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 Scholarly Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Paper Competition Winners |
| Saturday, May 24, 2025 |
| 5:00 PM–5:50 PM |
| Marriott Marquis, M2 Level, Marquis Salon 6 |
| Area: DEI; Domain: Service Delivery |
| Chair: Daniel Kwak (Western New England University) |
| CE Instructor: Zeinab Hedroj, M.S. |
| Abstract: This competition is designed to encourage, promote, and reward behavior analytic scholarship on topics and issues in DEI, both in the field of behavior analysis and more broadly. Students (graduate or undergraduate) and post-graduate professionals who have completed empirical or conceptual papers relevant to DEI that are informed, at least in part, by a behavior-analytic perspective were invited to submit. |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
| Target Audience: Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students. |
Learning Objectives: 1. This presentation will highlight the role of self-reflection in enhancing cultural responsiveness in practice.
2. This presentation will outline strategies for tailoring assessments and interventions to clients’ cultural needs.
3. This presentation will describe methods for achieving language match in culturally responsive service delivery.
4. Define Implicit and Explicit Racial Bias in Behavioral Terms
5. Evaluate the Efficacy of Different Intervention Conditions in Mitigating Implicit and Explicit Racial Bias
6. Discuss the Role of Relational Flexibility in Bias Reduction |
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| Cultural Responsiveness in Behavior Analytic Practice: A Thematic Analysis |
| ZEINAB HEDROJ (University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Munroe-Meyer Institute) |
| Abstract: This study reviews the literature on cultural responsiveness in applied behavior analysis, offering a thematic overview of recommendations to enhance service delivery. We conducted a comprehensive search across multiple databases, resulting in 47 peer-reviewed articles that met our inclusion criteria. Through a thematic analysis of extracted recommendations, we identified three primary themes: self-reflection, including sub-themes such as awareness of one’s culture, reflection on biases, and assessing competency and humility; tailoring assessments and interventions, which includes learning about clients' backgrounds, adapting assessments, collaborating with clients and caregivers, and modifying intervention components; and language match, encompassing the use of interpretation services, bilingual staff, translation of materials, and modern technologies. This paper aims to provide clinicians with a comprehensive overview of recommendations in the literature to help enhance their cultural competency in practice. |
 Zeinab is a PhD student in behavior analysis at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Munroe-Meyer Institute under the advisement of Dr. Catalina Rey. Her research focuses on skill acquisition, cultural responsiveness, and translational research on relapse. She aims to contribute to the development of effective interventions to improve learning outcomes and enhance culturally responsive practices in behavior analysis to better serve individuals from diverse backgrounds. |
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| Mitigating Racial Bias in a Caucasian Sample Using Prophylactic Functional Response Class Training Method |
| DENISE PASSARELLI (Universidade Federal de São Carlos) |
| Abstract: Racial biases can be captured using self-report methods and simulated first person shooter games, such as Corell’s Police Officer Dilemma task (PODT). The current study adopts a behavior-analytic approach to reducing racial bias on such measures. The prophylactic intervention approach involved exposing 116 Caucasian adults (mean age: 23.13 years, 69 females) to one of various configurations of the Function Acquisition Speed Test (FAST) method across four conditions before exposure to two self-report and the PODT measure. These conditions involved establishing functional response classes consistent with racial bias, inconsistent with racial bias, or establishing both bias-consistent and bias-inconsistent functional response classes (i.e., relational flexibility). A fourth control condition involved no intervention. Results indicated that participants in the stereotype-consistent condition (C3) were more accurate in shooting armed Black targets compared to White targets in the PODT. Furthermore, C3 and C4 Control participants were more accurate in refraining from shooting unarmed White targets compared to Black targets. No such racial bias was observed in the relational flexibility condition (C1) or the stereotype-inconsistent (C2) condition. A consistent pro-Black bias was observed on the Modern Racism Scale (MRS) across all conditions. Likert scale ratings showed that Black faces were rated more positively than White faces in the stereotype-inconsistent condition only. These findings provide some process-level insights into the formation and change of socially problematic verbal relations that characterize racial bias. |
 A Ph.D. student that is interested in experimental psychology and behavior analysis of cognition. During my undergraduate degree, I studied phenomena related to transitivity, function transfer, and generalization of stimuli. During my master's degree, the Subliminal Conditioning and the mediation of appetitive motivation. Currently, I am investigating the experimental analysis of racial prejudice. |
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