Newsletter
Volume 29 | 2006 | Number 2
Sociedad Mexicana de Análisis de la Conducta
By Dr. Carlos A. Bruner
With 30 years of age, the Mexican Society of Behavior Analysis (MSBA) is the second-oldest psychological society in the country (with the Mexican Psychological Society being the oldest at nearly 60). The main mission of MSBA is to disseminate our discipline across Mexico. To accomplish its mission, the society relies on the Mexican Journal of Behavior Analysis (MJBA) and on its biennial conventions. The journal has published three issues per year since 1975, belongs to the most prestigious publication indexes in our field, publishes papers in either Spanish or English, prints 500 copies of each issue, and is distributed globally. In spite of its limited circulation, MJBA is considered the most prestigious psychological journal in Mexico.
In addition to its journal, MSBA also organizes biennial conventions. Since 1975, the society has held 17 conventions in different Mexican cities as follows: Xalapa, Ver. (1974); San Luis PotosÃ, SLP (1975); Tampico, Tam. (1977); Monterrey, NL (1979); Guadalajara, Jal. (1980); México, D.F. (1982); Oaxtepec, Mor. (1984); Veracruz, Ver. (1986); Puebla, Pue. (1987); Hermosillo, Son. (1989); México, D.F. (1991); Cocoyoc, Mor. (1994); Veracruz, Ver. (1996); Guadalajara, Jal (1999); Toluca, Edo. Mex. (2001); Puerto Vallarta, Jal. (2003); and San Luis PotosÃ, SLP (2005). Typically, each convention is attended by 500 academicians and students of psychology from different states of the country. The convention program usually includes about 200 presentations consisting of keynote and invited talks, paper and poster sessions, and either invited or submitted symposia.
Last year, MSBA held its 17th biennial convention in the city of San Luis Potosà on September 7-9. Analysis of the convention statistics reflects the current state of behavior analysis in México. There were 523 attendees from 13 states of the country, most of whom were either academicians or students of psychology representing 25 different universities, both private and public. Professional psychologists also attended the convention, but they were a minority. There were 234 presentations by 302 different authors and co-authors. Presentations were made up of five keynote and nine invited addresses, 18 symposia with 90 presenters, 22 paper sessions with 104 presenters, and 33 posters with 103 presenters. For the first time, we organized tutorials and workshops as part of the convention. The six tutorials focused mainly on methodology, statistics, and publication style, while the eight workshops were mainly on remedial procedures and applied behavior analysis. The tutorials and workshops were greatly appreciated by professional psychologists and students.
The statistics show that some members of MSBA are behavior analysts of international reputation able to cover highlighted events, and that some of its members belong to organized research groups capable of holding thematic symposia. Members of MSBA are also individual researchers who present their results in various paper sessions and young students who co-author presentations with their mentors, most often in poster sessions.
Content of papers presented at the conference are outlined in Figure 1. As would be expected from these numbers, animal subjects were used only in 51 of the studies, while human subjects were used in 151.
Paper Type |
# of papers |
Theory and method |
24 |
Basic research: Operant stimulus control |
17 |
Basic research: Memory |
8 |
Basic research: Learning |
19 |
Basic research: Reinforcement |
5 |
Basic research: Motivation |
18 |
Total Basic research |
67 |
Applied behavior analysis: Social psychology |
17 |
Applied behavior analysis: Clinical psychology |
44 |
Applied behavior analysis: Educational psychology |
62 |
Applied behavior analysis: Developmental psychology |
12 |
Total Applied behavior analysis |
135 |
The classification of papers by content was not meant to be exhaustive; in fact some papers could not be placed within any of these categories. Nevertheless, classifying papers is useful because it shows that Mexican behavior analysts are well-versed on a variety of topics, either of traditional importance to our discipline or topics presently in vogue. Furthermore, this analysis shows that some Mexican behavior analysts are sophisticated enough to deal with theoretical and methodological issues. Also worthy of note is that applied behavior analysis predominates over basic research in Mexico, which reflects what seems to be a worldwide trend. In fact, convention statistics show that the MSBA convention is very similar to the ABA annual conventions with regard to the balance between types of presentations, the range of the themes studied, the prevalence of applied over basic research, the mixture of mature behavior analysts and students attending, and even the fact that the majority of participants are academics.
