Association for Behavior Analysis International

Things I Have Learned About Service (So Far): Behavior analysis, along with other scientific fields, relies on the contributions of volunteers to carry out a range of essential functions, for example, as elected officers of organizations such as ABAI, as editors and reviewers for our journals, on study sections of granting agencies such as NIH and NSF, and as coordinators and members of boards and committees. Volunteers decide the direction of our organizations; the work we deem as scientifically or clinically meritorious and therefore worthy of publication, financial support, or awards; the characteristics that define excellent training programs; and which programs merit the recognition of accreditation. Over the last 40 years, I have had the opportunity to serve in some of these capacities. In this brief talk, I will share the most important lessons I’ve learned along the way.

Tokens of Gratitude: Science is a social enterprise, and this is nowhere more evident than in collaborative research we undertake with students, mentors, and colleagues. In this presentation, I will briefly describe a program of research on token reinforcement, highlighting along the way the many contributions of my collaborators. This line of work began with an attempt to better understand human-nonhuman differences in self-control, where token-based methods have been used to narrow the procedural disparities that have plagued past species comparisons. The research then moved into an analysis of token reinforcement in its own right, including the translational application of token economic principles to applied problems. Whether in one these main lines of research, or in the various offshoots that have sprung up along the way, the research has been truly collaborative in nature. I have been fortunate to work with some great students and colleagues, who deserve much credit for any lasting significance of this work, and with whom I genuinely share this award.

Behavior Analysis in Brazil began with Fred Keller’s visit to the University of São Paulo in 1961, which led to the formation of the first generation of behavior analysts in the country. This early group of researchers trained others who went on to become professors at various universities and multiplied the number of behavior analysts, scientific output, and services to the community. This progress of Brazilian Behavior Analysis continued steadily, with one significant milestone being the formation of the ECCE group (an acronym for Studies on Behavior, Cognition, and Teaching). This network of researchers from several Brazilian universities has fostered strong international collaboration and is dedicated to basic and applied research on verbal behavior and derived relations. The ECCE group evolved into the National Institute for Science and Technology on Behavior, Cognition and Teaching, active since 2008. Over the past eight years, researchers from the Institute have published around 500 articles in peer-reviewed journals and trained nearly 100 new Ph.D.s. The work of the ECCE group, along with the contributions of many other behavior analysts in Brazil, represents a highly successful case of international diffusion of Behavior Analysis, resulting from more than 60 years of collective effort by Brazilian behavior analysts since Fred Keller’s visit laid the foundation for this progress.

Starting Small: A Brief Introduction to Loopy Training and Microshaping: Alexandra Kurland is best known for the instrumental role she has played in bringing clicker training into the horse world. Beginning in 2018 she has hosted Equiosity, a weekly podcast about “all things equine with a special emphasis on the horse-human bond.” The podcast has featured many lengthy conversations with behavior analysts. Collaborating with behavior analysts has led to innovative teaching strategies that increase the effectiveness of positive reinforcement training. Central to these strategies is loopy training, a teaching strategy that minimizes errors, increases rates of reinforcement and produces robust, reliable behavior. This presentation defines loopy training and the related microshaping. It provides an example of the type of change that becomes possible when loopy training is used. When behavior analysts and animal trainers learn each other’s language and collaborate together, both communities benefit.

In 1998, Dr. Emilio Ribes-Iñesta was honored with a prestigious Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis (SABA) award. This recognition reverberates in the field of behavioral analysis to this day. His unwavering dedication as a scholar, researcher, educator, and promoter of Experimental Analysis of Behavior has left a profound and far-reaching impact on the discipline. His foundational research and nurturing of new researchers at the Center for Behavioral Studies and Research (CEIC) at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest public university, have set an enduring standard for future generations, inspiring all of us with the potential for excellence in our academic pursuits.

• Parametric analysis of the temporal control of behavior.
• Dispositional analysis of behavior.
• Development of interdisciplinary research.
• Evaluation of interactive styles.

Computational approaches continue to grow in power and widespread use, providing incredible opportunities and posing new challenges for the field of behavior science. A century ago humans resorted to pen-and paper calculations to tabulate basic statistical summaries. Today, our students routinely use modern software to easily fit sophisticated data models that were mostly beyond the reach of the experts from several decades ago. Simulation-based approaches promise to augment empirical data collection, potentially rendering new insights. Going forward, the proliferation of generative artificial intelligence models has unclear implications for the future of scientific writing in our field. At each level of technological development, we expect a learning curve, growing pains, missteps, progress, and hopefully a breakthrough or two. The purpose of this tutorial is to review the increasing role statistical and computational approaches have played in our field with an eye towards the future. This tutorial precedes a panel discussion whose goal is to have a community-wide dialog on best practices surrounding some of the following questions. What role does computer-simulated data play in the analysis of behavioral data? What is the proper balance between visual analysis and statistical analysis in behavior science? What is the current interface between AI and research ethics and what threats to data integrity, scientific practice, etc. might loom on the horizon?

