What is
Applied Behavior
Analysis?
Elisabeth (Lisa) Kinney, M.S.
September 12, 2007
Autism Research
• Lovaas, O. I. (1987) "Behavioral treatment and normal educational and
intellectual functioning in young autistic children," Journal of Consulting
and Clinical Psychology, 55, 3-9.
• Smith, T., Eikeseth, S., Klevstrand, M., & Lovaas, O.I. (1997). Intensive
behavioral treatment for preschoolers with severe mental retardation
and pervasive developmental disorder. American Journal on Mental
Retardation, 102, 238-249.
• Harris, S. L. & Weiss, M. J. (1998). Right from the Start, Behavioral
Intervention for Young Children with Autism, Bethesda, MD: Woodbine
House.
– Chapter 2
• Birnbrauer, J.S. & Leach, D.J. (1993) "The Murdoch early intervention
program after 2 years," Behaviour Change, 10, 63-74.
Autism Research
• Lovaas’ outcomes:
– 20 children per group; randomly assigned to a group
– All start at 36 months; end at 60 months
– All diagnosed with autism by outside evaluator
30 – 40 hrs.
10 hrs. aba
Special
aba (10 hrs.
education
from parents)
47%: IQ above 11%: IQ above 11%: IQ above
70
70
70
47% no autism
dx by 1st grade
?
?
54 mo.
48 mo.
42 mo.
36 mo.
30 mo.
24 mo.
18 mo.
12 mo.
6 mo.
Chronological Age
60 mo.
54 mo.
48 mo.
42 mo.
36 mo.
30 mo.
24 mo.
18 mo.
12 mo.
6 mo.
0 mo.
0 mo.
Developmental Age
60 mo.
Kind.
Chronological Age
18 yrs.
17 yrs.
16 yrs.
15 yrs.
14 yrs.
13 yrs.
12 yrs.
11 yrs.
10 yrs.
9 yrs.
8 yrs.
7 yrs.
6 yrs.
5 yrs.
Academic Grade
12th
11th
10th
9th
8th
7th
6th
5th
4th
3rd
2nd
1st
Behavior Analysis
• Lovaas’ instructional interventions came
from the experimental analysis of behavior
• 1960s saw development of the field of
applied behavior analysis:
– the science in which tactics derived from the
principles of behavior are applied
systematically to improve socially significant
behavior and experimentation is used to
identify the variables responsible for behavior
change (Cooper, Heron, Heward, 2007)
Applied Behavior Analysis
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Speech Pathology
Occupational Therapy
Special Education
Applied Behavior Analysis
–Sense of urgency – outcome bets
Applied Behavior Analysis
• Behavior Analyst Certification Board\
• 1998
– www.bacb.com
• “… a well-developed discipline among the helping
professions, with a mature body of scientific
knowledge, established standards for evidencebased practice, distinct methods of service,
recognized experience and educational
requirements for practice, and identified sources of
requisite education in universities. Although the
above regulatory definitions provide an overview of
key elements within the practice of behavior
analysis, there are additional features of applied
behavior analysis that should be clarified in order to
even briefly define the field.
What is Behavior Analysis?
• B. F. Skinner:
http://www.bfskinner.org/index.asp
Skinner Stories
• “Baby in a Box”
– October 1945, Ladies' Home Journal ran an article by Skinner about his baby
tender. The article featured a picture of Deborah in a portable (and therefore
smaller) version of the box, her hands pressed against the glass, under the
headline "Baby in a Box.“
• “. . . caged for two full years, placing within her cramped square space
bells and food trays and all manners of mean punishments and bright
rewards, and he tracked her progress on a grid. And then, when she was
thirty-one and frankly psychotic, she sued him for abuse in a genuine
court of law, lost the case, and shot herself in a bowling alley in Billings,
Montana. Boom-boom went the gun.”
–
Lauren Slater's, Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century
• Deborah Skinner Buzan refutes the “urban legend”:
– But it's not true. My father did nothing of the sort…
Admittedly, the facts of my unusual upbringing sound
dodgy: esteemed psychologist BF Skinner, who puts
rats and pigeons in experimental boxes to study their
behaviour, also puts his baby daughter in a box…
good fodder for any newspaper… a prominent
Harvard psychologist whose daughter was psychotic
and had to be institutionalised; but it wasn't my
father.
