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…

Assumptions of applied behavior analysis are presented: (1) good practice should be good research; (2) behavioral goals, procedures, and effects should be socially validated; and (3) a systems perspective should be adopted when focusing on behavior analysis and intervention. (Author/JAC)

Issues that impact on the ability of behaviorists to be effective in solving social and community problems are discussed, including use of legislative initiatives to bring about behavior change, sustaining interventions with local resources, and the possible rewards from employing collaborative methods in behavioral research. (JDD)

Identifies an epistemological bias in current psychological research in family planning and population change that contributes to its lack of relevance in providing solutions to problems: population psychologists simply must get on with the business of effecting changes in problem behaviors. (Author/JM)

This paper discusses the practice of social validity assessment in applied behavior analysis, proposes elements that should be included in state-of-the art assessment procedures, offers a taxonomy of consumers to guide the construction and circulation of assessments, and suggests strategies to improve social validity assessment. (JDD)

This paper argues that many social validity processes in applied behavior analysis are actually measuring consumer satisfaction and not the habilitative validity of goals, procedures, or outcomes. The term "habilitative validation" is proposed to replace social validity, and use of more objective assessment methods is encouraged.…

The paper discusses literature which reports biological factors of criminal behavior and suggests how such biological characteristics might interact with the learning of moral behavior. The first three studies of predelinquent and prerecidivistic criminals measured autonomic nervous system responses to stress. Those who later became delinquent…

Some of the distinguishing features associated with behavioral prevention methodology are discussed. Behaviorists for Social Action have already implicitly identified target populations for preventive interventions, and the two distinct populations which have been identified can form the focus of preventive endeavors. The dissimilar populations…

The compilation offers abstracts and source information about 328 behavioral science research projects in Sweden during 1976 and the first four months of 1977. The entries, grouped alphabetically by author, include 24 subject categories such as adult education, applied psychology, communication systems, developmental psychology, experimental…