Association for Behavior Analysis International

The conference chair will present opening remarks.

This presentation provides a review of the application of elementary principles of operant behavior (both contingency-shaped and rule-governed behavior), toward the conceptualization, design, and evaluation of social welfare policy. All social policy is intended to influence human behavior, and it does this most often through the contrived manipulation of contingencies of punishment and, sometimes, reinforcement. Policies that use contingency management are provided to support this thesis, examples illustrating the use of positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, negative punishment, shaping, and extinction. A form of within subject research designs known as time series studies are ideally suited to evaluate the outcomes of social welfare policies. Too often social welfare policies are devised on the basis of common sense, and lack a strong empirical background of successful experimental pilot testing under real life conditions. Thus, it is common for such policies to be ineffective, or to produce short or long term results that are harmful. Behavior analysts can contribute to the improvement of local communities and our larger society by contributing their expertise in altering human behavior via the design of new welfare policies, the modification of existing programs, and the critical analysis of ineffective ones.

Bruce Thyer, Ph.D. is a Distinguished Research Professor with the College of Social Work at Florida State University. A BCBA-D, he is also a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Florida and Georgia. He has devoted much of his career to promoting the adoption of behavior analysis within the field of social work. He has been a reviewer for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and a former Associate Editor with that journal. He has published widely in the ABA literature and also in the fields of social work, psychology and psychiatry.

This symposium will examine the issue of global poverty and analyze policies aimed to reduce poverty from a behavioral perspective. Presenters will offer a conceptual framework for chronic poverty and considerations in collecting and interpreting data related to public policy issues including child welfare practice. Potential actions and technological advancements will be discussed for providing adequate social services and breaking the cycle of chronic poverty to achieve a better world.

Behavior analysts have long recognized the benefits of closely following their data; however, the data we are following may be changing faster than the tools we employ to analyze it. Recently, a variety of parametric and non-parametric statistical techniques have become popular alternatives to our foundational tactics in scientific research--even when the data at hand defies the underlying critical statistical assumptions. This problem even saturates behavior analytic investigations that focus on the evaluation of complex data related to public policy issues in areas such as poverty, geriatrics, and child welfare practice. Indeed, it is not uncommon to find statistical artifacts and anomalies tainting articles within many of our most prestigious journals within the disciplines of social services, criminal justice, and urban development. To further complicate this issue, many of our current technological advances are generating nonlinear, non-independent, and non-normal outcomes. In the face of this research enigma, there exists a much more powerful and precise set of classification and prediction platforms for researchers in the behavioral sciences. Unlike conventional statistical strategies, these systems do not entail critical assumptions pertaining to linearity, homoscedasticity, statistical independence, or normality. In this paper, we explore the many ways in which several artificial intelligence systems and related neural network models are capable of accurately classifying and predicting outcomes employing data that is inconsistent with the assumptions underlying conventional statistics. We argue that these models have potential application to a broad spectrum of behavior analytic goals.

Dr. Jomella Watson-Thompson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science, and the Director of the Center for Service Learning at the University of Kansas. She is also an Associate Director with the Center for Community Health and Development. She attained a Ph.D. in Behavioral Psychology and a Masters of Urban Planning from the University of Kansas. She applies behavioral science methods and interventions to improve how communities address issues related to community health and development. Her research has focused on behavioral-community approaches to neighborhood development, substance abuse prevention, and youth and community violence prevention. Dr. Thompson supports community-engaged scholarship using participatory approaches to address social determinants or factors that may contribute to disparities, particularly for marginalized groups and communities. She has researched the effects of community-based processes and behavioral-community interventions to promote mobilization and change in communities.  Dr. Thompson has co-authored articles on community capacity-building, youth development, and prevention and received numerous federal, state and local funding awards.  She is as an Associate Editor with Behavior and Social Issues.  Dr. Thompson has extensive experience providing training, technical support and evaluation for coalitions and community-based initiatives.

Although the world has made huge efforts to overcome global poverty, 10% of the world's population still lives in extreme poverty without access to the most basic needs such as water, sanitation, health, and education. Some families experience this condition for many years facing a situation that is difficult to emerge from. Previous studies have shown that the constraints of poverty induce a focus on immediate and safe payoffs. This situation becomes a cycle that perpetuates from generation to generation. This presentation will explore ways policy can be designed to incentivize individuals in the lower socioeconomic class to change their decision-making behaviors. Based on a behavioral perspective, we will: 1) present a conceptual framework for chronic poverty, 2) discuss government policies aimed at reducing poverty, and 3) illustrate how intersectoral actions can provide adequate social services to alter the options faced by impoverished families and help address poverty and social exclusion.

Much of the applied behavior analytic literature centers on changing individual behavior in a controlled environment, yet behavior analysis research and practice has critical applications in community and population-level behavior. Its application to the field of public health, for instance, provides scientists with a technology for functional contextual analyses of behaviors related to health conditions such as HIV acquisition and substance use disorder. This talk focuses on how applied behavior analysis can further expand to address critical public health issues within marginalized and underserved communities. Special attention will be given to cultural considerations in developing, implementing, and evaluating behavior-analytic interventions in these populations.

Dr. Kaston D. Anderson-Carpenter is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Michigan State University. He also holds appointments as Core Faculty in the MSU Consortium for Multicultural Psychology Research and Affiliate Faculty in the MSU Institute for Public Policy and Social Research. He earned his Ph.D. in Behavioral Psychology from The University of Kansas and a Master of Public Health degree with honors from The University of Kansas School of Medicine. He also earned a Master of Arts degree in Experimental Psychology and Applied Behavior Analysis from McNeese State University. Additionally, is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral (BCBA-D) and Licensed Behavior Analyst in the state of Michigan.
Dr. Anderson-Carpenter’s research focuses on substance use and determinants of health in underserved and marginalized communities. Since 2010, Dr. Anderson-Carpenter has worked with local community organizations, state coalitions, and policy makers to address socially important issues affecting marginalized and underserved populations. He has worked in many areas, including substance use and HIV/STI prevention, LGBTQ+ health, and Arab American health. Dr. Anderson-Carpenter’s work has been published in a number of journals and is the 2015 recipient of the G. Alan Marlatt Award for distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions by the Society of Addiction Psychology.

