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Teaching the History of Applied Behavior Analysis

  • Teaching the History of Behavior Analysis
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Abstract

Incorporating historical readings and discussion into applied behavior-analytic coursework may be an important strategy for developing well-rounded behavior analysts. However, little guidance is available to instructors interested in teaching the history of applied behavior analysis. This article describes how the history of behavior analysis can be incorporated into a course on applied behavior analysis to achieve this goal. The history of punishment/aversives in behavior analysis will be provided as an example of how the history of behavior analysis can be embedded into applied coursework. The historical interaction between the culture at large (i.e., the culture beyond behavior analysis) and behavior-analytic literature and events related to punishment will be described because both affect the field and have led to the current state of practice. History related to early ethical standards, early experimental analysis of behavior literature, the backlash against early applied behavior analysis, and the field of behavior analysis’ response to the backlash is discussed.

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Notes

  1. The use of “punishment” throughout the manuscript refers to positive punishment.

  2. It can be difficult to precisely define the practice of behavior modification because it was often used as an umbrella term that included many practices beyond anything related to behavior analysis, such as lobotomies and electroshock therapy. When explaining the difference between behavior modification and applied behavior analysis, it is important to first acknowledge the broad use of behavior modification. It is also important to acknowledge that many practitioners of behavior modification used behavior-analytic research as justification for their practices, but that their practices differ substantially from applied behavior analysis. Since its inception, the practice of applied behavior analysis has been focused on addressing socially significant behavior with socially acceptable strategies (Baer et al., 1968; Wolf, 1978). Where practitioners of behavior modification would seemingly use any means to address any behavior the therapist deemed worthy, applied behavior analysts are obligated to work with stakeholders to identify the treatment goals and the acceptable/least-restrictive strategies that will be used in treatment (BACB, 2020).

  3. See the Massachusetts Association for Behavior Analysis statement on electric shock and the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center’s reply.

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Acknowledgements

A previous version of this manuscript was presented during a symposium chaired by Edward K. Morris at the 2018 meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis International in San Diego, CA. As this article was being finalized, many members of the behavior analytic community were participating in an ongoing debate centered around one form of punishment – contingent electric skin shockFootnote 3 (CESS; see the Massachusetts Association for Behavior Analysis statement on electric shock and the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center’s reply). The bulk of this article was written over 4 years before the recent calls for action around CESS, and this article was written independent of the current controversy. The purpose of this article was to discuss the value of embedding history into behavior analytic courses. We chose to use the principle of punishment as one example of how history could be embedded into a course teaching the principles of behavior because it is principle whose applications merit consideration of historical context as it pertains to present-day discussions. Our example is regarding the broader concept of punishment and not a specific application of it, however. Nevertheless, the content of this article is relevant to the current controversy. We hope instructors teaching the concept of punishment will find this article useful in their instruction regarding the principle of punishment to help students establish an understanding of the historical use and views of punishment that can be used as a foundation to discuss the nuanced and complex issues surrounding CESS and other specific forms of punishment.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Salve Regina University, 100 Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, RI, 02840, USA

    Cody Morris

  2. Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA

    Stephanie M. Peterson

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Morris, C., Peterson, S.M. Teaching the History of Applied Behavior Analysis. Perspect Behav Sci 45, 757–774 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-022-00354-x

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