Skinner’s Children
• Dr. Julie S. Vargas
– http://www.juliesvargas.com/
– published Writing Worthwhile Behavioral
Objectives in 1973 and Behavioral
Psychology for Teachers in 1977
– coauthored, Teaching Behavior to
Infants: A Manual for Childcare Workers
and Parents with Charles C. Thomas,
1990
– wrote two 2005 entries on B. F. Skinner
in Volumes I and III of The Encyclopedia
of Behavior Modification and Cognitive
Behavior Therapy
– Retired Education Psychology professor
from UWV
• Deborah Skinner Buzan
– Successful artist living in London
Lovaas Stories
• Aversives
– http://neurodiversity.com/library_scream
s_1965.html
– The 1987 study relied heavily on the use
of aversives. Aversives - a sharp "no" or
a light slap on the thigh - were used as
part of the treatment procedure in a few
cases where children exhibited high
rates of aggression and self-stimulatory
behaviors. New methods, devised by
Lovaas and other researchers, have
replaced the use of aversives.
– Lobotomies
– Institutions
– Speech therapy for the deaf
– Haldol & thorazine
Early 1900s Psychology
• Edward L. Thorndike: behavior is affected
by its consequences :
– Cat enclosed in a box struggled to escape
– Cat eventually moved the latch which
opened the door
– When repeatedly enclosed in a box, cat
gradually ceased to do those things which
had proved ineffective ("errors") and
eventually made the successful response very
quickly
– Cat learned through trial and error
• Pavlov’s drooling dogs
Measuring Behavior
• Skinner box
• Cumulative recorder
• Origins of data
collection (evidencebased practice)
• What can you teach a
rat or a pigeon?
• Mt. Auburn Cemetery
• Slot machines
Skinner Box & Reinforcement
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In operant conditioning, behavior is also affected by its
consequences, but the process is not trial-and-error learning
A hungry rat placed in a semi-soundproof box
For several days bits of food occasionally delivered into a tray
by an automatic dispenser
Rat soon goes to the tray immediately upon hearing the sound
of the dispenser
A small horizontal section of a lever protruding from the wall
has been resting in its lowest position, but it is now raised slightly so
that when the rat touches it, it moves downward
In doing so it closes an electric circuit and operates the food
dispenser
Immediately after eating the delivered food the rat begins to
press the lever fairly rapidly
The behavior has been strengthened or reinforced by a single
consequence
The rat was not "trying" to do anything when it first touched the
lever and it did not learn from "errors."
Operant Conditioning
Respondent
Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Behavior elicited by
antecedent stimuli
Behavior selected by its
consequences
Newborn’s grasping & suckling
to touch; pupil construction to
bright light…
Promotes continuation of
species indirectly and directly
Talking, walking, playing the
piano, baking a pie, hitting a
curveball, laughing at a joke…
Individuals whose behavior is
most sensitive to
consequences are more likely
to survive and reproduce
• Cooper, Heron, Heward, 2007
Operant Conditioning
• Clicker Training exercises
Beyond Operant Conditioning
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Skinner (1938). The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis.
Skinner (1948). Walden Two.
Skinner (1953). Science and Human Behavior.
Skinner (1957). Verbal Behavior.
Ferster & Skinner (1957). Schedules of Reinforcement.
Skinner (1959, 1961, and 1972). Cumulative Record: Definitive Edition.
Holland & Skinner (1961). The Analysis of Behavior: A Program for SelfInstruction.
Skinner (1968). The Technology of Teaching.
Skinner (1969). Contingencies of Reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis.
Skinner (1971). Beyond Freedom and Dignity.
Skinner (1974). About Behaviorism.
Skinner (1976). Particulars of My Life: Part One of an Autobiography.
Skinner (1978). Reflections on Behaviorism and Society.
Skinner (1979). The Shaping of a Behaviorist: Part Two of an Autobiography.
Skinner (Edited and with an intro. by Epstein) (1980). Notebooks.
Skinner (Edited and with an intro. by Epstein) (1982). Skinner for the Classroom.
Skinner (1983). A Matter of Consequences: Part Three of an Autobiography.
Skinner & Vaughan (1983). Enjoy Old Age: A Program of Self-Management.
Skinner (1987). Upon Further Reflection.
Skinner (1989). Recent Issues in the Analysis of Behavior.
Thank you!
Elisabeth (Lisa) Kinney, M.S.
Behavior Analyst
Woodfords Preschool
6 Opportunity Lane
Waterville, ME 04901
(207)859-8778