Join this networking hour to learn more about the role of UncomfortableX in creating community online to support behavioristactivists around the world and network with behavior analysts actively engaged in socialjustice movements.

Join Dr. Anthony Biglan during this networking hour to discuss the issues addressed in his book Rebooting Capitalism: How We Can Forge a Society That Works for Everyone.

In 2014, David Sloan Wilson, Steve Hayes, Dennis Embry, and Anthony Biglan published a paper calling for the further development of an evolutionary science of intentional cultural change. Since then, each has worked to advance that science. Dr. Biglan has written a book on how we can accelerate the evolution of a political and economic system that works for everyone.

Over the past fifty years, the United States and many other countries have become dominated by free market ideology that encourages us to believe that if we pursue our own economic gain it will--like an invisible hand--benefit those around us. In the US, the results have included the diminution of prosocial values, the hollowing out of the middle class, higher levels of poverty, economic inequality, and greater divisiveness.

Dr. Biglan’s book provides an evolutionary analysis of capitalism over the past two hundred years, focusing particularly on the past 70 years. It then provides readers with the tools they need to participate in a worldwide movement to reform every sector of society.

Dr. Biglan shows how the major sectors of society have been corrupted by the belief that selfish pursuit is good for everyone. In each of these sectors, the critical first step is to promote prosocial values. Doing so will establish the selection criteria for the practices in that sector. For example, the healthcare system will evolve better practices if it assesses all of its policies and practices in terms of the degree to which they increase population health and wellbeing.

Join this networking hour to discuss the following topics, and others related to ABA and public health:

• What are some ways you can contribute to public health expansion through behavior analysis? What skills or supports you would like to obtain?
• What do you feel are the biggest challenges with integrating behavior analysis with public health policy and practice?
• What excites you most about integrating behavior analysis with public health, and why?

This symposium will summarize critical conceptual issues in the emerging study of culturo-behavior science. In addressing the most challenging social and cultural issues facing our world today, there is a need to discuss the underlying conceptual foundations. Presenters will provide a better understanding and a behavior-analytic framework for addressing critical conceptual issues in culturo-behavior science.

Classification is at the heart of all science and the power of highly generalized classification systems is evident in physics, chemistry and biology. Classification in the social sciences depends on the specific phenomena being studied. Each discipline has its own classification based on the specific phenomena of interest: Bands and tribes; cities and states; governments and corporations; families, gangs, and schools, and so on. All of these classes are defined in terms of the relations among the behavior of people. This commonality suggests that a unifying system of classification, that could apply to all of those phenomena, might be possible. Perhaps the nascent classifications of culturo-behavior science are a step in that direction.

Sigrid Glenn is Regents Professor Emeritus at the University of North Texas. She was the founding chair of UNT’s Department of Behavior Analysis and the founder and former director of UNT’s Behavior Analysis Online program. Her published research includes work in conceptual, experimental and applied areas; current interests are primarily conceptual and philosophical. Her work is currently focused on culturo-behavioral science, a specialty area in behavior analysis whose origins include her work. Dr. Glenn is past president of ABAI and a founding fellow of the Association. She was the 2015 recipient of the Award for Distinguished Service to Behavior Analysis. Other awards include TxABA Award for Career Contributions to Behavior Analysis in Texas; CalABA’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Behavior Analysis; the Michael Hemingway Award for Advancement of Behavior Analysis; the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies Ellen P. Reese Award in Recognition for Significant Contributions to Communication of Behavioral Concepts; and--most important to her--the ABAI 2008 Student Committee Award for Outstanding Mentorship of students.

Culturo-behavioral science is a rapidly developing field within behavior analysis. A number of indicators point to this fact. For example, Mattaini (2006) questioned whether or not cultural analysis would ever become a science, focusing particularly on the concept of the metacontingency (Glenn 1988: 1991), which had been proposed as an emergent level of selection. Thirteen years later, ABAI is publishing a book on culturo-behavioral analysis and is hosting a conference dedicated exclusively to culturo-behavioral considerations. While progress has been made, there remains much work to be done. One of Mattaini’s (2006) biggest criticisms of the metacontingency stemmed from the fact that, at that time, almost no research had been done that focused on metacontingencies. Since that time, there has been a significant increase in the amount of published research articles focusing on metacontingencies (see Zilio, 2019), but there is still a question as to the efficacy of the metacontingency, at least as a process of cultural selection (Couto & Sandaker, 2016, Krispin 2016, Zilio, 2019). Additionally, application of these ideas has remained limited, however (see Zilio, 2019) and remains a daunting challenge (see Mattaini, in press). One area that has lagged behind the conceptual development in culture-behavioral analyses is the development of standardized tools for analyzing and understanding the selective dynamics that are at work in a given situation. In an effort to begin to address this short-coming, a new framework and corresponding tool for analyzing interactions between individual contingencies, metacontingencies, and the selection contingencies that stem from the selection of an Aggregate Product by a Selecting Environment/Receiving System. This framework begins to extend the ABC analysis that is commonly used in applied behavior analysis to include aspects of rule-governed behavior (pliance rules versus tracking rules, pliance consequences versus tracking consequences), as well as compare the types of systems-dynamics feedback (positive feedback loops versus negative feedback loops) that stem from metacontingencies that compete for organizational resources. This framework and tool will be illustrated using organizational contingencies typical of a behavioral systems approach, with some attention given to its potential application in wider culturo-behavioral settings.

Jonathan Krispin is Associate Professor of Management at the Langdale College of Business at Valdosta State University;  he returned to academics in January 2013, after a 17-year career in the private sector. His research interests are primarily in the areas of organizational culture, business process improvement, organizational change, and leadership development. Since returning to academics, Jonathan has focused his writing and research efforts on joining concepts from behavior analysis with concepts from systems analysis, particularly from theory related to self-organizing systems. This has led to several publications in Behavior and Social Issues and Perspectives on Behavior Science. He has presented at numerous conferences including the numerous ABAI Annual Conventions, the ABAI International Conferences in Paris and Stockholm, and as an invited speaker at the 12th Annual European Conference on Behavior-Based Safety and Performance Management hosted by AARBA (the Italian Chapter of ABAI) in Como, Italy in 2018. He has also been a guest lecturer at Oslo Metropolitan University in 2018 and 2019.

