Association for Behavior Analysis International

An overview of ABA, its history, structures and functions as an international locus of the field of behavior analysis. Awards, special interest groups and other features will also be addressed. Drs. Michael and Woods, two of ABA's original members, will review the origin and organization of ABA as well as describe the principles of behavior analysis that form the scientific foundation of the field.

Among the multiple actions of cocaine, evidence has suggested that the inhibition of dopamine uptake is the primary action underlying the behavioral effects of cocaine. This hypothesis indicates that drugs that inhibit the transport of dopamine will have behavioral effects, and abuse liability, similar to cocaine. Despite the evidence supporting the hypothesis, compounds exist that selectively bind to the dopamine transporter with high affinity and inhibit dopamine uptake, but have behavioral effects that differ from those of cocaine. These compounds generally show a decreased efficacy in stimulating locomotor activity, reduced or no efficacy in producing cocaine-like discriminative-stimulus effects, and are marginally effective as reinforcers in primates trained to self administer cocaine. These findings indicate important limitations to the dopamine transporter hypothesis of the behavioral effects of cocaine. Further, the delineation of differences in the pharmacology of various dopamine uptake inhibitors will provide insight into dopamine transporter function, the neurobiological substrates involved in cocaine abuse, and may provide leads for the discovery of medical treatments for cocaine abuse.

Historically, cognitive-developmental, and behavior analytic approaches to the study of human behavior and development have been viewed as incompatible with alternative theoretical and methodological perspectives. This presumed incompatibility has itself generally been understood as arising from divergent sets of metatheoretical assumptions that take the form of ontological and epistemological principles and, as coherent wholes, 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. A more meaningful move toward integration requires a set of metatheoretical assumptions that transcends both worldviews, and, while maintaining their distinct qualities, unites them. Such a metatheoretical framework constitutes the base for a true rapprochement of cognitive-developmental and behavior analytic approaches. The integrative metatheoretical frame presented here has been termed relational metatheory. Relational metatheory entailing four basic principles of holism, the identity of opposites, the opposites of identity, and the synthesis of wholes identifies the process by which classically fundamental dichotomies can be transformed into co-equal indissociable complementarities, and how these complementarities can serve as relatively stable platforms for launching diverse forms of scientific inquiry.

Organizational behavior management principles and procedures are often employed as one-time applications in business, industry, and organizational settings. We have had the unique experience of working with the same organization continuously for the past 15-yrs on complex issues of improving the quality of service delivery to mental health patients in a large state hospital in Northeast Florida. The projects began as demonstration projects, but, as gains were demonstrated, the administration began to take them more seriously. Over time we gained the confidence of the executive committee–seven years ago Performance Management became officially recognized as the guiding philosophy of change for the organization. Over the 15-year period we have completed hundreds of quality improvement projects with a large number of them recognized by independent non-governmental agencies for their excellence. In this tutorial, I will present an overview of the work that we have completed and try to offer some insights into our apparently successful strategies for long-term consulting using OBM.

This presentation will address the problem of unintentional injury and death of children from firearms and risk factors that contribute to this problem. Two paths to prevention of childhood injury and death from firearms will be discussed: changing parent behavior and teaching prevention skills to children to prevent gun play. As most childhood firearm injuries and deaths occur as a result of gun play, my research has focused on teaching skills to prevent gun play. A series of studies will be presented in which procedures for teaching prevention skills to children are evaluated. These studies investigated the effectiveness of educational approaches and behavioral skills training approaches to teach young children a set of safety skills to use upon finding a firearm. An emphasis in the research was an evaluation of procedures for promoting generalization of the skills from the training setting to the natural environment. The findings from these studies will be presented and implications for future research and practice will be discussed. Learning Objectives Describe the behavioral skills training approach to teaching safety skills to children to prevent gun play. Describe the results of research comparing educational approaches and behavioral skills training approaches for teaching safety skills to children to prevent gun play.

