An issue of "The Behavior Analyst" contained an article by Critchfield (2011), entitled "Interesting Times: Practice, Science, and Professional Associations in Behavior Analysis," about a rift between the field's scientists and practitioners. Critchfield observed that the science and practice of behavior analysis are subject to different…

In his scholarly and thoughtful article, "Interesting Times: Practice, Science, and Professional Associations in Behavior Analysis," Critchfield (2011) discussed the science-practice frictions to be expected in any professional organization that attempts to combine these interests. He suggested that the Association for Behavior Analysis…

The author agrees with Critchfield's ("Translational Contributions of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior," "The Behavior Analyst," v34, p3-17, 2011) thesis (to paraphrase): Behavior analysis must adapt; we cannot simply will ourselves into greater social relevance. Critchfield focused on the survival of the basic research arm of behavior…

A series of experiments on operant variability by Neuringer and colleagues (e.g., Neuringer, 1986, 2002; Page & Neuringer, 1985) have been repeatedly cited as showing that behavioral variability can be reinforced by making reinforcement contingent on it. They showed that the degree of variability in pigeons' eight-peck sequences, as measured by U…

So it appears that the experimental analysis of behavior (EAB) could benefit from intervention aimed at increasing its translational footprint, thus promoting continued recognition and support as a valuable social enterprise. The author greatly appreciates Critchfield's ("Translational Contributions of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior," "The…

The authors' association goes back more than 40 years, when they were both starting doctoral studies in special education for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) at the University of Kansas. In this article, the authors provide a balanced (albeit biased) account of the good and the bad, including some of the many achievements…

This essay presents a deconstruction of the phrase "technological to a fault" as it relates to applied behavior analysis. The essay discusses the imbalance between analysis as demonstration and analysis as discovery, offers a consequence and a cause, and examines the relationship of discovery and demonstration to behavior-analytic…

This response to a paper by Guess and Carr (EC 602 212) on stereotypy and self-injury in the disabled evaluates their interpretation of the literature, use of conceptual terms, and treatment of behavior analysis principles. They are critiqued for using descriptive analogies and intervening variables to support their theory. (DB)

In response to James Mulick (EC 232 032), this paper states that a resolution of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps calling for termination of the use of aversive procedures is appropriately ideologically based as long as continued behavioral research into positive means of controlling behavior is not discouraged. (DB)

The successful application of functional analysis to problem behavior suggests the need to examine: additional functional properties of behavior involving social avoidance, biological reinforcement, and respondent conditioning; the role of context (including social factors and biological factors); and the multidimensional character of assessment…

This paper argues that behavior analysis is not technological to a fault, but rather has a faulty technology by being incomplete. The paper examines reinforcers and punishers that result from the outcomes of either (1) striving for better experimental control, or (2) inventing theories to explain why current control is imperfect. (JDD)

Technological talk in the field of applied behavior analysis creates distance between researchers and behavior analysis consumers. The field should focus on properly analyzing the needs of potential consumers, adapting technology to serve those needs, and packaging and marketing products in such a way that they are readily accepted and easily…

This commentary summarizes methodological and conceptual issues in functional analysis methodologies and offers some suggestions for their resolution. Considered are increasing complexity, absence of contingencies during assessment, use of subtle manipulations, alternative assessment strategies, analysis of antecedent influences on behavior,…

Practitioners of applied behavior analysis need to create a model for developing and evaluating behavioral technology consistent with the approach of other natural sciences. The model should focus on developing an experimental literature that is comprehensive in both its attempt to understand target behaviors and its search for the how and why of…

Evaluates the concept of "establishing operation" (EO) in the functional analysis of problem behavior in people with developmental disabilities. Suggestions for detecting "conditioned establishing operations" are offered. Also discusses the development of treatment strategies that seek to modify EOs, extinguish EOs, and modify…