applied behavior analysis research paper

Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice

• Read this journal
• Journal snapshot
• Advertising information

Journal scope statement

Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice is a multidisciplinary journal committed to increasing the communication between the subdisciplines within behavior analysis and psychology, and bringing up-to-date information on current developments within the field.

It publishes original research, reviews of the discipline, theoretical and conceptual work, applied research, translational research, program descriptions, research in organizations and the community, clinical work, and curricular developments.

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, clinical behavior analysis, applied and translational behavior analysis, behavior therapy, behavioral consultation, organizational behavior management, and human performance technology.

Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice presents current experimental and translational research, and applications of behavioral analysis, in ways that can improve human behavior in all its contexts: across the developmental continuum in organizational, community, residential, clinical, and any other settings in which the fruits of behavior analysis can make a positive contribution.

The journal also provides a focused view of behavioral consultation and therapy for the general behavioral intervention community. Additionally, the journal highlights the importance of conducting clinical research from a strong theoretical base. Additional topic areas of interest include contextual research, third-wave research, and clinical articles.

For more information regarding submissions to Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice , please visit the Types of Articles Accepted by Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice page.

Disclaimer: APA and the editors of the Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice assume no responsibility for statements and opinions advanced by the authors of its articles.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion

Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice supports equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in its practices. More information on these initiatives is available under EDI Efforts .

Editor’s Choice

One article from each issue of Behavioral Analysis: Research and Practice will be highlighted as an “ Editor’s Choice ” article. Selection is based on the recommendations of the associate editors, the paper’s potential impact to the field, the distinction of expanding the contributors to, or the focus of, the science, or its discussion of an important future direction for science. Editor’s Choice articles are featured alongside articles from other APA published journals in a bi-weekly newsletter and are temporarily made freely available to newsletter subscribers.

Author and editor spotlights

Explore journal highlights : free article summaries, editor interviews and editorials, journal awards, mentorship opportunities, and more.

Prior to submission, please carefully read and follow the submission guidelines detailed below. Manuscripts that do not conform to the submission guidelines may be returned without review.

To submit to the editorial office of Joel E. Ringdahl, please submit manuscripts electronically through the Manuscript Submission Portal in Microsoft Word or Open Office format.

Prepare manuscripts according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association using the 7 th edition. Manuscripts may be copyedited for bias-free language (see Chapter 5 of the Publication Manual ). APA Style and Grammar Guidelines for the 7 th edition are available.

Submit Manuscript

Joel E. Ringdahl, PhD, BCBA Associate Professor Special Education 565 Aderhold Hall University of Georgia Email

General correspondence may be directed to the editorial's office .

In addition to addresses and phone numbers, please supply email addresses, as most communications will be by email.

Manuscript preparation

Review APA's Journal Manuscript Preparation Guidelines before submitting your article.

If your manuscript was mask reviewed, please ensure that the final version for production includes a byline and full author note for typesetting.

Double-space all copy. Other formatting instructions, as well as instructions on preparing tables, figures, references, metrics, and abstracts, appear in the Manual . Additional guidance on APA Style is available on the APA Style website .

Below are additional instructions regarding the preparation of display equations, computer code, and tables.

Display equations

We strongly encourage you to use MathType (third-party software) or Equation Editor 3.0 (built into pre-2007 versions of Word) to construct your equations, rather than the equation support that is built into Word 2007 and Word 2010. Equations composed with the built-in Word 2007/Word 2010 equation support are converted to low-resolution graphics when they enter the production process and must be rekeyed by the typesetter, which may introduce errors.

To construct your equations with MathType or Equation Editor 3.0:

• Go to the Text section of the Insert tab and select Object.
• Select MathType or Equation Editor 3.0 in the drop-down menu.

If you have an equation that has already been produced using Microsoft Word 2007 or 2010 and you have access to the full version of MathType 6.5 or later, you can convert this equation to MathType by clicking on MathType Insert Equation. Copy the equation from Microsoft Word and paste it into the MathType box. Verify that your equation is correct, click File, and then click Update. Your equation has now been inserted into your Word file as a MathType Equation.

Use Equation Editor 3.0 or MathType only for equations or for formulas that cannot be produced as Word text using the Times or Symbol font.

Computer code

Because altering computer code in any way (e.g., indents, line spacing, line breaks, page breaks) during the typesetting process could alter its meaning, we treat computer code differently from the rest of your article in our production process. To that end, we request separate files for computer code.

In online supplemental material

We request that runnable source code be included as supplemental material to the article. For more information, visit Supplementing Your Article With Online Material .

In the text of the article

If you would like to include code in the text of your published manuscript, please submit a separate file with your code exactly as you want it to appear, using Courier New font with a type size of 8 points. We will make an image of each segment of code in your article that exceeds 40 characters in length. (Shorter snippets of code that appear in text will be typeset in Courier New and run in with the rest of the text.) If an appendix contains a mix of code and explanatory text, please submit a file that contains the entire appendix, with the code keyed in 8-point Courier New.

Use Word's insert table function when you create tables. Using spaces or tabs in your table will create problems when the table is typeset and may result in errors.

Academic writing and English language editing services

Authors who feel that their manuscript may benefit from additional academic writing or language editing support prior to submission are encouraged to seek out such services at their host institutions, engage with colleagues and subject matter experts, and/or consider several vendors that offer discounts to APA authors .

Please note that APA does not endorse or take responsibility for the service providers listed. It is strictly a referral service.

Use of such service is not mandatory for publication in an APA journal. Use of one or more of these services does not guarantee selection for peer review, manuscript acceptance, or preference for publication in any APA journal.

Submitting supplemental materials

APA can place supplemental materials online, available via the published article in the PsycArticles ® database. Please see Supplementing Your Article With Online Material for more details.

Abstract and keywords

All manuscripts must include an abstract containing a maximum of 250 words typed on a separate page. After the abstract, please supply up to five keywords or brief phrases.

List references in alphabetical order. Each listed reference should be cited in text, and each text citation should be listed in the references section.

Examples of basic reference formats:

Journal article

McCauley, S. M., & Christiansen, M. H. (2019). Language learning as language use: A cross-linguistic model of child language development. Psychological Review , 126 (1), 1–51. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000126

Authored book

Brown, L. S. (2018). Feminist therapy (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000092-000

Chapter in an edited book

Balsam, K. F., Martell, C. R., Jones. K. P., & Safren, S. A. (2019). Affirmative cognitive behavior therapy with sexual and gender minority people. In G. Y. Iwamasa & P. A. Hays (Eds.), Culturally responsive cognitive behavior therapy: Practice and supervision (2nd ed., pp. 287–314). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000119-012

Preferred formats for graphics files are TIFF and JPG, and preferred format for vector-based files is EPS. Graphics downloaded or saved from web pages are not acceptable for publication. Multipanel figures (i.e., figures with parts labeled a, b, c, d, etc.) should be assembled into one file. When possible, please place symbol legends below the figure instead of to the side.

• All color line art and halftones: 300 DPI
• Black and white line tone and gray halftone images: 600 DPI

Line weights

• Color (RGB, CMYK) images: 2 pixels
• Grayscale images: 4 pixels
• Stroke weight: 0.5 points

APA offers authors the option to publish their figures online in color without the costs associated with print publication of color figures.

The same caption will appear on both the online (color) and print (black and white) versions. To ensure that the figure can be understood in both formats, authors should add alternative wording (e.g., “the red (dark gray) bars represent”) as needed.

For authors who prefer their figures to be published in color both in print and online, original color figures can be printed in color at the editor's and publisher's discretion provided the author agrees to pay:

• $900 for one figure
• An additional $600 for the second figure
• An additional $450 for each subsequent figure

Permissions

Authors of accepted papers must obtain and provide to the editor on final acceptance all necessary permissions to reproduce in print and electronic form any copyrighted work, including test materials (or portions thereof), photographs, and other graphic images (including those used as stimuli in experiments).

On advice of counsel, APA may decline to publish any image whose copyright status is unknown.

• Download Permissions Alert Form (PDF, 13KB)

Publication policies

For full details on publication policies, including use of Artificial Intelligence tools, please see APA Publishing Policies .

APA policy prohibits an author from submitting the same manuscript for concurrent consideration by two or more publications.

See also APA Journals ® Internet Posting Guidelines .

APA requires authors to reveal any possible conflict of interest in the conduct and reporting of research (e.g., financial interests in a test or procedure, funding by pharmaceutical companies for drug research).

• Download Full Disclosure of Interests Form (PDF, 41KB)

In light of changing patterns of scientific knowledge dissemination, APA requires authors to provide information on prior dissemination of the data and narrative interpretations of the data/research appearing in the manuscript (e.g., if some or all were presented at a conference or meeting, posted on a listserv, shared on a website, including academic social networks like ResearchGate, etc.). This information (2–4 sentences) must be provided as part of the author note.

Ethical Principles

It is a violation of APA Ethical Principles to publish "as original data, data that have been previously published" (Standard 8.13).

In addition, APA Ethical Principles specify that "after research results are published, psychologists do not withhold the data on which their conclusions are based from other competent professionals who seek to verify the substantive claims through reanalysis and who intend to use such data only for that purpose, provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and unless legal rights concerning proprietary data preclude their release" (Standard 8.14).

APA expects authors to adhere to these standards. Specifically, APA expects authors to have their data available throughout the editorial review process and for at least 5 years after the date of publication.

Authors are required to state in writing that they have complied with APA ethical standards in the treatment of their sample, human or animal, or to describe the details of treatment.

• Download Certification of Compliance With APA Ethical Principles Form (PDF, 26KB)

The APA Ethics Office provides the full Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct electronically on its website in HTML, PDF, and Word format. You may also request a copy by emailing or calling the APA Ethics Office (202-336-5930). You may also read "Ethical Principles," December 1992, American Psychologist , Vol. 47, pp. 1597–1611.

Other information

See APA’s Publishing Policies page for more information on publication policies, including information on author contributorship and responsibilities of authors, author name changes after publication, the use of generative artificial intelligence, funder information and conflict-of-interest disclosures, duplicate publication, data publication and reuse, and preprints.

Visit the Journals Publishing Resource Center for more resources for writing, reviewing, and editing articles for publishing in APA journals.

Joel E. Ringdahl University of Georgia, United States

Associate editors

Jonathan C. Baker, PhD, BCBA-D Western Michigan University, United States

Andrew R. Craig, PhD SUNY Upstate Medical University, United States

Kelly Schieltz, PhD University of Iowa, United States

Maria G. Valdovinos, PhD, BCBA-D Drake University, United States

Consulting editors

Keith D. Allen, PhD, BCBA-D Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation, United States

Cynthia M. Anderson, PhD, BCBA-D May Institute, United States

Scott P. Ardoin, PhD, BCBA-D University of Georgia, United States

Jennifer Austin, PhD, BCBA-D Georgia State University, United Kingdom

Judah Axe, PhD, BCBA-D, LABA Simmons University, United States

Jessica  Becraft, PhD Kennedy Krieger Institute, United States

Kevin Michael Ayres, PhD, BCBA-D The University of Georgia, United States

Jordan Belisle, PhD, BCBA, LBA Missouri State University, United States

Carrie S.W. Borrero, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA Kennedy Krieger Institute, United States

Rachel R. Cagliani, PhD, BCBA-D University of Georgia, United States

Regina Carroll, PhD University of Nebraska Medical Center, United States

Joseph D. Cautilli, PhD Behavior Analysis and Therapy Partners, United States

Linda J. Cooper-Brown, PhD University of Iowa, United States

Casey  Clay, PhD, BCBA-D Utah State University, United States

Mack  S. Costello, PhD, BCBA-D Rider University, United States

Neil Deochand, PhD University of Cincinnati, United States

Florence D. DiGennaro Reed, PhD, BCBA-D University of Kansas, United States

Mark R. Dixon, PhD, BCBA-D Southern Illinois University, United States

Jeanne M. Donaldson, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA Louisiana State University, United States

Claudia L. Dozier, PhD BCBA-D, LBA-KS University of Kansas, United States

Anuradha  Dutt, PhD Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Terry S. Falcomata, PhD University of Texas at Austin, United States

Margaret R. Gifford, PhD Louisiana State University Shreveport, United States

Shawn P. Gilroy, PhD NCSP BCBA-D LP Louisiana State University, United States

Kaitlin Gould, PhD, BCBA-D The College of St. Rose, United States

John Guercio, PhD, BCBA-D Benchmark Human Services, United States

Louis Hagopian, PhD Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, United States

Thomas S. Higbee, Ph.D., BCBA-D Utah State University,   United States

Joshua Jessel Queens College,   City University of New York,   United States

P. Raymond Joslyn, PhD West Virginia University, United States

Michael E. Kelley, PhD, BCBA-D, LP University of Scranton, United States

Carolynn S. Kohn, PhD University of the Pacific, United States

Michael P. Kranak, PhD, BCBA-D Oakland University Center for Autism, United States

