Generalization in Times of Crisis
Tuesday, 29 September 2020
Guest Blogger: Jaime Rus Alba, ABA Technologies CSF Student Applied Behavior Analysis is mostly implemented within controlled environments (schools, clinics, hospitals and residential settings), with a recommended 30-40 hour/week treatment plan. For services performed within a client’s home, the issue of reaching generalization in the natural environment is not so prominent, but we are
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Professional Development through Animal Research
Tuesday, 15 September 2020
By Vince Bello ABA Technologies CSF Student Behavior analysis today gets most of its mainstream recognition for the work being done in applied settings, referred to as applied behavior analysis (ABA). The progress of behavior analytic applications has been important for the dissemination of the science and even better for the clients across the world
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Rules, Contingencies, and the Battle of Britain
Tuesday, 08 September 2020
Blogger: Andy Lattal, Ph.D. The distinction between contingency governed (or “shaped”) and rule-governed behavior is an old saw for most behavior analysts. Like most dichotomies, this one doesn’t hold up under careful analysis. Behavior that is shaped by its consequences gives rise, at least with humans, to rules that can impact future actions along the lines
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As Useful as a Third Ear
Friday, 04 September 2020
Blogger: Andy Lattal, Ph.D. When I was a graduate student in clinical psychology, lo those many years ago, I was assigned Theodore Reik’s book, Listening with the Third Ear. Reik was a psychoanalyst of considerable reputation and his book was widely read by my generation and earlier generations of clinical psychology students. The message, of
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The Term DRO
Tuesday, 25 August 2020
Bad or Possibly Redeemable Label? Blogger: Andy Lattal, Ph.D. A procedure in which each target response postpones a scheduled reinforcer most often is described in both the basic and applied research and practice literature as a differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior schedule, or DRO. The term first was used by Reynolds (1961), although in a paper received two months before
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Ethical Dilemma
Thursday, 20 August 2020
Recently, Tom Freeman, MS, BCBA, LBA-NY, LBA-MA, and current senior vice-president of ABA Technologies, Inc., received a question from a colleague regarding an ethical dilemma of sorts. Following is the exchange between the two—one that, hopefully, will be helpful to others confronted with a similar issue. Question: Tom, I am facing a potential ethical issue
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Covid-19 Dreamin’
Tuesday, 18 August 2020
Blogger: Andy Lattal, Ph.D. I, like many people of my age, am gravely concerned about getting infected by the coronavirus and coming down with a devastating-to-deadly case of COVID-19. Since early March, my wife, Darnell, and I have meticulously social distanced, ordered groceries online, washed our hands to the tune of the happy birthday verse (twice),
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Praying Deer
Tuesday, 11 August 2020
Blogger: Andy Lattal, Ph.D. For the past six months I have had the pleasure of living in the beautiful city of Nara, Japan, during a sabbatical leave to conduct research at nearby Osaka Kyoiku University with my fine colleague Professor Hiroto Okouchi. Among the many beautiful sights of Nara is a 1300- acre park. And
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Are Bigger Reinforcers Better?
Tuesday, 04 August 2020
Blogger: Andy Lattal, Ph.D. When it comes to reinforcement, it is difficult to say. We can measure how “good” a reinforcer is in different ways. One measure is preference, but there may be many reasons why I prefer something that do not necessarily translate directly into how well it will maintain my behavior. The example
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Honk More—Wait More
Tuesday, 21 July 2020
Practicing Behavior Analysis on the Streets of Mumbai, India Blogger: Andy Lattal, Ph.D. The following article appeared recently in the New York Times. It describes how police in Mumbai, India, undertook an experiment to control the excessive blowing of car horns by drivers caught in what must be nightmarish traffic in that largest of Indian cities.
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