Abstract
The centuries-old debate over U.S. immigration policy reflects polarizing beliefs about the extent to which the United States is, and should remain, a White, European, and Christian nation. Those embracing this belief have argued, often by misusing science, that restricting immigration of “undesirables” is essential to preserving the nation’s character; they prevailed regularly over the years as numerous laws were enacted to limit immigration. In actuality, however, immigration, a natural subset of migration, is beneficial in numerous ways to both the host country and the immigrant and is increasing as people move in response to large-scale environmental changes. Current U.S. immigration policy is still framed to restrict rather than encourage immigration. The assumption of power by the Biden administration may open new opportunities for the United States to increase immigration. We propose that culturo-behavior science, unlike racist and culturist science of the past and present, offers a sound mechanism to increase immigration by establishing a new pathway to admission—one based on fostering mutually reinforcing transactional relationships between immigrants and the U.S. host communities. This pathway will require a great deal of research, so we call on culturo-behavior scientists, largely absent from the immigration debate for nearly 100 years, to take up the challenge to apply science in an egalitarian, nonrestrictive, and socially just manner.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
Not applicable.
Code Availability
Not applicable.
Notes
This article does not address the issues confronting refugees and asylum seekers, whose reasons for moving typically are different from those seeking more hospitable lands, though from the motivational perspective, “the distinction between refugee and nonrefugee migration is continuous rather than categorical” (cf. Echterhoff et al., 2020, p. 857).
From an immigration policy perspective, this paradigm shift from filtering out “undesirable people” to restricting “undesirable practices” allowed Donald Trump to insist “I’m not a racist” and “I’m the least racist person ” (Scott, 2018) while debasing people identified and labeled within a cultural group (e.g., Mexicans (Sakuma, 2016), people from “shithole countries” (Dawsey, 2018)) and wishing they were more like others who currently are not immigrating in great numbers (e.g., Norwegians; Dawsey, 2018)).
According to Echterhoff et al. (2020), “Integration is understood as an interactively achieved, multi-level process aimed at a desirable outcome [that results in] increasing the participation and inclusion of groups or people who are initially distant and excluded from a dominant society” (p. 857).
This approach is sharply distinguished from exploitative programs, such as the Bracero Program, which operated from 1942 to 1964 to bring in low-wage, temporary Mexican labor to work in 25 states, primarily in agriculture and railroad maintenance (Bracero History Archive, 2021).
A truism in behavior science is that “the organism is always behaving as it should” even if not as someone (including ourselves) would like; therefore, “misbehavior” exists only as a socially constructed category that defines the behavior as unwanted in some way.
For example, a diagnosis of major depressive disorder requires the presence of five of nine empirically supported criteria: depressed mood, loss of interest/pleasure, weight loss, insomnia/hypersomnia, psychomotor agitation/retardation, fatigue, worthlessness, cognitive disruption, and self-harm ideation—with either depressed mood or loss of interest/pleasure as one of the five.
We contend that the CBS pathway can accept as many immigrants as there are resources to support their integration needs, including resources to help host country residents adjust to changing social and cultural milieus. We also believe that these resources can be derived from the return to the economy provided by immigrants.
Again, we stress that these resources should be conceptualized broadly to include not only the support and training directly needed by the immigrants to integrate into the host community but also the interventions needed to help citizens adapt to the immigrants’ impacting their milieu.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).
Bailey, J., & Burch, M. (2006). How to think like a behavior analyst: Understanding the science that can change your life. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Bakan, D. (1966). Behaviorism and American urbanization. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 2(1), 5–28. https://doi.org/10.1002/1520-6696(196601)2:1<5::AID-JHBS2300020103>3.0.CO;2-8.
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Prentice Hall.
Bandura, A. (2012). On the functional properties of perceived self-efficacy revisited. Journal of Management, 38(1), 9–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206311410606.
Baum, W. M. (2017). Understanding behaviorism: Science, behavior, and culture (3rd ed.). Wiley Blackwell.