Joseph M. Lambert, PhD, BCBA-D Vanderbilt University, United States

Robert LaRue, PhD Rutgers University, United States

Anita Li, PhD University of Massachusetts Lowell, United States

Joanna Lomas Mevers, PhD, BCBA-D Marcus Autism Center, United States

Odessa Luna, BCBA-D, PhD St. Cloud State University, United States

David B. McAdam, PhD University of Rochester, United States

Jennifer McComas, PhD University of Minnesota, United States

Brandon E. McCord, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA West Tennessee Community Homes, United States

Heather M. McGee, PhD Western Michigan University, United States

Raymond G. Miltenberger, PhD University of South Florida, United States

Daniel R. Mitteer, PhD, BCBA-D Children's Specialized Hospital and Rutgers University Center for Autism Research, Education, and Services, United States

Samuel L. Morris, PhD, BCBA Louisiana State University, United States

Matthew Normand, Ph.D., BCBA-D University of the Pacific, United States

Matthew J. O’Brien, PhD, BCBA-D University of Iowa, United States

Yaniz Padilla Dalmau, PhD, BCBA-D Seattle Children’s Hospital, United States

Steven W. Payne, PhD, BCBA-D University of Nevada, Las Vegas, United States

Sacha T. Pence, PhD Western Michigan University, United States

Christopher A. Podlesnik, PhD, BCBA-D University of Florida, United States

Shawn Quigley, PhD, BCBA-D, CDE Melmark, United States

Allie E. Rader, PhD, BCBA-D May Institute, United States

Mark P. Reilly, PhD Central Michigan University, United States

Patrick W. Romani, PhD, BCBA-D University of Colorado School of Medicine, United States

Griffin Wesley Rooker, PhD, BCBA Mount St. Mary's University, United States

Valdeep Saini, PhD Brock University, Canada

Mindy Scheithauer, PhD, BCBA-D Emory University School of Medicine and Marcus Autism Center, United States

Daniel B. Shabani, PhD, BCBA-D Shabani Institute, United States

M. Alice Shillingsburg, PhD, BCBA-D University of Nebraska Medical Center, United States

Sarah Slocum Freeman, PhD, BCBA-D Emory University and Marcus Autism Center, United States

Julie M. Slowiak, PhD, BCBA-D University of Minnesota Duluth, United States

William E. Sullivan, PhD SUNY Upstate Medical University, United States

Jessica Torelli, PhD, BCBA-D University of Georgia, United States

Kristina K. Vargo, BCBA-D, LBA Sam Houston State University, United States

Jason Vladescu, PhD   Caldwell University, United States

Valerie M. Volkert, PhD, BCBA-D Emory University School of Medicine, United States

Timothy  R. Vollmer, PhD University of Florida, United States

Mary Jane Weiss, PhD, BCBA-D, LABA Endicott College, United States

Benjamin N. Witts, PhD, BCBA-D, IBA St. Cloud State University, United States

David  A. Wilder, PhD, BCBA-D Florida Institute of Technology, United States

Kara Wunderlich, PhD, BCBA-D Rollins College, United States

Karla A. Zabala-Snow, PhD, BCBA-D Emory University/Marcus Autism Center, United States

Amanda Zangrillo, PsyD, BCBA-D University of Nebraska Medical Center, United States

Abstracting and indexing services providing coverage of Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice

Special issue of APA’s journal Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, Vol. 21, No. 3, August 2021. This special issue highlights works that offer new or innovative perspectives on the role behavior analysis plays in growing this area of research and practice via (a) informing health and fitness behavior change; (b) designing and evaluating interventions to support health-behavior change or improve fitness and sport performance; and (c) identifying opportunities and recommendations to advance research and inform practice in the areas of health, sport, and fitness.

Special issue of the APA journal Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, Vol. 18, No. 1, February 2018. Themes of the articles include addressing difficulties associated with neurocognitive disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and the use of stimulus preference assessment procedures.

Special issue of the APA journal Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, Vol. 16, No. 4, November 2016. Articles discuss behavioral pharmacology's contributions to understanding the behavioral effects of drugs of abuse and other substances, the variables that modulate those effects, and the mechanisms through which they are produced, and offer novel and important suggestions for advancing the discipline.

Special issue of the APA journal Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, Vol. 17, No. 3, August 2017. The articles in this issue address behavior analysis in education in three domains: replicating procedures established in controlled evaluations in classrooms, expanding access to behavioral intervention, and evaluating variations of procedures designed for school use.

Special issue of the APA journal Behavioral Analysis: Research and Practice, Vol. 15, No. 1, February 2015. Includes articles about operant discrimination learning, class size effects, game research, and behavior research using animals.

Inclusive reporting standards

• Bias-free language and community-driven language guidelines (required)

More information on this journal’s reporting standards is listed under the submission guidelines tab .

Other EDI offerings

Orcid reviewer recognition.

Open Research and Contributor ID (ORCID) Reviewer Recognition provides a visible and verifiable way for journals to publicly credit reviewers without compromising the confidentiality of the peer-review process. This journal has implemented the ORCID Reviewer Recognition feature in Editorial Manager, meaning that reviewers can be recognized for their contributions to the peer-review process.

Masked peer review

This journal offers masked peer review (where both the authors’ and reviewers’ identities are not known to the other). Research has shown that masked peer review can help reduce implicit bias against traditionally female names or early-career scientists with smaller publication records (Budden et al., 2008; Darling, 2015).

This journal is available online only.

Editor Spotlight

• Read an interview with editor Joel E. Ringdahl, PhD

Journal Alert

Sign up to receive email alerts on the latest content published.

Welcome! Thank you for subscribing.

Subscriptions and access

• Pricing and individual access
• APA PsycArticles database

Calls for Papers

Access options

• APA publishing resources
• Educators and students
• Editor resource center

APA Publishing Insider

APA Publishing Insider is a free monthly newsletter with tips on APA Style, open science initiatives, active calls for papers, research summaries, and more.

Social media

Contact Journals

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings
• My Bibliography
• Collections
• Citation manager

Save citation to file

Email citation, add to collections.

• Create a new collection
• Add to an existing collection

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search, create a file for external citation management software, your rss feed.

• Search in PubMed
• Search in NLM Catalog
• Add to Search

The Evidence-Based Practice of Applied Behavior Analysis

Affiliations.

• 1 Utah State University, Logan, UT USA.
• 2 Wing Institute, Oakland, CA USA.
• 3 Ball State University, Muncie, IN USA.
• 4 Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ USA.
• 5 Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR USA.
• 6 University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC USA.
• PMID: 27274958
• PMCID: PMC4883454
• DOI: 10.1007/s40614-014-0005-2

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a model of professional decision-making in which practitioners integrate the best available evidence with client values/context and clinical expertise in order to provide services for their clients. This framework provides behavior analysts with a structure for pervasive use of the best available evidence in the complex settings in which they work. This structure recognizes the need for clear and explicit understanding of the strength of evidence supporting intervention options, the important contextual factors including client values that contribute to decision making, and the key role of clinical expertise in the conceptualization, intervention, and evaluation of cases. Opening the discussion of EBP in this journal, Smith (The Behavior Analyst, 36, 7-33, 2013) raised several key issues related to EBP and applied behavior analysis (ABA). The purpose of this paper is to respond to Smith's arguments and extend the discussion of the relevant issues. Although we support many of Smith's (The Behavior Analyst, 36, 7-33, 2013) points, we contend that Smith's definition of EBP is significantly narrower than definitions that are used in professions with long histories of EBP and that this narrowness conflicts with the principles that drive applied behavior analytic practice. We offer a definition and framework for EBP that aligns with the foundations of ABA and is consistent with well-established definitions of EBP in medicine, psychology, and other professions. In addition to supporting the systematic use of research evidence in behavior analytic decision making, this definition can promote clear communication about treatment decisions across disciplines and with important outside institutions such as insurance companies and granting agencies.

Keywords: Client values; Clinical expertise; Decision making; Empirically supported treatments; Evidence-based practice; Professional judgment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

• Ethical Behavior Analysis: Evidence-Based Practice as a Framework for Ethical Decision Making. Contreras BP, Hoffmann AN, Slocum TA. Contreras BP, et al. Behav Anal Pract. 2021 Oct 18;15(2):619-634. doi: 10.1007/s40617-021-00658-5. eCollection 2022 Jun. Behav Anal Pract. 2021. PMID: 35692530 Free PMC article. Review.
• The Effectiveness of Integrated Care Pathways for Adults and Children in Health Care Settings: A Systematic Review. Allen D, Gillen E, Rixson L. Allen D, et al. JBI Libr Syst Rev. 2009;7(3):80-129. doi: 10.11124/01938924-200907030-00001. JBI Libr Syst Rev. 2009. PMID: 27820426
• Advancing the Scientific Foundation for Evidence-Based Practice in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. Roberts MC, Blossom JB, Evans SC, Amaro CM, Kanine RM. Roberts MC, et al. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2017 Nov-Dec;46(6):915-928. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2016.1152554. Epub 2016 May 24. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2017. PMID: 27218141
• Sicily statement on evidence-based practice. Dawes M, Summerskill W, Glasziou P, Cartabellotta A, Martin J, Hopayian K, Porzsolt F, Burls A, Osborne J; Second International Conference of Evidence-Based Health Care Teachers and Developers. Dawes M, et al. BMC Med Educ. 2005 Jan 5;5(1):1. doi: 10.1186/1472-6920-5-1. BMC Med Educ. 2005. PMID: 15634359 Free PMC article. Review.
• Smart Medical Information Technology for Healthcare (SMITH). Winter A, Stäubert S, Ammon D, Aiche S, Beyan O, Bischoff V, Daumke P, Decker S, Funkat G, Gewehr JE, de Greiff A, Haferkamp S, Hahn U, Henkel A, Kirsten T, Klöss T, Lippert J, Löbe M, Lowitsch V, Maassen O, Maschmann J, Meister S, Mikolajczyk R, Nüchter M, Pletz MW, Rahm E, Riedel M, Saleh K, Schuppert A, Smers S, Stollenwerk A, Uhlig S, Wendt T, Zenker S, Fleig W, Marx G, Scherag A, Löffler M. Winter A, et al. Methods Inf Med. 2018 Jul;57(S 01):e92-e105. doi: 10.3414/ME18-02-0004. Epub 2018 Jul 17. Methods Inf Med. 2018. PMID: 30016815 Free PMC article.
• An Analysis of Teaching Menstrual Care Skills Using Single-Subject Methodology: A Systematic Literature Review. Kristiansen S, Syed N, Anderson N, Bendush S. Kristiansen S, et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2024 May 23. doi: 10.1007/s10803-024-06389-0. Online ahead of print. J Autism Dev Disord. 2024. PMID: 38782882
• Humble Behaviorism Redux. Kirby MS, Spencer TD, Spiker ST. Kirby MS, et al. Behav Soc Issues. 2022;31(1):133-158. doi: 10.1007/s42822-022-00092-4. Epub 2022 Mar 25. Behav Soc Issues. 2022. PMID: 38624848 Free PMC article.
• Impact of Applied Behavior Analysis on Autistic Children Target Behaviors: A Replication Using Repeated Measures. Peterson T, Dodson J, Strale F Jr. Peterson T, et al. Cureus. 2024 Feb 1;16(2):e53372. doi: 10.7759/cureus.53372. eCollection 2024 Feb. Cureus. 2024. PMID: 38435191 Free PMC article.
• Examining the Effects of Discrete Trials, Mass Trials, and Naturalistic Environment Training on Autistic Individuals Using Repeated Measures. Peterson T, Dodson J, Hisey A, Sherwin R, Strale F. Peterson T, et al. Cureus. 2024 Feb 1;16(2):e53371. doi: 10.7759/cureus.53371. eCollection 2024 Feb. Cureus. 2024. PMID: 38435164 Free PMC article.
• Resolving Barriers to Continence for Children with Disabilities: Steps Toward Evidence-Based Practice. Donnelly MG, Karsten AM. Donnelly MG, et al. Behav Anal Pract. 2023 Dec 26;17(1):157-175. doi: 10.1007/s40617-023-00891-0. eCollection 2024 Mar. Behav Anal Pract. 2023. PMID: 38405293 Free PMC article. Review.
• Albin RW, Lucyshyn JM, Horner RH, Flannery KB. Contextual fit for behavior support plans. In: Koegel LK, Koegel RL, Dunlap G, editors. Positive behavioral support: Including people with difficult behaviors in the community. Baltimore: Brookes; 1996. pp. 81–92.
• American Occupational Therapy Association Occupational therapy practice framework: domain and process (2nd ed.) American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2008;62:625–683. doi: 10.5014/ajot.62.6.625. - DOI - PubMed
• American Psychological Association (2005). Policy statement on evidence-based practice in psychology. http://www.apa.org/practice/resources/evidence/evidence-based-statement.pdf .
• American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force of Evidence-Based Practice Evidence-based practice in psychology. American Psychologist. 2006;61:271–285. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.61.4.271. - DOI - PubMed
• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2005). Evidence-based practice in communication disorders [position statement]. www.asha.org/policy .

