Behavior Analysis and Culture: Contexts of Child Behavior Analytic Therapy

Abstract

In the 1990s, the term “behavioral analytics” was incorporated to the Applied Behavior Analysis in contexts of children’s psychology clinic to specify principles of Experimental Behavior Analysis in robust production of basic and applied research, with
emphasis on verbal relations and selection of cultural practices. The purpose of this paper is to highlight stimuli from the cultural milieu that make up a selective environment for new practices. Functional analyses of three-term or four-term contingencies are investigated in clinical interventions, and based on reports of caregivers, professionals and children. The reliability
and validity of behavioral measures are subject of research, including the potential induction of new functions of highly-preferred, non-functional reinforcers combined with functional reinforcers of a problem behavior. Interfaces with areas that are both internal (e.g., developmental, social, cross-cultural, comparative, evolutionary psychology) and external to psychology contribute to advances in CBAT. The ideographic, the single case designs, and the nomothetic approaches provide a critical framework for individual and population analyses. Culture is a driving axis for therapists in formulating treatment programs “with” each client
(child and family members).