Newsletter
Volume 32 | 2009 | Number 1
2009 SABA Fellowship Awardees
Carlos Cancado
2009 SABA Experimental Analysis of Behavior Fellowship Awardee: Carlos Cancado (West Virginia University)
Carlos Cancado’s initial contact and immediate interest in behavior analysis happened during his undergraduate years through introductory courses in experimental psychology. This interest was later developed during a 3-year internship at the Behavior Analysis Laboratory at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2006. During that time, he conducted research on behavioral history under the supervision of Dr. Sergio Cirino and Andre Dias. The experimental analysis of schedules of reinforcement became a central interest for Carlos, especially the analysis of temporal and dependent relations between consequences and an organism’s development in responding. After obtaining his degree, Carlos decided to pursue a career in basic research and worked as a research assistant, studying human schedule performance under the supervision of Dr. Carlos Eduardo Costa (Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Brazil). These experiences led him to West Virginia University, where he entered as a doctoral student in the fall of 2007, under the supervision of Dr. Andy Lattal. His research interests include historical and conceptual issues in behavior analysis, the analysis of schedules of reinforcement, and behavioral history effects.
Under Dr. Lattal’s supervision, Carlos has been conducting research on the effects of response-independent events on behavior and on extinction-induced resurgence. He has been analyzing the effects of different proportions of response-independent events on responding maintained by variable and fixed-interval schedules of reinforcement. The experimental analysis of resurgence has been his main goal; it establishes a context to understand a basic behavioral principle and to clarify aspects involved in more complex behavior, such as problem solving and novel behavior. Carlos currently has been studying the variables that determine the resurgence of temporal patterns of responding. He also has published conceptual analyses of behavioral history and the history of behavior analysis.
These projects are directly related to Carlos’ interests in understanding and contributing to historical and philosophical issues in behavior analysis, especially selectionism, and the relation of behavior-analytic theory and practice to other biological sciences. Carlos intends to obtain a solid education in research in behavior analysis during his years at West Virginia University and pursue a faculty position where he can continue to study behavior; contributing to behavior analysis through research and teaching. He would like to thank the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis for arranging the contingencies for students to learn and contribute to the growth of the field by making this and other fellowships possible.
2009 SABA Experimental Analysis of Behavior Fellowship Awardee: Patrick Johnson (University of Kansas)
Patrick Johnson
Patrick Johnson became interested in behavior analysis as an undergraduate at the University of Florida, where he received his B.S. in Psychology and B.A. in Anthropology. Working under the supervision of Dr. Timothy Hackenberg and his graduate student colleagues, Patrick completed an honors thesis investigating human risky choice for video clip reinforcers viewable after fixed and mixed delays. This study closely approximated nonhuman methods of studying choice and results indicated risk-prone choice like that observed in other species. From these initial experiences, Patrick developed an appreciation for the role of basic research in our understanding of human behavior.
Upon graduating, Patrick entered the Applied Behavioral Science doctoral program at the University of Kansas, where he continues to pursue his research and teaching interests as a junior colleague to Dr. Gregory Madden. Patrick’s research interests at KU focus broadly on nonhuman decision-making processes. A primary line of research is inspired by recent clinical reports linking the dopaminergic drug pramipexole to emergent impulsive behavior (e.g., pathologic gambling) in Parkinson’s patients prescribed the drug. For his master’s degree project, Patrick studied the effects of pramipexole on rats’ choices for gambling-like behaviors or predictable schedules of reinforcement in an animal model of gambling. He found that pramipexole significantly increased preference for gambling-like outcomes relative to saline when administered under a baseline of low gambling preference. To determine if pramipexole influences other forms of impulsivity (e.g., delay discounting), Patrick is examining drug effects on preference for large versus small reinforcers as delivery of the large reinforcer becomes increasingly delayed within a session.
Patrick is also engaged in an innovative line of behavioral economic research designed to explore conditions under which pigeons are likely to earn and save conditioned reinforcers (buttons on a touch-sensitive monitor) in exchange for food. His current and future studies are aimed at determining whether pigeons will spend conditioned reinforcers on gambling opportunities that probabilistically result in wins of additional conditioned reinforcers.
