Inside Behavior Analysis
Volume 2 | 2010 | Number 1 | On-line ISSN: 2151-4704
Join Us at the 36th Annual ABAI Convention in San Antonio
By Maria E. Malott
We are very excited about the upcoming 36th annual convention in San Antonio, Texas. This event—which takes place over Memorial Day Weekend—is the largest and most comprehensive convention available for all those interested in behavior analysis science, education, practice, and professional issues. The annual convention is the ideal place to learn about new developments in the field, network with other professionals interested in behavior analysis, and become involved in many exciting issues and opportunities.
Over 4,000 participants from more than 40 countries will gather for the annual convention, which serves as a network center for ABAI’s 31 special interest groups, 68 affiliated chapters, organizational members, and graduate programs—including most of ABAI’s 23 accredited graduate programs. The ABAI Expo highlights these groups and others, with over 100 posters from behavioral organizations.
This year’s convention is made possible in part by the Texas Association for Behavior Analysis (TexABA). We would like to thank the leadership of this affiliated chapter—Gordon Bourland (President), Duy Le, Anna Petursdottir, Lori Russo and Manish Vaidja—for their hard work and for welcoming the convention to Texas. TexABA is the oldest ABAI affiliated chapter in the state and has taken the lead on several major behavior analysis developments in the region. The chapter will welcome attendees during the Texas Association for Behavior Analysis Welcome Event on May 30, Sunday night.
The convention will take place in the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center—a space that Meetings South Magazine voted as the best in the industry (“S.A. convention,” 2004). Originally constructed as part of the 1968 HemisFair, the center has since expanded to include 59 meeting rooms, three ballrooms, and four exhibit halls. The facility is conveniently located next door to the headquarter hotel, the state-of-the-art Grand Hyatt San Antonio. Also located nearby are the convention’s overflow hotels: the Hyatt Regency San Antonio, Marriott San Antonio Riverwalk, and Hilton Palacio Del Rio. Nestled in the heart of San Antonio’s downtown, the convention center overlooks a portion of the city’s famous River Walk. A wide variety of restaurants and entertainment venues are located within a short walking distance.
This year’s program includes nearly 1,400 events that cover many areas of behavior analysis, including autism; behavioral pharmacology; clinical, family, and behavioral medicine; community interventions, social and ethical issues; developmental disabilities; human development; experimental analysis of behavior; education; organizational behavior management; teaching behavior analysis; theoretical, philosophical, and conceptual issues; and verbal behavior. This year, we are pleased to introduce a new focus area: applied animal behavior.
The 2010 Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis Awards recognizes leaders in the field. This year we celebrate the accomplishments of A. Charles Catania (Distinguished Service); Steven C. Hayes (International Dissemination); William McIlvane (Scientific Translation); Alan E. Kazdin (Presentation in the Mass Media); and the University of Nevada, Reno (Programmatic Contributions).
This year’s Presidential Address—presented by Patrick Friman—discusses behavior analysis’s role in the scientific community and the challenges the field faces in relating to the general public. He will present ways in which behavior analysts can make the field more accessible and
attractive to a larger audience. This year’s address is
titled "Steps to Take and Missteps to Avoid on the
Quest for Mainstream Relevance."
We are honored to host the 2010 Presidential Scholar, Michael Shermer, who will provide an address titled, “Why People Believe Weird Things.” Dr. Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine, the Executive Director of the Skeptics Society, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, the host of the Skeptics Distinguished Science Lecture Series at the California Institute of Technology, and Adjunct Professor of Economics at Claremont Graduate University.
Integral to the ABAI program is the B. F. Skinner Lecture Series, which accentuates contributors from complementary disciplines in our program. This is a wonderful opportunity not only to learn from scholars outside our field, but also to provide a comprehensive perspective of behavior analysis. This year’s series will feature 10 lectures:
- Katherine Albro Houpt’s applied animal behavior presentation will examine the use of behavior techniques to study the effects of modern husbandry practices on domestic horses;
- Patrick Corrigan will present in the area of community interventions and social and ethical issues and will discuss the roles public- and self-stigmas play in the behavior of people with psychiatric disabilities and how mental health professionals can identify and address them;
- Josh Edelman will cover teaching behavior analysis and will address the role behavior analysis can play in the growing charter school movement;
- Barbara Foorman's education discussion will focus on the impact of effective reading interventions in schools;
- Robert Meyers will present in the area of clinical, family, and behavioral medicine and will discuss the development of the Community Reinforcement Approach and Community Reinforcement and Family Training and also on the techniques that have made these treatments successful in handling substance abuse;
- Gordon Paul will focus on theoretical, philosophical, and conceptual issues and discuss behavioral monitoring systems and how they help to discover and support recovery-oriented, evidence-based practices in treating disabled adults with psychotic diagnoses;
- Stuart Silvers will also present in the theoretical, philosophical, and conceptual issues area on the law of effect's role in evolutionary psychology and in explaining the development of learning capacity in hominids;
- David Sloan Wilson's human development lecture will focus on how the scope of evolutionary psychology must expand to include measures of behaviorism in order to provide a more consilient theoretical framework for psychology;
- Jan Smedslund’s theoretical, philosophical, and conceptual issues lecture will be about the presence of pseudo-empirical hypotheses in psychology and why they are common in the field; and
- Sophia Yin will deliver an applied animal behavior presentation on recognizing the early stages of problem behavior in companion animals and how to use behavior analysis to prevent aggressive behaviors from developing.
