Association for Behavior Analysis International

The symposium will integrate the research of three unique but related topics under the heading of translational research. The first symposium will present data on behavioral history effects on both problem and appropriate behavior using a pseudo-random binary sequence. The behavior of scripting - repeating lines from a movie or TV show out of context and manding for a preferred food item appeared sensitive to both proximal and more distal contingencies of reinforcement, replicating work from the basic laboratory. The second presentation used a matrix-style game to assess levels of defection and cooperation in sets of two individuals diagnosed with a developmental disability. Rates of cooperation were generally low, however a component analysis suggested alternative strategies to increase cooperation in this population. The third presentation applied behavior economic principles to a free-operant preference assessment. By increasing the "cost" of the most preferred item, consumption of that item decreased and preferences for previously less-preferred items tended to increase suggesting that the items were substitutable for each other. Demand curves were fit to the data and explained a significant portion of the variance.

Floridas Behavior Analysis Services Program (BASP) is a statewide program for dependent children and their caregivers. Over 60 board certified behavior analysts from the University of South Florida and the University of Florida work with parents and staff to improve their interactions with previously abused and neglected children. Caregivers receive training in the Tools for Positive Behavior Change Curriculum and learn how to implement individualized behavior plans when necessary. Three presentations within the current symposium discuss the results of the training across several settings; Foster homes, group homes, a group shelter, and a Statewide Inpatient Psychiatric Program (SIPP) Facility. The results of these studies indicated that the training was effective in producing positive outcomes (i.e., decreasing restrictive procedures and increasing positive interactions across all of these settings). The final presentation focuses on two components of the training; the in-class and in-home components. Results indicated that caregivers who received both components showed higher post-test scores and greater increases in positive interactions with their children when compared to those caregivers who only received the in-class component. In summary, the results of the current studies indicate that the BASP program can be effective across multiple settings and caregivers.

Ensuring correct use of behavioral procedures by families, staff members, and paraprofessionals is an ongoing challenge for behavior analysts. In this symposium, three papers are presented that provide examples of the successful application of behavior analysis in different settings and with different behavior change agents. All three studies target serious problem behaviors of children with autism and other developmental disabilities. In the first paper, the researchers present a program for incorporating the use of single-subject experimental design methodology in working with family members. The second paper addresses serious problem behavior in a residential treatment program. Finally, the author of the third paper describes the successful use of behavioral intervention procedures in an inpatient setting.

A defining characteristic of applied behavior analysis is the requirement for precise descriptions of target behaviors and carefully specified interventions to enable replicability. In applied autism treatment we have found a number of instances and common problems that do not meet this standard. For example terms such as transition problems, sensory processing dysfunction, and auditory processing problems are commonly used to identify what are hypothesized causes of difficulty rather than specific behaviors to be treated. These terms do not enable clinicians to identify the behavioral problem to be treated with any degree of specificity, nor do they address the environmental variables of which the behavior may be a function. Often these inadequate descriptions are used to explain or even justify why the individual is having difficulty. Indeed for many people these inadequate descriptions are now treated as symptoms of autism. However, the lack of precision in description may misdirect those providing interventions and thus focus on irrelevant variables that may not produce an effective outcome. This symposium will outline the parameters of effective and precise descriptions and then present three case examples where poor description has led to ineffective treatment.

Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior has served as the foundation of many language interventions for children with developmental disabilities. The present symposium presents four evaluations of teaching procedures to further improve the communicative abilities of young children. Specifically procedures to promote the acquisition and generalization of Skinner's tact and intraverbal relationships were examined.

The causes of problem behavior involve environmental and biological determinants that impose organizational structure on responding. The past two decades have seen parallel, but separate innovations in (a) the functional analysis of problem behavior and (b) neurogenetics. The former innovations have allowed behavior analysts to identify and manipulate the discriminative stimuli, motivating operations, reinforcement contingencies, and reinforcing/punishing stimuli that influence response probability. The latter innovations have allowed for the molecular identification and measurement of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) occurring within genes that regulate neural circuitry function. In this symposium, we present data on the first synthesis of these two scientific domains. Our goal is to develop an integrated biobehavioral analysis of gene-brain-environment determinants of problem behavior. Each experiment will focus on problem behaviors, but within a distinct population. The experiments also build on each other by expanding the complexity of the SNPs and neural circuitry involved in the occurrence of problem behaviors. Our findings indicate distinct pattern of SNPs regulating monoaminergic circuits that are associated with the development and maintenance of behavior problems.