Upon earning his Ph.D., Patrick hopes to obtain a faculty position that will allow him to continue his research related to decision-making in both humans and nonhumans, as well as teach courses in basic behavior analysis.
2009 Sidney W. and Janet R. Bijou Fellowship Awardee: Cara Phillips (University of Florida)
Cara Phillips
Cara Phillips received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Her undergraduate career involved only a minimal exposure to behavior analysis, but her summer jobs working at a camp for children with physical and developmental disabilities led her to accept a position with the New England Center for Children after graduation. There she discovered the field of Applied Behavior Analysis truly in practice, working with an adult developmentally disabled population whom exhibited severe problem behavior. Intrigued with the field, but often out-sized by her clients, Cara decided to examine the application of behavior analysis with additional populations. She worked in a supported housing program, in which behavioral contracting was used extensively, with individuals with chronic mental illness. She also worked as an integration aide for a 6-year old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome in a kindergarten classroom before finding a home with the Faison School for Autism in Richmond, Virginia. Cara worked as a lead teaching assistant for two years in this ABA based program. In addition, Cara served as lead therapist and program coordinator for home-based ABA programs during her three years in Richmond.
Following five years of learning about the principles of ABA through first-hand experience, Cara felt that her clinical growth required a stronger understanding of the theoretical foundations of the science of behavior analysis. Cara obtained a Master’s Degree in Psychology with a specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis from Florida State University in 2003. While at FSU, Cara worked as a Behavior Assistant/Behavior Supervisor for a home-based service program for children with developmental disabilities affiliated with the university. Her time at FSU only further whetted Cara’s appetite for information about the conceptual side of the field, leading her to continue her graduate studies at the University of Florida under the supervision of Dr. Timothy Vollmer. Cara is the site coordinator for one of Dr. Vollmer’s research sites – a local elementary school.
Cara’s primary research interests are related to skill acquisition in children diagnosed with autism, specifically the use of prompting procedures to teach relatively complex skills. Cara is particularly interested in how children with autism spectrum disorders learn generalized skill sets. She is in the process of conducting a series of studies on the stimulus control of different forms of prompts during task analyses. These studies are designed to encourage the participants to form a skill set of following a specific form of instructions (e.g. textual or pictorial) by engendering stimulus control by one form of prompts in order to facilitate – with that form of prompt – the following of generalized instruction. Also, related to skill acquisition, Cara is in the early stages of planning a series of studies examining computer-based Discrete Trial Training programs. A secondary focus of Cara’s research is to properly evaluate autism treatments that are commonly used, but heretofore inadequately tested. This involves an estimation of the prevalence of behavioral and other treatments for problem behavior, as well as a functional analysis and treatment comparison of behavioral and alternative treatments.
2009 Sidney W. and Janet R. Bijou Fellowship Awardee: Kevin Luczynski (Western New England College)
Kevin Luczynski
Kevin Luczynski was first exposed to the natural science approach to understanding human behavior at Illinois State University with Dr. Tom Critchfield. Kevin then received training on the Neurobehavioral Unit at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. While at KKI, Dr. Sung Woo Kahng and Dr. David Kuhn provided Kevin with daily supervision on how to effectively assess and treat severe problem behavior. The intensity of the clinical services at KKI facilitated his understanding of single-subject methodology, environmental determinants of behavior, and the value of working within a community of clinical experts. While providing clinical services and participating in ongoing research at KKI, Kevin earned a Masters degree at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County.
To further his training in child development and behavior analysis, Kevin enrolled as a doctoral student at the University of Kansas under the supervision of Dr. Gregory Hanley. Kevin had the opportunity to co-design and implement effective and preferred classroom environments for young children with and without disabilities while facilitating the teaching skills of his practicum students as a supervisor in the university-based Child Development Center (CDC). His time in the CDC inspired research focused on determining the efficacy of and preference for different schedules of social interaction. Kevin’s work demonstrated that children preferred contingent reinforcement (CR) to noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) under various conditions in which different schedules, response types, and reinforcers were arranged. Kevin also extended this work by demonstrating the boundaries of such preferences (e.g., children may prefer NCR when the CR schedule is leaned) and by evaluating children’s preference for certain practical reinforcement schedules (e.g., multiple schedules versus signaled delays). Kevin’s work at KU embodied the notion that identifying effective and preferred contexts is possible when designing healthy environments for young children.
