Toward the Development of Behavior Science in India
by Maria E. Malott, Smita Awasthi, Martha Hübner, Linda J. Parrott Hayes, and Ingunn Sandaker
1 Delegates speak to journalists during a press conference. From left to right: Ingunn Sandaker, Maria E. Malott, Smita Awasthi, Martha Hübner, and Linda J. Parrott Hayes.
From September 18–25, 2016, an ABAI delegation traveled to India to promote the long-term development of behavior science in that large, diverse, and rapidly changing country. With more than 1.2 billion people (India, 2016), India has tremendous potential for growth and fertile ground to build a strong foundation in the science of behavior and its applications. Today, India is the seventh-largest economy in the world, and the fastest growing. The size of the population and recent accelerated economic advances accentuate the huge disparities between a few wealthy citizens and the disproportionately large number who live in poverty and who face significant challenges in education, living conditions, and health care.
2 Panel in systems analysis. From left to right, Maria Malott, Krishnaswami Srihari, and Ingunn Sandaker.
As young people move to cities looking for education and employment, India is receiving international support to improve standards of living and pave the way for a much brighter future. For instance, the World Bank established a 5-year partnership (2013–2017) to achieve faster, more sustainable growth via support in the areas of financing, advisory services, and programs to overcome critical challenges such as improvements in quality education and socioeconomic empowerment of girls and young women (Mehra, 2014; World Bank, 2016). As another example, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated to the Public Health Foundation of India for treatment and prevention of infectious disease (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2016).
Initiated at a request from ABA India, an ABAI-affiliated chapter, the delegation was approved by the Executive Council to disseminate information regarding ABAI and the development of the science of behavior. Smita Awasthi and Maria Malott prepared for the trip with invaluable support from the ABAI President Martha Hübner, Past President Linda J. Parrott Hayes, and International Representative to the Council, Ingunn Sandaker—all delegates. Figure 1 shows a meeting at the century-old Press Club of India. There, delegates met with about 20 journalists from media companies and newspapers in India.
3 Members of ABA India who participated in the discussion about chapter goals and the establishment of the science of behavior in the country.
Delegates
All delegates brought unique perspectives and expertise to contribute to the dialogue.
Maria E. Malott, ABAI CEO, has been managing ABAI’s growth and diversification under the direction of the ABAI Executive Council for 23 years. She has also served as a behavior systems science consultant to companies across a variety of industries: health, manufacturing, retail, and services. Her focus was to explore how ABAI’s network, products, and services could assist in furthering the development of the science in India. In addition, along with Ingunn Sandaker, Malott helped to educate relevant constituencies on the application of behavior science to human systems and organizations.
Smita Awasthi was the host of the delegation and representative of ABA India. Along with ABA India and leaders in applied behavior analysis in the country, she coordinated exchanges with education, government, and research institutions that expressed interest in behavioral science. A doctoral student at Queen’s University Belfast, UK, her interest in behavior science began 27 years ago while she was working on a UNICEF project involving children with developmental disabilities. She has spent more than 20 years in the field of autism and developmental disabilities and has long appreciated the need to solidify the science of behavior in higher education and expand applications to other areas.
Martha Hübner, who has been instrumental in the development of behavior analysis in Brazil, participated in her role as ABAI’s president. Dr. Hübner is a full professor of experimental psychology at the Institute of Psychology, University of São Paulo. She conducts research at the Laboratory for the Study of Verbal Operants, managing processes in the acquisition of symbolic behaviors such as reading, writing, and verbal episodes. She works in three research areas: the investigation of the empirical relations between verbal and nonverbal behavior, the analysis of the processes of control by minimal units in reading, and the study of behavior programs for children with autism. Linda J. Parrott Hayes, past president of ABAI, is a distinguished professor at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). She led ABAI’s Education Board for several years and has been influential in its recent development, as well as in the definition of standards for accrediting programs in behavior analysis. She co-founded the behavior analysis program at UNR on a self-capitalization model and served as its director for more than a decade. Dr. Hayes is the founder and director UNR’s satellite programs in behavior analysis, which are aimed at meeting the ever-growing demand for qualified practitioners in regions where appropriate training has been unavailable or inaccessible. She has participated in other international delegations and, through efforts at UNR, established master’s programs in behavior analysis in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Ingunn Sandaker contributed as international representative to the ABAI Executive Council. She is a professor at Akershus University College and initiated the development of the first Ph.D. program in behavior analysis in Norway and established the first international BA and MA programs accredited by the Behavior Analysis Accreditation Board of ABAI in 2014. She has been a management consultant to a variety of companies, including Norwegian energy companies, the Norwegian Olympic Committee, and Phillips Petroleum. Her focus for the delegation was to bring performance management within a systems framework and integrate complementary scientific positions with a behavior analytic conceptual perspective.