Direct instruction programs have proven beneficial to improving learning outcomes for a wide range of children. This presentation will present three studies in which different DI programs were used to teach important skills to children of various populations (e.g., English language learners, typically developing low SES students, etc.). The effects of the DI curricula on language, mathematics, and calendar performance will be presented. For the majority of participants in all studies, the use of DI programs was associated with improvements in performance across all target behaviors and assessments.

The following symposium will highlight how a non public school in New York City implements verbal behavior teaching procedures for both students and staff. The application of Skinners analysis of verbal behavior has been utilized to increase the rule governed and contingency shaped behaviors of teachers, to evoke initial verbal operants from young children and as a framework for implementing speech and language services and augmentative and alternative communication devices for students with an autism spectrum disorder. Our goal is to demonstrate how verbal behavior and applied behavior analysis can be integrated into an entire educational system to change student and staff behaviors.

Behavior analysis has had a hard time penetrating the mainstream of psychology since the rise of cognitive psychology. The two primary barriers underlying this problem are a lack of clarity and understanding of the philosophical core of radical behaviorism, and the need for a comprehensive and experimentally adequate account of language and cognition. The first is primarily a terminological problem that is rectified by functional contextualism; the second is an empirical and theoretical problem that is rectified by Relational Frame Theory. With these two barriers removed, there is nothing to prevent behavior analysis from capturing center stage in many areas of psychology, but the form of behavior analysis results is decidedly post-Skinnerian -- that is, true to the Skinnerian tradition philosophically and empirically, but distinct in its approach to complex human behavior as a consequence of empirical developments. The empirical and political success of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is offered as a concrete demonstration of the success of this strategy. Other possible extensions are briefly explored.

Should we stop doing mand and intraverbal language training for children with autism? It was suggested by Green (2005) that language training procedures for children with autism that are based on Skinners (1957) analysis of verbal behavior should not be disseminated until data supporting those procedures are obtained. The purpose of the current presentation will be to present an analysis of the existing data on the mand and intraverbal relations. In addition, an analysis of how the mand and intraverbal repertoires are addressed and taught in traditional discrete trial programs will presented. The results will show that there is empirical support for the distinction between the mand, tact, and intraverbal, and it is a mistake to assume these repertoire will emerge from the tact only training common to most discrete trial curricula.

This symposium examines some conflicting concepts and treatment approaches of behavior analysis and biomedical psychiatry, with a critical eye on assumptions underlying the biomedical model and financial backing of this model by the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Wyatts presentation discusses external pressures on the profession of psychiatry and dynamics within the profession that encouraged it to adopt a biomedical approach to mental disorders. This philosophical realignment allowed the new biomedical psychiatry to regain its dominant position over the other mental health professions, including behavior analysis. Dr. Winstons presentation by takes a humorous look at logical fallacies in DSM-IV diagnoses and pharmacological treatments. It also provides a behavioral re-interpretation of some common mental disorders. Dr. Wongs presentation compares behavioral and biomedical treatments for schizophrenia and depression. It also examines ideological, political, and economic forces that promote the latter over the former, regardless of the latters scientific merits.

This symposium will include four papers describing various methods for the assessment and treatment sex offenders with developmental disabilities. The first presentation, given by Robert Reed, is a discussion of some of the cultural issues related to sexual deviance including the historical development of assessing and treating deviant sexual behavior. The second presentation, given by Jorge Reyes, shows outcome data from the assessment and treatment of deviant sexual arousal. The third presentation given by Cristina Whitehouse, describes two novel assessment procedures. One of the procedures involves assessing responding in high-risk situations, and the other involves assessing preference for deviant stimuli (e.g., pictures of children) through the use of a computerized program. The final presentation, given by David Pyles, involves a discussion of assessments and services needed for sex offenders with developmental disabilities that may differ from needs posed by non-developmentally delayed offenders.

Imitation is widely considered fundamental in human learning, in natural development as well as in special education programs for developmentally disabled persons. The purposes of the present symposium are to review (1) the history of imitation theory and empirical research, (2) current research questions and empirical data, (3) conceptual issues, and (4) directions for future behavior-analytic research on imitation.

