Five Misconceptions of Behavior Analysis 1) It ignores consciousness, feelings, and states of mind. 2) It neglects innate endowment and argues all

Transcription

1 Five Misconceptions of Behavior Analysis 1) It ignores consciousness, feelings, and states of mind. 2) It neglects innate endowment and argues all behavior is acquired in the lifetime of the individual 3) It regards abstract ideas such as morality or justice as fictions. 4) ABA (applied behavior analysis) is synonymous with discrete trial training. 5) ABA is treatment only for autism spectrum disorders. What is Behavior Analysis? A comprehensive approach to the study of the behavior of organisms Interested in the full range of behaviors Including: verbal behavior, private events, etc. Focus is on environment behavior interactions Does not focus on internal causation It is a science Uses the scientific method to predict and control Reliance on single subject (or within subject) methodologies Some Basic Definitions Response: a single instance of behavior Behavior: everything that an organism (human & non human) does; a collection of responses Learning: acquisition, maintenance, and change of an organism's behavior as the result of a lifetime of events Principle of Reinforcement: provides a scientific account of how organisms learn complex behaviors Or repertoires In the Science of Behavior there are Two Types of Conditioning Respondent Ivan Pavlov Reflexive (automatic) Two term contingency Behavior is occasioned by an antecedent Elicited Operant B.F. Skinner Operant (or learned) Three term contingency Behavior is maintained by its consequence Evoked Operant Conditioning (Behavior Analysis) Two Distinct Branches Experimental Analysis of Behavior Typically laboratory studies Focus on animal research Focus on process and systems

2 Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior Applied Behavior Analysis Experiments conducted in natural environment Typically human participants Focus on practical problems Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis EAB & ABA Not so different Both are interested in: Observable and measurable behavior Controlling relationship between the environment and the behavior Includes occasioning and maintaining stimuli Prediction, manipulation, and control of behavior ABA is an extension of EAB Selection by Consequences One of the basic assumptions of Behavior Analysis Applies at three levels: 1) Selection in the evolution of the species Natural Selection Phylogenetic 2) Selection in the evolution of the organism Selection by consequences (learning) Ontogenetic 3) Selection in the evolution of a culture/community ** All three occur for the survival of the species/organism Learning Is an operant process We are born with the capacity for learning Learning occurs due to a history of reinforcement From the interaction between the behavior and the environment Conditions that are arranged by the culture/community Requires behavioral flexibility Constant evolution or selection Behavior Analysis: Basic Assumptions Emphasis on the external environment Agree that people think, but thoughts are not the focus An individual s behavior is not a symptom of their thoughts Behavior is not caused by feelings/thoughts; they are occasioned and maintained by the environment In fact, so are thoughts What we study: action Dead Man s Test Why not study thoughts/feelings?

3 Circular reasoning (explanatory fictions) Unreliable (say vs. do correspondence) Can not be operationalized or measured These too are shaped by the environment Private events occur, they are of interest, but they are not the explanation A Brief History of Behavior Analysis A Few Important Dates in Behavior Analysis 1938, publication of Behavior of Organisms 1946, first Conference of Behavior Analysis 1958, first publication of Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB) 1957, publication of Verbal Behavior 1964, division of Behavior Analysis included at APA 1968, first publication of Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) 1968, Bear, Wolf, and Risley published Current Dimensions in Applied Behavior Analysis 1970 s, first meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis 1982, Iwata publishes Toward a Functional Analysis of Self Injury 1987, Young Autism Project (Lovaas) published The Fathers of the Science of Behavior Analysis Ivan Pavlov ( ) University of St. Petersburg (Germany) Father of respondent conditioning Trained as a Physiologist Won Nobel Prize for work on digestion in 1904 (the year Skinner was born) Principles of the conditioned reflex Spontaneous recovery, discrimination, generalization, and extinction John B. Watson ( ) Directed attention to environment behavior interactions in America Argued there was no need for appeal to private events or mental constructs Pointed out unreliability of inference Little Albert (who turned out just fine) Elected President of APA in 1915 Edward Thorndike ( ) Father of Educational Psychology Concerned with how success and failure shape behavior Trial and error learning Law of Effect Which evolved into principle of reinforcement Columbia University B.F. Skinner ( ) Hamilton College 1926 with a degree in English Earned Ph.D. from Harvard in 1931

4 Began writing about the behavior of organisms in 1930 s, continued until his death Invented the operant conditioning chamber 1990 awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from APA Taught at Indiana University and Harvard B.F. Skinner Fiction Skinner originally studied writing and on all accounts, had an average childhood Skinner focused primarily on reinforcement, and wrote a 500+ page book on schedules of reinforcement Skinner believed reinforcement could be used to increase a behaviors occurrence Skinner never replied to Chomsky s attack on his analysis of verbal behavior Skinner acknowledged that organisms inherit the capacity to learn; however operant learning comes from the environment behavior interactions Skinner designed an air crib, which is a humidity and temperature controlled crib Fact As a boy Skinner did experiments on animals Skinner focused on the use of punishment during his experimental work Skinner believed all behavior could be conditioned Skinner was involved in a war with linguistics, namely Chomsky Skinner discounted genetic and physiological roles Skinner raised his children in a Skinner Box Books by B.F. Skinner The Behavior of Organisms (1938) Particulars of My Life (1976) Walden Two (1948) Reflections on Behaviorism and Society (1978) Science and Human Behavior (1953) The Shaping Behaviorist (1979) Schedules of Reinforcement (1957) Notebooks (1980) Verbal Behavior (1957) Skinner for the Classroom (1982) The Analysis of Behavior (1961) Enjoy Old Age (1983) The Technology of Teaching (1968) A Matter of Consequence (1983) Contingencies of Reinforcement Upon Further Reflection (1987) Beyond Freedom & Dignity (1971) Recent Issues in the Analysis of Behavior (1989) About Behaviorism (1974) Cumulative Record (1999) Some Others Mark Sundberg Verbal Behavior Therapy Analysis of Verbal Behavior Jack Michael Establishing Operations Analysis of Verbal Behavior A few more

5 Ivar Lovaas Early Autism Treatment Discrete Trial Instruction Julie Vargas Extensions into Educational Theory and Application (Skinner s daughter) Temple s Own Phil Hineline Graduate of Harvard University Served as editor for JEAB Experimental Analysis of Behavior Escape & Avoidance Philosophical and Theoretical writings