Paste your essay in here…Many psychologists obtain ‘doctor of philosophy’ degrees because in the 1800s psychology was a philosophy, it was not a science. In the 1920’s the field of psychology changed and brought the principles of science to the practice of psychology. The field in the 1920s & 30s became interested in discovering the ‘Laws of Behavior” just like other sciences that were interested in learning the Laws of Physics, the Laws of Chemistry and so on. The principles of reinforcement; punishment; stimulus control; stimulus discriminations; modeling; generalization; avoidance; and other principles became thought of as “Laws of Behavior”.
Psychologists don’t use the term “Laws of Behavior” anymore. But the behavioral principles that were discovered then (and continue to be discovered since) are used frequently to improve a person’s life. The purpose of developing these principles is as follows: 1) to understand why people behave the way they do; and 2) to learn the best way to teach people new skills in line with their short-term & long-term goals and objectives.
I’d like to make some comments on common misunderstandings I’ve read about ABA on the internet:
There is the notion that using artificial rewards (reinforcers) when teaching children new skills impairs internal motivation. This is not true. Using rewards increases internal motivation. There is considerable research on this topic (Cameron J., Pierce, W.D. 2002). There are a few exceptions, for example, if the parent rewards the child when s/he completes his/her chores the child will clean his room, take out the trash, and so on, more often. However, if the parents subsequently decide to give the same rewards to the child regardless of whether s/he completes chores, the child will complete his chores less often. For more information on this topic, including the complete references, see my post on internal motivation. It's the first post on this blog.
I've read that ABA professionals abuse children because they advocate the use of punishment when designing treatment plans. The professionals who work in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis do not advocate, in fact, they disavow any technique or procedure that is abusive to children and adults. BF Skinner, the founder of ABA, advocated the use of positive reinforcement (rewards) over the use of punishment, particularly over the use of punishment alone.
There is considerable misinformation about ABA providers using electric shock on children. ABA practitioners do not deliver electric shocks to children “until they do what you want” – as I have seen suggested on the internet. ABA people would never use electric shocks to teach children compliance. Let me give you a few examples of how ABA practitioners used electric shock with children I've lifted from Applied Behavior Analysis Second Edition by Cooper J., Heron T., & Heward W.J. (2007).
T.R. Linsheid, Brian Iwata and others worked with Donna, a 17-year-old girl with a 10-year history of self-injurious behavior. Donna had a diagnosis of mental retardation. She had no speech, she was not independent in her toileting, she had few self-help skills. When Linsheid and Iwata were called in to assess the child they found a girl who was in restraints. Her hands were tied to a chair in the classroom, and to her bed at night. When the restraints were untied the girl hit her head at a very high response rate. During the assessment period (baseline) she hit her head 68 to 72 times per minute. They used a SIBIS device, which is a hat or helmet that can deliver mild electric shocks (about as aversive as a rubber band being snapped on a wrist) to the child immediately after the child hit her head. She received a total of 32 electric shocks for a combined total duration of 2.6 seconds of electric stimulation.
During treatment sessions, she hit her head between 0 and 5.6 per minute each session, a 98.9% reduction. Donna’s teacher reported the following: ”Since the introduction of SIBIS, it is like we have a totally new girl in the classroom. Donna no longer has to have her hands restrained. She is walking around the classroom not wearing the helmet… She smiles more frequently and fusses a lot less…. She reaches out for objects and people more than she did.” Similar results were obtained for 5 other children with similar self-injurious behavior.
Salvy, Mulick, and others in 2004 used a similar treatment procedure. They reported that the self-injurious behavior of a 3-year-old girl with an 18-month history of head banging remained at virtually zero after at a 1 year follow up.
These are not typical children. These are developmentally delayed children with severe behavior problems that are a threat to themselves and others. Before these treatments are used they must be approved by an oversight committee. The speed and degree of suppression of self-injurious behavior obtained is considered when determining whether electric shock should be used. Once the self-injurious behavior is reduced in frequency then the staff/parents use positive reinforcement procedures to teach behaviors, skills, that are incompatible with SIB (e.g., if your hands are coloring they can’t be hitting.).