Baumeister, R. F. (2008). Free will in scientific psychology. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(1), 14–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6916.2008.00057.x.
Baumeister, R. F., & Brewer, L. E. (2012). Believing versus disbelieving in free will: Correlates and consequences. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6(10), 736–745. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2012.00458.x.
Baumeister, R. F., Crescioni, A. W., & Alquist, J. L. (2011). Free will as advanced action control for human social life and culture. Neuroethics, 4(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12152-010-9058-4.
Baumeister, R. F., Masicampo, E. J., & DeWall, C. N. (2009). Prosocial benefits of feeling free: Disbelief in free will increases aggression and reduces helpfulness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35(2), 260–268. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208327217.
Bergman, M., & Keitel, M. A. (2020). At the heart of meaning-making: An acceptance and commitment approach to developing adaptive meaning following acute cardiac events. In E. M. Altmaier (Ed.), Navigating life transitions for meaning (pp. 145–164). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818849-1.00009-6.
Blau, F. D., & Mackie, C. (2017). The economic and fiscal consequences of immigration. National Academies Press. 10.17226/23550
Bokat-Lindell, S. (2021). Can Biden finally fix America’s broken immigration system? The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/3c3Qvwm
Bracero History Archive. (2021). http://braceroarchive.org/
Brunkow, F., & Dittrich, A. (2021). Cultural survival in B. F. Skinner: Possibilities for conceptual refinement. Behavior and Social Issues. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-020-00044-w
Burgess, C., & Batchelder, A. (2020). Improving clinical research to inform advocacy initiatives with underserved individuals. The Behavior Therapist, 43(7), 235–241. https://services.abct.org/i4a/doclibrary/index.cfm?category_id=23.
Christ, O., Schmid, K., Lolliot, S., Swart, H., Stolle, D., Tausch, N., Al Ramiah, A., Wagner, U., Vertovec, S., & Hawthorne, M. (2014). Contextual effect of positive intergroup contact on outsider prejudice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(11), 3996–4000. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1320901111.
Clark, C. J., Baumeister, R. F., & Ditto, P. H. (2017). Making punishment palatable: Belief in free will alleviates punitive distress. Consciousness and Cognition, 51(May), 193–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2017.03.010.
Cobb, C. L., Branscombe, N. R., Meca, A., Schwartz, S. J., Xie, D., Zea, M. C., Molina, L. E., & Martinez Jr., C. R. (2019). Toward a positive psychology of immigrants. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14(4), 619–632. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691619825848.
Collins, S. E., Clifasefi, S. L., Stanton, J., The Leap Advisory Board, Straits, K. J. E., Gil-Kashiwabara, E., Rodriguez Espinosa, P., Nicasio, A. V., Andrasik, M. P., Hawes, S. M., Miller, K. A., Nelson, L. A., Orfaly, V. E., Duran, B. M., & Wallerstein, N. (2018). Community-based participatory research (CBPR): Toward equitable involvement of community in psychology research. American Psychologist, 73(7), 884–898. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000167.
Cortes, P., & Tessada, J. (2011). Low-skilled immigration and the labor supply of highly skilled women. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 3(3), 88–123. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.3.3.88.
Daks, S., & Rogge, R. D. (2020). Examining the correlates of psychological flexibility in romantic relationship and family dynamics: A meta-analysis. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 18(October), 214–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2020.09.010.
Daniels, R. (2004). Guarding the golden door: American immigration policy and immigrants since 1882. Hill and Wang.
da Rocha, C. A. A., & Hunziker, M. H. L. (2020). A behavior-analytic view on nudges: Individual, technique, and ethics. Behavior and Social Issues, 29, 138–161. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-020-00037-9.
Dawsey, J. (2018). Trump derides protections for immigrants from "shithole countries. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-attacks-protections-for-immigrants-from-shithole-countries-in-ovaloffice-meeting/2018/01/11/bfc0725c-f711-11e7-91af-31ac729add94_story.html.
