Behaviorism And Social Cognitive Theories
Prior to beginning work on this discussion, please read and view the following required sources:
- The importance of a deeper knowledge of the history and theoretical foundations of behavior analysis: 1863–1960
- The Importance of a Deeper Knowledge of the History and Theoretical Foundations of Behaviorism and Behavior Therapy: Part 2—1960–1985
- John B. Watson – The Father of Behaviourism
- Bandura’s Social Cognitive theory: An Introduction
In your initial post, include the following:
- Summarize the foundational approaches of behavior analysis (previously known as behaviorism) and social cognitive (previously known as social learning) theory (SCT) and the early theorists associated with Be sure to note the drastic differences between behaviorist theories versus cognitivist theories.
- Describe how the two theories might be utilized in practice in the career path that interests you.
- If you are not pursuing a career field, how might it apply to your daily personal interactions?
- Evaluate the cultural considerations that should be considered when applying these theories in research today?
- Example: Social cognitive theory suggests modeling and efficacy as key variables that determine behavior. How might culture affect how we analyze these variables? How could self-bias affect our research findings if not considered?
Your initial post should be a minimum of 500 words.
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Order Paper NowThe Importance of a Deeper Knowledge of the History and Theoretical Foundations of Behavior Analysis: 1863–1960
John M. Guercio Benchmark Human Services, St. Louis, Missouri
The present article argues for the greater examination of the importance of studying the historical foundations of the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA). The increased volume of students in the behavior analysis field over the last 10 years underscores the need to emphasize the historical, scientific, and philosophical foundations that have made the field so strong. The philosophy of science of behaviorism and ABA was linked to several disciplines initially, and evolved into a role in the field of psychology. A detailed justification for the study of the history and philosophy of a science of behavior is presented and will flow into the earliest origins of behaviorism and the maturation of the field. Current financial contin- gencies have resulted in the misperception that the ABA field is primarily targeted at behavioral challenges related to the mitigation of autism spectrum disorder. As a consequence, there has been a departure from the philosophical and conceptual aspects of behavior analysis. A departure from the philosophical and scientific underpinnings of the field can prove problematic in the long run. This article will detail the contributions of the pioneers in the field, and end at the beginning of the second generation of behavior therapy in the early 1960s. Discussion of the foundations of behavior analysis will help new practitioners and students of behavior analysis to better appreciate the intellectual depth of the field.
Keywords: history of behavior analysis, theory, behavior analysis graduate training, philosophy of science, behaviorism
The field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) has significantly grown in the last 10 years (Guercio & Murray, 2014). Some recent reports on the proliferation of new students into the field shows that there were 7,419 certified be- havior analysts documented in 2011. This num- ber increased to over 14,000 by the year 2014 (see www.BACB.com). The drastic increases in the demand for behavioral services has led to significant growth in board certified behavior analyst (BCBA) course sequence curriculum that provides the requisite training for the pro- fession (Dixon, Reed, Smith, Belisle, & Jack- son, 2015).
There are presently over 200 colleges and universities across the world that offer course
sequences that are approved by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB). The sheer volume of these programs should compel us to institute some manner of quality control and rigor related to the material that is presented (Dixon et al., 2015). There has been a recent call in the field to develop some type of metric for evaluating ABA training programs. Dixon and colleagues (2015) detail the process of pro- gram accreditation that the Association for Be- havior Analysis International (ABAI) has had in place since 1974. This process takes into ac- count the accreditation procedure that is used by ABAI that takes into consideration a number of factors including; curriculum, graduate employ- ment rates, faculty curriculum vitae, and student progress (Dixon et al., 2015). All of these are important aspects of a well-grounded discipline based in the philosophy of science and the de- velopment of a science of human behavior that Skinner envisioned (Skinner, 1938, 1954). There is a danger that our pedagogical standards and instructional content will change due to the
Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- dressed to John M. Guercio, Clinical Services – Behavior Analysis & Therapy, Benchmark Human Services, 1215 Fern Ridge Parkway #204, St. Louis, Missouri 63141. E-mail: johnmguercio@gmail.com
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Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice © 2018 American Psychological Association 2018, Vol. 18, No. 1, 4 –15 2372-9414/18/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bar0000123
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increasing volume of students and market driven force. It is unfortunate that many practi- tioners in behavior analysis today are pigeon holed, so to speak, into having expertise primar- ily in the assessment and treatment of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Behavior analysis is so much more than that. Though this is an important realm of what we do, it is not all that we do, nor have done. The clear and present danger that is present is a market-driven curric- ulum based on a narrow focus on ASD. Rather than an ASD curriculum, applied behavior anal- ysis (ABA) programs would be better served by a curriculum that is as rigorous as possible by incorporating courses in the philosophy of a science of behavior and essential readings in behavior analysis. Students should be well versed in the diversity of applications of ABA and behavior therapy. All undergraduate psy- chology programs have history courses that ori- ent students to the schools of thought from its inception to contemporary 21st century intellec- tual foundations and theories inherent to the field. A narrow focused, market-driven training sequence limits the extent to which behavior analysis will have an impact on society at all levels. The study of the history and philosoph- ical foundations of behavior analysis are crucial to the training program of any behavior analyst. The interventions that we presently use in prac- tice are built from the history of our science and we would be remiss to neglect them. A shift does appear to be occurring with respect to how we train behavior analysts in our academic set- tings. The course sequences approved by the BACB for graduate programs in ABA will have new requirements that focus on the philosophy of science and the historical foundations of the field of behavior analysis.
The BACB published its new fifth edition of coursework requirements in April of 2017 that will be implemented in 2022. Significant additions have been made to the content area of principles and concepts. Within these re- quirements there have been additions made to the preexisting content area of concepts and principles of behavior analysis. This content area currently requires approved course se- quences to contain 45 hr of instruction that falls within this content area. Such a move emphasizes the increasing importance of training in the philosophy of science of be-
havior analysis. Such a focus brings with it an historical context.
Importance of the History of Behavior Analysis
Why study history? The American Psycho- logical Association (APA) has described a com- pelling set of reasons to study history with re- spect to specific scientific disciplines (see www .apa.org/monitor/2010/02/history.aspx). The area of learning and conditioning, that is, be- havior analysis remains a sub discipline of psy- chology, for example, Division 25 of the APA. For that reason alone, the history of behavior analysis should have closer scrutiny in graduate training programs.
Benefit to the Discipline of Behavior Analysis
Study of the history of behavior analysis is a pertinent field of study and relevant to the fur- ther evolution of behavior analysis training pro- grams. Studying the history will illuminate the evolution of the science of behavior. The his- tory of the field should illuminate those study- ing it as to the reasons that the conventional methods used in psychology were not effective and that and an alternative approach was nec- essary. The conceptualization of “mental disor- ders” occurring as a function of environmental variables was an important transition and radi- cal departure from the mentalistic conceptions of psychological disorders and how they should be treated. One of the most pertinent reasons for the study of the history of the behavior analysis is the prevalence in the field of focusing on subject matter that is represented in the BACB exam as opposed to delving deeply into the work of the early contributors in the field. Be- havior analysis as a field was made possible through the pursuit of a science of behavior as opposed to an amalgam of poorly defined con- structs that were not amenable to accurate mea- surement. John B. Watson (1924) proposed his viewpoint on the basis of these early tenets of the behavioral revolution, stating that “Psychol- ogy as the behaviorist views it is a purely ob- jective, experimental branch of natural science” (p. 158).
The evolution of the behavior therapies is one with a rich and variegated history that, as be-
5THE IMPORTANCE OF HISTORY
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