The Implicit Association Test (I.A.T.) developed by Anthony Greenwald is said to measure unconscious cognitions that influence attitudes and preferences towards a wide range of social phenomena including race, politics and views on sexual orientation. Interestingly, the I.A.T. technique bears a striking similarity to behavioral methods of attitude and behavior assessment that rely on the concept of stimulus equivalence and derived relational responding. Our symposium provides an overview of the I.A.T and outlines its relevance to behavioral research in the social sciences. We will present a functional analytic model of the IAT in terms of derived stimulus relations and data supporting the behavioral account will be outlined.

The following studies review the use of current training strategies and their effects on staff performance in community treatment settings. The first studies review the use of performance feedback on staffs ability to exhibit desired appropriate behaviors in the at a vocational training program. The studies also examine the effects combined with video modeling. The second study examines the effects of staff training on the reliability of indirect assessment of challenging behavior across three day treatment setting. The third study demonstrates how to implement the combination of performance feedback and video modeling to increase the implementation of behavioral treatment programs.

In both basic and applied behavior analysis, the consequent stimuli that maintain behavior often derive their reinforcing function from their association with stimuli that have previously been established as reinforcers. Termed conditioned reinforcers, these stimuli play a crucial and ubiquitous role not only in our understanding of learning processes, but in the application of behavioral principles to the solution of socially-relevant behavioral problems, perhaps most conspicuously in the establishment of token reinforcement systems. The present symposium will attempt to expand further our knowledge of the factors that modulate the efficacy of tokens and other behaviorally neutral stimuli as conditioned reinforcers. Specifically, the presentations will discuss (1) token value as a function of response effort, (2) changes in efficacy during the conditioning process to establish tokens as reinforcers, (3) the correspondence between preference assessment outcomes and the selection of back-up reinforcers and (4) direct comparisons of response maintenance between primary and token reinforcers.

Children with autism and other developmental disabilities often fail to develop spoken language. Consequently, augmentative or alternative communication (AAC) strategies must be made available to ensure the development of expressive communication skills. One type of AAC is the use of a voice output communication aid (VOCA). This session will focus on the use of VOCAs to teach a variety of communication skills. The first paper will briefly overview the types of AAC products available to consumers. Strengths and weaknesses of each will be highlighted. The second paper will review the literature on the combined use of FCT and VOCA for young children. Areas for application and future research will be discussed. The third paper will present the results of a study where a 4-button VOCA was used to teach greeting skills to children with autism. The fourth paper will present the results of teaching a child to request attention using a VOCA during play activities.

Automatic reinforcement refers to (positive or negative) reinforcement in the absence of social mediation. Despite early discussions of automatic reinforcement by Skinner and other eminent behaviorists (e.g., Michael), the concept of automatic reinforcement was not widely discussed or incorporated into applied research until the last couple of decades or so. Now, the notion of automatic reinforcement is widespread in applied research and practice. The presenter will show data reflecting the increasing trend of studies on automatic reinforcement. A result of the recent proliferation of research is that we now have enough data to at least begin exploring questions about the utility of the automatic reinforcement concept. While discussing a range of advantages and disadvantages of the concept, the presenter will reach two very general conclusions: 1. The concept of automatic reinforcement is useful because it draws attention to the fact that not all reinforcement is socially mediated, but 2. The concept of automatic reinforcement is limiting when and if it detracts from an analysis of specific stimuli and events that may function as reinforcement.

This symposium addresses effects of clinical procedures that may be encountered in an early intensive behavioral intervention program for children with autism. The first paper is a discussion of an analysis on the effects of decreases in number of treatment hours per week on accuracy of performance on previously mastered tasks and problem behavior. The second paper is a discussion of an examination of whether vocal or non-vocal feedback following an incorrect response is more effective in teaching a child with autism a new skill. The third paper is a discussion of the comparison of retention of academic skills following fluency-based versus discrete trial instruction with children with autism.

Three presentations will examine the role of behavioral parent training within the context of child welfare. The first presentation will evaluate program outcomes for the University of Florida Behavior Analysis Services Program (UF-BASP), which provides behavioral parent training to caregivers of children who have been abused and/or neglected and who are currently involved in the child welfare system in Florida. The evaluations will involve both large scale (i.e., over hundreds of caregivers) and single-subject evaluations of the effectiveness of the program at a) teaching parenting skills and b) increasing placement stability for children in foster care. The second presentation will describe a systematic replication of the UF-BASP being conducted at the University of North Texas. Descriptions of the projects progress and future plans will be provided. Our final presentation will describe a behavioral parent training program for parents at risk of committing child maltreatment. Single-subject data on improved parent and child behaviors as a function of parent training will be presented.