This presentation will provide an overview of the elaborated account of metacontingency with the primary focus on ways this perspective offers points of entry to alter contextual factors influencing cultural practices. The concepts of metacontingency and macro contingency are emphasized as foundational concepts in the behavior scientific analysis of the interaction between organizational practices producing products and behaviors of their consumers. Moreover, the role of cultural milieu as a mediating factor in this interaction will be highlighted. The discussion of cultural phenomena also acknowledges the behaviors of verbally sophisticated consumers interacting with the many aggregate products of cultural entities as well as the verbal contexts within which members of organized groups operate. The presentation will also highlight the recent experimental and conceptual analyses associated with the role of context in the selection of cooperation and resilience.

Dr. Ramona A. Houmanfar is Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Behavior Analysis Program at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). She currently serves as the trustee of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies, Chair of the Organizational Behavior Management Section of Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies, and editorial board members of the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, and Behavior & Social Issues. Dr. Houmanfar recently completed her seven-year term as the editor of Journal of Organizational Behavior Management. She has served as the former senior co-chair of the Association for Behavior Analysis International, Director of the Organizational Behavior Management Network and President of the Nevada Association for Behavior Analysis. Dr. Houmanfar has published over seventy peer reviewed articles and chapters, delivered more than 100 presentations at regional, national, and international conferences in the areas of behavioral systems analysis, cultural behavior analysis, leadership in organizations, rule governance, communication networks, instructional design, and bilingual repertoire analysis and learning. Her expertise in behavioral systems analysis and cultural behavior analysis have also guided her research associated with implicit bias, cooperation, situational awareness, decision making, and value based governance. Dr. Houmanfar has published three co-edited books titled “Organizational Change” (Context Press), "Understanding Complexity in Organizations", and “Leadership & Cultural Change (Taylor & Francis Group).

The set of conditional relationships (contingencies and metacontingencies) that regulate behavioral interactions in a society characterizes its culture. These conditional relationships may encompass society as a whole or parts of society, with evolving complexity. The increasing complexity of sets of conditional relationships can be mapped by identifying and describing changes in the external environment of a specific cultural system that affects demands upon it, population size, function specialization of its members, hierarchical layers, conflicts between contingencies that affect different individuals and groups, and disparity of consequences for the individual and for the group. Following the increasing specialization of individual behavioral repertoire, specialized societal behavioral interactions can emerge. One such are control agencies, which regulate sets of conditional relationships and are specialized by type of interaction or various other performance criteria. Although experimental studies of large-scale changes in cultural practices are all but impossible, natural experiments and quasi-experimentation available methods to observe the effects of independent variables as theoretically predicted. The present paper analyzes a few cases of large-scale changes in cultural practices at a societal level, mainly involving public policies, in an attempt to identify behavioral and cultural processes that occurred and associating these with elements of cultural complexity which they affected or that were manipulated.  

Several behavioral programs are advancing the culture of behavioral science. These presenters will offer recent research across universities in the U.S. and Brazil relevant to large scale behavior change and social activism. Topics discussed will focus on how culturo-behavior scientist can use research to inform and impact public policy.

Universities should highlight the consequences of antagonistic approaches to societal challenges. These are often paralleled into ideological frontiers. Even though there are need for highly specialized competencies to solve some of the wicked problems society encounter, the ability to exploit and explore complementary solutions increases as complexity grows. On all levels, from agent interaction to policy makers, the multidisciplinary behavioral insight offers tools that more effectively and more efficiently meet intended goals and address the real needs of citizens and end-users. Government interventions are often based on deductive approach, assuming human behavior to be profoundly rational and implementing reforms at full scale. By using the growing body of behavioral insights, one might debias this process by moving away from sometimes unrealistic assumptions of rationality to discover the actual behavior of individuals through problem identification, behavior analysis, experimentation and trialing that tests multiple policy responses at a smaller scale to determine the best course of action in a cost-effective manner. This will enable our students to not only addressing societal challenges, but also ability to contributing to the solutions.

Behavior analysis is well known in Brazil as one of the main approaches to experimental psychology, and a clinical practice to intervene with neurotypical or delayed developmental audiences. Less known in the country is how behavior analysis may approach social issues and systemic interventions. Although this has been an area of intense growth in Brazil in the last two decades, most of the students in psychology don't know that behavior analysis deals with such topics. This presentation discusses some of the contingencies and metacontingencies that selected approaching social issues in Brazil, especially how Psychology Faculties and students over the years in general (Behavior Analysis in it) have been part of social movements and directly related to social sciences since the 1970s. The presentation finish with some of the strategies used to propagate this area among students in Brazil.

As a recently formalized specialization, Culturo-Behavior Science (CBS) explores how to take behavior science to scale; how to better understand the influences of social, institutional, and cultural variables on cooperative and competitive behavior; and how behavior science can contribute to solving some of the world’s most pressing problems. However, determining where to start and what strategies to use to develop expertise in an emerging specialization may prove challenging. Opportunities to be mentored, join labs, take formal courses, and conduct research in CBS are not yet widely available. Nonetheless, the Department of Behavior Analysis at the University of North Texas has been instrumental in providing such opportunities for students, faculty, and scholars (i.e., the Behavior and Culture Lab coordinated by Glenn from 2006-2012). Recently, we have rekindled such efforts with the creation of the Cultural Design and Systems Lab (Cihon, Becker, & Ortu 2018 to present) and the provision of graduate-level coursework in CBS. The goal of this presentation is to describe our recent efforts to provide opportunities for students, faculty, and scholars to pursue their interests in CBS and to make tangible suggestions for students, faculty, and scholars interested in getting started in CBS.

