Association for Behavior Analysis International

In this symposium, three training programs for researchers from Mexican universities based on behavioral analysis are presented and discussed: regarding their conceptual foundation, lines of generation and application of knowledge, their design and operation, as well as their evolution and the challenges they face to improve the quality of their educational programs. The first program describes the research lines of two research and training laboratories of the Faculty of Psychology of the Autonomous University of Mexico, In the second, the postgraduate program in Behavioral Science of the Center for Studies and Research in Behavior of the University of Guadalajara. Third, master’s degree in research in Psychology Applied to Education of the Universidad Veracruzana. Many of the faculty members of these programs are part of the Mexican Society for Behavior Analysis and the Mexican System of Research in Psychology. Likewise, several of them are members of the Association for Behavioral Analysis International.

Three general lines of research on human behavior that are developed in the Faculty of Psychology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico are presented as a sample of experimental and field work from multiple perspectives carried out in this institution. Remote Psychological Care for Mental Health in the face of Health Contingency due to COVID-19. The objective of the project is to evaluate the effect of the risk detection strategy, management, and monitoring, remotely, of mental health conditions on 5 thousand participants during and after the health contingency by COVID-19: through monitoring the implementation and validation of decision algorithms in psychological triage and linkage between levels of care, with information and communication technology. The laboratory of development and context of social behavior is directed to the experimental and field study of the mechanisms of regulation of social exchanges under representative situations of social dilemmas and processes of relevance in school and family environments. The Laboratory of Comparative Action and Cognition has been dedicated to showing contemporary advances in research in temporal control of behavior in both human and non-human organisms. Both laboratories investigate how behavior adapts to the temporal restrictions of the environment.

The postgraduate program in behavioral science at the University of Guadalajara was created as an initiative to train young people oriented to basic research and to approach phenomena related to behavioral sciences from an experimental methodology. The program is recognized by the Mexican government and is supported by the National Council of Science and Technology. Due to its characteristics and quality, the program has been of interest to both national and international students. Currently, the master's and doctoral programs in behavioral science have become an international benchmark as a program of excellence for training in basic research in behavior analysis and behavioral sciences. The Center for Behavioral Studies and Research (CEIC) is an academic space aimed at generating knowledge through the development of research programs and the training of new researchers. The postgraduate programs are integrated into laboratories that address the analysis of phenomena relevant to the study of behavior, both in non-human animals and in humans.

The purpose of this paper is to share with the academic community the reflections and foundation of a master's program designed for the training of researchers in psychology applied to education from the point of view of analysis of behavior. The exposition has the following sections: 1. The conceptual foundation. 2. Extension of basic science to applied psychology. 3. The Model of Individual Scientific Practice and the logical functions of language in the construction and application of knowledge. 4. Lines of Generation and Application of Knowledge. 4. Criteria for a program recognized for its quality. The program described has contributed to the training of 15 generations of students, since its founding in 1991. The greatest challenge has been to move from a curricular model focused on the method as a formal abstraction of scientific knowledge as a causal explanation, to another conception that gives priority to the psychological dimension of the task from a field logic