Instruction oftentimes includes more than delivering academic material to students in well-organized, smoothly running classrooms. Behavioral consultants are invited into classrooms where problematic behavior and lack of instructional technology run rampant. These papers include successful interventions conducted in vastly different academic settings: from PPCD classrooms for pre-schoolers with seriously disruptive behavior to a special education life skills classroom wherein one child was taught to feed herself and to walk independently to 3 high school teen-agers with severe reading deficits in regular education classrooms. The 4th paper describes an experiment in literacy training conducted in 2 PPCD classrooms for children ages 3-1/2 to 5 years old. In all of these settings behavioral technology came to the rescue when traditional academic instruction had failed or, due to the ages of the students, had never been undertaken. All data will be presented in graphic formats and a short video clip will also be included.

The primary focus of this symposium will be to discuss the concurrence between the federal regulations requiring evidence-based practices found in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2003, as well as in the 2001, the U.S. Department of Educations Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) report by the National Research Council on the education of children diagnosed with autism, and the generally accepted educational practices of Applied Behavior Analysis. The participants will first to operationally define evidence-based, and second to describe an externally validated process by which a research literature might be reviewed systematically. Next, a review of the evidence base and present survey data on the types, characteristics, intensity, and combinations of services approved, as opposed to recommended, will be presented for very young children. Finally, an objective measurement system for evaluating educational services, based on current literature, will be presented with examples taken form actual assessments. The Discussant, from the Education Sciences -- U.S. Department of Education, will comment on the implications of these regulations on special education services for children with Autism.

For the last 15 years, the field has witnessed much interest in the area of Positive Behavioral Support (PBS) as reflected by conference events, published literature, and the formation of the PBS SIG. This burgeoning interest has been met with concerns about the need for a new school of thought, the potential for misconceptions and schisms to arise, and the extent to which PBS actually falls under the umbrella of ABA. In recent years, there have been a few attempts to address the relationship between Positive Behavioral Support and Applied Behavior Analysis. Unfortunately, some of these discussions have been not been constructive, were often one sided, and may even be perceived as contentious. This topic deserves a professional and balanced dialogue. To that end, the panel will tackle this critically important matter and be comprised of individuals with rather divergent perspectives.

In the past 20 years, a number of applied investigations have examined the relative influence of motivational variables on responding during reinforcement-based programs for individuals with developmental disabilities. One category of such variables that has been the subject of considerable research is establishing operations (EOs). An EO is an environmental event that has two effects on behavior: (a) it changes (increases or decreases) motivation for a particular reinforcer; and (b) it changes (increases or decreases) the probability of responses that have produced that reinforcer in the past. The present symposium will focus on three recent areas of research in which EOs have been used to influence appropriate behavior. Collectively, these studies will examine (a) the establishment and termination of reflexive conditioned EOs, (b) the modification of reflexive conditioned EOs to increase in-seat behavior, and (c) the effects of peer observations on item preferences.

Stimulus-stimulus pairing has been suggested as a means by which children learn language, and therefore a means by which children with lagging language skills may be taught to communicate. Studies presented will address the effectiveness of stimulus-stimulus pairing procedures with augmentative communication, manding procedures, and comparisons of stimulus-stimulus pairing with contingent reinforcement procedures.

We examine how the Model of Hierarchical Complexity, a behavioral-developmental model of stage-like development, improves interventions with people and organizations. Behavior analytic techniques are helpful in bringing about the acquisition of single behaviors in a sequence. But almost all ABA approaches are limited to the acquisition of 2 or 3 behaviors in a sequence. Each sequence has to be discovered on its own. Here, we address some issues which people and organizations find difficult. We examine how elemental behaviors are formed into complex behaviors, and those in turn are formed into even more complex behaviors. The more complex behaviors are more than chains; they are defined in terms of the elemental behaviors and organize them. This model identifies what new behaviors must be more hierarchically complex, specifying the sequence of actions that would be most helpful. It also helps identify what current behaviors can be combined to form a more complex combination and what the entire sequence of increasingly more complex behaviors should be. With a universal notion of how complex behaviors are formed, many problematic issues stand a better chance of being successfully solved. Using this model, we address interventions with interpersonal and social relationships, teachers, and organizations.