Dr. Traci Cihon received her master’s degree from the University of Nevada-Reno and her PhD from The Ohio State University. Currently, she is an Associate Professor in the Department of Behavior Analysis at The University of North Texas where she teaches graduate level courses in ethics and behavioral systems analysis and the undergraduate Organizational Behavior Management courses. Dr. Cihon has developed behavioral interventions for individuals with and without disabilities in home and school settings both domestically and internationally. Her scholarship focuses cultural and-behavioral systems science, verbal behavior, international and interdisciplinary work, and behavioral education. At UNT, Dr. Cihon co-leads the Cultural Design & Systems Lab, conducting research that contributes to our understanding of how cultural phenomena develop from a systems and selectionist perspective. In addition, she serves on editorial boards for several peer-reviewed journals including The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, Behavior and Social Issues, Perspectives on Behavior Science, and the American Annals of the Deaf. Her most recent projects include co-editing a special section of Perspectives on Behavior Science focused on cultural and behavioral systems science and co-editing Behavior Science Perspectives on Culture and Community, part of a new ABAI book series - both with Dr. Mark Mattaini, and serving as the editor for a special section in Behavior and Social Issues on papers developed from the 5th Think Tank on Cultural Analysis.

For many social activists and applied researchers, once a technology that can solve a social problem is found, basic science loses its importance. For them, dealing with “big issues” is more important than investing in abstract understanding or predicting natural phenomena. In fact, ideas such as social justice, human rights, and environmental changes require urgent solutions. For this reason, knowledge directly related to behavior changes on a large scale is usually viewed as more important for social change than the ones made by basic science. The first is assumed to deal with “real-world problems” while the second is viewed as something abstract and distant from social demands in a world that claims for social change. However, the knowledge that comes from basic science is probably the most fundamental source of power in modern societies and more than an initial step to technology and innovation. Technology and innovation is only one aspect of scientific development. This presentation stands that basic science in culturo-behavior science is also a “real-world problem” in the sense that it explores fundamental questions of human existence, constantly reviews our comprehensions on our basic phenomena, provides a deep understanding of why certain practices works or not and connects us with other sciences. This is what makes scientific literacy a key component for social activism: we cannot only be efficient to promote behavior and social change in large scale, we must also inform people about what behavior means, what is cultural practices, so people can independently make better decisions in their daily lives. I will try to highlight the need for a mutual relationship among basic science, applied science, programs for behavior change in large scale, and scientific literation as a mission for culture-behavior science.

To many scientists, the policy making process in Washington, DC is a black box. In this session, attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the federal decision-making process, beyond the “Schoolhouse Rock” version, from a long-time science advocate. Budget and policy decisions affect funding for science and in the past, behavioral sciences have been negatively impacted by a lack of understanding of and appreciation for the field. The Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences represents ABAI in Washington, DC. This session is an opportunity to learn more about the work of FABBS and strategies for communicating with decision makers. Scientists interested in connecting their research to policy decisions and legislation should not miss this session.

Juliane Baron is the Executive Director of the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences. In this role she supports the FABBS mission to promote human potential and well-being. FABBS furthers this goal by advancing the sciences of mind, brain, and behavior; promoting scientific research and training in these fields; educating the public about the contributions of research to the health and well-being of individuals and society; fostering communication among scientists; and recognizing scientists who have made significant contributions to building knowledge.
Previously Baron served as the Director of Government Relations at the American Educational Research Association. She leads AERA’s education and advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill and with federal agencies, and plays a strategic role with committees and coalitions that deal with research funding, research policy, and education. From 2006 to 2014, Baron served as deputy director of government and public affairs for the Population Association of America and the Association of Population Centers. Prior to that, she was deputy director of the Social Policy Action Network from 2001 to 2004 and director of the Population Resource Center from 2005 to 2007. For three years, Baron worked as a legislative staffer in the Texas House of Representatives, followed by a two-year stint as associate research scientist and project manager of Welfare, Children, & Families: A Three City Study, a multi-investigator study housed at Johns Hopkins University. Baron received her BA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and her MPA from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas.

Over the past few years, there has been an ongoing discussion and recognition of the importance of addressing cultural variables in behavior analytic service delivery. This topic directly relates to our ethical and professional behaviors not only due to its close connection with the "applied" aspect of behavior analysis but also the context-specificity nature of the work environment. In other words, what is considered culturally acceptable in one culture may not be suitable in another culture. Under the influence of such variables, conflicts with making ethical decisions may arise. Therefore, within behavior analysis, it is important to create ethical and professional guidelines with degrees of flexibility to avoid a "one-size-fits-all" framework to promote greater adherence and higher social validity among the practitioners and consumers. Combining with an ethical decision process proposed by Rosenberg and Schwartz (2018), the presenters of this poster presentation will propose a process flow on how to embedded flexibility in the ethical and professional guidelines so that it is more culturally acceptable. This suggested process will bring productive discussion and relevant action relating to establishing professional standards as more countries are exploring ways to promote a regional growth of behavior analysis in the near future.

In the urgency of COVID-19 spread, some governments have imposed strong restrains on people mobility and social contact. In Colombia, the quarantine imposed by the government has not only been strict, limiting outings to just once or twice per week according to their citizens’ ID number, but also one of the longest in the world, lasting more than five months. These restrictions have changed the way people interact with their physical and social environment. In the delayed-discounting literature, there is empirical evidence on changes on delay discounting in social settings and house living conditions. Social discounting has been proposed to describe how people value other people as rewards with at a rate of discounting. As well, research shows that exposure to natural environments results with decreased impulsive decision-making relative to build environments. The present theoretical poster explores the question of the relation between delay and social discounting during a long and strict quarantines as those implemented in Colombia, in which people have a different way of contacting both their tangible and social environment. Experimental evidence about delay and quality of social interactions will be summarized aiming to explore the possible impact these types of quarantines have had on the value of rewards both tangible and social.

In the midst of unprecedented pandemics and their multiplier effects on socio-cultural issues (e.g., group conflicts) and super-wicked problems, the social sciences are demanded to offer models to socially significant approach to leadership and cultural change. Institutional Economics, with Core Design Principles for a sustainable management of common pool resources, and Culturo-behavioral science with the elaborated account of metacontingency and macrocontingency will be presented as two dialoguing conceptual models able to provide the blueprints on which the leaders’ actions can be designed and implemented. Behavior scientific understanding of the contextual factors such as cultural milieu affecting the behaviors of individuals, above all the ones controlling human language and cognition complete the necessary toolbox for the leaders, both elected or appointed within profit and non for profit organizations. Their leading role to move cooperative groups of people toward more socially responsible results for the good of humankind and the environment at large requires conceptual models and application rooted on science.