The delegates traveled to Delhi and Bangalore and met with several institutions, the press, the local chapter, and leaders in behavior analysis in the country. The initiative focused on educating relevant constituencies on a comprehensive and global perspective of the science of behavior, and the role of ABAI and ABA India.
ABA India
ABA India was affiliated with ABAI in 2006, and since its inception has focused on the development of behavior analysis applications to the treatment of children with autism, as well as training parents and professionals. Applied behavior analysis began in India with the creation and spread of autism centers, which now total approximately 80 across 15 cities. There are more than 30 BACB-credentialed practitioners in the country, and they are expanding efforts to train a critical mass of behavior analysts to meet a dire need for services to children with autism and other disabilities—though there is not yet an academic program to generate doctoral and master’s-level graduates. The chapter has 45 members and is interested in expanding its contributions in all domains and applications, including addressing environmental issues and climate change and helping organizations and institutions succeed. At the chapter’s annual conference, in pursuit of diversification of applications, a special session addressed why some organizations survive and others fail (see figure 2).
Delegates also met for a discussion session with the members of ABA India. The discussion focused on particular needs of the chapter, how to diversify applications, and how to encourage the development of higher education programs. Figure 3 shows chapter members who participated in the discussion. In addition, delegates met with leaders of influential organizations in Delhi and Bangalore, including two critical institutions for the establishment of higher education in India:
- The University Grants Commission (UGC). Since 1956, this government institution has approved the standards of higher education in the country regarding teaching, examination, and research.
- The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. A government institution that establishes rules and regulations for practice, training, and skills at doctoral, master’s, bachelor’s, and technical levels.
The delegates also met with leaders from two of the top-ranking universities in the country:
- The University of Delhi. A unitary teaching and residential university established in 1922.
- The National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences. A research and academic training institute for patient care in mental health and neurosciences that provides input to the central and state governments on national programs for mental health.
Finally, the delegates met with researchers and the top administrator of the Indian Council of Medical Research. Founded in 1911. This is one of the largest medical research bodies in the world and focuses on research from biomedical disciplines to control and manage communicable and non-communicable diseases.
Delegation Points of Emphasis
A worldwide behavioral revolution is taking place. As a science, we need to respond to growing global recognition of and demand for our work. There are inspiring global initiatives, such as Barack Obama’s Executive Order Using Behavioral Science Insights to Better Serve the American People (White House, 2015), which was issued for immediate release from the Office of the Press Secretary during his presidency. This executive order aimed to put into effect a Behavioral Science Insights Policy Directive (Grunwald, 2009). Other international initiatives are bringing global recognition to the need for behavioral solutions to improve societies. We hope that India assumes a role in such developments.
A solid foundation in behavior science must include basic and applied research and theory. The delegates all agreed with Hübner’s statements that, “practice without theory and basic research is blind,” and, “theory and basic research without practice are lame” (Hübner, 2015). Blindness coming from the rupture between practice and science domains affects the whole field. Without science, over time behavioral practice becomes adulterated. We need our epistemology and our philosophy to make new analyses when we face new problems; techniques alone do not give us the tools to develop and improve the field (2015).