In behavioral economics, reinforcement contingencies are viewed as transactions in which work (responding/behavior) is exchanged for a commodity (a reinforcer or stimulus). Overall consumption of a commodity is determined as a function of its price (work or response requirements), often in relation to the availability and price of concurrently available commodities that vary with respect to the degree to which they substitute for the first. Investigators have recently begun to explore behavioral economic relations in the response allocation of individuals with developmental disabilities, most notably with the aim of interpreting responding under various experimental constraints related to enhancing habilitative efforts. The present symposium will further discuss ongoing research in translating behavioral economic theory into practical application for individuals with developmental disabilities. Collectively, the presentations will examine (a) the relation between relative stimulus preference and demand and response output functions; (b) consumption of various reinforcers examined through demand and work functions derived from progressive-ratio schedules; (c) and the influence of unit price on response output in the context of treating problem behavior.

Behavior analysis is engaged in a competition to determine whether services aimed at making positive changes in behavior and in the impact or results of behavior will be based on demonstrably effective methods or left to tradition, professional custom, and union or guild protection. If the arbiters of success are uninformed client choices, testimonials, and unsubstantiated claims, that competition may not be winnable. If client choices can be based on evidence of effectiveness, services grounded in applied behavior analysis have a higher probability of being chosen. In addition, evidence-based decisions may provide a method to help us sort more effective from less effective behavior-analytic methods. The Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies has recent initiatives that award accreditation to behavioral programs of service based on evidence of effectiveness. Accreditation of principles of behavior-based safety programs has now been awarded to multiple organizations. Standards and methods for accrediting applied behavior analytic clinical services have been developed and the launch of this initiative is underway. The presenters in this symposium will discuss evidence-based accreditation, including alternatives in standards and methods. Initial problems and successes with accreditation efforts will be presented and analyzed.

These studies compared relative effectiveness of procedures to improve the tact repertoire in children with autism. The first study compared the Effects of Mimetic-Tact versus Intraverbal-Tact training on the Acquisition of Sign Tacts in a Child with Autism. Similar to results obtained by Partington, Sundberg, Newhouse, & Spengler (1994), the subject acquired 14 tacts via intraverbal-tact transfer while acquiring 2 via mimetic-tact transfer demonstrating the superiority of intraverbal-tact transfer. The second study, a Comparison of Two Procedures for Teaching the Tact Repertoire in Children with Autism compared the relative effectiveness of repeated set prompting versus errorless teaching of individual items on rate of acquisition of tacts. Results revealed superior improvement in rate of acquisition in the repeated set prompting group and improved retention and application. The last study, the Effect of Tutor Modeled Successive Approximations Versus Tutor Modeled Adult Forms to Improve Topography of Tacts, extended the findings of Kasper and Godwin, 2003 and Carbone, 2005 from the echoic repertoire to the tact repertoire. Tutor-modeled successive approximations were used to improve topography of the vocal tact in a child with poor articulation. Use of tutor-modeled approximations resulted in improved articulation of tacts compared to other methods.

The purpose of this symposium is to examine the characteristics of culture within special education, analyze how these characteristics either facilitate or obstruct a movement toward evidence-based practices. We focus on special education because it has largely been ignored in the education reform efforts and, in many ways, it is a separate system from general education. Specifically, we will examine the role of formal and informal contingencies and how they relate to evidence-based practice in special education. Those contingencies operate at several levels. We propose an expanded model of an evidence-based education approach that requires both a demonstration of efficacy in controlled research conditions but also demonstrations of effectiveness once practices are taken to scale and implemented under usual conditions; a continuum of rigor that allows decision makers when the best available evidence does not meet the most rigorous standards of research. Finally, we propose a set of steps that can be taken to build an evidence-based culture within special education.

The purpose of this symposium is to review innovative methods for conducting functional analysis in the applied setting. The first paper demonstrates how to train staff teacher and families to implement functional analysis condition using performance feedback and video modeling. The second two presentations review innovative methods for conducting functional assessment and analysis. Additionally the relevance for using hypothesis driven interventions based off of the results of assessment is reviewed. All programs review present Reliability and results graphically.