Kevin transitioned to Massachusetts to complete his doctorate in the Western New England College Behavior Analysis Doctoral program when Dr. Hanley assumed the role of Director of this new program. Since coming to WNEC, Kevin gained experience teaching children with autism at the New England Center for Children and completed a study on the impact of inter-teaching intervals on the acquisition of mands. Recently, Kevin received one of two Fellowships from WNEC which provides support and opportunities for supervised teaching at the College and applied research in the Springfield area. As a Fellow, Kevin has allowed his work at KU and NECC to inform his new focus on studying the acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of critical social behaviors of preschoolers, such as requesting attention and assistance and tolerating delays for these same events. To that end, Kevin has designed a series of studies which will provide systematic replications of efficacious interventions while also serving as baselines from which to evaluate new independent variables for promoting generalization and maintenance of acquired social skills. After discovering conditions that result in lasting and generalized behavior change of preschoolers and completing his Ph.D. program, Kevin hopes to provide service, research, and teaching opportunities to his own students in an academic context that supports a behavior analytic approach to understanding child development.
2008 International Development Grant Awardee: Dr. Morgan Chitiyo (Southern Illinois University)
Dr. Morgan Chitiyo
Dr. Morgan Chitiyo, who is originally from Zimbabwe, is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and assistant professor of special education at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in education from Africa University in Zimbabwe. While in Zimbabwe he taught high school before moving to the United States to pursue graduate studies. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with both an MBA and a Ph.D. in Applied Behavior and Learning. He completed his Ph.D. under the tutelage of Dr. John J. Wheeler, who exposed him to many research projects involving the application of Positive Behavior Support (PBS) and its applied behavior analytic principles to children with disabilities; including autism, emotional behavioral disorders, and ADHD among others. This exposure gave him the opportunity to work extensively with schools in the United States providing consultation and technical assistance in the area of PBS. As a result, he developed keen interest in the utility and application of PBS across populations and cultures.
Dr. Chitiyo’s research interests are in the development, implementation, and evaluation of behavioral interventions for children who display challenging behavior in both school and non-school settings. He is interested in the identification of efficient and cost-effective models to transmit best and effective practices in applied behavior analysis across populations and settings. He is also interested in promoting the adoption of applied behavior analysis principles in developing countries. Dr. Chitiyo believes that PBS, with its applied behavior analytic principles, can transform education systems around the world – particularly Africa – by equipping schools with the capacity to engage all students via positive learning environments capable of promoting active engagement of all learners regardless of disabilities.
As a result, Dr. Chitiyo endeavors to develop cost-effective education programs which focus on training parents and schoolteachers to implement behavioral interventions and evaluate their efficacy. In this regard, he would like to explore how to utilize technology to facilitate consultation and technical assistance which can promote the adoption and utilization of evidence-based practices internationally.
2008 International Development Grant Awardee: Dr. Mihyun Grace Cho (Nam Seoul University)
Dr. Mihyun Grace Cho
Dr. Mihyun Grace Cho, Chief Professor of the BCBA Graduate Program of Nam Seoul University (NSU) and Director of the South Korean Institute of ABA (SKIABA), is a board certified behavior analyst and Liaison of South Korea for the B. F. Skinner Foundation. She received her doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles in the field of Special Education. Dr. Cho established the board approved graduate program at NSU in Korea in 2007, which is the first program of its kind in Asia. Dr. Cho also provides teacher workshops every summer and winter for teachers of students with disabilities. These workshops were approved by the Department of Education in Korea. Since 2007, Dr. Cho has worked as a government researcher in Korea’s Social Welfare Department. Her responsibilities include developing a service delivery system, a five-year project directed towards enhancing the lives of people with disabilities in Korea. Dr. Cho has chaired the International ABA Conference of Autism and ADHD for Professionals, People with Disabilities, and Parents in Seoul, Korea in 2007 and 2008.