Under the COVID-19 pandemic, should ordinary people wear masks? In Asian countries, although lessons since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic have long made small masks unbearable, people will not be going outside without wearing a mask because of the authority’s suggestion. However, for the overseas Chinese, they are a little bit "stunned" when it comes to wearing masks because European and American societies generally believe that only sick people need to wear masks. With the spread of the epidemic, this difference has become more and more prominent. Some people describe that the world has formed "two camps" because of masks. Right and wrong? This is not a word or sentence that can be ruled. The reason for this, in addition to some practical factors, is more important due to different history and culture. In Chinese culture, wearing masks reflects the health and hygiene habits that have gradually developed under the collectivist culture over the past century. For ordinary people, simple and convenient protective measures such as wearing masks have gradually become popular in the course of fighting the epidemic suggested by authorities over the years. Individuals are more likely to protect not only themselves but also other people away from the virus by wearing masks in the entire social environment. Therefore, the discussion about whether to wear a mask implies the opposition of individualism and collectivism, and their effect on human behavior.

The concepts and processes of "caring about" or "caring for" someone can be better defined, understood, developed, and made more efficient, effective, and likely to occur thru deconstructing the processes and identifying specific component behaviors (including "private behaviors" of thoughts, attitudes, preferences, values, and plans) and the accompanying required infrastructure of the antecedent state, and finally, defining the goals and seeking and discovering joys, sometimes hidden, that define the purpose and reinforce the process for all concerned. For some this means a role of significant day to day daily living assistance, and for others, a phone call or card to remind each other they are in our thoughts. As one integrates with the current system of care, roles are defined, and change. We discuss support networks, relationships, and resources.The restrictions of the pandemic can be developed into ongoing patterns of more robust future habits of caring. As with many processes in life, once it starts, the behavior momentum and natural reinforces maintain, or even enhance, the process. The presentation reviews behavioral aspects of practical ways to start, take the phase of translating the emotional commitment into the first steps of emitting the behaviors, maintaining, reassessing and revising the components of the experience, and the deliberate attention to the being mindful to see, relish, and be motivated by the joys brought to both the care "giver" and "receiver"...roles that in many cases have been reversed compared with the past, and sometimes warmly so reversed in the present...as the "giver" receives the wisdom and grace as the cared "for" person is afforded the opportunities to give. Many people have strong feelings of love, dedication, gratitude, obligation and want to help, to improve the life of an older relative or family friend, a grandparent, family, friend, neighbor, or Godparent, but the business and complexity of their own lives serves as a barrier to beginning to do so. The presentation highlights behaviors facilitate taking the warm desire to do something nice, to the stage of commitment and implementation. We detail approaches to maintaining contentedness, allowing for sense of purpose, being mindful of and respecting preferences and concerns for both care sharer and receiver, developing the system of care sharing adapted to the level of interactions and responsibilities. It can start with a commitment to call or drive once a week, and lead to greater quality of life and sense of purpose for care giver and care receiver alike.

In China, early intervention for children with autism and other developmental disabilities is provided at diverse types of educational organizations, some private, some funded in part by the government, and some in hospitals. Even for those with government support, organizations rely on tuition from families as well for their operations, and funding limitations impact the student:teacher ratio. Recently the number of organizations providing some form of short-term intervention for young children (generally through age 10) has grown, but due to a lack of training and resources, the number of hours, the intensity of instruction, and the rigorous use of evidence-based methods often tends to lag far behind accepted best practices. Given our years of working with teachers and families of children with autism in China, in this poster we present both an ethical analysis of the choices educators face and some research-based recommendations that are consistent with our ethical analysis. Specifically, given that even young children with special needs in China are generally educated in group settings due to resource limitations, it would make sense to focus on ways to provide evidence-based, ABA-based intervention in a group, whether in group discrete trial format as described in current research or in other contextually-relevant educational models that combine educational practices and structures common in China with evidence-based ABA methods. Moreover, due to the pressing need for these methods, any future ABA certification in China should include a significant component of instructional design and competency in applying ABA methods to group instruction.

Educational agencies play an important role in maintaining, transmitting, and developing behaviors and cultural practices. The main objective of graduate programs is to train researchers and highly qualified professionals to work in different fields. Brazil has 102 Psychology graduate programs, seven of these in Behavior Analysis, and six others have at least one research line anchored in this approach. The purpose of this descriptive analysis was to identify, through a literature review (in the form of articles, dissertations and theses), how graduate programs in Brazil have trained new researchers/professionals to deal with cultural phenomena from the Behavior Analytic perspective, and the advances of experimental designs since 2015 and interinstitutional production of these programs with other countries. The preliminary data indicate an increase in production in behavioral analysis of culture, especially since 2007, and a predominance of basic research over theoretical and applied ones. Most of the productivity derives from the concepts of metacontingency, macrocontingency, and related concepts. Further analysis pertaining to the development of basic experimental research as related to socially relevant subjects will be provided. Moreover, the importance of the development of research in basic, applied and theoretical levels will be discussed.

Inequities in education have become increasingly apparent in recent years. The rights of all students to be treated fairly and with respect should be paramount regardless of background or differences. The practices of social justice and cultural responsiveness need not be lofty notions or ideas. Establishing these behaviors in students start with promoting these practices with teachers. How can teachers build relationships on empathy, trust, expectation, support, and understanding with students? Behavioral principals can provide opportunities to support students compassionately and fairly. Teachers can provide positive classroom structures as an antecedent to behavior by constructing reasonable and socially valid classroom rules, establishing culturally relevant expectations, providing realistic positive and negative outcomes, minimizing academic and behavioral surprises, using restorative practices, supporting students with making behavioral choices, and emphasizing positive interactions. Teacher/Student relationships can be strengthened through these behavioral actions and teachers can model the tenets of equity for students which can be practiced in broader societal contexts through acts of responsible citizenship, respect, purpose and fairness. The proposed poster will display a theoretical framework for using behavioral classroom principles to practice and promote equity to and for students.