Doorley, J. D., Goodman, F. R., Kelso, K. C., & Kashdan, T. B. (2020). Psychological flexibility: What we know, what we do not know, and what we think we know. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 14(12), e12566. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12566.
Echterhoff, G., Hellmann, J. H., Back, M. D., Kartner, J., Morina, N., & Hertel, G. (2020). Psychological antecedents to refugee integration (PARI). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(4), 856–879. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691619898838.
Feldman, G., Farh, J.-L., & Wong, K. F. E. (2018). Agency beliefs over time and across cultures: Free will beliefs predict higher job satisfaction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44(3), 304–317. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167217739261.
Fonseca, S., Trindade, I. A., Mendes, A. L., & Ferreira, C. (2020). The buffer role of psychological flexibility against the impact of major life events on depression symptoms. Clinical Psychologist, 24(1), 82–90. https://doi.org/10.1111/cp.12194.
Gier, N. F., & Kjellberg, P. (2004). Buddhism and freedom of the will: Pali and Mahayanist responses. In J. K. Campbell, M. O’Rourke, & D. Shier (Eds.), Freedom and determinism (pp. 277–304). MIT Press.
Gjelten, T. (2015a). A nation of nations: A great American immigration story. Simon & Schuster.
Gjelten, T. (2015b). In 1965, a conservative tried to keep America White. His plan backfired. National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/2015/10/03/445339838/the-unintended-consequences-of-the-1965-immigration-act
Gloster, A. T., Meyer, A. H., & Lieb, R. (2017). Psychological flexibility as a malleable public health target: Evidence from a representative sample. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 6(2), 166–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2017.02.003.
Graham, J., & Smith, R. (2020). Chapter 6: The community visa: A local solution to America’s immigration deadlock. Cato Institute. https://www.cato.org/publications/publications/chapter-6-community-visa-local-solution-americas-immigration-deadlock
Hanley, G. P., Iwata, B. A., & McCord, B. E. (2003). Functional analysis of problem behavior: A review. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 36(2), 147–185. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.2003.36-147.
Harari, Y. N. (2018). 21 lessons for the 21st century. Spiegel & Grau.
Hayes, S. C., Barnes-Holmes, D., & Wilson, K. G. (2012). Contextual behavioral science: Creating a science more adequate to the challenge of the human condition. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 1(1–2), 1–16.
Hayes, S. C., Levin, M. E., Plumb-Vilardaga, J., Villatte, J. L., & Pistorello, J. (2013). Acceptance and commitment therapy and contextual behavioral science: Examining the progress of a distinctive model of behavioral and cognitive therapy. Behavior Therapy, 44(2), 180–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2009.08.002.
History.com Editors. (2019). U.S. immigration since 1965. History. https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/us-immigration-since-1965
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, 8 U.S.C. ch. 12 (§§ 1101, 1151–1157, 1181–1182, 1201, 1254–1255, 1259, 1322, 1351), June 30, 1968. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-79/pdf/STATUTE-79-Pg911.pdf.
Immigration Act of 1924, Pub.L. 68–139, 43 Stat. 153, Pub.L. 89–236, 79 Stat. 911 May 26, 1924. https://govtrackus.s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/43/STATUTE-43-Pg153a.pdf.
Iwata, B. A., & Dozier, C. L. (2008). Clinical application of functional analysis methodology. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 1(1), 3–9. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03391714.
Kamin, L. J. (1974). The science and politics of I.Q. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Kanfer, F. H., & Saslow, G. (1969). Behavioral diagnosis. In C. M. Franks (Ed.), Behavior therapy: Appraisal and status (pp. 417–444). McGraw-Hill.
Kashdan, T. B., & Rottenberg, J. (2010). Psychological flexibility as a fundamental aspect of health. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(7), 865–878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.001.
Kennett, D. J., O’Hagan, F. T., & Cezer, D. (2008). Learned resourcefulness and the long-term benefits of a chronic pain management program. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 2(4), 317–339. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689808319732.