Prior to working at NSU, Dr. Cho was Executive Director of the Los Angeles based Asian Pacific Community Services (APAC) from 1994 to 2004. APAC is a community-based adult day program which specializes in helping people with disabilities of cultural and ethnic minorities from 14 nationalities. Dr. Cho also provided numerous workshops for the parents of children with disabilities.
In the past year, there has been a growing awareness of the need to help people with disabilities in Korea. The Korean government recognizes that the nation has been lagging in the knowledge of the most recent development in ABA. For this reason, the Education Department requires teachers to take workshops for positive behavior intervention in the classroom. With an existing grant from the Korean government, Dr. Cho has already been able to provide teacher workshops for behavior intervention. One drawback is that Dr. Cho does not have the necessary training materials in the Korean language for these teachers. Recently, Dr. Cho received a grant from NSU for $2,500 to cover the cost of translating Classroom Management: A California Resource Guide, which was developed and produced by the California Department of Education and the Los Angeles County Office of Education. It is a practical “how-to” manual that can be used with in-service training or as a teacher resource guide. The grant from NSU, however, will not cover the cost of publication of this translation.
With a SABA grant, Dr. Cho will be able to publish approximately 500 copies of this manual, which can be used during the workshops. Dr. Roy Mayer, the principal author, has secured authorization from the Los Angeles County Office of Education to publish a translation of this book. He is personally committed to helping Dr. Cho with the translation and in providing the best teacher workshops for positive behavior intervention. Ultimately, their goal is to improve the Korean school environment.
2008 International Development Grant Awardee: Erick Dubuque (University of Nevada, Reno)
Erick Dubuque
Erick Dubuque, has attended the Association for Behavior Analysis Annual Conference every year of graduate school. In his first year, he was hired as an assistant director for the behavior analysis satellite programs under the advisement of Dr. Linda J. Hayes; he worked in Dr. W. Larry William’s center for adults with developmental disabilities and taught a course in Dr. Ramona Houmanfar’s Psychology 101 modified Personalized System of Instruction program. In his second year, he continued his work in the behavior analysis satellite programs; successfully defended his thesis (a basic human experiment investigating the adduction of composite responses from component repertoires); was elected as the Student Representative-Elect for the Association for Behavior Analysis International; and taught a summer undergraduate course in Radical Behaviorism. In his third year of graduate school, he continued his work with the satellite programs; worked on the Nevada Association for Behavior Analysis program committee and helped oversee their second conference; started his own business offering online continuing education units for certified behavior analysts; taught an undergraduate course in Radical Behaviorism; and taught a Master’s degree practicum course in the first Middle Eastern Behavior Analysis program at the Jordanian University of Science and Technology.
In October of 2005, a delegation from the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) visited the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan with the purpose of exploring and promoting the long-term development of behavior analysis in the region. The delegates included: Wayne Fisher, Ph.D., Linda J. Hayes, Ph.D., Alexandra Logue, Ph.D., Maria E. Malott, Ph.D., and M. Jackson Marr, Ph.D. During their visit the delegation met with several prominent figures in government, education, and military including a visit with Her Royal Highness, Princess Muna Al Hussein, the mother of Jordan’s King, His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein (Association for Behavior Analysis Newsletter, 2005, Vol. 28, No. 3).
As a result of this meeting and follow-up discussions with ABAI representatives, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan established the first Middle Eastern Masters degree program in behavior analysis which began during the summer of 2007. The program is housed at the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) in the Faculty of Nursing and there are currently 30 students enrolled across two cohorts in the Applied Behavior Health Analysis Master’s Program. In the program, academic course instruction is delivered using a hybrid model of online and face-to-face formats. Recognized experts in behavior analysis are invited to teach in the program by the Program Coordinator, Linda J. Hayes, Ph.D.
In addition, to their academic coursework students are also required to successfully complete four practical training courses. Practical training differs from the other courses listed in the plan of study in that training takes place with two Master’s level behavior analysts – face-to-face – over an eight to nine week period. Training is carried out in human service centers around Jordan primarily with developmentally disabled populations. Students work in these centers during the practicum course under the supervision of their instructors.