The science of behavior analysis can be used promote equity and acceptability of variation in culture at both the unit and systems level. Background on the history of language related to immigration and how it is used to shape human behavior, from public opinion to policy and law, will be provided. Replicating the diagrams first presented in Terrorism and Relational Frame Theory (Dixon et al., 2003), this poster will extend prior work to provide a conceptual analysis of language used in policy, journalism and conversation related to immigration, to include but not limited to: illegal, alien, undocumented, immigrant, migrant, refugee. Antecedents and consequences of such verbal behavior will be examined at a systems and unit (individual/personal) level and recommendations for experimental interventions proposed.

While the field of behavior analysis continues to grow, there is an ongoing need to expand into new domains to address wide-ranging, socially significant problems. These efforts might be aided by better understanding the process of diffusion or the spread of innovations to those who would benefit from their use (Rogers, 2003). Diffusion researchers have focused on identifying commonalities across disciplines that are predictive of successful adoption of innovations and this integrated knowledge holds potential to effectively bring a science of behavior change to the masses. Using the diffusion of rat detection technology (HeroRATs) as a case example, we will describe the critical attributes of this behavioral innovation that led to its adoption, illustrating how the diffusion framework might be used to guide those attempting to disseminate behavior analysis into novel arenas.

Mass shooting is a serious public health concern in the United States that calls for thoughtful investigation. Despite efforts to regulate firearms, strengthen public safety measures, and provide mental health screenings, this crime continues to threaten many lives. From a behavior analytic perspective, mass shooting is a learned response framed by antecedent and consequent variables within the perpetrator’s environment. In order to understand and conceptualize the act of mass shooting, behavior analysts must study these contingencies. Many disciplines have attempted to explain the reasons for mass shootings using theories grounded in biology, psychology, mental illness, history of trauma, thought driven motives, and contagion. These accounts are often consistent, but do not yield actionable solutions. Non-behavioral theories halt the problem-solving process by offering explanatory fictions that appear to be causes of behavior. Behavior analysts have yet to thoroughly explore mass shooting. However, by applying the principles of behavior, researchers can better understand the variables associated with such an extreme response class. This poster will systematically analyze traditional accounts of mass shooting, highlight strengths and weaknesses, and propose a behavioral explanation.

Welfare is highly depending on socio-cultural and environmental factors around us. Our goal is to build a model that can be used multidimensionally in the analysis of different environments in order to identify welfare promoting elements. The model has been formed against the contextual project performed first by piloting environmental analyses in public places in Turku and Joensuu (Finland). After that we applied it especially to the hospital area analysis in the mental care unit in Vaasa. The model is a combination of the Functional Analytic Clinical Case Model (Haynes & O’Brien, 2000), Sense of Coherence -model by Antonovsky (1979), the application of the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy -model and environment analysis from the piloting trials. Cultural aspects like art, nature, social networks are taken into consideration. The findings are summarized by diagrammatic models and verbal content analyses. The presentation will show results and examples of the developed model use. References -Antonovsky, A. (1979). Health, stress and coping. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. -Haynes, S.N., and W.H. O’Brien. 2000. Principles and Practice of Behavioral Assessment. New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publisher.

Augmentals, as a type of rules that alter the value of the consequences, have reinforcer establishing effect or punisher establishing effects (Hayes et al., 2002). Augmentals could be used either in establishing cultural values that are beneficial for the populace (Leigland, 2005), or in publicizing political points of view to exert control on public opinion through propaganda (Rakos, 1993). Studies have showed the effect of augmentals in changing consumer purchasing behavior, smoking behavior among youth, and patients’ behavior in health care settings. The current study conducted a content functional analysis on two presidential speeches debating whether U.S. should enter or exit the Paris Climate Agreement. The purpose of the study was to 1) analyze the use of augmentals and frames in each speech, and 2) examine their effect on public behavior. Each speech was coded. Number of reinforcer establishing augmentals and punisher establishing augmentals, as well as number of different frames within augmenals were calculated. The results showed a very different pattern in Trump’s speech from Obama’s speech in the use of these verbal tools for their different purposes on public behavior. Several implications of the study were discussed.

While turn-based matching-to-sample procedures (TBMTSs) were constructed to investigate cultural interbehavior (Kantor, 1982), they can be used to investigate metacontingent control over interlocking behavioral contingencies (IBCs). TBMTS involves trials in which (1) one individual selects a stimulus from Set A in the presence of a stimulus from Set B, (2) a second individual selects a stimulus from Set B in the presence of that selected by the first, and (3) both individuals receive the same consequence (points) simultaneously. Individuals take turns selecting first and second across trials. Given that participants are not allowed to talk or see one another and that the stimuli do not have conventional functions prior to experimentation, TBMTS is especially useful for isolating precise IBCs (discriminative stimulus control) when cultural consequences (i.e., shared points) are contingent on correspondence (the second player selecting the sample for the first) and non-correspondence (the second player not selecting the sample for the first) as aggregate products. Data from the current TBMTS study not only suggest that TBMTS may be used to examine culturo-behavioral lineages as stable responding is established but also relevant verbal processes. Results from a preliminary experiment using TBMTS are interpreted in terms of both metacontingencies and symmetry.

Research shows that social validity is a key component of effective behavior analytic treatment and that treatment fidelity is crucial to success. This study expands upon Kawari et al.’s 2017 research on caregiver preferences by conducting a between-groups analysis to determine preferences for behavioral treatments, and how these preferences aligned between BCBAs and Alaska Native and non-indigenous caregivers in Alaska. Participants completed a web-based questionnaire including four scenarios describing problem behavior and selected how they would prefer to respond. Responses were compared across groups to identify potential differences. Results showed discrepancies in treatment preference across groups. These differences could have implications for treatment fidelity in the absence of additional strategies by providers working with Alaska Native caregivers. This research lays the groundwork for community-based research centering on the needs of indigenous caregivers in Alaska who support an individual with Autism.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were alarming reports of children missing out on special educational activities due to a lack of access to those resources. We observed children unreliably accessing the remote curriculum and investigated a simple method using task analysis and virtual reinforcer to increase access to online learning opportunities. We evaluated the intervention using a concurrent multiple baseline design across three second-grade students with disabilities. The dependent variable was the number of daily assignments completed. During baseline, the teacher provided students and parents with educational activities via Google Classroom and the teacher contacted parents when a student missed educational activities. For intervention, the teacher implemented a task analysis that listed five daily assignments. Students earned preferred reinforcers contingent on completing all activities. Results showed that the intervention was effective in increasing engagement in online learning. The implications of utilizing behavioral interventions to achieve social justice outcomes are discussed.

