of behaviorism, and of behavior analysis as a scientific or applied field, may be examined also.
In this context, the Developmental SIG routinely produces a full program for each annual meeting of ABAI, in which symposia, papers, invited addresses, tutorials, and panel discussions covering the range of interests noted above are represented. At the Chicago convention, we added applied behavior analysis (specifically on the effects of touch and massage therapy on infancy) symposia in a developmental frame to our program.
The following were the invited speakers for this 2008 convention:
- Howard Rachlin (Stony Brook University), “Self-Control and Social Cooperation”
- Peter Killeen (Arizona State University), “Tutorial: Evo-Devo”
- Tiffany Field (Touch Research Institute-University of Miami-Medical School), “Massage Therapy Research”
The SIG also produces a journal titled Behavioral Development Bulletin (BDB) that publishes refereed articles on theory and research under the conception of developmental behavior analysis outlined above. This year BDB will be publishing a special issue on the development of autism with Dr. Smita Shukla as the Guest Editor.
In this frame, the Developmental Behavior Analysis SIG welcomes members from those working in basic behavior analysis, in applied behavior analysis, or both. Dues are $15 per year and include a subscription to Behavioral Development Bulletin. To become a member please contact Dr. Martha Pelaez, College of Education, FIU, Miami FL, 33199, USA. Members are encouraged to send articles for publication in Behavioral Development Bulletin to Martha Pelaez, and papers, symposia, debates, and the like, for inclusion on the SIG program of the annual ABAI Convention to Jack Gewirtz, Department of Psychology, DM294, FIU, Miami, FL, 33199, USA.