Behavior scientists

Science is often described in terms of scientific methods. Outside our discipline these often emphasize group designs and statistics, even in fields the practice of which involves working with individuals. But our methods vary vastly depending on the questions we’re trying to answer. I’ll use case histories from the research with which I’m most familiar (i.e., my own) to illustrate the potential range of our scientific experiences: from identifying functional variables to determining whether a phenomenon even exists and, if so, exploring its properties; from parametric studies to experimental analogues of human phenomena; from simply seeing what happens given some procedure to creating simulations; from demonstrations to thought experiments; from exploring parallels across phenomena spanning different disciplines to conducting replications in class or in student labs; and, perhaps most important, defining our units and organizing our taxonomies of behavioral processes. We can hardly expect to produce an exhaustive list, but a healthy science needs a range of variations upon which selection can operate.

I hope for a broad audience of those with interests in the experimental and quantitative and applied analysis of behavior and its history and theories, but practitioners are also welcome.

Our scientific community has an ethical imperative to broaden participation in behavior analysis research. Analyzing demographic information can provide an empirical foundation for understanding and promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion. Historically, behavior analysts have focused on easily identifiable characteristics such as gender and geographic location (inferred from institutional affiliation), relying on self/caregiver-reports or assignment by inference from human observers. These approaches have produced valuable insights into who participates in behavior analysis, but they can be prone to observer and selection biases. Recently, researchers in fields like neuroscience have begun using application programming interfaces (APIs) to estimate gender and race proportions by comparing names to public datasets. While probabilistic methods have limitations, they offer a consistent and scalable way to measure diversity. This presentation will address key ethical considerations when collecting and reporting data related to the participation of people from historically marginalized and underrepresented groups. We will evaluate various methods used by behavior analysts to assess participation, highlighting their strengths and limitations. We will cover ethical considerations associated with reporting identity-based information and explore trends in representation of women to illustrate changes in the field over time. We aim to provide insights into progress and persistent gaps, setting the stage for a discussion on alternative approaches to measuring diversity. By the end of the presentation, attendees will be able to explain why they report information about identity characteristics and employ inclusive data collection practices that align with their goals.

Behavior analysis practitioners, researchers, students

Liz Kyonka is an Associate Professor of Psychology at California State University, East Bay, the most diverse campus in the CSU system. East Bay’s commitment to diversity has earned numerous accolades, including the HEED Award for excellence in inclusion and the 2024 Seal of Excelencia for serving Latine/x and other student communities. Dr. Kyonka’s experience working with such a vibrant student body has shaped her metacritical approach to behavior analysis, emphasizing social justice and the study of structural barriers that limit participation in the scientific community. As a dedicated advocate for inclusion, she strives to create learning and research environments that promote access and equity.

Dr. Kyonka’s research employs human operant approaches and quantitative modeling to investigate timing, probabilistic choice, and strategy learning, as well as functional relations involved in internet use and problem technology use, with a focus on advancing health equity. She has served as Associate Editor for several leading behavior analysis journals, including The Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior and The Psychological Record. Additionally, she has been an active contributor to the Association for Behavior Analysis International, serving as Program Coordinator for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior program area and as a member of the Science Board. She has also been involved with the Society for the Quantitative Analyses of Behavior since 2004, serving as Secretary from 2010 to 2014.

For more information, visit her laboratory’s website at qablab.com.

This competition is designed to encourage, promote, and reward behavior analytic scholarship on topics and issues in DEI, both in the field of behavior analysis and more broadly. Students (graduate or undergraduate) and post-graduate professionals who have completed empirical or conceptual papers relevant to DEI that are informed, at least in part, by a behavior-analytic perspective were invited to submit.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

Zeinab is a PhD student in behavior analysis at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Munroe-Meyer Institute under the advisement of Dr. Catalina Rey. Her research focuses on skill acquisition, cultural responsiveness, and translational research on relapse. She aims to contribute to the development of effective interventions to improve learning outcomes and enhance culturally responsive practices in behavior analysis to better serve individuals from diverse backgrounds.

A Ph.D. student that is interested in experimental psychology and behavior analysis of cognition. During my undergraduate degree, I studied phenomena related to transitivity, function transfer, and generalization of stimuli. During my master's degree, the Subliminal Conditioning and the mediation of appetitive motivation. Currently, I am investigating the experimental analysis of racial prejudice.

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Board of ABAI is hosting a social that is open to all convention registrants. The social will provide an opportunity for the DEI Board to connect with those interested in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion as an association and more broadly in the field. The social will open with a short discussion of the efforts and goals of the ABAI DEI Board, with the majority of the event open for dialogue regarding challenges and aspirations for advancing DEI. At the social, there will be plenty of time and space reserved to make connections with other convention attendees and ABAI members interested in diversity, equity, and inclusion.