Related information

• Cited in Books

LinkOut - more resources

Full text sources.

• Europe PubMed Central
• PubMed Central

Other Literature Sources

• scite Smart Citations
• Citation Manager

NCBI Literature Resources

MeSH PMC Bookshelf Disclaimer

The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Unauthorized use of these marks is strictly prohibited.

An Introduction to Applied Behavior Analysis

• February 2018
• In book: Handbook of Childhood Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities Treatment (pp.25-42)
• This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.

• Autism Partnership Foundation

• Autism Partership Foundation

Discover the world's research

• 25+ million members
• 160+ million publication pages
• 2.3+ billion citations

• Joanna Kołodziejczyk

• Sarika Gaikwad
• Shailesh Wandile
• نورا تاج الدين جعفر جعفر
• João Carlos Epifânio
• Lyrene Silva
• Ashley N. Creem
• Kristine A. Rodriguez

• Justin B. Leaf

• Aida Zhanatkyzy

• Aida Amirova

• Beaverly Swee Yan Sin
• Julia Lee Ai Cheng
• J APPL BEHAV ANAL
• Donald M. Baer
• Montrose M. Wolf
• Todd R. Risley

• Ronald Leaf

• Michael F. Cataldo
• Robert Conner
• C. B. Ferster
• B. F. Skinner

• Gregory P Hanley

• AJIDD-AM J INTELLECT
• Aubrey Hui Shyuan Ng

• Eric Rudrud

• Jeremy Leaf
• Aditt Alcalay

• Recruit researchers
• Join for free
• Login Email Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google Welcome back! Please log in. Email · Hint Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google No account? Sign up

• USF Research
• USF Libraries

Digital Commons @ USF > College of Behavioral and Community Sciences > Child and Family Studies > Applied Behavior Analysis > Theses and Dissertations

Applied Behavior Analysis Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2009 2009.

It is Time to Play! Peer Implemented Pivotal Response Training with a Child with Autism during Recess , Leigh Anne Sams

Theses/Dissertations from 2008 2008

The Evaluation of a Commercially-Available Abduction Prevention Program , Kimberly V. Beck

Expert Video Modeling with Video Feedback to Enhance Gymnastics Skills , Eva Boyer

Behavior Contracting with Dependent Runaway Youth , Jessica Colon

Can Using One Trainer Solely to Deliver Prompts and Feedback During Role Plays Increase Correct Performance of Parenting Skills in a Behavioral Parent Training Program? , Michael M. Cripe

Evaluation of a Functional Treatment for Binge Eating Associated with Bulimia Nervosa , Tamela Cheri DeWeese-Giddings

Teaching Functional Skills to Individuals with Developmental Disabilities Using Video Prompting , Julie A. Horn

Evaluation of a Standardized Protocol for Parent Training in Positive Behavior Support Using a Multiple Baseline Design , Robin Lane

Publicly Posted Feedback with Goal Setting to Improve Tennis Performance , Gretchen Mathews

Improving Staff Performance by Enhancing Staff Training Procedures and Organizational Behavior Management Procedures , Dennis Martin McClelland Jr.

Supporting Teachers and Children During In-Class Transitions: The Power of Prevention , Sarah M. Mele

Effects of Supervisor’s Presence on Staff Response to Tactile Prompts and Self-Monitoring in a Group Home Setting , Judy M. Mowery

Social Skills Training with Typically Developing Adolescents: Measurement of Skill Acquisition , Jessica Anne Thompson

Theses/Dissertations from 2007 2007

Evaluating the effects of a reinforcement system for students participating in the Fast Forword language program , Catherine C. Wilcox

Theses/Dissertations from 2006 2006

The Acquisition of Functional Sign Language by Non-Hearing Impaired Infants , Kerri Haley-Garrett

Response Cards in the Elementary School Classroom: Effects on Student and Teacher Behavior , Shannon McKallip-Moss

The Effects of a Parent Training Course on Coercive Interactions Between Parents and Children , Lezlee Powell

The Effects of Role-Playing on the Development of Adaptive Skills in a Parent Training Program , Chantell A. Rodriguez-Del Valle

Archival evaluation of a proactive school wide discipline plan , Beth Rutz-Beynart

Effects of a multi-component interdependent group contingency game on the classroom behavior of typically developing elementary school children , Stacey D. Simonds

Establishing a Functional Analysis Protocol for Examining Behavioral Deficits using Social Withdrawal as an Exemplar , Melissa Penaranda Walters

Theses/Dissertations from 2005 2005

The Role of Choice Versus Preference: An Analysis of Why Choice Interventions Work , John D. Adelinis

The Effect of Direct Instruction Math Curriculum on Higher-Order Problem Solving , Pamela Christofori

The Effects of Response Cards on the Performance and Generalization of Parenting Skills , Bennie L. Colbert

A Comparison of Two Prompting Procedures on Tacting Behavior , Kelley N. Gardner

The Effects Of The Presence Of A Dog On The Social Interactions Of Children With Developmental Disabilities , Stephanie Walters

The Effects of Fluency Training on Performance, Maintenance, and Generalization of Parenting Skills , Gertie Williams

Theses/Dissertations from 2004 2004

Use of the Power Card Strategy as an Intervention with an Elementary School Student with Asperger Syndrome: Increasing On-Task Behavior in the General Education Setting , Jane M. Devenport

The Importance of Program-Delivered Differential Reinforcement in the Development of Classical Music Auditory Discrimination , Gudmundur Torfi Heimisson

The Impact of a Goal Setting Procedure on the Work Performance of Young Adults with Behavioral/Emotional/Learning Challenges , Robin Wagner Hogsholm

The Effects of Graphic Display and Training in Visual Inspection on Teachers' Detection of Behavior Change , Allana Duncan Luquette

Imitation and its Reciprocity in the Treatment of Autism , Roxana I. Nedelcu

Utility of Positive Peer Reporting to Improve Interactions Among Children in Foster Care , Jenny L. Van Horn

Behavioral Analysis of Interactions Between Teachers and Children with Selective Mutism , Jason D. Wallace

Theses/Dissertations from 2003 2003

Creating Positive Experiences: Increasing Parent Participation In A Low Income Elementary School , Krista Stinson Cayer

Evaluation Of A Presentation And Measurement Method For Assessing Activity Preference , Tara L. Lieblein

Using The ABLLS with English Language Learners: Implications for Students and Teachers , Lorie G. Schultz

Advanced Search

• Email Notifications and RSS
• All Collections
• USF Faculty Publications
• Open Access Journals
• Conferences and Events
• Theses and Dissertations
• Textbooks Collection

Useful Links

• Applied Behavior Analysis Website
• Rights Information
• SelectedWorks
• Submit Research

Home | About | Help | My Account | Accessibility Statement | Language and Diversity Statements

Privacy Copyright

Applied Behavior Analysis Research Paper Topics

This page provides a comprehensive list of applied behavior analysis research paper topics , designed to serve as an invaluable resource for students delving into the intricacies of behavior analysis. With a focus on both foundational theories and practical applications, this collection spans a wide array of subjects within the field, from the fundamental principles of behavior analysis to cutting-edge research in autism spectrum disorders, ethical considerations, and beyond. Whether you are a novice in the field of applied behavior analysis or seeking to deepen your expertise with advanced research topics, this curated list aims to inspire and guide your academic inquiries, ensuring you find a topic that not only meets your educational requirements but also sparks your intellectual curiosity.

100 Applied Behavior Analysis Research Paper Topics

Choosing the right topic for your applied behavior analysis (ABA) research is pivotal, as it not only determines the direction of your study but also impacts its relevance and potential contribution to the field. The diversity within applied behavior analysis research paper topics is vast, reflecting the field’s broad applicability to various behavioral issues and settings. From foundational theories to innovative interventions, the range of topics available offers students the opportunity to explore areas of personal interest or professional relevance, fostering a deeper understanding and engagement with the subject matter.

Academic Writing, Editing, Proofreading, And Problem Solving Services

Get 10% off with 24start discount code.

• The History and Evolution of Applied Behavior Analysis
• Key Principles of Behavior Analysis
• Behaviorism: The Theoretical Underpinning
• The Role of Reinforcement and Punishment
• Comparing ABA with Other Behavioral Therapies
• The Science of Behavior Change: Core Concepts
• Understanding Behavioral Assessments
• The Significance of Operational Definitions in ABA
• Generalization and Maintenance of Behavioral Changes
• Ethical Foundations in Applied Behavior Analysis
• Functional Behavior Assessments (FBA)
• Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs)
• Single-Subject Design in ABA Research
• Data Collection Methods in ABA
• Interpreting and Using ABA Data for Decision Making
• The Role of Indirect and Descriptive Assessments
• Reliability and Validity in Behavioral Assessments
• Use of Technology in Behavioral Assessment
• Comparative Analysis of Assessment Tools
• Behavioral Skills Training
• Discrete Trial Training (DTT)
• Natural Environment Training (NET)
• Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT)
• Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI)
• Token Economies in ABA
• The Use of Visual Supports in ABA
• Response Interruption and Redirection (RIRD)
• Functional Communication Training (FCT)
• Behavioral Activation Techniques
• Crisis Intervention Strategies in ABA
• Digital Data Collection Tools
• The Use of Virtual Reality in Behavior Analysis
• Mobile Applications for Behavioral Interventions
• Telehealth and Remote ABA Services
• Augmented Reality for Social Skills Development
• Wearable Technology in Behavioral Monitoring
• Gamification of Behavioral Interventions
• Online Training Programs for ABA Practitioners
• Enhancing Parental Engagement through Technology
• Data Analytics and Machine Learning in ABA
• Early Detection and Intervention Strategies
• Social Skills Training for Children with ASD
• Addressing Challenging Behaviors in ASD
• Parent-Implemented Interventions for Autism
• The Impact of ABA on Language Development
• Integrating ABA with Other Therapeutic Approaches
• School-Based Interventions for ASD
• Transition Planning for Adolescents with ASD
• Adult Outcomes and Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Novel Therapeutic Technologies for ASD
• Informed Consent in Behavioral Research
• Privacy and Confidentiality Issues
• Cultural Competency and Sensitivity
• Ethical Decision-Making Models
• Balancing Efficacy and Ethics in Intervention Planning
• Rights of Participants in Behavioral Studies
• Addressing Professional Conflicts of Interest
• The Use of Restraint and Seclusion
• Ethical Issues in Telehealth Services
• Maintaining Professional Boundaries
• Classroom Management Strategies
• Inclusive Education Practices
• Peer-Mediated Interventions
• Curriculum Modifications and Accommodations
• Functional Literacy in Special Education
• Behavioral Strategies for Academic Engagement
• Addressing Bullying in Schools
• Teacher Training in Behavioral Techniques
• Assessment and Intervention in School Settings
• Promoting Generalization Across Educational Contexts
• Assessing Social Competence
• Group Interventions for Social Skills Training
• Modeling and Role-Playing Techniques
• Enhancing Emotional Intelligence through ABA
• Social Narratives and Story-Based Interventions
• Peer Feedback and Social Interaction Strategies
• Technology-Assisted Social Skills Training
• Social Skills in Early Childhood Education
• Strategies for Adolescents and Adults
• Measuring Outcomes in Social Skills Interventions
• Principles of Effective Parent Training Programs
• Implementing Behavioral Strategies at Home
• Supporting Families of Children with Special Needs
• Culturally Responsive Parent Training
• Training for Caregivers of Adults with Disabilities
• Stress Management for Parents and Caregivers
• Community-Based Support Programs
• Enhancing Communication between Parents and Professionals
• Online and Remote Training Options
• Evaluating the Impact of Parent Training
• Precision Teaching and Personalized Learning
• The Intersection of ABA and Neuroscience
• Behavioral Economics and Decision Making
• Sustainability and Environmental Behavior Change
• The Future of ABA Certification and Training
• Integrative Approaches to Health and Wellness
• The Role of ABA in Public Policy Making
• Advances in Behavioral Gerontology
• ABA and Technology: The Next Frontier
• Global Perspectives and International Applications of ABA

The breadth and depth of applied behavior analysis research paper topics reflect the dynamic and evolving nature of the field. By exploring these diverse areas, students can contribute valuable insights and advancements to the practice and theory of ABA. We encourage students to delve into these topics, pursuing research that not only fulfills academic requirements but also propels the field forward, enhancing the efficacy and reach of applied behavior analysis in improving lives.

What is Applied Behavior Analysis

Introduction to Applied Behavior Analysis

Historical Context and Evolution of ABA

The roots of Applied Behavior Analysis trace back to the early 20th century, with the work of pioneers like B.F. Skinner, who laid the groundwork with his studies on operant conditioning. Skinner’s research highlighted the influence of environmental factors on behavior, setting the stage for the development of ABA. Over the decades, ABA has evolved from a focus on basic research to a broader application that addresses a wide range of human behaviors and challenges. This evolution reflects a growing recognition of the versatility and effectiveness of ABA methods in bringing about positive behavior change.