This year's program features 33 invited addresses covering a variety of topics ranging from the expansion of common behavior-change approaches in animal training to the future of verbal behavior studies. Invited events for the convention will include presentations from Judy Agnew; William Baum; Warren Bickel; Andrew Bondy; James Carr; A. Charles Catania; a symposium featuring Philip Chase and Anthony Biglan; Daniel Everett; Susan Friedman; Grant Gautreaux; Gregory Hanley; Dwight Harshbarger; a symposium featuring Linda Hayes, Martha Palaez, and Ramona Houmanfar; J. Carl Hughes; Steven Hursh; Robert Kohlenberg; R. J. Lamb; Linda LeBlanc; Gregory Madden; Maria Malott; Francis Mechner; Richard Meisch; Suzanne Mitchell; a panel featuring Matthew Normand, Simon Dymond, and Ruth Anne Rehfeldt; John Scibak; Murray Sidman; Peter Sturmey; Travis Thompson; Amanda VanderHeyden; Peishi Wang; and Jennifer Zarcone.
We are happy to announce that once more, the Science and Practice Boards will be major contributors to the program. The events being promoted by these boards will enhance the quality of our convention by bringing specific issues important to the field into focus. The Science Board is sponsoring events concerning developments in basic and applied behavior analysis research. This track will feature invited papers from Warren Bickel and Steven Hursh, and a tutorial by Gregory Madden. The Science Board will co-host—along with the Student Committee and the Society for Quantitative Analyses of Behavior—the Practicum on Quantitative Methods and Data Analysis. The practicum will be led by Jesse Dallery and Paul Soto. Practice Board events will focus on behavior analysis legislation, licensure, and other parent and practitioner concerns. The track will include an open meeting, two symposia, and two expo posters.
Continuing education is one of the many advantageous features of the ABAI convention and will be offered again this year for both psychologists and certified behavior analysts. Another service that particularly benefits employers and professionals is ABAI’s new job placement service: Jobs in Behavior Analysis, where guests will be able to learn about career opportunities and receive assistance arranging interviews. Furthermore, attendees are invited to peruse behavior analytic books in our bookstore, which will offer more than 1,000 titles. Bookstore visitors will also have the opportunity to meet with many of the available publications' authors.
This year, we are also excited to introduce a new social event sponsored by the Student Committee, which will feature dueling pianos as live entertainment. This event will feature two pianists performing from a variety of genres from virtually every music era. There will be plenty of audience interaction and opportunities to make requests.
The complete 2010 program is now available on the ABAI website, where you will also find access to on-line scheduling services, which allow you to review presentations and plan and print your personalized convention schedule. You will also have the opportunity to provide feedback after the convention on all of the events you attended. This feedback will be provided to presenters, the ABAI Council, and the Annual Convention Program Committee, allowing for the consideration of attendees’ input on event quality and providing presenters with the opportunity to improve the content and delivery of ABAI convention presentations.
We would like to recognize the outstanding work of Ramona Houmanfar and Raymond Pitts, Program Committee Co-Chairs. With the support of Patrick C. Friman, Program Board Coordinator, and all of the Program Board Area Coordinators—Robert W. Allan, Alicia Alvero, Karen Anderson, Jennifer M. Asmus, Jennifer L. Austin, Patricia Bach, Jesse Dallery, Per Holth, Jonathan Kanter, Dorothea C. Lerman, James S. MacDonall, Heather McGee, Caio Miguel, Matthew Normand, Gary Novak, Hayne W. Reese, Joel E. Ringdahl, Denise Ross, Ted Schoneberger, Jessica Singer-Dudek, Jeffrey H. Tiger, Thomas J. Waltz, Cathy Watkins, and Michael Weinberg—they have once more assembled a very strong program. Through their efforts, the ABAI program has undergone a careful review, with revisions and rejections, to ensure quality events. Please see Ramona Houmanfar’s article for more program information.
We encourage you to join us in San Antonio for another terrific convention!