Association for Behavior Analysis International

The Association for Behavior Analysis International® (ABAI) is a nonprofit membership organization with the 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.

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46th Annual Convention; Washington DC; 2020

Program by : Monday, May 25, 2020


 

B. F. Skinner Lecture Series Paper Session #585
CE Offered: BACB
Diversity submission Climate Change Demands Behavioral Change: Giving the Future a Chance
Monday, May 25, 2020
4:00 PM–4:50 PM
Marriott Marquis, Level M2, Marquis Ballroom 6
Area: SCI; Domain: Theory
Chair: Cynthia J. Pietras (Western Michigan University)
CE Instructor: Cynthia J. Pietras, Ph.D.
Presenting Author: ELKE WEBER (Princeton University)
Abstract:

Bounded rationality and finite processing capacity result in homo sapiens focusing attention first on the here and now. But many individual and social problems require attention to future costs and benefits, with climate change the most urgent challenge for decisions that fully and justly weigh immediate and certain costs and benefits of business-as-usual or greenhouse gas mitigation efforts against delayed, risky, and often disputed costs and benefits. Psychological theories from prospect theory to hyperbolic discounting and query theory predict that future costs of business-as-usual and future benefits of GHG mitigation efforts will typically get short thrift in such decisions. I present data for three interventions that focus greater attention on future consequences and thus provide entry points for choices that better balance short- and long-term goals and objectives. (1) In trade-offs between immediate and delayed consumption, discounting of future consequences is reduced when choice options with future benefits are made the default and when decision makers are prompted to consider arguments for such choices first (Weber et al., 2007). (2) Individual and country-level data show that citizens may use perceptions of their country’s age to predict its future continuation, with longer pasts predicting longer futures, and longer futures justifying greater investments into sustainability. Thus, framing a country as a long-standing entity can promote pro-environmental behavior (Hershfield, Bang, & Weber, 2014). (3) Finally, individuals’ motivation to leave a positive legacy can be leveraged to increase engagement with climate change and other environmental problems (Zaval, Markowitz & Weber, 2015).

Instruction Level: Intermediate
Target Audience:

Anyone interested in behavior and behavior change.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation, participants will be able to: (1) define the concept of status-quo bias and provide examples of it; (2) identify at least one cognitive and one motivational reason for status-quo bias; (3) create ways of helping decision makers overcome their status-quo bias in a specific situation.
 
ELKE WEBER (Princeton University)

Elke Weber is the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment and Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. Her research models decision-making under uncertainty and time delay in financial and environmental contexts from a psychological and neuroscience perspective. Her expertise in the behavioral decision sciences has been sought out by advisory committees of the National Academy of Sciences on Human Dimensions in Global Change, an American Psychological Association Task Force that issued a report on the Interface between Psychology and Global Climate Change, and Working Group III for the 5th and 6th Assessment Report of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). She is past president of the Society for Neuroeconomics, the Society for Judgment and Decision Making, and the Society for Mathematical Psychology. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, the Society for Risk Analysis, the Society for Experimental Psychology. She received the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the Society for Risk Analysis and was also elected to the German National Academy of Sciences.

 
 
Special Event #610
CE Offered: PSY/BACB/QABA/NASP
Diversity submission Presidential Address: Compassionate Behaviorism
Monday, May 25, 2020
6:00 PM–6:50 PM
Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Level 3, Ballroom AB
Instruction Level: Intermediate
Chair: Peter R. Killeen (Arizona State University)
CE Instructor: Peter R. Killeen, Ph.D.
 
Diversity submission 

Presidential Address: Compassionate Behaviorism

Abstract:

Many are concerned about the state of the world. The effects of climate change, political polarization, and backlash to social movements that cultivate equality threaten our future. Even outside and within our own discipline, conflict continues. Many of us joined ABAI because we support the vision that the problems of the world can be solved through the principles of behavior analysis. Can they?

Perhaps. Many of the answers to the world’s problems still reside within the discipline; indeed, our own community of behavior scientists and behavior analysts have continued to generate some of the solutions. However, seeking perspective outside of the discipline to understand the complex contingencies of social groups, networks, and organizations is also critical. An integration of these viewpoints is the foundation for a compassionate behaviorism—a philosophy that includes the action and verbal behavior of humility, behavioral flexibility, self-control, perspective taking, and empathy. These terms will be carefully defined and their functions discussed. Compassionate behavioral action can be and should be practiced at multiple levels: toward our earth, towards outsiders of our verbal communities, to those within our verbal communities, and even towards ourselves.

 
ERIN RASMUSSEN (Idaho State University)
 
Dr. Erin B. Rasmussen received her Ph.D. in the Experimental Analysis of Behavior with a minor in behavioral pharmacology and toxicology from Auburn University under the direction of Dr. Christopher Newland. She is currently a professor of psychology at Idaho State University. The work from her animal and human laboratories has generated over 50 peer-reviewed publications. Most recently, she conducts research on the behavioral economics of food reinforcement in the context of obesity. Her latest series of studies, funded by the NIH, examines delay discounting in food insecure populations. She has served on the Science Board of the ABAI and is a past Associate Editor of Perspectives on Behavior Science (formerly The Behavior Analyst).
 
Target Audience:

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students. 

 
 

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