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| All Appetitive, All the Time: Implementing Appetitive Functional Relations Across Various Settings |
| Sunday, May 26, 2024 |
| 10:00 AM–11:50 AM |
| Convention Center, 200 Level, 202 AB |
| Area: PCH/CBM; Domain: Theory |
| Chair: Wesley Malvini (University of Louisiana at Lafayette) |
| Discussant: Ashley N. Fiorilli (Be Still Be Connected LLC) |
| CE Instructor: Ashley N. Fiorilli, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: Behavior analysis in general, and contextual behavioral science in particular, seek to understand and intervene upon behavior by examining its functional relationship with the context in which behavior occurs. While ultimately the expressed goals of behavior analysis and contextual behavioral science are to expand repertoires to foster freedom, it is not uncommon for interventionists to find themselves focusing on reducing the behaviors they perceive as problematic instead of nurturing behaviors that are pleasant or meaningful to the people they serve. All Appetitive, All the Time is an emerging perspective that emphasizes intervening upon the bidirectional relationship between context and behavior to resource expansion of individual repertoires toward seeking, exploring, and engaging across a range of contexts and consistent with personal needs. This symposium reviews All Appetitive, All the Time as an overarching approach and explores the application of All Appetitive, All the Time in various settings including parent-child interactions, punitive environments, and psychedelic-assisted therapy. |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
| Keyword(s): appetitive control, behavioral analysis, functional control |
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| All Appetitive, All the Time: An Aspirational Invitation to Reconsider Behavior Analysis |
| TAYLOR ELIZABETH ROUSSEL (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Matthew Francis Arcona (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Jacob C Norris (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Bella Laine Patterson (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Wesley Malvini (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Emily Kennison Sandoz (University of Louisiana Lafayette) |
| Abstract: Despite the aspirational emphasis on applying learning principles to build repertoires and foster the experience of freedom, the reduction of behavior cast as “problematic” by the therapist often takes precedence in intervention. This orientation toward therapist-defined behavioral excesses is not without costs, which have become increasingly apparent in practical, scholarly, and advocacy domains. The development of assent-based intervention, calls for compassionate and trauma-informed care, emerging data on burnout, and explicit characterizations of applied behavior analysis as abusive all suggest that some shift is needed to reorient our field. This shift may be found in an emerging approach to applied and clinical behavior analysis - All Appetitive, All the Time. All Appetitive, All the Time limits programmed contingencies to appetitive consequences, incorporating aversives only as antecedents and only to the extent that they emerge in a person’s natural learning environment. Recent conceptualizations of complex and challenging behaviors (e.g., privilege, affirmative sexual consent, intimacy across power differentials) have centered the importance of the aversive-appetitive distinction in characterizing functional relations between context and behavior with explicit implications for intervention. Broadly, these implications can be cast as a reconsideration of the purpose of behavior analytic interventions - to build an appetitive learning repertoire. |
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| All-Appetitive Parenting: Maximizing Protective Functions of Parenting Behavior |
| MATTHEW FRANCIS ARCONA (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Jacob C Norris (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Bella Laine Patterson (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Taylor Elizabeth Roussel (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Wesley Malvini (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Emily Kennison Sandoz (University of Louisiana Lafayette) |
| Abstract: Raising a child is often cited as the most stressful, and yet rewarding, experience of a parent’s life (Lansford et al., 2011). Parenting, as a variable, is highly correlated with the development of self-regulation repertoires (Sun et al., 2023), internalizing disorders (Zeevi-Cousin & Lavenda, 2023), and externalizing disorders (Kane & Garber, 2004) in both typically developing and neurodivergent children (Boonen et al., 2014). As such, it has become common for behavior analytic treatment packages to emphasize centering positive reinforcement contingencies. These include: Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (Funderburk & Eyberg, 2011), Attachment and Emotion-focused Parenting (Jugovac, 2022), and The Balance Program (Ruppel et al., 2021). However, the majority of the extant literature has focused on intervening upon parent-child relationships that are already experiencing distress (Kei et al., 2023). As opposed to investigating how these same strategies may be utilized to bolster protective factors in high risk populations. Interventions specifically focused on promoting behavior under appetitive functional relations and ultimately, appetitive learning (Sandoz, 2023), may provide an approach that reliably enhances growth and supports nurturing parent-child relationships. The current paper offers a practical behavior analytic framework aimed at fostering, functionally appetitive parent-child relationships as protective factors in high risk families. |
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| All-Appetitive Rehabilitation: Reconsidering Process and Outcome for Incarcerated Persons |
| JACOB C NORRIS (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Bella Laine Patterson (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Taylor Elizabeth Roussel (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Matthew Francis Arcona (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Wesley Malvini (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Emily Kennison Sandoz (University of Louisiana Lafayette) |
| Abstract: Our nation was founded on the principle that everyone has the right to liberty and justice, but how true is this for those who are incarcerated? The U.S. justice system has four primary goals for those incarcerated: deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, and rehabilitation (Kifer et al., 2003). Despite these broad goals, incarcerated individuals are exposed to harsh settings forcing them to adapt to survive predominantly aversive environments (Haney, 2001). The current environment prisons provide appears to not accommodate inmates without preexisting mental health conditions, nor those who had preexisting mental health issues (Goomany and Dickinson, 2015). Additionally, variables like overcrowding, lack of work/recreational activity, and reduced access to family may have functioned to create significant impacts on the mental health of those incarcerated (Edgemon and Clay-Warner, 2018; Haney, 2001). Reforming the antiquated approach of using punishment to address deviant behavior has potential with the implementation of an All Appetitive, All the Time approach, where environments are tailored to the specific needs of incarcerated individuals to resource the expansion of their repertoire. This paper will reconceptualize rehabilitation of incarcerated persons in terms of facilitating appetitive learning to support effective and meaningful living both in prison and beyond. |
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Psychedelic-Assisted Transformation: Integrating Psychedelics Into Behavior Therapy to Redefine Aversive Contexts |
| BELLA LAINE PATTERSON (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Taylor Elizabeth Roussel (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Matthew Francis Arcona (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Jacob C Norris (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Hunter Kyle Sudduth (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Matthew David Andersland (University of Memphis), Emily Kennison Sandoz (University of Louisiana Lafayette) |
| Abstract: The resurgence of interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics has opened new avenues for management of the kinds of social, emotional, and behavioral struggles typically cast as mental disorders. By combining insights gained from psychedelic experiences with well-established principles of behavior therapy, a potentially efficacious approach emerges for the treatment of conditions characterized by aversive responses in the face of appetitive stimuli. For example, research findings by Carhart-Harris et al. (2016) and Mithoefer et al. (2018) demonstrate the potential for psychedelics to reorient individuals’ perspectives and emotional responses, making them more receptive to behavior therapy interventions. Moreover, psychedelic therapy has reputed positive effects when accounting for diverse problems (Walsh & Thiessen, 2018), similar to the positive effects exhibited with third-wave behavior therapies such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Hayes et al., 1999), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (Linehan, 1993), and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (Segal et al., 2002). The current study will examine the available literature to explore how the integration of psychedelics into behavior therapy might be served by the All Appetitive, All the Time conceptual framework, addressing the dominance of aversive functional relations and reorienting individuals toward appetitive contingencies, with consideration of ethical and safety concerns, professional guidance, and therapeutic efficacy. |
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