Key Principles and Techniques in ABA

Central to ABA are principles such as reinforcement, punishment, and extinction, which are used to increase or decrease targeted behaviors. Techniques such as discrete trial training, pivotal response training, and functional behavior assessments are instrumental in implementing these principles. ABA interventions are characterized by their individualized approach, where strategies are tailored based on the assessment of each person’s behavior and environment. This customization ensures that interventions are not only effective but also respectful of the individual’s unique circumstances and needs.

The Scope of ABA in Various Settings

Applied behavior analysis research paper topics often explore the diverse applications of ABA across settings such as schools, clinics, workplaces, and homes. In educational environments, ABA strategies support students with learning disabilities, behavioral challenges, and autism spectrum disorders, enhancing their educational outcomes and social integration. Clinically, ABA is pivotal in treating various psychological disorders, including phobias, OCD, and ADHD, by helping individuals develop new skills and reduce problematic behaviors. At home, ABA techniques empower families and caregivers with strategies to support their loved ones, promoting independence and improving quality of life.

Exploration of ABA’s Impact on Autism and Developmental Disorders

One of the most profound applications of Applied Behavior Analysis is in the treatment of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other developmental disorders. ABA’s impact on autism is significant, with a multitude of studies demonstrating its efficacy in improving communication, social skills, and adaptive behaviors among individuals with ASD. Through individualized assessment and intervention plans, ABA facilitates meaningful progress, helping individuals with autism lead more fulfilling lives. The emphasis on early intervention and the adaptability of ABA techniques have made it a cornerstone in autism therapy.

Ethical Considerations and Future Directions in ABA Research

As the field of ABA continues to grow, so too does the attention to its ethical considerations. Ensuring the dignity and rights of those receiving ABA services is paramount. This includes obtaining informed consent, ensuring privacy, and maintaining a commitment to do no harm. Looking to the future, ABA research is poised to explore new technologies, interdisciplinary approaches, and global applications. The integration of ABA with fields such as neuroscience and technology promises to enhance the understanding and treatment of behavior further.

The Significance of ABA in Advancing Understanding and Interventions for Behavior Modification

The significance of Applied Behavior Analysis in advancing our understanding and interventions for behavior modification cannot be overstated. Its evidence-based approach has transformed the lives of many, offering hope and practical solutions to individuals and families navigating behavioral challenges. As ABA continues to evolve, its capacity to foster positive change remains its most enduring legacy, underscoring the importance of continued research, ethical practice, and innovation in the field. Through the dedicated efforts of researchers, practitioners, and educators, ABA will continue to illuminate the path toward understanding human behavior and creating meaningful change.

iResearchNet’s Writing Services for ABA Students

iResearchNet is proud to introduce its premier custom writing services, meticulously designed to cater to the specialized needs of students and researchers delving into Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Recognizing the unique challenges and complexities associated with ABA research papers, our services are tailored to provide comprehensive support, from initial concept through to final submission. With a focus on excellence and integrity, iResearchNet is your trusted partner in academic achievement.

• Expert Degree-Holding Writers Specialized in Psychology and ABA : Our team comprises highly qualified writers with advanced degrees in psychology and ABA, ensuring your research paper is crafted by experts with a deep understanding of the field.
• Custom Written Works to Meet Specific Academic Requirements : Every research paper is written from scratch, tailored to meet your specific academic requirements and guidelines, guaranteeing a unique and personalized outcome.
• In-Depth Research Employing the Latest Studies and Methodologies : We commit to conducting thorough research, utilizing the latest studies and methodologies within ABA to enrich your paper with cutting-edge insights and data.
• Custom Formatting According to Academic Standards (APA, MLA, etc.) : Your paper will be meticulously formatted according to the academic style of your choice, including APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, or Harvard, adhering to the strictest standards.
• Assurance of Top Quality with Meticulous Proofreading : Each document undergoes rigorous proofreading by our quality assurance team to ensure it is free of errors and meets our high-quality standards.
• Customized Solutions Catering to Individual Research Needs : We offer customized solutions that are tailored to address your individual research needs, providing personalized assistance that aligns with your specific research goals.
• Flexible Pricing to Accommodate Students’ Budgets : Understanding the financial constraints students often face, our pricing structure is designed to be flexible, providing affordable options without compromising on quality.
• Capability to Meet Short Deadlines, Even Up to 3 Hours : We are equipped to handle urgent requests, with the capability to meet tight deadlines as short as 3 hours, ensuring timely submission without sacrificing quality.
• Guarantee of Timely Delivery to Meet Submission Dates : We guarantee timely delivery of your research paper, allowing you to meet your submission deadlines with confidence and ease.
• Round-the-Clock Support for Any Inquiries or Updates : Our customer support team is available 24/7 to assist with any inquiries or provide updates on your project, ensuring seamless communication throughout the process.
• Absolute Privacy with Secure Handling of Personal and Project Details : We prioritize your privacy and security, employing stringent measures to ensure the confidentiality of your personal and project details.
• Easy Order Tracking for Customer Convenience : Our user-friendly platform allows for easy tracking of your order’s progress, offering transparency and peace of mind from start to finish.
• Money-Back Guarantee for Unsatisfactory Outcomes : We stand behind the quality of our work with a money-back guarantee, offering refunds for unsatisfactory outcomes to ensure your complete satisfaction.

At iResearchNet, we are deeply committed to supporting your academic journey and success. Our dedication to delivering high-quality, customized ABA research papers is unwavering. By choosing iResearchNet, you’re not just getting a paper; you’re gaining a partner dedicated to your academic excellence. Let us help you navigate the complexities of ABA research with confidence, providing you with the tools and support needed to achieve your academic goals.

Unlock Your Academic Potential with Custom ABA Research Papers!

Embarking on your journey through the demanding field of Applied Behavior Analysis can be a formidable challenge. Yet, with iResearchNet by your side, achieving academic excellence becomes not just a possibility, but a reality. We invite you to take this crucial step towards unlocking your full academic potential by choosing our unparalleled custom writing services for your ABA research paper needs.

At iResearchNet, we understand the importance of support, quality, and reliability in your academic endeavors. That’s why we’ve made our ordering process as straightforward and user-friendly as possible. With just a few clicks, you can set your research paper on the path to perfection, backed by our team of expert writers, comprehensive research methodologies, and 24/7 customer support.

Don’t let the stress of deadlines and the complexity of research detract from your academic journey. Choose iResearchNet for your ABA research paper, and embrace the support, quality, and personalized attention you deserve. Together, we can achieve outstanding results that reflect your dedication and our commitment to your success. Start today, and see how easy it is to bring your academic vision to life with iResearchNet.

ORDER HIGH QUALITY CUSTOM PAPER

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

•  We're Hiring!
•  Help Center

Applied Behavior Analysis

• Most Cited Papers
• Most Downloaded Papers
• Newest Papers
• Last »
• Behavior Analysis Follow Following
• Behavior Analysis of Language and Cognition Follow Following
• Autism Spectrum Disorders Follow Following
• Special Education Follow Following
• Autism Spectrum Treatment Follow Following
• Experimental Analysis of Behavior Follow Following
• Relational Frame Theory Follow Following
• Behavior Therapy Follow Following
• Verbal behavior Follow Following
• Experimental Psychology Follow Following

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• Academia.edu Journals
•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

The PMC website is updating on October 15, 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• v.36(1); Spring 2013

A Study in the Founding of Applied Behavior Analysis Through Its Publications

This article reports a study of the founding of applied behavior analysis through its publications. Our methods included hand searches of sources (e.g., journals, reference lists), search terms (i.e., early , applied , behavioral , research , literature ), inclusion criteria (e.g., the field's applied dimension), and (d) challenges to their face and content validity. Our results were 36 articles published between 1959 and 1967 that we organized into 4 groups: 12 in 3 programs of research and 24 others. Our discussion addresses (a) limitations in our method (e.g., the completeness of our search), (b) challenges to the validity of our methods and results (e.g., convergent validity), and (c) priority claims about the field's founding. We conclude that the claims are irresolvable because identification of the founding publications depends significantly on methods and because the field's founding was an evolutionary process. We close with suggestions for future research.

Behavior analysis is a field, a discipline, and a practice. As a field, it comprises the discipline and the practice, both named behavior analysis . As a discipline, it comprises at least two sciences and their philosophy. Its basic science is the experimental analysis of behavior . Its philosophy is radical behaviorism . Its applied science is applied behavior analysis . 1 In this article, we address the founding of applied behavior analysis as a science, not the founding of behavior analysis as a practice. The latter has its own founding (see, e.g., Birnbrauer, 1979 ; J. M. Johnston & Shook, 1987 ). We begin with some historical context. 2

Setting aside the long past of behavior analysis in Greek naturalism, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment ( Day, 1998 ; Smith, 1992 ), its short history began in late 19th-century and early 20th-century United States. Among the participating factors were the progressive and pragmatic American culture ( O'Donnell, 1985 ); evolutionary biology, including studies in comparative psychology and animal behavior ( Boakes, 1984 ); general physiology, including studies of biological functioning ( Pauly, 1987b ); psychological systems, including functionalism and classical behaviorism ( Heidbreder, 1933 ); universities, including Harvard, Minnesota, and Indiana ( e.g., Hearst& Capshew, 1988 ); scientists (e.g., Jacques Loeb; Pauly, 1987a ), mentors (e.g., William Crozier; Hackenberg, 1995 ), and individuals (e.g., B. F. Skinner, 1976 , 1979 ); and publications.

Although the first publication in the discipline's basic science was Skinner's (1930) dissertation, “On the Conditions of Elicitation of Certain Eating Reflexes” (see Iversen, 1992 ), its founding publication (founding and first publications are not necessarily the same) was The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis ( Skinner, 1938 ; see “A Celebration of The Behavior of Organisms at Fifty,” 1988; T. Thompson, 1988 ). In it, Skinner advanced a science of instrumental, operant, or purposive behavior (not reflexes) as his subject matter.

As for the founding and first publication in the discipline's philosophy of science, it was Skinner's (1945b) article, “The Operational Analysis of Psychological Terms” ( Leigland, 1996 ; Moxley, 2001 ; see Day, 1969 ; Malone, 2009 , p. 492; Pear, 2007 , p. 134). In it, he made three contributions. First, he named the philosophy of his science radical behaviorism, because everything psychological is behavioral, where radical means “root” or “thoroughgoing.” Second, he incorporated private events into his system as behavior, that is, as more functional relations between responses and stimuli. And third, he analyzed psychological terms such as consciousness, will, and feeling as verbal behavior occasioned by behavior, that is, behaving consciously, willfully, and with feeling. The terms were not referents to hypothetical constructs independent of behavior that putatively explained behavior (e.g., consciousness, will, feeling; Moore, 2008 ; Schneider & Morris, 1987 ; Skinner, 1989b ).

Skinner's basic science and philosophy of science had antecedents, of course. His subject matter was presaged by Edward Thorndike's (1898) law of effect ( Chance, 1999 ). His research methods were grounded in Claude Bernard's (1865 /1927), Jacques Loeb's (1912) , and Ivan Pavlov's (1927) methods in biology, behavior, and the nervous system, respectively ( Hackenberg, 1995 ; T. Thompson, 1984 ). His philosophy of science was based on Francis Bacon's (1624 /1942, 1620/1960) and Ernst Mach's (1897 /1959, 1883/1960) empirical, inductive approaches to science and theory ( Marr, 1985 ; Smith, 1996 ). These antecedents notwithstanding, Skinner's 1938 and 1945b publications are widely regarded as the founding publications in the discipline's basic science and its philosophy, although we qualify this claim later.

As for the antecedents of applied behavior analysis, several early publications are commonly cited. These include Mary Cover Jones's (1924) article, “A Laboratory Study of Fear: The Case of Peter,” which reported eliminating a young boy's fear of rabbits through, in part, Pavlovian-based systematic desensitization ( Kazdin, 1978 , pp. 130–134; see Jones, 1974 ); Mowrer and Mowrer's (1938) article, “Enuresis: A Method for Its Study and Treatment,” which reported reducing children's nocturnal enuresis with their Hullian-based “bell-and-pad” method ( Kazdin, 1978 , pp. 137–140; see Mellon & McGrath, 2000 ); and Paul Fuller's (1949) article, “Operant Conditioning of a Vegetative Human Organism,” which reported increasing the arm movement of a comatose patient through reinforcement (see Boyle & Greer, 1983 ).

