Newsletter
Volume 30 | 2007 | Number 2
Applied Animal Behavior
By Jennifer Sobie
The Applied Animal Behavior Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABA) was created to promote research and application of behavior analytic principles to the field of animal training, both domestic (e.g., pets) and exotic (e.g., zoo animals), and of animal behavior therapy. To support such endeavors, the SIG makes available to its members research tools to aid in the design, implementation and dissemination of results of studies assessing the efficacy and/or contribution of behavior analysis in animal behavior, including the annual presentation of the Marion Breland Bailey Award for Student Research and Scholarship.
The SIG is proud to report that animal behavior-related presentations at the annual meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis International have increased steadily over the past decade and a half. In 1993, the year of the SIG’s inception, there were four applied animal behavior-related events, and two of these were invited presentations; the 2006 annual meeting hosted five paper sessions, six symposia and nine posters with primarily applied animal behavior-related content for a total of 34 individual AAB presentations. In recognition of the increasing number of AAB presentations as well as the increasing overall popularity of the field of applied animal behavior, the SIG awarded two students $100 each in the name of the 2nd Annual Marian Breland Bailey Award for Student Research and Scholarship and intends to do the same in 2007.
In response to a steady contact of both undergraduate and graduate inquiries regarding the availability and location of behavior analytic programs offering education relevant to applied animal behavior, present SIG interests include the compellation of ABA member accredited programs that include courses in animal behavior. The SIG would like to encourage ABA members to please provide us with information relevant to your program or university in this area.