Behavior science must work with other sciences to improve society. We need to integrate other evidence-based fields so that we might be recognized across disciplines. Accreditation and codification of behavior analysis as a scientific system are key to recognition by other basic and applied sciences. Behavior science is a basic science like biology, physics, and chemistry, and like other basic sciences it also has an applied aspect, similar to medicine, engineering, and pharmacology. If the science is fractured it cannot be taken seriously by other sciences.
Quality programs in higher education are essential. Quality accredited bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral university programs are critical for the long-term establishment of a discipline. The aim of program accreditation is to specify and standardize the elements of high-quality educational programs in behavior analysis at different levels. To increase the number of highly qualified practitioners, behavior science must be installed in universities, and eventually graduate courses will need to be delivered by doctoral-level instructors.
Behavior science applications to human systems are needed for improving communities. In efforts to help communities, a systems perspective is invaluable. Not only can behavior systems science assist leaders to focus on the development of their organizations, but it can also aid in determining how to best influence government, nonprofit, and for-profit organizations through understanding of the interaction of subsystems, identification of core behavioral processes, and management for continuous growth.
Conclusion
Delegations such as this one are consistent with ABAI’s mission to contribute to the well-being of society by developing, enhancing, and supporting the growth and vitality of the science of behavior analysis through research, education, and practice (Malott, 2003). This most recent international delegation followed trips to Russia (Malott, Morrow, Glenn, & Hayes, 2001); China (Malott et al., 2002); Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar (Malott et al., 2003); and Jordan (Fisher, Hayes, Logue, Marr, & Malott, 2005).
The 2016 delegation to India has been fruitful in the aspect of disseminating information about the wide scope of behavior science and its multiple applications, the global emphasis on behavior to find solutions to society’s major problems, the critical importance of solid higher education foundations, and the role of ABAI. Since our return, ABAI accreditation specialists have been requested as advisors to help define standards of higher education in India. There is also interest in pursuing exchanges with research scientists from various disciplines to learn about behavioral research methodology. These efforts are now being explored. We realize that the needs in India are significant, but so is the potential, and we look forward to celebrating what is certain to be major growth in behavioral science in that nation. ABAI, ABA India, and many other organizations anticipate productive cooperation and collaboration in the years ahead.
References
Behavioural Insights Team. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk/
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database
White House. (2015). Executive order—using behavioral science insights to better serve the american people. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/09/15/executive-order-using-behavioral-scienceinsights-better-serve-american
Fisher, W., Hayes, L., Logue, A., Marr, M., & Malott, M. E. (2005, Fall). ABA delegation goes to Jordan. ABA Newsletter, 28(3), 7–10.
Grunwald, M. (2009). How Obama is using the science of change. Time. Retrieved from https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1889153,00.html
Hübner, M. M. (2015, May). Presidential address: Behavior analysis without borders. Presentation at the 41st Annual Convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis International, San Antonio, TX.
India. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved May 9, 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India
Malott, M. E. (2003, Fall). Dissemination of behavior analysis: The role of international delegations. ABA Newsletter, 26(3), 7–9.
Malott, M. E., Al-Qassab, N., Hayes, L., Marr, M. J., Johnson, K., Williamson, P., & Richardson, S. (2003, Fall). ABA delegation works toward the establishment of behavior analysis in the Middle East. ABA Newsletter, 26(3), 3–6.
Malott, M. E., Hayes, L., Marr, M. J., Morrow, J., Peng, D., Terzich, B., Tu, J., & Sugiyama, N. (2002, Summer). China: Land of opportunity for behavior analysis. ABA Newsletter, 25(2), 6–8.
Malott, M. E., Morrow, J., Glenn, S. S., & Hayes, L. (2001, Fall). ABA goes to Russia. ABA Newsletter, 23(3), 4–8.
Mehra, P. (2014). World Bank report stresses behavioural aspects. The Hindu. Retrieved from https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/worldbank-report-stresses-behavioural-aspects/ article6691378.ece
The World Bank. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/india/overview