Although these publications reported applied research and behavioral applications, they are not generally regarded as the field's founding publications because they were not consistent enough with Baer, Wolf, and Risley's (1968) dimensions of applied behavior analysis. Fuller's (1949) publication, however, was transitional. It was possibly the first published applied research on human behavior that conceptualized the behavior as “operant.” 3 He conveyed this in his title and placed his study in the operant literature. He concluded, “Perhaps by beginning at the bottom of the human scale, the transfer from rat to man can be effected” (p. 590; see Hake, 1982 ). 4

Within a decade, the transfer was being effected. Basic operant research was being conducted with humans, for instance, Sid Bijou's studies of reinforcement with typically developing children (e.g., Bijou, 1955 , 1957 ; see Morris, 2012 ) and Ogden Lindsley's related studies with adult psychiatric patients (e.g., Lindsley, 1956 ; Lindsley, Hobika, & Etsten, 1961 ; see Rutherford, 2003 ). Some applied research analyzed socially important behavior but not behavior that was immediately important to its participants (e.g., Azrin & Lindsley's 1956 study of children's cooperation). Other applied research analyzed behavior that was important to its participants in order to understand it, albeit not to improve it (e.g., Flanagan, Goldiamond, & Azrin's 1958 analysis of the operant properties of adult stuttering). Still other applied research analyzed behavioral applications that improved behavior (e.g., Williams's 1959 report of reducing a young boy's bedtime tantrums through extinction).

This history notwithstanding, the founding of applied behavior analysis through its publications has not been systematically studied, although it has been reviewed (e.g., Kazdin, 1978 ) and analyzed (e.g., Rutherford, 2009 ). Moreover, the publications are subject to conflicting priority claims (see, e.g., Goodall, 1972 ; Kazdin, 1978 ). For these reasons, we undertook this study of the field's founding or, if that proved futile, then a study of the nature of its founding. It is organized by (a) a method section that describes our search method, search terms, and inclusion criteria, as well as challenges to their validity; (b) a results section that identifies the publications we included and excluded; and (c) a discussion section that addresses limitations in our study, challenges to its validity, and our conclusion that identification of the field's founding publications is irresolvable. We close with suggestions for further research.

We begin with several caveats. First, we undertook this study with no a priori theories, hypotheses, or predictions about the field's founding publications or the nature of its founding, but we had hunches. Our purpose was empirical and inductive: to identify the publications. Second, although we identify founding publications, we do not review them chronologically. As will be shown, our conclusion precludes that. Third, our historiography is not a narrative history. Its methods, results, and discussion are the bases of narratives that come later. Fourth, identification of the publications proved to be difficult because of the field's multiple foundings, conflicting priority claims, and myriad incidental factors. As a result, we address limitations and challenges to our study at length. This is sometimes tedious in detail and repetitive in style, but it is necessary for clarity's sake, especially when our conclusions differ from received views.

We hand-searched four sources: (a) primary sources, mainly journals (e.g., Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior [ JEAB ]); (b) secondary sources, including books on behavior modification and applied behavior analysis (e.g., Bandura, 1969 ), edited books of original chapters (e.g., Krasner & Ullmann, 1965 ), books, chapters, and articles on the field's history (e.g., Kazdin, 1978 ), and early reviews of the literature (e.g., Grossberg, 1964 ); (c) tertiary sources, including edited books of mainly reprinted articles (hereafter, “books of reprinted publications”; e.g., Ulrich, Stacknik, & Mabry, 1966 ), 5 trade books on behavior modification (e.g., Hilts, 1974 ), and articles in the popular press (e.g., Goodall, 1972 ); and (d) the reference sections in all the foregoing. In our search, we sought publications that met our inclusion criteria for the terms early (not earliest ), applied, behavioral, research , and literature .

Our search method, search terms, and inclusion criteria were selective, of course, which challenges their validity. In psychometrics, these are challenges to their face and content validity ( Anastasi & Urbina, 1997 ; Kazdin, 2003 ; Shadish, Cook, & Campbell, 2002 ). In our study and in psychometrics, the assessment of face and content validity is similar: They are descriptive, not statistical. Still, these challenges from psychometrics are more analogous than direct, but we appropriate the analogy nonetheless because the challenges are informative. We begin with our search method and search terms and their face validity, and then address our inclusion criteria and its content validity.

Search Method and Search Terms

As for our search method, we did not conduct a systematic review of the literature (see Higgins & Green, 2008 ). Our study was not a review of research methods and results for discerning what works. We also did not search the PubMed or PsycINFO databases. Although our terms early (i.e., a specific date) and literature (i.e., a type of publication) were well suited for culling publications from these databases, our other terms ( applied , behavioral , and research ) were not. They were so broad that we would have had to hand-search most of the literature anyway. So, we used standard hand-search methods from the start for the five terms that characterized the literature we sought to identify (on hand searches, see Fink, 2005 ; C. Hart, 2001 ).

Face Validity

Face validity is “not … what the test actually measures, but … what it appears superficially to measure” ( Anastasi & Urbina, 1997 , p. 117), that is, “the extent to which a measure appears to assess the construct of interest” ( Kazdin, 2003 , p. 359). This is analogous to the extent that our search method and terms appeared to be capable of identifying the founding publications. Being “standard” is evidence of our search method's face validity. “Characterizing” the literature is evidence of our search terms' face validity.

Inclusion Criteria

Content validity is the extent to which “the test content … covers a representative sample of the behavior domain to be measured” ( Anastasi & Urbina, 1997 , p. 114–115), that is, of “the relation of the items to the concept underlying the measure” ( Kazdin, 2003 , p. 359). This is analogous to the extent that our inclusion criteria were related to the field's founding publications. In particular, our criteria were consistent with Baer et al.'s (1968) article, “Some Current Dimensions of Applied Behavior Analysis.” It was a “citation classic” in the social science citation literature ( Baer, 1982 ; see Garfield, 1977 ), was the most cited publication of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis ( JABA ; Laties & Mace, 1993 ), and was ranked atop the “essential behavior-analytic journal articles and books” by JABA editorial board members ( Saville, Beal, & Buskist, 2002 , p. 30). Our inclusion criteria, however, were not restricted to Baer et al.'s dimensions, which we describe next along with their content validity.

The early literature

Our inclusion criterion for the early literature was publications prior to 1968, that is, prior to the inception of JABA , in which context the term applied behavior analysis was coined ( Risley, 2006 ; Wolf, 1993 ). 6 This excluded all of JABA 's publications (e.g., Baer et al., 1968 ) and post-1967 publications in JEAB (e.g., Touchette, 1968 ), in books of reprinted publications (e.g., O'Leary & O'Leary, 1972 ), and in edited books (e.g., Neuringer & Michael, 1970 ), as well as post-1967 books themselves; books of reprinted publications (e.g., Sloane & MacAulay, 1968 ), edited books (e.g., Bijou & Ribes-Inesta, 1972 ), and authored books (e.g., Kanfer & Phillips, 1970 ).

As for the content validity of our inclusion criterion for early , our criterion was to “prior to 1968” because JABA's inception presumed that suitable research existed for submission, review, and publication. It did. When the possibility of publishing JABA was first formally discussed by the Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (SEAB) on April 6, 1967, Nate Azrin was asked to look into its viability. Vic Laties (1987) reported that “Azrin … conducted a telephone survey of about a dozen likely contributors of hard-data articles and found that they were at least 23 manuscripts that would be promised to the new journal if it were started” (p. 505). Baer et al. (1968) later noted, “Such applications have appeared in recent years. Their current number and the interest they create apparently suffice to generate a journal for their display” (p. 91). We respected the date of JABA 's publication as one end-point in the field's founding.

The applied literature

Our inclusion criterion for the applied literature was publications that are consistent with Baer et al.'s (1968) description of the “applied” dimension of applied behavior analysis:

The label applied is not determined by the research procedures used but by the interest in which society shows in the problems being studied. In behavioral application, the behavior, stimuli, and/or organism under study are chosen based on their importance to man and society [hereafter society ], rather than on their importance to theory. (p. 92)

A page later, they added, “The primary question in the evaluation of applied research is: how immediately important is the behavior … to [the] subject” (p. 93, hereafter, the participant ).

Our inclusion criterion, however, was more restrictive. First, it required that the behavior not only had to be important to society (e.g., creativity), but also to the participants (e.g., stuttering). Second, it required that the behavior not only had to be analyzed in what Baer et al. (1968) called “applied research” (p. 92), for instance, on a behavior's operant properties (e.g., reinforcibility), but also that the behavior had to be improved in what they called “behavioral applications” (p. 92; see Azrin, 1977 ). This latter requirement is consistent with Baer et al.'s description of the field's “effective” dimension: “The theoretical importance of a variable is usually not at issue. Its practical importance, specifically its power in altering behavior enough to be socially important, is the essential criterion” (p. 96).

These criteria excluded several classes of publications, among them (a) basic research in the experimental analysis of nonhuman behavior, beginning with Skinner's research through 1967 (see Honig, 1966 ); (b) analyses and syntheses (or simulations) 7 of socially important nonhuman behavior in laboratory settings (e.g., anxiety in rats and cooperation in pigeons; Estes & Skinner, 1941 ; Skinner, 1962 ; see Epstein, 1984 ); (c) basic research in the experimental analysis of human behavior (i.e., human operant behavior; e.g., Bijou, 1955 ; Gewirtz & Baer, 1958 ; Lindsley, 1956 ; see Rutherford, 2003 ); (d) analyses and syntheses of socially important human behavior in laboratory settings (e.g., cooperation and competition; Azrin & Lindsley, 1956 ; D. J. Cohen, 1962 ); (e) analyses and syntheses of human behavior that is important to the participants in laboratory settings (e.g., stuttering, Flanagan et al., 1958 ; thumb sucking, Baer, 1962 ; body tics, Barrett, 1962 ; and self-destructive behavior, Lovaas, Freitag, Gold, & Kassorla, 1965 ); (f) analyses and syntheses of human behavior that is important to society, conducted in applied settings (e.g., the arm movement of a comatose patient, Fuller, 1949 ); and (g) analyses and syntheses of human behavior that is important to the participants, conducted in applied settings (e.g., psychiatric symptoms in institutions, Ayllon, Haughton, & Hughes, 1965 ). In other words, our criterion for applied excluded research that was not a behavioral application.

As for the content validity of our inclusion criterion for applied , our criterion was restricted to behavioral applications because they were the field's distinguishing characteristic. Even though Baer et al.'s (1968) applied dimension included applied research that was not a behavioral application (e.g., on behavior's operant properties; see Birnbrauer, 1979 ; Deitz, 1983 ; J. M. Johnston, 1996 ), behavior analysis would not have become a practice without its application.

The behavioral literature

Our inclusion criterion for the behavioral literature was publications consistent with Baer et al.'s (1968) description of the “conceptual systems” dimension of applied behavior analysis: “The field … will probably advance best if the published descriptions of its procedures are not only precisely technological, but also strive for relevance to principle” (p. 96). Although Baer et al. did not specify a particular system, it was Skinner's. They referred only to operant principles, specifically, to operant reinforcement and stimulus control (see Skinner, 1938 , 1953 ). They did not refer to Ivan Pavlov's (1927) classical conditioning, Edwin Guthrie's (1935) contiguity theory, Edward Tolman's (1932) purposive behaviorism, or Clark Hull's (1943) drive-reduction learning theory. When publications drew from those systems, however, we included those in which Skinner's science was the basis for their applications (i.e., operant procedures). This was also the science on which Baer's, Wolf's, and Risley's doctoral training was based (see, e.g., Gewirtz & Baer, 1958 ; Risley, 1964 ; Wolf, 1963 ).

This criterion excluded the behavior therapy literature based on Pavlov's and Hull's systems (see, e.g., Jones, 1924 ; Mowrer & Mowrer, 1938 ; Salter, 1961 ; Wolpe & Lazarus, 1966 ), even though Pavlov's science was (and is) included in behavior analysis (see, e.g., Keller & Schoenfeld, 1950 , pp. 1–35; Skinner, 1953 , pp. 45–58), as were (and are) Pavlovian-based therapies ( Martin & Pear, 2002 , pp. 339–353; Miltenberger, 2008 , pp. 541–563; see Skinner, 1988 ). 8 We did not exclude Staats's system (known as social, psychological, and paradigmatic behaviorism; e.g., Staats, 1975 , 1981 ), which is a somewhat eclectic “learning theory” ( Staats, 1957 ) that included descriptive concepts that tended toward explanatory constructs (e.g., the reification of behavioral repertoires; e.g., personality; see Plaud, 1995 ). We did not exclude it because, first, it was published after 1967 and second, because his early applications were based on Skinner's science.

As for the content validity of our inclusion criterion for behavioral , our criterion was Skinner's conceptual system, because this was the field's system from the start. For instance, in a June 30, 2012, search for the terms Pavlov, classical, and respondent in JABA 's abstracts at SEAB's website ( http://seab.envmed. rochester.edu/society/ ), we found 348 articles, but only three of them reported research based on Pavlov's system (i.e., Hansen, 1979 ; Kelley, Jarvie, Middlebrook, McNeer, & Drabman, 1984 ; Whitehead, Lurie, & Blackwell, 1976 ). Of the publications we identified in the field's founding, only three drew from systems other that Skinner's, for instance, Pavlov's and Hull's (i.e., Neale, 1963 ; Hewett, 1964 , 1965 ). We included them, however, because their applications were based on Skinner's science.