An important component of any practical training course is ensuring that students have the materials necessary to effectively provide behavioral therapy to the clients with whom they are working. These materials include items that assist with the facilitation of teaching, measuring, and delivering consequences. With the generous assistance of the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis (SABA) International Development grant they were able to purchase $1,000 of practicum materials for the Jordan University of Science and Technology Behavior Health Analysis Program. Specifically Erick was able to use the SABA grant to purchase various timers, counters, resource manuals, flashcards, puzzles, and games.
The first cohort of students is currently enrolled in their fourth and final practicum course and the second cohort of students will be starting their first practicum course this summer. The students and their instructors have already been reporting successfully gains with their clients at the Autism Academy of Jordan using these materials and have personally expressed thanks to SABA for their donation to better their training. On behalf of all of the students and instructors at the Jordan University of Science and Technology Erick would like to thank SABA for their commitment to supporting behavior analysis worldwide.
2009 Doctoral Dissertation Grant Awardee: Nigel Vahey (Dept. of Psychology, Maynooth Co. Kildare)
Nigel Vahey
While studying for a single honors undergraduate degree in Mathematics at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, Nigel Vahey gained experience working in care-giving roles with populations ranging from people with severe learning disabilities and challenging behaviors to those incarcerated within the Irish prison system. These experiences coupled with his analytic training in studying mathematics inspired Nigel to further his education within the experimentally oriented undergraduate degree in Psychology provided by the National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM). Nigel’s undergraduate research provided the first examination of implicit self-esteem using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP; see http://psychology.nuim.ie/IRAP/IRAP_1.shtml), a measure conceptualized by Prof. Barnes-Holmes using Relational Frame Theory (RFT). The success of this research prompted Nigel to continue with similar research to Ph.D. level under the guidance of Prof. Dermot Barnes-Holmes at NUIM.
Implicit beliefs, as operationalized by the IRAP, are largely driven by immediate and relatively brief relational responses; they are conceptualized in contradistinction to self-report measures which reflect extended and coherent relational response networks. In more colloquial terms, the IRAP captures spontaneous and automatic evaluations whereas self-report measures capture more carefully considered deliberative reactions. Given the compelling relevance of implicit measures to behaviors characterized by impulsiveness, Nigel decided to focus his Ph.D. research on examining the contributions of implicit processes to the psychological underpinnings of tobacco dependence.
In brief, Nigel’s Ph.D. research has already provided the first evidence that implicit reinforcement expectancies support experientially avoidant processes psychologically important in maintaining tobacco-dependence (e.g. http://psychology.nuim.ie/IRAP/SmokingStudies.zip). Implicit reinforcement expectancies are implicit belief tendencies about the effectiveness of smoking as a means of regulating unpalatable feelings. In other words, to the degree that smokers implicitly believe that smoking can enhance their enjoyment (positively reinforce; e.g. “I enjoy smoking when I’m happy”) and reduce their emotional distress (negatively reinforce; e.g. “I need to smoke when I’m upset”) then they are more likely to automatically engage in smoking as a means of controlling and coping with fluctuating thoughts and feelings throughout the day.
By examining reinforcement expectancies, Nigel’s research aims to provide a unique and efficient means of assessing two core progeny of RFT: relational responding and experiential avoidance. The smoking-IRAP’s Nigel has so far developed with Prof. Barnes-Holmes appear to provide superior behavioral prediction relative to comparable self-reports or alternative implicit measures (see http://psychology.nuim.ie/IRAP/SmokingStudies.zip); Nigel’s research has potential to substantially improve understanding of the role of implicit avoidant processes in maintaining smoking and in precipitating smoking-relapse. Upon completion of his Ph.D., Nigel wishes to conduct post-doctoral research to further pursue the role of implicit reinforcement expectancies in supporting addictive processes. The support provided by the SABA Doctoral Dissertation Grant will undoubtedly assist Nigel in achieving these goals and he would like to express his gratitude to the generous members of the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis whose contributions make the grant possible.