To identify some controlling variables of work decisions in banking and quantify the strength/direction of peer pressure, two groups of UK employees - 162 from banking, 184 from non-financial industries (non-FS) – participated in a dilemma study. It involved a retail branch employee helping a small charity invest donations. In the past, s/he had been reprimanded for offering this charity a high-performing investment. This challenged instructions from the previous branch manager, that the fund was to be offered only to large investors. Under a new manager, the employee must now choose between offering the same fund (Option A) or follow the old instruction and offer another investment open to small clients (Option B). All participants made individual choices and stated their level of certainty from 0-100. The banking employees then openly discussed the case with peers and chose again (individually). Results: 75% of the banking employees chose to follow the old instruction (Option B) compared to 38% of the non-FS employees (Critical Value=47.4, p<0.001). In the peer discussion, all groups of banking employees pressured in the direction of Option B and in the second choice, 93% chose B. The difference between the groups suggests prevalence of rule-following in banking employees and peer pressure in this direction.

Hospital errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. One way to reduce errors is to increase communication between doctors, nurses, and patients. Each stakeholder brings valuable information to the discussion and can serve as a second check during medical decisions. In this study, we examined a package intervention that included task clarification, prompting, and feedback for increasing discussion among doctors, nurses, and patients during morning rounds on two units. Communication was measured using a checklist of items to be discussed during rounds. Furthermore, nurse presence and submitting orders during rounds was measured. Results indicated that the intervention was successful at improving communication.

This proposal requests an opportunity to demonstrate how to apply the Able Grounded Phenomenology (AGP) Model (Kupferstein, 2020) to autism research. To date, autism research is void of data obtained from autistics themselves, because the autistic is deemed vulnerable without consent to such exclusion. Federal laws prohibits the data collection of first-hand lived experience of many marginalized populations. TheAGPModel contains checklists and screenings to decode and adjust the researcher’s ethos, and to bridge the gap between the non-autistic researcher and the autistic participant. The AGP Model accommodates under the American with Disabilities Act effective communication with persons with vision, hearing, or speech disabilities (“communication disabilities”) who use different ways to communicate. Widespread applications of The AGP Model accommodates communication differences by integrating autistic culture within autism research. The AGP Model liberates pathology-based identity from medicalized classifications, by eliminating exploitative tasks that are incongruent with the research inquiry. The theoretical underpinnings of the AGP Model operationalizes the process for revising consent forms, survey instruments, and inclusion criterion for future research. The self-reflective practices inherent in the methodological framework is designed to evoke a thought-to-action impulse to eliminate prejudice attitudes stemming from an unconscious bias. The application of the AGP Model enacts a theoretical paradigm shift grounded in the abilities known to correlate with autism, and to bring to the forefront the innate aptitude of individuals viewed through this lens.

Human consumption of plastics has accelerated climate change and damaged the marine ecosystem, making sustainable eco-friendly behavior change of critical importance. While past research has explored how environmental knowledge is correlated with self-reported constructs of conservation behaviors, few studies have evaluated direct interventions for pro-environmental behavior change. This study assessed whether brief exposure to visual stimuli of marine wildlife in plastic-induced distress influenced future intended behaviors, self-reported environmental conscientiousness, and consumer choices. Participants (N= 89) viewed and rated the impact of a series of visual wildlife stimuli and contextual verbal stimuli followed by assessments of sustainable actions, perceived control over environmental solutions, and preferences for coupon incentives containing single-use plastic and reusable materials. Overall, participants’ environmental conscientiousness, pre-test (M=5.00, SD=.60) post-test (M=5.12, SD=.59), significantly increased following brief exposure to visual and verbal stimuli that involved distressed environments. Additionally, significantly higher empowerment ratings were observed for participants exposed to the perceived control vignette (M=5.9, SD=.69). These findings suggest that brief exposure to environmentally relevant contextual stimuli may evoke short-term effects on consumer behaviors and pro-environmental responses and may inform the development of more effective media and educational interventions that aim to encourage behaviors that support ecological sustainability and wildlife conservation.

Parent training in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) for families with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been effective in reducing problem behavior (Bearss et al., 2015), decreasing feeding issues and parental stress (Sharp, Burrell, & Jaquess, 2014), and increasing skill generalization across settings (Ingersoll & Dvortcsak, 2006). However, evidence of adaptations needed for monolingual Spanish-speaking families is limited. This study examined the feasibility and cultural adaptations of a 10-week intervention program conducted in Spanish, for parents of 6-8 year old children with ASD. Nine families participated in six group followed by four individual training sessions. Sessions covered behavioral principles and application for issues with their own children. Throughout the intervention, ABC data, parent implementation and social validity of interventions were documented. The trainings were appropriately adapted for Spanish-speakers; the majority of parents consistently attended sessions and reported changes in their use of strategies as a result of participation. Participants displayed a variety of behavioral challenges and behavior change was observed in almost all cases. It is important to consider adaptations needed for non-English speaking families with children with ASD. Further, interventions needed to be tailored to cultural expectations to increase social validity.

The consequences of youth violence are long-term, causing adverse health effects and negative impacts on life outcomes. In Kansas City, Kansas (KCK), 30% of homicides in 2016 involved youth, 93% of the victims were racial and ethnic minorities. Using the IOM Model for Collaborative Action in Communities, this study examines a community-based intervention to address youth violence in KCK. ThrYve engages 40 community partners across 13 sectors through a Systems Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB supports implementation of cross-sector, collaborative strategies addressing factors that contribute to youth violence by facilitating systems changes across socioecological levels. Over a two-year period, ThrYve supported the implementation of 87 system changes to address youth violence. As a result, the SAB facilitated 91 community action and community change activities. Implementation results demonstrate a marked increase in services and systems changes addressing factors impacting youth violence. The project provides social validity for addressing disparities in youth violence by implementing and sustaining systems-level approaches. The poster examines the process of implementing the SAB through cross-sector engagement to facilitate systems change. Factors that influenced collaboration will be explored including developing and using a strategic plan, data-informed decision-making, and building staff capacity to implement interventions.