The research literature

Our inclusion criterion for the research literature was publications consistent with Baer et al.'s (1968) description of the “analytic” dimension of applied behavior analysis, which required “a believable demonstration of the events that can be responsible for the occurrence or nonoccurrence of that behavior. An experimenter has achieved an analysis of behavior when he can exercise control over it” (pp. 93–94). They then described two means of achieving a believable demonstration: reversal and multiple baseline designs.

Our inclusion criterion, however, was both more and less restrictive than Baer et al. (1968) . It was more restrictive in requiring reports of data on the behavior of individuals, not data aggregated across them (i.e., on the behavior of groups). It was less restrictive in not requiring displays of data in research designs, only that the results were based on direct observation and were reported objectively (i.e., quantitative descriptions based on direct observation; e.g., Isaacs, Thomas, & Goldiamond, 1960 ; Zimmerman & Zimmerman, 1962 ).

Overall, these criteria excluded several additional classes of publications, among them reports of (a) purely descriptive research (see Bijou, Peterson, & Ault, 1968 ), but we found none, perhaps because of Baer et al.'s (1968) admonition that “nonexperimental analysis is a contradiction in terms” (p. 92), although this is not an admonition today (R. H. Thompson & Borrero, 2011 ); (b) qualitative research (e.g., DeMyer & Ferster's 1962 account of teaching social behavior to children with autism); (c) behavioral interpretations (e.g., Ayllon, Haughton, & Osmond's 1964 interpretation of chronic anorexia); and (d) research methods and apparatus (e.g., Ferster & DeMyer's 1962 research preparation for analyzing the behavior of children with autism).

As for the content validity of our inclusion criterion for the research literature, our criterion was more restrictive than Baer et al. (1968) in requiring data on the behavior of individuals because the behavior of groups is rarely representative of those of individuals. In addition, group data conceal within- and between-individual variability that is the science's purpose to control ( Baer, 1977 ; J. M. Johnston & Pennypacker, 2009 ; Sidman, 1960 ). Data on the behavior of individuals was integral to Skinner's system, as well as JEAB 's purview: “A journal primarily for the original publication of experiments relevant to the behavior of individual organisms” (seab.envmed.rochester.edu/society/). Although Baer et al. addressed only data on individual behavior (e.g., pp. 91, 93–95), they did not preclude group data and neither did (or does) JABA : “[ JABA ] is primarily for the original publication of experimental research involving applications of the analysis of behavior to problems of social importance” (seab.envmed.rochester.edu/society/). The hallmark of applied behavior analysis, however, is individual behavior for the reasons stated above and because individual behavior is necessary for the development of effective applications (see Bailey & Burch, 2002 , p. 4; Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007 , p. 4; J. M. Johnston & Pennypacker, 2009 , pp. 23–24; Kennedy, 2005 , p. 12ff).

Our criterion was less restrictive than Baer et al. (1968) in not requiring experimental designs because the designs were being formalized while the field was being founded ( Risley, 1997 , 2005 , 2006 ). If we had required those designs, we would have excluded at least seven publications, one of them in JEAB (i.e., Zimmerman & Zimmerman, 1962 ) and two that were reprinted in the majority of the pre-1968 books of reprinted publications (i.e., Isaacs et al., 1960 ; Zimmerman & Zimmerman, 1962 ). This criterion, however, did not mean that we included purely descriptive research. All of the publications were behavioral applications.

The literature

Our inclusion criterion for the literature was original reports of research in peer-refereed journals. This was (and is) JABA's purview: JABA “is primarily for the original publication of reports of experimental research involving applications of the experimental analysis of behavior to problems of social importance” (seab.envmed.rochester.edu/society/).

This criterion excluded several more classes of publications, among them reports in (a) the popular press (e.g., Psychology Today , established in 1967); (b) conference proceedings (e.g., of the American Psychological Association [APA]); and (c) newsletters, for instance, APA's Division 25 Recorder (established in 1965), which was the newsletter of APA's Division 25 for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (established in 1964), now the Division for Behavior Analysis (1998 to the present), and the AABT Newsletter (established in 1966), which was the newsletter of the Association for the Advancement of Behavioral Therapies (established in 1966), now for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (2005 to the present), but we found none. The criterion also excluded (d) publications in nonrefereed journals (e.g., Psychological Reports ; e.g., Goldiamond, 1965 ); (e) publications in books of reprinted publications (e.g., Keller, 1963 , reprinted as Keller, 1966 ); (f) chapters in edited books (e.g., Ferster, 1965 ); (g) books of reprinted publications (e.g., Staats, 1964b ); (h) edited books (e.g., Krasner & Ullmann, 1965 ); and (i) authored books (e.g., Staats & Staats, 1963 ; see Drash & Freeman, 1973 ), as well as trade publications.

As for the content validity of our inclusion criterion for the literature , our criterion was consistent with the functions of peer-refereed journals. These are (a) to examine and verify new knowledge, (b) to certify priority claims and disputes about the knowledge, and (c) to establish and convey a scientist's credibility and merit (see Garvey & Griffith, 1971 ; Griffith & Miller, 1971 ; see Grantham, 2011 ; Kronick, 1976 ; Meadows, 1979 ; on the history of scientific journals). Moreover, in restricting publications to peer-refereed journals, we generally insured that they underwent more rigorous peer review than other publications and, as a result, were higher in quality and thus more likely to be founding.

This section has described our search method, search terms, and inclusion criteria for identification of the early applied behavioral research literature. They were selective, of course (any method, terms, and criteria would be), but they were not subjective. We strived toward Baer et al.'s (1968) “technological dimension,” such that “a typically trained reader could replicate [our] procedure well enough to produce the same results” (p. 95). Our method, terms, and criteria were also not arbitrary. Our method was a standard hand-search method, and our terms characterized the publications we sought to identify. Both had face validity, given our purpose. Our inclusion criteria were consistent with Baer et al.'s dimensions but were not restricted to them. If they had been, we would have included publications that did not exemplify the field's distinguishing characteristics (e.g., applied research that was not a behavioral application) and excluded those that could not exemplify those characteristics because they were in the process of being formalized (e.g., research designs). Our criteria had content validity, given our purposes.

JABA articles

Finally, we searched for publications in the first volume of JABA that met our inclusion criteria for the terms applied , behavioral , research , and the literature . This allowed us to compare the early applied behavioral research literature with that first formally identified as applied behavior analysis by virtue of the latter's being published in JABA .

We identified 36 publications in the founding of applied behavior analysis, which we organize into four groups. These were four articles published in Ayllon's first program of research, two in Staats's first program, six in Wolf's first two programs, and 24 other publications. We describe these groups below, as well as publications we excluded.

The Early Applied Behavioral Research Literature

Ayllon's publications.

During a 1958 summer internship at Saskatchewan Hospital in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Canada, Ted Ayllon began a program of research (1958–1961) with adult psychiatric patients. It yielded eight publications between 1959 and 1965; we included four of them. The first was Ayllon and Michael's (1959) report of reducing the “persistent problem behavior” of psychiatric patients (e.g., psychotic talk, hoarding, refusal to self-feed) by training hospital personnel to use operant procedures (e.g., reinforcement, extinction). The three other publications were Ayllon and Haughton's (1962) report of increasing mealtime attendance and eating; Ayllon's (1963) report of decreasing stealing food, hoarding towels, and wearing excessive clothing; and Ayllon and Haughton's (1964) report of decreasing nonorganic psychiatric complaints.

We excluded Ayllon et al.'s (1964) report of chronic anorexia (a behavioral interpretation); Ayllon's (1965) report of increasing mealtime attendance and eating (a chapter); Ayllon et al.'s (1965) report of symptomatic behavior (applied research, not a behavioral application); and Haughton and Ayllon's (1965) reprint of Ayllon et al. (1965) (a chapter and applied research, not a behavioral application).

Staats's publications

By 1958, Art Staats had developed operant procedures for teaching reading and, in 1959, began a program of research with children and adolescents at Arizona State University that ended at the University of Wisconsin in 1966. It yielded nine publications between 1962 and 1970; we included two of them. The first was Staats and Butterfield's (1965) report of improving the vocabulary, amount of reading, and reading level of a “culturally deprived juvenile delinquent” with a token reinforcement system and reading curriculum and, concomitantly, improving his classroom behavior (e.g., fewer disruptions). The second was Staats, Minke, Goodwin, and Landeen's (1967) replication of this program with 18 junior high school youths, many with disabilities, by “subprofessional therapy-technicians” (e.g., adult volunteers).

We excluded Staats's (1968a) report of his research preparation (methods and apparatus, published after 1967); Ryback and Staats's (1970) and Staats, Minke, and Butts's (1970) replications of Staats and Butterfield (1965) and Staats et al. (1967 ; published after 1967); Staats, Staats, Schultz, and Wolf's (1962) , Staats, Finley, Minke, and Wolf's (1964) , and Staats, Minke, Finley, Wolf, and Brooks's (1964) reports of reading (applied research, not behavioral applications); and Staats's (1964a , 1965) reviews of this research (identical chapters).

Wolf's publications

In 1962, Mont Wolf began two programs of research at the University of Washington (1962–1964). They yielded eight publications between 1964 and 1967; we included six of them.

The first program was begun in July and used operant procedures to improve the severe problem behavior of a young boy with autism named Dicky. It yielded two publications; we included both. The first was Wolf, Risley, and Mess's (1964) report of reducing Dicky's institution-based temper tantrums, bedtime and mealtime problems, and throwing his eyeglasses by shaping wearing the glasses, increasing appropriate verbal behavior, and training his parents to apply the procedures. The second was Wolf, Risley, Johnston, Harris, and Allen's (1967) extension of this program to reduce Dicky's school- and home-based tantrums, slapping himself, and pinching others and to improve his personal and social behavior (e.g., toilet training, mutual play).

In his second program, Wolf used differential teacher attention to improve nursery school children's social and motor behavior. It yielded six publications; we included four of them. These were Allen, Hart, Buell, Harris, and Wolf's (1964) report of reducing isolate play and increasing social play; Harris, Johnston, Kelley, and Wolf's (1964) report of reducing “regressed” crawling; B. M. Hart, Allen, Buell, Harris, and Wolf's (1964) report of reducing operant crying and increasing appropriate verbal behavior; and M. K. Johnston, Kelley, Harris, and Wolf's (1966) report of increasing gross motor play and walking. We excluded Harris, Wolf, and Baer (1964 , 1967) because they were identical reviews of this research. 9

Other articles

In addition to the above 12 publications, we included 24 others: Williams (1959) ; Isaacs et al. (1960) ; Zimmerman and Zimmerman (1962) ; Neale (1963) ; Sherman (1963 , 1965) ; Ayllon and Azrin (1964 , 1965) ; Hewett (1964 , 1965) ; Bensberg, Colwell, and Cassel (1965) ; Birnbrauer, Wolf, Kidder, and Tague (1965) ; Metz (1965) ; Straughan, Potter, and Hamilton (1965) ; Wahler, Winkel, Peterson, and Morrison (1965) ; Cook and Adams (1966) ; Giles and Wolf (1966) ; Hawkins, Peterson, Schweid, and Bijou (1966) ; Lovaas, Beberich, Perloff, and Schaeffer (1966) ; Baer, Peterson, and Sherman (1967) ; Blake and Moss (1967) ; Jensen and Wosmack (1967) ; O'Leary and Becker (1967) ; and Risley and Wolf (1967a) .

JABA Articles

Four of the 26 articles in the first volume of JABA did not meet our inclusion criteria. They were applied research (i.e., analyses or syntheses) on behavior important to society and, in two cases, important to the participants, but they were not behavioral applications. These were Brigham and Sherman's (1968) report of generalized verbal imitation in preschool children; Guess, Sailor, Rutherford, and Baer's (1968) report of generative plural morpheme use by a girl with severe intellectual disabilities; R. F. Peterson's (1968) report of generalized motor imitation in a girl with intellectual disabilities; and Schroeder and Holland's (1968) report of operant eye movements in college students using a signal-detection procedure.

Given our methods, we identified 36 publications in the founding of applied behavior analysis. In our discussion, we address two of our study's limitations, two more challenges to its validity, and our conclusion that identifying the field's founding publications is irresolvable because of their dependence on method and the nature of the field's founding.

Limitations

Among our study's limitations, one is that we studied the field's founding only through its publications and not through other methods. Another limitation is whether we identified all the founding publications we could have identified.

Publications versus other methods

As for the first limitation, we could have studied the field's founding through at least two other methods.

First, we could have studied its founding through its founders. This would have entailed census, survey, and interview methods. These methods, however, have liabilities. They include quantitative and qualitative measures of unknown reliability and validity and can be biased (e.g., response, representativeness, and interviewer biases; Fowler, 2009 ).