2009 Doctoral Dissertation Grant Awardee: Diann Gaalema (Georgia Institute of Technology, Zoo Atlanta)
Diann Gaalema
Diann Gaalema, is a 5th year graduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology with a focus on animal behavior. Her unique program allows her access to animals at the local zoo and botanical gardens where she can apply the principles of behavior analysis to improve the care and management of exotic species. It was a long and interesting road that led to these current circumstances. While pursuing her undergraduate degree at Arizona State University Diann was first introduced to behavior analysis while working in the lab overseen by Dr. Peter Killeen. Her subsequent focus on reptile and amphibian research was a natural transition from the many hours of field work spent pursuing her minor in Biology where she surveyed and studied exotic species in the Sonoran desert and forests of Ecuador. A subsequent internship at the Phoenix Zoo demonstrated a significant opportunity to combine the two interests into a worthwhile career. Ample opportunity existed to use behavioral analysis in the zoo and the diversity of most herpetology departments provided opportunities for research that had high application value as well as the potential for interesting comparative results. At this point, Diann was informed that there was a graduate program available that would allow her to pursue her interest in working with exotic animals at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Once there, under the direction of Dr. M. J. Marr and Dr. Terry Maple, Diann began her work of applying behavioral principles to the exotic reptiles at Zoo Atlanta. Using operant techniques, she has trained large and potentially dangerous animals (Aldabra tortoises and a Komodo dragon) to comply with various husbandry and veterinary procedures. Additionally, she was able to use these techniques for more basic research, studying the learning and discrimination abilities of various types of monitor lizards. Currently, Diann has shifted her focus from operant conditioning to Pavlovian and from reptiles to amphibians. For her dissertation work, she is attempting to use sexual conditioning – a type of Pavlovian conditioning where the conditional stimulus signals access to a member of the opposite sex – to improve breeding outcomes in South American frogs. Recently, amphibians worldwide are suffering great extinction losses due to disease and changing global conditions. Scientists are scrambling to try and preserve at least some of these species for possible reintroduction. Breeding exotics in captivity is problematic, so Diann’s current work is focused on trying to provide another tool to help improve these conservation efforts. After obtaining her degree, Diann hopes to find a faculty position where she can teach while continuing her research. Ideally, she would be able to find a position at a university located near an exotic animal facility where she could replicate the productive research relationship she currently enjoys. She could then establish new relationships between the university and other facilities and continue her work of applying research findings from Psychology to the care and management of exotic animals.
2009 Master’s Thesis Grant Awardee: Bess Puvanthingal (Temple University)
Bess Puvathingal
Bess Puvathingal received her undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis with a double major in Psychology and Biology. While at Washington University, Bess worked as a service provider for children with autism, utilizing behavioral analytic principles to facilitate communicative, social, and academic skills. This experience piqued her academic interest in behavior analysis. Upon completing her undergraduate degree, she pursued her Master’s degree in applied behavior analysis through the University of Nevada, Reno while working as an associate behavior analyst for the public school system. Following her training at UNR, Bess continued her work in the developmental disabilities sector by serving as a special education coordinator for behavior analytic services in St. Louis County.
In 2006, Bess began her doctorate in social psychology under the supervision of Dr. Donald A. Hantula at Temple University. Her research utilizes a behavioral economic paradigm to explore decision making under conditions of uncertainty. She studies escalation of commitment, defined as the recommitment of resources to a failing course of action. Escalation is often conceptualized as having “invested too much to quit.” An economics perspective suggests that it is irrational to consider prior costs in current decisions; future prospects should guide rational decision making. In stark contrast to this traditional economics perspective, the behavior analytic perspective suggests that prior events set the stage for decision making and that escalation is a rational strategy for making decisions under conditions of uncertainty. It is this perspective that serves as the framework for Bess’s research.
Her Master’s work at Temple extends the escalation literature by exploring the interaction between equivocality (i.e., random, unpredictable feedback) and sunk cost on escalation decisions. She utilizes a temporal analysis to clarify when and to what extent equivocality and sunk cost influence behavior, and to what extent those behaviors are actually “irrational.” As an application of her behavioral economic research, Bess is particularly interested in political decision making processes framed as escalation decisions. A current line of research examines escalation theory as it applies to international conflict situations, including a case study of the Iraq War.
Bess plans to continue her research on escalation and political decision making for the remainder of her program at Temple University. Upon finishing her doctorate, she is interested in applying her behavioral perspective to policy research. Bess would like to thank the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis for selecting her as a recipient of the Master’s Thesis Grant and for their generous support of graduate research.