Nowadays, Industry 4.0 in Europe and Society 5.0 in Japan are proposing the establishment of a higher and novel production system describing harmonization among "Human - Thing - Environment". However, there is no safety management system available for the novel production system. So far, though many industrial accidents caused by human behavior have happened, it has been hardly dealt with human factors in the machinery safety field. Workplace safety relies mostly on worker’s safe behaviors, either open or covered. Therefore, it is important to study human factors (such as behavior) for disaster prevention and decrease of worker’s burden regarding safety. The final goal of the present research is to develop a safety management system that can be used for the cooperative safety by fusing machinery safety and Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) using information and communication (ICT) devices. In this study, we conducted a task analysis incorporating the concepts of work area and time. We evaluated the task analysis at a transportation site of a Japanese company where workers and forklifts coexist. As the result, we found some dangerous points in the worksite.

The use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) has been associated with improved student performance, retention, and enrollment density (Fisher, et al., 2015), with disproportionate benefits seen for students from traditionally minoritized backgrounds (Colvard et al., 2018). While OERs are widely available for many fields of study, relatively few openly licensed resources are available in behavior analysis (Howard, 2019). This poster will highlight recent efforts of the Association for Behavior Analysis International's Open Educational Resources special interest group to evaluate and develop OERs, including the (1) The Behavior Analysis Matrix Project, curating and aligning limited available OER resources with course competencies, (2) the Task List Glossary Project, a project to crowd-source student generated examples of the professional principles across disciplines, cultural contexts, and learning histories, and (3) The Open Behavior Artifacts Project, a project designed to support students as content creators in creating mixed format resources to describe and expand examples and reflect diverse student voices. Special attention will be provided to projects that feature students as content creators (e.g., Nava et al., 2019). Future needs and directions to promote member involvement will be highlighted.

Inspired by Keller’s Personalized System of Instruction (PSI), the Self-Paced System of Instruction was adopted at the University of Nevada, Reno in 1994. This behavioral system of instruction was developed as a variation of PSI to meet the learning demands of the modern college system, while providing the advance undergraduate students and doctoral graduate students the opportunity to acquire knowledge of the content and the associated instructional skills. The ongoing enhancement strategies within SPIN are driven by the data and consumer feedback. Since 1999, more than 22 thousand freshmen, and six hundred undergraduate teaching assistants have been trained. SPIN has provided experiential training in the area of college teaching to more than 80 doctoral students. Moreover, several graduate research projects have guided the enhancement of SPIN system of instructional. By drawing upon representative data related to the impact of instructional variables on academic performance, and other outcome measures, this presentation will provide an overview of SPIN as a sustained behavioral system.

Nowadays, Industry 4.0 in Europe and Society 5.0 in Japan are proposing the establishment of a higher and novel production system. In field of machinery safety, safety principles like "stop and isolation" have shifted to "collaborative safety among workers, things (machines), and environment" under the novel production system. Risk assessment (RA) is a central component of safety management. As workers and machines are working in the same place at the same time in the new production system, risks are constantly changing. The existing practice of risk assessments, conducted before work as a qualitative evaluation, cannot accurately evaluate risk. Safety in the current manufacturing system relied mostly on worker’s attentiveness. This consisted a heavy burden for the workers. We propose a new concept of safety management system named Dynamic Risk Assessment (DRA). DRA constantly monitors workers and machines using information and communication (ICT) devices instead of relying on the attentiveness of the worker. It accurately and quantitatively evaluates the risk. DRA relies on procedures from Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) as useful tools to accurately estimate human behavior. In the present study, we introduce the concept of DRA fused with BBS.

Cultural humility is a relatively new area of medical education, with its origins beginning in the early 2000’s, as a response to the Institute of Medicine’s (2001) landmark report highlighting prevalent disparities in healthcare outcomes for communities of color. For example, within the specialty of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Black and Latinx patients are 3-4 times more likely to die during childbirth than White patients (Howell & Zeitlin, 2017). These patients are also less likely to be prescribed medication for postpartum pain management (Badreldin, 2019). The literature in medical science suggest that biased care is intersectional and the following are some of the most common cultural variables contributing to inequitable care: race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, weight, sexual orientation/identity, and history with substance use (Smedley, et al., 2002). However, it is important to consider the behavioral systemic factors that contribute to the emergence of biased clinical decision-making and how those factors influence responding at the behavioral (i.e., psychological) level of analysis. This poster will provide a behavioral systems framework for understanding the conditions under which biased clinical decision-making occurs within the United States healthcare system. Behavioral systemic and psychological remediation strategies will also be discussed.

TheBehavior Analysis perspectiveof cultural phenomena considers interlocking behavioral contingencies and the study of social behavior pointed by Skinner(1953). By thelate 1980s,SigridGlenn presented the concept ofmetacontingency. Since then, behavior analystshave been highlighting the importance of interfaces withanthropology, sociology,historyand economicsin investigations of complex cultural phenomena. Contributions of ThinkTank- CulturalStudies (TTCS)might be assessed through scientific productions as already analyzed byBehaviorandSocialIssues, as well as regarding the training of new researchers in postgraduate programs.This training was strengthened by VerifiedCourseSequenceCulturo-BehaviorScience of theAssociationforBehaviorAnalysisInternational(VCS CBS ABAI, 2020).The aimof this study is toshow the history of TTCS six editions between 2005 and 2019 with highlights to its members andsome resulting products.From TTCS1 and TTCS2, the number of postgraduate programs in Brazil has increasedevery decadedeveloping new generations of researchers inculturo-behaviorscience.This complex systemmay increasingly contribute to basic and applied research and to the implementation of behavioral technology in phenomena such as sustainability, immigration, poverty, social conflicts, pandemics and disasters caused by natural agents.