For instance, although census methods could be used to identify the field's most prolific early applied behavioral researchers (see, e.g., Ball, 2011 ), some of the founders may have participated, contributed, and been influential in other ways than publishing, for instance, by encouraging and inspiring their colleagues, disseminating and promoting their colleagues′ research, and securing and administering grant funding (e.g., Sid Bijou and Jack Michael; see “Behavioral Roots of JABA 's Editors and Associate Editors,” 1993; Goodall, 1972 , pp. 58, 61; O'Donohue, Henderson, Hayes, Fisher, & Hayes, 2001 ). 10

Surveying and conducting interviews with the authors of the publications we identified (e.g., Ayllon, Azrin, Birnbrauer, Giles, Hawkins, Michael, Sherman, Staats, Wahler) are subject to the foregoing liabilities, as well as the vagaries of recalling events that occurred a half-century ago. Biases may also occur due to disciplinary proclivities (who counts as a behavior analyst); institutional allegiances (university affiliations); intellectual loyalties (mentors); and collegial relationships (colleagues).

Studying the field's founding through its founders can also devolve into “great person” history that casts founders as the free, self-actional agents of their actions ( Boring, 1927 , 1950 ). Agency of this sort is antithetical to behavior analysis ( Skinner, 1971 , 1989a ) and is tempered in the “new” history of science, which emphasizes context over great persons, no matter how great their genius ( Furumoto, 1989 ).

Second, we could have studied the field's founding through its institutions (see Kazdin, 1978 , pp. 246–273). These include university departments, for instance, the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University, known in the 1960s as “Fort Skinner in the Desert” ( Goodall, 1972 , p. 59; Wolf, 2001 , p. 290), or the Department of Human Development and Family Life at the University of Kansas, whose faculty members were known as “the Kansas Mafia” ( Goodall, 1972 , p. 132). Institutions also include research and training centers and institutes, for instance, the Institute for Child Development at the University of Washington (1955–1965). And they include journals, for instance, JABA . Studying departments, centers, and institutions, however, is also subject to the foregoing liabilities, and the existence of journals presumes that a field has already been founded.

Ideally, we would have used all of these methods and others, for instance, cultural analyses (see Rutherford, 2009 ), especially analysis of the “technological imperative” of the American culture at mid-20th century (see Smith, 1992 ; Woodward, 1996 ). Collectively, however, they were beyond our resources (e.g., time, money, and acumen). So, we selected just one method: identification of the field's founding publications with objective search terms and inclusion criteria. The terms and criteria were, to a degree, selective. This invites challenges to the validity of our methods and results, which we discuss below.

Completeness

A second limitation of our study is whether our methods identified all the publications they were meant to identify. We doubt it. At the beginning of our search, we quickly identified 18 of our eventual 36 publications, among them, those in Ayllon's, Staats's, and Wolf's research programs. As we progressed, we continued to identify occasional publications, but less frequently; they also had less frequent priority claims. Moreover, the names of the publications' authors became less familiar (e.g., Adams, Blake, Cook, Hewett, Jensen, Moss, Neale, Straughan, Wosmack), and the journals became less mainstream in psychology (e.g., The Reading Teacher ). We stopped searching when we submitted this manuscript to The Behavior Analyst . Presumably, publications we subsequently failed to identify would have been even less familiar, less mainstream, and less “founding.” As a result, they likely would not have influenced our conclusion. This was borne out by publications we later found that met our criteria (e.g., Allen & Harris, 1966 ; Burchard & Tyler, 1965 ; Patterson, Jones, Whittier, & Wright, 1965 ).

The challenges to the validity of our methods and results are also drawn from psychometrics: convergent and discriminant validity. These largely comprise construct validity (see Anastasi & Urbina, 1997 ; Kazdin, 2003 ; Shadish et al., 2002 ). Unlike face and content validity, the assessment of convergent and discriminant validity in psychometrics is statistical (e.g., validity coefficients), whereas in our study it is again descriptive. Nonetheless, the analogy from psychometrics is again similar enough to be informative.

Convergent Validity: The Included Publications

Convergent validity is the extent to which “a test correlates highly with other variables with which it should theoretically correlate” ( Anastasi & Urbina, 1997 , p. 129), that is, “the extent to which two measures assess similar or related constructs” ( Kazdin, 2003 , p. 359). This is analogous to the extent that the publications we identified correlate with those identified through other methods. One other method is independent assessments of the publications we identified, both qualitative and quantitative.

Qualitative assessments include priority claims about the field's founding publications. We originally sought these in several sources, among them (a) popular press articles (e.g., Goodall, 1972 ); (b) four books and chapters on the field's history ( Kazdin, 1978 , 1982 ; Krasner, 1990 ; Rutherford, 2009 ); (c) three early reviews of the literature ( Gelfand & Hartmann, 1968 ; Grossberg, 1964 ; Leff, 1968 ); (d) three trade books ( Hilts, 1974 ; London, 1969 ; Packard, 1977 ); (e) autobiographical chapters and articles (e.g., Bijou, 1996 ; Risley, 2001 ; Wolf, 1993 ); (f) biographical chapters and articles (e.g., Risley, 1997 ); and (g) obituaries (e.g., Lutzker, 2008 ; Risley, 2006 ). In reviewing these publications, we discovered still other assessments in other publications, which we included (see, e.g., Bailey & Burch, 2002 ; Birnbrauer, 1979 ; Cooper et al., 2007 ; Goodall, 1973 ; Kazdin, 1977 ).

Quantitative assessments include citations, reprintings, and inclusions (see Tables 1 and ​ and2). 2 ). These comprised (a) citations in the four books and chapters on the field's history, in the three early reviews of the literature, and in the three trade books; (b) reprintings in the five pre-1968 books of reprinted publications (i.e., Bijou & Baer, 1967 ; Malott, Whaley, & Ulrich, 1967 ; Staats, 1964b ; Ullmann & Krasner, 1965 ; Ulrich et al., 1966 ); 11 and (c) inclusion in two books of abstracted articles ( Bugelski, 1975 ; Willis & Giles, 1976 ). Bugelski (1975) referred to those he included as “creative, provocative, innovative, and seminal” (p. vii). Willis and Giles (1976) referred to theirs as among the “pioneer studies,” among the “early reports that are now classics” (p. ix), and “some of the most original and/or well-executed studies available” (p. vii). 12

Quantitative Assessments: Ayllon, Staats, and Wolf

Quantitative Assessments: Other Articles

Ayllon's publications and program

The qualitative assessments of Ayllon and Michael (1959) described it as “the first [applied] behavior analytic paper” ( Birnbrauer, 1979 , p. 15), “probably mark[ing] the birth of applied behavior analysis” ( Goodall, 1973 , p. 65), having “sparked [the] applied behavior movement” ( Goodall, 1972 , p. 58), and a “seminal study” ( Goodall, 1972 , p. 61; see also Bailey & Birch, 2002 , p. 5; Mace & Critchfield, 2010 , p. 300). More recently, it has been called “the first application of behavioral principles” ( Kennedy, 2005 , p. 20), “what many consider the first example of ABA” ( Lerman, Iwata, & Hanley, 2013 , p. 81), and the publication to which “applied behavior analysis … can be traced ( Cooper et al., 2007 , p. 14). It is also referred to as “the pioneering applied behavioral study” and “the model for applied research” ( Wolf, 2001 , p. 289), and “a now classic article” ( Rutherford, 2009 , p. 68). Ayllon and Haughton (1962) has also been described as “seminal” ( Mace & Critchfield, 2010 , p. 300).

Early assessments of Ayllon's research program described it as “ingenious” ( Goodall, 1972 , p. 56) and one of the “most influential extensions [of operant techniques] to clinical populations” ( Kazdin, 1978 , p. 256; see also Kazdin, 1977 , p. 26), the “two programs of research [that] exerted a powerful influence on the evolution of applied behavior analysis” ( Kazdin, 1978 , p. 273), and the “two research programs [that] provided particular impetus for extensions of operant techniques,” an “especially important” one ( Kazdin, 1982 , p. 23). It also encouraged “more extensive and larger-scale applications” ( Kazdin, 1982 , p. 23), among them Ayllon and Azrin's (1968) token economy program at Anna State Hospital. In later assessments, Ayllon's research program was called “unprecedented” ( Risley, 2001 , p. 267), “groundbreaking” ( Risley, 2005 , p. 279), and “innovative” ( Risley, 2006 , p. 73).

The quantitative assessments of Ayllon's publications are presented in Table 1 . Ayllon and Michael (1959) , for instance, was the most reprinted of the publications we identified.

Staats's publications and programs

We found no early assessments of Staats and Butterfield (1965) or Staats et al. (1967) . Staats′s research program, however, was cited as one of the four early “extensions of operant conditioning” ( Kazdin, 1982 , p. 22), along with Lindsley's, Bijou's, and Ferster's, but these were applied research rather than behavioral applications. More recently, Staats has been credited with inventing time-out and “the token reinforcer (token economy) system” ( Cloninger, 2000 , p. 279; Strauss, 2006 ; see Staats, 2012 , p. 34). More specifically, Staats et al. (1962) has been described as “the first to utilize a back-up reinforcement system in a reading discrimination program” ( Krasner, 1990 , p. 15). Also, Staats credits himself with founding “the field of child behavior analysis” ( www2.hawaii.edu/∼staats/clinical.htm ; see also Staats, 1994 , 1996 ). These claims, though, are not well supported in the literature and are sometimes disputed (e.g., Plaud, 1995 ; Rutherford, 2009 , p. 168), but resolving them is beyond the scope of our study. 13 , 14 , 15 The quantitative assessments of Staats's publications are presented in Table 1 .

Wolf's publications and programs

At the University of Washington in the mid-1950s, Bijou reoriented his research and training program for children with and without disabilities from a Hullian-based conceptual system to a Skinnerian-based system (1955–1965). Bijou's Institute for Child Development was subsequently described as “a top-flight center of application of behavioral techniques to problems of children” ( Goodall, 1972 , p. 58; see Lutzker, 2008 ). It was where applied behavior analysis was being established ( Lutzker, 2008 ). Its research program has been cited as the other of the “two programs of research [that] exerted a powerful influence on the evolution of applied behavior analysis” ( Kazdin, 1978 , p. 273), “by far the … most influential application of operant techniques with children” ( Kazdin, 1978 , pp. 260–264; see also, p. 268), and one of “two research programs [that] provided particular impetus for extensions of operant techniques” Kazdin, 1982 , p. 23), one that “exerted considerable impact” (p. 23). It was “especially important because of the range of the applications across settings, the number of projects reported, and their dramatic and carefully demonstrated effects on child behavior” ( Kazdin, 1982 , p. 23). Wolf's research programs were among these applications and projects.

Early assessments of Wolf's research on Dicky's severe problem behavior described Wolf et al. (1964) as “one of the earliest and most influential cases” in clinical applications ( Kazdin, 1977 , p. 28) and “an extremely influential report” ( Kazdin, 1978 , p. 268; see also Kazdin, 1982 , p. 23). It was later referred to as “the premier study of behavior modification” ( Risley, 1997 , p. 378; see also Risley, 2001 , p. 269), the “initial study” in the behavioral treatment of children with autism ( Sundberg & Michael, 2001 , p. 698), a “classic study” ( Rutherford, 2009 , p. 57), and one of the “five early studies that shaped applied behavior analysis” ( Michael, 2004 ). It was the first of the only two social science citation classics among the publications we identified (see Wolf, 1983 ).

Assessments of Wolf's research on preschool teachers' attention to children's classroom behavior have been relatively recent. They have been referred to as “landmark” ( Risley, 1997 , p. 378) and “the first real-life discovery of the power of social attention” ( Risley, 1997 , p. 377; see also Risley, 2005 , p. 280, 2006). Wolf's research methods have been described as “groundbreaking: direct observation, interobserver reliability checks, repeated measurement baselines, systematic alteration of the natural environment, reversal, and multiple-baseline ‘single-subject’ experimental designs” ( Risley, 2006 , p. 73; see also Risley, 1997 , p. 378, 2005, p. 280); as setting “the parameters of applied behavior analysis” ( Risley, 2001 , p. 267); and coming “to define applied behavior analysis” ( Risley, 2005 , p. 281). These studies were the other four of the “five early studies that shaped applied behavior analysis” ( Michael, 2004 ). Of these, Allen et al. (1964) was the second of the two social science citation classics among the publications we identified (see Allen, 1983 ). Quantitative assessments of Wolf's publications are presented in Table 1 . 16

As for the other 24 publications, only four received qualitative assessments. Ayllon and Azrin (1965) was described as “seminal” ( Mace & Critchfield, 2010 , p. 300), “the first report of token program in a psychiatric hospital” ( Krasner, 1990 , p. 15), and a report of “the first comprehensive token economy ” ( Rutherford, 2009 , p. 64). 17 Their token economy program was “a landmark in the development of applied behavior analysis” ( Kazdin, 1978 , p. 260) and “commonly regarded as one of the most significant achievements to date in human-behavior control” ( Goodall, 1972 , p. 56). Hawkins et al. (1966) was called a “pioneer study in training parents to modify their children's behavior” ( Goodall, 1972 , p. 60). And, O'Leary and Becker (1967) was referred to as “the first use of a token reinforcement program to control a large class ( n  =  17) of emotionally disturbed children” ( Krasner, 1990 , p. 16). Quantitative assessments of these and the other articles are presented in Table 2 .