Kennett, D. J., Quinn-Nilas, C., & Carty, T. (2020). The indirect effects of academic stress on student outcomes through resourcefulness and perceived control of stress. Studies in Higher Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2020.1723532
Kevles, D. J. (1985). In the name of eugenics: Genetics and the uses of human heredity. Knopf.
Klassen, R. M. (2004). Optimism and realism: A review of self-efficacy from a cross-cultural perspective. International Journal of Psychology, 39(3), 205–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207590344000330.
Kulik, L. (2020). The centrality of resourcefulness in explaining wellbeing among financially challenged single mothers. Journal of Family Social Work. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10522158.2020.1819500.
Lai, C. Y., Zauszniewski, J. A., Tang, T.-C., Hou, S.-Y., Su, S.-F., & Lai, P. Y. (2014). Personal beliefs, learned resourcefulness, and adaptive functioning in depressed adults. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 21(3), 280–287. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12087.
Light, M. T., & Miller, T. (2018). Does undocumented immigration increase violent crime? Criminology, 56(2), 370–401. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12175.
Lin, H.-Y., Lai, H.-L., Chen, C.-I., & Huang, C.-Y. (2017). Depression and health-related quality of life and their association with resourcefulness in survivors of prostate cancer. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 31(4), 407–413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2017.04.014.
MacKenzie, M. J., Vohs, K. D., & Baumeister, R. F. (2014). You didn’t have to do that: Belief in free will promotes gratitude. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40(11), 1423–1434. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167214549322.
Maddux, J. E., & Gosselin, J. T. (2012). Self-efficacy. In M. R. Leary & J. P. Tangney (Eds). Handbook of self and identity (2nd ed., pp. 198–224). The Guilford Press.
Manzano-Sanchez, H., Outley, C., Gonzalez, J. E., & Matarrita-Cascante, D. (2018). The influence of self-efficacy beliefs in the academic performance of Latina/o students in the United States: A systematic literature review. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 40(2), 176–209. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739986318761323.
Martinez, J. E., Feldman, L. A., Feldman, M. J., & Cikara, M. (2021). Narratives shape cognitive representations of immigrants and immigration-policy preferences. Psychological Science, 32(2), 135–152.
Mehta, S. (2019). This land is our land: An immigrant’s manifesto. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Meichenbaum, D. H. (1977). Cognitive-behavior modification: An integrative approach. Plenum.
Migration Policy Institute. (2013). Major US immigration laws, 1790–present. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/timeline-1790
National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2017). The economic and fiscal consequences of immigration. https://www.nap.edu/catalog/23550/the-economic-and-fiscal-consequences-of-immigration.
Nawrasteh, A. (2018). Criminal conviction rates in Texas in 2016. Cato Institute. https://www.cato.org/blog/criminal-conviction-rates-texas-2016
New American Economy. (2019). Immigrants and the economy in: United States of America. Retrieved February 9, 2021, from https://www.newamericaneconomy.org/locations/national/
Rakos, R. F. (2004). The belief in free will as a biological adaptation: Thinking inside and outside the behavior analytic box. European Journal of Behavior Analysis, 5(2), 95–103. https://doi.org/10.1080/15021149.2004.11434235.
Rakos, R. F. (2013). John B. Watson’s 1913 “behaviorist manifesto”: Setting the stage for behaviorism’s social action legacy. Mexican Journal of Behavior Analysis, 39(2), 99–118. https://doi.org/10.5514/rmac.v39.i2.63920.
Rosenbaum, M. (1980). A schedule for assessing self-control behaviors: Preliminary findings. Behavior Therapy, 11(1), 109–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7894(80)80040-2.
Rosenbaum, M. (1983). Learned resourcefulness as a behavioral repertoire for the self-regulation of internal events: Issues and speculations. In M. Rosenbaum, C. M. Franks, & Y. Jaffe (Eds.), Perspectives on behavior therapy in the eighties (pp. 54–73). Springer.
Rosenbaum, M. (1990). The role of learned resourcefulness in the self-control of health behavior. In M. Rosenbaum (Ed.), Learned resourcefulness: On coping skills, self-control, and adaptive behavior (pp. 3–30). Springer.