Because the prevalence of autism continues to rise dramatically, school administrators struggle with the needs of children with autism and how best to provide appropriate, data-based programming in their district. This symposium will provide administrators and other district persons with practical solutions to assist in including students with autism into their district and building quality programs that fit their needs and add benefit to their staff. We will discuss the building of a district program by following several case study districts from their inception to their recognition by the state of New York as a quality school district program for students with autism spectrum disorder. Often, administrators find challenges at all levels of program creation, including finding resources, training personnel, and answering tough questions from parents and staff about including students with autism. The presenters will provide participants with answers to difficult questions and practical solutions to the challenges faced by administrators looking to create new programs. For those administrators who have existing programs in their district, this workshop will highlight issues of quality control and how to maintain programs as the district continues to grow. Handouts will include a framework for administrators to use with their district and a quality control checklist.

Joint attention and social referencing have received increased attention in developmental psychology and behavior analysis because of their relation to the development of autism. Joint attention involves the coordinated attention between a social partner and an object in the environment and has been identified as one of the earliest emerging social behaviors in typically developing children. Social referencing involves the child searching or looking for cues in the facial expressions of the caregiver to determine how to act in the context of ambiguity. Deficits in joint attention and social referencing are apparent in very young children with autism. The development of operant models for the analysis of joint attention and social referencing are seen as important to the treatment of these deficits. The purpose of this symposium is to describe several research projects in which the authors are using an operant analysis of joint attention and social referencing to develop protocols for evaluating and treating children with autism. Data that support the etiology of social referencing with 18 very young infants will be reported. The implications of these analyses will be discussed as they relate to a behavioral analysis of this very important developmental phenomenon.

This paper will describe a contingency analysis of joint attention in which the characteristic gaze shifts, gestures, vocalizations, are shaped and maintained by conditioned socially mediated reinforcers. According to this analysis, joint attention deficits in children with autism spectrum disorders may be related to failures of socially mediated consequences to function as conditioned reinforcers. Profiles of child performance will be shown using data from a concurrent choice procedure used to determine the value of social reinforcers, as well as, assessment data on joint attention initiations and responsiveness to joint attention bids. The assessments were administered to both children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders and typically developing children, aged 2 to 4 years. Interobserver agreement was high for all behavioral measures. Case examples of intervention procedures to establish joint attention initiations will be presented. Results will be discussed in the context of the posited behavioral contingency analysis of joint attention.

The role of behavior analysts working amongst inter-disciplinary teams within health care settings has varied over time. In the age of managed care the need for empirically based treatment options has amplified the utility of behavior analysis within these settings. However, due to the constraints of the philosophical underpinnings of the medical model behavior analysts have been forced to adapt. Although behavior analysts typically follow a functional approach to understanding human behavior, much success has been witnessed by integrating these two models. The current symposium examines the specific dynamics within this integrative model through an exploration of theoretical concepts, challenges involved and current case examples within both psychiatric and primary care facilities

Behavior analysis once supported a rich tradition of studying aversive control, that is, behavior change through punishment or negative reinforcement. A variety of factors have shifted our contemporary emphasis -- almost exclusively -- to the study of positive reinforcement. This status quo is most easily justified for service delivery (especially with vulnerable populations) in which we are concerned about excessive reliance on aversive control and the side effects that this can cause. I will argue, however, that our collective disregard for the study of aversive control has left us in an untenable position, both scientifically and practically. Where science is concerned, the past three decades have seen important advances in the understanding of positive reinforcement for which no parallel insights exist regarding aversive control. Moreover, scientists outside of our field have revealed robust aversive-specific phenomena that behavior analysts have largely ignored. Our silence about these effects allows them to be explained within, or even seen as evidence for, nonbehavioristic theoretical frameworks. Where practice is concerned, a lack of new behavior analytic data on aversive control may suggest that we have nothing to say on the topic. As a consequence, perhaps, policy makers and others seeking consensus on issues like corporal punishment may not consult our field for guidance. Moreover, because aversive control is ubiquitous in the everyday world, it is difficult to see how a thorough analysis of socially important behavior can proceed without a proper understanding of aversive control. For instance, emerging notions about aversive control may generate counterintuitive treatment predictions that cannot be reached by thinking about positive reinforcement alone. In summary, the world out there encompasses, and is fascinated by, aversive control, and we should be motivated to reanimate our tradition of studying it.