As a scientific organization, MSBA may be similar to ABA in several aspects but not in the number of members, international reach, the size of conventions, and surely in financial resources. Given the differences, both quantitative and qualitative, between the United States and Mexico, it is unlikely that MSBA will ever grow to ABA’s size and complexity. Yet, MSBA may take some actions to grow within Mexico. To accomplish its mission, MSBA has to guarantee the continuity of both its journal and its periodic conventions. This leads MSBA to two priorities: to increase membership to the society and to improve its finances.
Regarding the first priority of membership, our society has about 150 voting individuals and an ever-changing number of student affiliates, roughly 100 at any given time. The fact that MSBA has a small membership is due to several factors, the most important of which is that the original statutes only allowed for the category of full, voting members. For historical reasons, membership was restricted to Mexican licensed psychologists with publications in the area of behavior analysis. By excluding students, academics in other areas of psychology, behavior analysts who are not published, foreign behavior analysts, and scientists from other disciplines, MSBA has seriously limited during who can become a member. To improve this situation, we recently created an ad hoc committee to study statutory reforms that would allow colleagues who had been excluded in the past to join MSBA either as non-voting or voting members. Another reason for our small membership is the fact that MSBA has inadvertently concentrated on the most developed regions of the country, namely the center and the north, leaving out the southern states. In an attempt to reach out to this region, MSBA is currently organizing a colloquium to be held in November of this year in the city of Oaxaca.
Our second priority is to increase our economic resources. During most of its life, MSBA has survived with a very limited income, also for a variety of reasons. One obvious reason is the society’s small membership, which limits the amount collected as dues. Another reason is our false confidence in the number of non-member and institutional subscriptions to MJBA, the number of which have varied over time. Still another reason is our reliance on income from our biennial conventions. With regard to increasing membership dues, we hope that the statutory reforms discussed earlier will help to solve this problem. MJBA’s current editor is making all efforts to increase the number of journal subscriptions, especially the more profitable institutional subscriptions. Fortunately, earnings from conventions have been consistently strong in the past, and our last convention was no exception. The 2005 convention provided sufficient resources to cover the printing of MJBA during the next couple of years and with seed money for the next convention to be held in 2007. This does not mean, however, that income from conventions cannot be increased. To this end, we are studying the possibility of organizing more frequent meetings (like the colloquium in the south mentioned above); changing from biennial to annual conventions; increasing attendance by attracting hitherto excluded groups; including more workshops in the program; and increasing registration fees to match the national standard for this type of event.
Increasing our membership and economic resources are priorities for the survival of the society. Other plans for the development of MSBA include tightening our relations with other Mexican scientific groups, both inside and outside psychology. We expect that such cooperation will result in mutual benefits, and will hopefully be as fruitful as our relationship with ABA has been for more than 10 years. For this purpose, we recently created a committee that will maintain and improve ongoing relations with friendly organizations and establish new relationships with other organizations.
MSBA recently received an invitation by the Mexican Ministry of Education to submit viable plans to both accredit study programs in psychology and certify professional practitioners. Since 2005, MSBA has been working alongside other psychological organizations on a committee that so far has accredited more than 40 undergraduate programs in psychology. (Please note that México follows the European educational system, which concentrates on a given discipline during the equivalent of the college years in the U.S.) Regarding certification, MSBA is presently in discussions with other societies regarding the best method to certify capable professionals that are applying the core principles of psychology in different settings. In addition to the certification of professional psychologists, MSBA is considering initiating the process that would enable the society to become the sole certifier of professional behavior analysts in Mexico. Establishing the certification of behavior analysts is a complicated matter, with many ramifications and potential consequences that need to be studied very carefully before committing the society to this enterprise.
To conclude this article, I will like to reiterate that MSBA has accomplished its mission to disseminate behavior analysis in our country for more than 30 years. Under favorable and not-so-favorable circumstances, we have managed to keep our journal in print and conducted our conventions every two years (and sometimes more often) without interruption. This is quite remarkable if one considers that in our country scientific organizations rarely reach their first birthday. Currently, after a period of consolidation, MSBA is picking up its pace and expanding again.