Rosenbaum, M. (1993). The three functions of self-control behaviour: Redressive, reformative and experiential. Work and Stress, 7(1), 33–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678379308257048.
Sakuma, A. (2016). The 6 most provocative parts of Donald Trump's 2016 announcement. MSNBC. https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/the-6-most-provocative-parts-donald-trumps-2016-announcement-msna619371.
Salili, F., Chiu, C. Y., & Lai, S. (2001). The influence of culture and context on students’ motivational orientation and performance. In F. Salili, C. Y. Chie, & Y. Y. Hong (Eds.), Student motivation: The culture and context of learning (pp. 221–247). Kluwer.
Sarkissian, H., Chatterjee, A., De Brigard, F., Knobe, J., Nichols, S., & Sirker, S. (2010). Is belief in free will a cultural universal? Mind & Language, 25(3), 346–358. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0017.2010.01393.x.
Schrag, P. (2010). Not fit for our society: Immigration and nativism in America. University of California Press.
Schwartz, B., & Lacey, H. (1982). Behaviorism, science, and human nature. W. W.
Scott, E. (2018). Six times President Trump said he is the least racist person. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/01/17/six-times-president-trump-said-he-is-the-least-racist-person/
Shah, S. (2020). The next great migration: The beauty and terror of life on the move. Bloomsbury.
Shariff, A. F., Greene, J. D., Karremans, J. C., Luguri, J. B., Clark, C. J., Schooler, J. W., Baumeister, R. F., & Vohs, K. D. (2014). Free will and punishment: A mechanistic view of human nature reduces retribution. Psychological Science, 25(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614534693.
Sheeran, P., Maki, A., Montanaro, E., Avishai-Yitshak, A., Bryan, A., Klein, W. M. P., Miles, E., & Rothman, A. J. (2016). The impact of changing attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy on health-related intentions and behavior: A meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 35(11), 1178–1188. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000387.
Sidman, M. (1960). Tactics of scientific research: Evaluating experimental data in psychology. Basic Books.
Skinner, B. F. (1938). The behavior of organisms. Appleton-Century.
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. Macmillan.
Skinner, B. F. (1957). The experimental analysis of behavior. American Scientist, 45, 343–371 https://www.jstor.org/stable/27826953.
Skinner, B. F. (1971). Beyond freedom and dignity. Knopf.
Skinner, B. F. (1974). About behaviorism. Knopf.
Stephens, B. (2018). Our real immigration problem. The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/2MMC2pE
Switzer-Rakos, K. (1987). Baron de Hirsch, the Jewish Colonization Association and Canada. The Leo Baeck Institute Year Book, 32(1), 385–406. https://doi.org/10.1093/leobaeck/32.1.385.
Vohs, K. D., & Schooler, J. W. (2008). The value of believing in free will: Encouraging a belief in determinism increases cheating. Psychological Science, 19(1), 49–54. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02045.x.
Welzel, C., & Inglehart, R. (2010). Agency, values, and well-being: A human development model. Social Indicators Research, 97(1), 43–63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9557-z.
Yglesias, M. (2020). One billion Americans: The case for thinking bigger. Penguin.
Zauszniewski, J. A. (2016). Resourcefulness. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 38(12), 1551–1553. https://doi.org/10.1177/0193945916665079.
Watson, J. B. (1924). Behaviorism. People’s Institute.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Not applicable.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics Approval
Not applicable.
Consent to Participate
Not applicable.
Consent for Publication
Not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest/Competing Interests
Richard F. Rakos states that there is no conflict of interest.
Additional information
A previous version of this article was presented as part of a symposium at the October 2020 convention of the Virtual Culturo-Behavior Science Conference.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rakos, R.F., Switzer, K. Culturo-Behavior Science: Now is the Time to Focus on U.S. Immigration Policy. Behav. Soc. Iss. 30, 148–169 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-021-00062-2
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-021-00062-2