Since 1970 until the present, the presenter and his colleagues at Virginia Tech have diligently and systematically addressed real-world and large-scale problems with principles and methods from applied behavior analysis. Throughout the 1970s they targeted the problem of environmental protection, while also working with teachers to make classrooms more learning centered. And in 1974, Scott Geller and colleagues focused on prison management, and developed the largest programmatic application of the three-term contingency for inmates at two maximum-security facilities. Learning Objectives The participant will be able to list 5 lessons the presenter has learned in 30 years of applying behavior analysis for large-scale problems. The participant will be able to define 5 creative applications of the three-term contingency for improving behavior in community settings. The participant will be able to describe how behavior analysis can be applied to such large-scale problems as environmental protection, transportation safety, prison management, and occupational health and safety.

Skinner delivered his paper "Why are we not acting to save the world" in 1982 to the APA. The article was later included in his collection of papers "Upon Further Reflection" (1987). Skinner reviewed the state of the world and provided a behaviorally based conceptual analysis as an answer to the question posed in the title. Skinner expressed his thoughts on how to avoid an untimely end to the world. This paper will take measure of the state of the world today as compared to Skinner's view in 1982. The authors provide a critical review of Skinner's analysis and proposals in light of contemporary events. Alternative behavioral analyses are offered as well as ideas for effective action.

In general, people tenaciously believe they possess free will despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that all human behavior is determined by environmental stimuli. Among scientists, Skinner has consistently and forcefully argued that the belief in free will is an artifact of human behavior in his view, a now-dysfunctional product of the literatures of freedom and dignity. I will examine and discuss this paradox between subjective experience and objective analysis by arguing that the almost-universal belief in free will is a product of evolution and thereby an adaptive human characteristic. In addition to behavior analysis and biology, I will draw on nonscientific sources of knowledge, including historical, cultural, philosophical, literary, and religious contributions, to shed light on the nature and interpretation of this very central question of human existence. In this 100th year of Skinners birth, I will discuss the wisdom of adhering to the dominant behavior analytic understanding of free will; contrary to Skinners contention, the pervasive human belief in free will, even if scientifically wrong, may well contribute to social progress rather than impede it.

100 years after Skinner's birth, the promise of the science he in turn birthed remains strong. Which behavior analyst(s) will win the Nobel Peace Prize is of course unknown--and is unimportant, since the science of behavior at its best is a collective enterprise, not a cult of personality. That science may not even be labeled "behavior analysis" at that point. Nonetheless, violence is behavior; behavior can be analyzed and shaped; and the potential aggregate consequences of efforts to do so are enormous. It is therefore hard to imagine that this work will not ultimately be extensively pursued, despite substantial political obstacles. (Significantly, the US Surgeon General has already turned to behavior analytic science in the recent report on Youth Violence, for example.) This presentation will review promising emerging work related to reducing individual and collective violence (including terrorism and war) and constructing nonviolent alternatives. It will then outline a plan of research for advancing this work in substantive ways. The presentation will draw on basic behavior analytic theory, emerging principles from applied cultural analysis, and existing empirical work.

Currently, applied behavior analysis has focused almost exclusively on problems defined by caretakers as well as being circumscribed by methodological guidelines and by exclusive concern with contingency-management variables. An expanded scope of this field is suggested that enlarges the scope of learning variables beyond contingency management and revised the methodological constraints. These changes would greatly expand the application of this field to include the large number of self-referred problems which have otherwise been preempted by other treatment modalities. The field would still retain its distinctive character as a science-based learning treatment model.

Noam Chomskys followers claimed that the discovery of the FOXP2 language gene showed that human brain had a genetically transmitted, innate Universal Grammar that specified the syntax of all human languages. The real facts refute this claim. A syndrome a set of behavioral deficits that transcends language characterizes the deficits of the members of the extended family KE who have an anomalous version of this gene. These individuals are unable to sequence simple tongue and lip maneuvers, repeat two word sequences, comprehend sentences that have complex syntax, and many display cognitive inflexibility. Studies of mice and humans show that FOXP2 and similar genes govern the development of neural structures that play a critical role in regulating motor control, language and cognition. There can be no difference in the physiologic activity of these neural structures when a person acquires a complex motor act such as shifting the gears of a car, or the linguistic rules for English passive sentences. Neurophysiologic data show that we and other animals acquire motor skills by means of general cognitive processes such as associative learning and imitation. Syntax must be learned by the same means. Universal Grammar is a fable it has the same status as an innate capacity for driving a car.