Regarding the use of punishment. If ABA practitioners suggest to parents to use mild punishers to change their child’s misbehavior they might include: a 5-minute chore, loss of privileges, losing points or stars, brief time out, contingent observation (sit & watch). A reinforcement program for more appropriate behavior is always included. As mentioned previously, aversive consequences like shock are only used as a last resort to control self-abusive behavior or similar maladaptive behavior that is a threat to the child or other people. Punishing a child for misbehavior alone does not teach a child what to do. Parents must reward their children through praise, attention, access to fun activities, artificial rewards, and natural rewarding consequences for the child to learn new skills. You don’t learn through trial and error, you learn by trial and success. (See my post on Punishment).
I've read that teaching plans should not include punishment, it's abusive. When I was in Elementary School and in High School I would get hit by the teacher's ruler or pointer stick occasionally. Today, few (if any) teachers support using corporal punishment in schools. In teaching, punishment cannot be eliminated completely. Let’s say you are teaching your daughter to ride a bike. If she loses her balance and falls she experiences a punishing consequence. If she rides without falling, she experiences reinforcing consequences: she gets from place to place, she experiences success, it’s fun. This is true of most learning experiences. Burnt spaghetti sauce does not taste as good as sauce cooked well. A carpenter who cuts a board too short (a punishing consequence) soon learns to measure twice and cut once.
ABA practitioners yell and scream at children. ABA practitioners do not suggest that parents or teachers yell and scream at children to change their behavior. In fact, There are a number of studies that show that a firm reprimand like NO or STOP given at normal conversational levels can suppress misbehavior effectively. Oleary, Kaufman and others showed that reprimands audible only to the child and not others was more effective than saying the reprimand in a loud voice.
ABA practitioners ignore peoples feelings and emotions. ABA practitioners do care about people’s feelings and emotions and consider them in treatment. What ABA providers do is collect data to determine if the treatment they are using is effective. They rely on observable behavior. So, if the concern, for example, is depression, they have the person describe the irrational thoughts they are having with themselves that lead to depression. The client writes down their thoughts and feelings and makes them observable. The therapist helps them change their irrational thoughts (nobody likes me, I’m a terrible father/mother) into more rational thoughts that then lead to a reduction in feelings of depression. This is cognitive behavior therapy, a therapy based on principles of behavior analysis ( Aaron Beck MD researched and developed these procedures). This is just one example. There are also techniques based on Skinner’s book, Verbal Behavior that effectively teach language skills. There is the work of Engelmann and Becker who developed curricula to teach children thinking, reading, and math skills.
Here is another way to view ABA. Do you want to toilet train your child? Do you want to teach him/her how to read? How to be kind, have good manners? Teach him or her math skills? How to dress themselves, develop self-help and social skills, learn job skills? Play a musical instrument? Then you will use ABA teaching techniques to do so (whether you are aware of it or not) because ABA teaching techniques are based upon principles of learning. It’s how people learn to do anything. If you learn the ABA techniques you will be a more effective teacher than if you do not.
Remember there is a difference between the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (what are the "laws of behavior"), the science of Applied Behavior Analysis (how are the principles of ABA best applied), and ABA practitioners (the people trained in ABA who work with children and adults).
As in any profession, there are ABA providers who are well trained, and those who are not. Some use punishment procedures incorrectly, the far majority do not. In a field where there are thousands of providers, you are going to find some bad apples. I’m sure people who scan the internet can name some of them. People like to use punishment techniques to control behavior. Our society teaches people to use aversive control. That is not what ABA supports. Again, ABA emphasizes the use of positive reinforcement to teach people new skills, not punishment.
To understand further, may I suggest you read Science and Human Behavior by Skinner. It’s a great read and you will understand his philosophy. Applied Psychology For Teachers by Wesley Becker is an old but excellent book published in (1986). One of my favorite parenting books is The Kazdin Method for Parenting the Defiant Child by Alan Kazdin (2009). It has a terrible title but it's a great book. I believe there is a revised updated version. Also, my source for much of this post was Applied Behavior Analysis Second Edition, by Cooper, Heron, and Heward (2007).