Association for Behavior Analysis International

If this tiny talk could have a theme it would be connections. My checkered academic career has largely been driven by opportunities for making connections between several domains, as well as people—colleagues and students. As with most anyone who lives long enough, the course of my career is marked by many turns into new avenues, some quite unanticipated. I sketch some of these turns—the pivotal role of Georgia Tech, UNC Chapel Hill where I first become a behavior analyst, Harvard Medical School—behavior pharmacology and the big time, Georgia Tech again, running a behavior pharmacology lab and forays into electromagnetics, EAB and Zoo Atlanta, behavior dynamics, conceptual/philosophical concerns, instructional design and engineering education, and my roles and adventures in ABAI where I have repeatedly emphasized that, as a field, we should look outward, not inward.

The emergence of a new species, according to Darwin's theory of natural selection, depends on a baseline of variable attributes (or phenotypes). A parallel exists for learned behaviors: the shaping of operant responses depends on variations in ongoing behavior. Darwin described many examples of selection from variations. He also described selection of variation, i.e., variability that was maintained because a variable species was more likely to survive than one with limited attributes. Here, too, a behavioral parallel exists: the variability of operant responses is itself sensitive to reinforcing consequences. Thus, as shown by both evolutionary biology and behavioral psychology, successful selection-by-consequences depends on baseline variations and successful variation depends (in part) on selection-by-consequences. In support, I will show that levels of response variability -- from repetitions to random-like responding -- can be reinforced. I will also briefly indicate that reinforcement of variability facilitates acquisition of difficult-to-learn behaviors; that "varied practice" enhances skilled performance; that reinforcement of variable interactions increases the enriching effects of novel objects; and that reinforcement of variability can contribute to therapies for abnormally shy, inhibited, or stereotypy-generating individuals, as in those with autism spectrum disorder.

Teaching verbal behavior to children with disabilities was the first functional aim on my trip as a behavior analyst. It produced a horizon of light. Then, the combination of application along with teaching and researching, looking for the conditions responsible for generating behavior, were all very inspiring experiences. Then, jumping in other areas of research that were starting in the field focused on the analysis of complex behaviors as problems solving, rule governed behavior and self-knowledge. In this track, equivalence and derived relational responding emerged and enlightened even more the functional horizon. It was the onset for understanding and generating the emergence of novel behavior, of novel and untrained functions based on stimuli relations. It was as if the tree of the functional perspective was growing up and growing up. And more research continued in areas still obscure as the formation of the self as those rules about oneself whose function dominates and controls other behaviors. In a nutshell, it has been, and still is, an exciting and creative experience for me to navigate and extend with many others along the functional tree either when teaching, doing research, or in the huge application the latter has permitted.

Prof. Hart will discuss some of the lessons he’s learned from studying psychoactive substances in people for more than 20 years. He will briefly describe the neurobiological, socio-environmental, and political forces that influence substance use and experiences. Particular attention will be paid to racial biases ingrained in today’s communities. As such, he will urge attendees to stand up on behalf of those who may use psychoactive substances in their pursuit of happiness.

The Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) was founded in 1990 by Doreen Granpeesheh, Ph.D., BCBA-D, at the suggestion of O. Ivar Lovaas, Ph.D., who wanted the participants in his groundbreaking study to have an ABA program to attend when they aged out of his UCLA research. What began as a one-woman practice in Westwood, California, grew into the largest ABA provider in the world with more than 260 clinic locations in 33 states. Having practiced, researched, and advocated for ABA for over 40 years, Dr. Granpeesheh provides a view of the earliest years of behavioral applications to the treatment of autism, and speaks of the ways in which access to ABA has grown, largely as a result of the onset of health insurance funding. Dr. Granpeesheh shares the lessons learned in the field, describes how data-driven decisions continue to shape behavior analysis, and shares her insights on future directions.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.