Discriminant Validity: The Excluded Publications

Discriminant validity is the extent to which “a test does not correlate significantly with variables from which it should differ” ( Anastasi & Urbina, 1997 , p. 129), that is, the extent to which “the measures show little or no correlation with measures with which they are not expected to correlate” ( Kazdin, 2003 , p. 359). This is analogous to the extent to which the publications we excluded should have excluded. Although excluded, they did participate in, contribute to, and influence the field's founding. We address this tension, as follows.

Our inclusion criterion for the early literature excluded publications after 1967, including Baer et al. (1968) and all other JABA publications, even though the journal was arguably involved in the field's founding. As Kazdin (1978) noted,

Recognition of [the differences between basic and applied research] led to the formal acknowledgment of applied behavior analysis as a separate research entity. This development is best marked by the appearance of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis in 1968. The journal not only provided a publication outlet for applied research but also defined the domain and characteristics of applied behavior analysis. (p. 305)

In JABA 's review process, Wolf, the journal's first editor, significantly shaped the initial submissions and publications ( Risley, 1997 , p. 379, 2005, p. 284). Thus, they participated in the field's founding; many of them contributed to its growth and dissemination; and some were influential ( Kazdin, 1978 ; Rutherford, 2009 ). For instance, Bijou et al.'s (1968) integration of descriptive and applied research was, as Bijou (2001) noted, one of his two publications to have “the greatest impact on psychologists and students” (p. 117). And, of course, Baer et al.'s (1968) article profoundly influenced subsequent submissions and publications. Notwithstanding the participation, contribution, and influence of these publications, JABA 's publication presumed that the field had already been founded ( Baer et al., 1968 ; Laties, 1987 ).

Our inclusion criterion for the applied literature excluded several classes of publications that ranged from basic research in the experimental analysis of nonhuman behavior (see Honig, 1966 ) to applied research on human behavior that was important to its participants but was not application (e.g., Ayllon et al., 1965 ). Still, these publications participated in the field's founding; many of them contributed to its growth and dissemination; and some were influential ( Kazdin, 1978 ; Rutherford, 2009 ).

First, basic research with nonhumans was the foundation of the field's conceptual system. As Baer et al. (1968) noted, striving for “relevance to principle … can have the effect of making a body of technology into a discipline rather than a collection of tricks” (p. 96). Applied behavior analysis quickly became a science unto its own. Second, basic research with humans with and without disabilities replicated and extended the nonhuman research, making the field more relevant to principle and the principles more relevant to application. And third, applied research on behavior that was important to society and their participants, but that was not a behavioral application, contributed to the plausibility that the basic principles were involved in the development and maintenance of those behaviors (e.g., Greenspoon, 1955 ; Lovaas et al., 1965 ). They also influenced publications we identified as founding. As Bijou noted of Ferster and DeMyer's human operant research (e.g., Ferster & DeMyer, 1961 , 1962 ), “If it hadn't been for Charlie's program on autistic children, which I visited several times, I don't know that we'd have dared to arrange a program with a severely disturbed child like Dicky” ( Krasner, 1977 , p. 593). This was Wolf's first program of research. As influential as these classes of publications were, however, they were not applied behavior analyses.

Our inclusion criterion for the behavioral literature excluded publications whose procedures were based on conceptual systems other than Skinner's. Still, these publications participated in the field's founding; many of them contributed to its growth and dissemination; and some were influential ( Kazdin, 1978 ; Rutherford, 2009 ). Pavlov's and Hull's sciences, for instance, were foundational to behavior therapies that presaged applied behavior analysis ( Kazdin, 1978 , pp. 119–185). Moreover, several pioneering applied behavior analysts were trained in other conceptual systems, for instance, Bijou in the Hullian tradition ( Bijou, 2001 ; see Morris, 2012 ), which may still have influenced the use of their systems to understand and improve the human condition (e.g., Mowrer, 1960 ). As significant as Pavlov's and Hull's systems were, however, they were not foundational to applied behavior analysis.

Our inclusion criterion for the research literature excluded several classes of publications, among them qualitative research, behavioral interpretations, and descriptions of research methods and apparatus. Still, these publications participated in the field's founding; many of them contributed to its growth and dissemination; and some were influential ( Kazdin, 1978 ; Rutherford, 2009 ). For instance, reports of qualitative research (e.g., DeMyer & Ferster, 1962 ) may have been an impetus for quantitative research (e.g., applications for children with autism; e.g., Wolf et al., 1964 ). Behavioral interpretations (e.g., Ayllon et al., 1964 ) may have suggested controlling variables that might be altered in applications (e.g., variables in eating disorders; e.g., Ayllon & Haughton, 1962 ; Ayllon & Michael, 1959 ). 18 And, reports of research methods and procedures (e.g., Staats, 1968a ) may have influenced those used in applications (e.g., token systems; e.g., Wolf et al., 1964 ). Indeed, some made contributions that warranted inclusion in early reviews of the literature (e.g., Bandura, 1969 ) and its later histories (see Kazdin, 1978 ; Rutherford, 2009 ). As influential as these publications were, however, they were not applied behavior analyses .

Our inclusion criterion for the literature excluded still additional classes of publications, among them original reports of research in non-peer-refereed journals, chapters in edited books, books of reprinted publications, edited books, and authored books. However, they too participated in the field's growth and dissemination; many of them contributed to its founding; and some were influential ( Kazdin, 1978 ; Rutherford, 2009 ). For instance, some made contributions that warranted inclusion in early books (e.g., Bandura, 1969 ), later histories (e.g., Kazdin, 1978 ; Rutherford, 2009 ), and reprinted publications. As Kazdin (1978) noted,

In the mid 1960s, several important books on behavior modification appeared in the United States, including … Human Learning: Studies Extending Conditioning Principles to Complex Behavior (1964) edited by Staats, Research in Behavior Modification (1965) edited by Krasner and Ullmann, Case Studies in Behavior Modification (1965) edited by Ullmann and Krasner. … Ullmann and Krasner's Case Studies appears to have been particularly influential. (p. 203).

As influential as these publications were, however, they were not the literature that was applied behavior analysis.

The convergent and discriminant validity of our methods and results notwithstanding, we aver that the publications we included and excluded were not different in kind, only in degree. Their differences lie in the degree to which we included the seven dimensions of applied behavior analysis and the degree to which our criteria were consistent with them. Many of the publications we excluded included some of the dimensions and were consistent with some of our criteria. More to the point, however, the kind versus degree distinction fails for reasons that priority claims about the field's founding publications fail, to which we now turn.

Priority Claims

In the history of science, priority claims concern the assignment of credit for discoveries, inventions, and foundings, whereas priority disputes concern disagreements about those claims. Disputes typically arise in the context of multiple independent discoveries ( Merton, 1942 ), that is, the same or similar discoveries, inventions, and foundings made by different scientists ( Boring, 1927 , 1950 ; Merton, 1942 , 1957 , 1961 ). In the natural sciences, for instance, priority disputes include the discovery of evolution through natural selection, the invention of the telescope, and the founding of modern chemistry (see Ogburn & Thomas, 1922 ). In psychology, they include the discovery of classical conditioning, the invention of psychoanalysis, and the founding of the first research laboratory in the U.S. (see Simonton, 1979 , p. 387). In behavior analysis, they include the discovery of the operant ( Konorski & Miller, 1937 , or Skinner, 1935 , 1937 ; see Iversen, 1992 ), the invention of teaching machines ( Pressey, 1926 , or Skinner, 1958 ; see Benjamin, 1988 ), and the founding of applied behavior analysis.

In applied behavior analysis, priority claims about the multiple founding publications were seen in the independent assessments of the publications we identified. More than one was claimed to be the founding or first publication or a cognate thereof (e.g., groundbreaking, seminal). Given the multiple publications and the differences in degree (not kind) between those we included and excluded, we conclude that the priority claims are largely irresolvable for two reasons. The first concerns methodology: Identification of the field's founding publications depends significantly on method. The second concerns the nature of the field's founding: It was a process. We address these reasons, as follows.

Dependence on Method

The dependence of the field's founding publications on method is illustrated by Williams's (1959) article, “The Elimination of Temper Tantrums by Extinction Procedures.” Among the publications we identified as founding, it was the arguably the founding publication because it was the first publication, if first means founding, which it need not. Although published the same year as Ayllon and Michael (1959) , Williams's submission was received by the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology ( JASP ) on October 1, 1958, whereas Ayllon and Michael's (1959) was received by JEAB on September 21, 1959 (nearly a year later). Williams's publication appeared in JASP 's September, 1959, issue, whereas Ayllon and Michael's appeared in JEAB 's October, 1959, issue (a month later). This makes Williams's article the field's founding publication among those we identified. However, if our inclusion criteria for identification of the early applied behavioral research literature had been different, Williams would have been neither the first nor the founding publication. We offer three cases.

First, if our inclusion criterion for applied had been consistent with Baer et al.'s (1968) description of the applied dimension as applied research on behavior that was important to the participants but was not a behavioral application, then Williams (1959) would not be the founding publication. At least one such applied article was published earlier ( Flanagan et al.'s, 1958 , analysis of stuttering). Moreover, if our inclusion criterion for applied had been consistent with Baer et al.'s description of the applied dimension as applied research on behavior that is important to society but is not a behavioral application, then at least two other such articles were published even earlier, among them, Greenspoon's (1955) analysis of verbal behavior and Azrin and Lindsley's (1956) analysis of children's cooperation.

Second, if our inclusion criterion for research had been more consistent with Baer et al.'s (1968) description of the analytic dimension, then again Williams (1959) would not be the founding publication. Ayllon and Michael (1959) would be; they used an AB design in one of the five studies, whereas Williams used none (just two extinction curves). As noted above, however, Williams was not alone. Seven of the other 34 publications used no design (e.g., Jensen & Wosmack, 1967 ), and one of them was published in JEAB ( Zimmerman & Zimmerman, 1962 ). Moreover, if we had been even more consistent with Baer et al., then Sherman (1965) would be the founding publication. It was the first to use an ABA design. And, had we been still more consistent with Baer et al., B. M. Hart et al. (1964) would have been the founding publication. It used an ABAB design, albeit graphed as cumulative records. The first to graph an ABAB design using conventional methods was Wolf et al. (1964) . The first to graph a multiple baseline design using conventional coordinates was Metz (1965) . Overall, in addition to Williams, five other publications we identified were not analytic according to Baer et al.'s description ( Cook & Adams, 1966 ; Hewett, 1964 , 1965 ; Jensen & Womack, 1967 ; Sherman, 1963 ).

Third, if our inclusion criteria had included Baer et al.'s (1968) behavioral dimension, which required quantitative reports of interobserver agreement, then neither Williams (1959) nor Ayllon and Michael (1959) would be the founding publication. Allen et al. (1964) would be; they reported interobserver agreement. Williams (1959) and Ayllon and Michael (1959) did not, nor did 28 other publications we identified (e.g., Isaacs et al., 1960 ; Wolf et al., 1967 ).

Independent Assessments

This dependence on method may also explain variations in the assessments of the publications we identified. For example, some claimed that Ayllon and Michael (1959) was “the first [applied] behavior analytic paper,” “sparked [the] applied behavior movement,” “probably mark[ed] the birth of applied behavior analysis,” was “the pioneering applied behavioral study.” Others claimed that Wolf's research was “groundbreaking” and “landmark” and set “the parameters of applied behavior analysis” and came “to define applied behavior analysis.” No assessments claimed that Williams (1959) was a founding or first publication or a cognate thereof, although it was included by both Bugelski (1975) and Willis and Giles (1976) . 19 It may have received no priority claims because the claimants used more restrictive inclusion criteria than ours.

The claimants may also have been influenced by incidental factors, some formal, others informal. Among the formal factors may have been that (a) Ayllon and Michael's (1959) article was 12 pages long, whereas Williams (1959) was just 1 page long; (b) Ayllon and Michael reported five studies, whereas Williams reported just one; (c) Ayllon and Michael was part of a sustained program of research, whereas Williams was not (but see Williams, 1962 ); and (d) Ayllon and Michael was published in JEAB , whereas Williams was not. 20

Among the informal factors may have been (a) disciplinary proclivities: Ayllon and Michael were behavior analysts, whereas Williams was an eclectic neobehaviorist (see, e.g., Carr & Williams, 1957 ; Williams, Tallarico, & Tedeschi, 1960 ); (b) institutional allegiances: The University of Houston, Arizona State University, and the University of Washington had behavior-analytic faculty, staff, and students, whereas Williams's institution, the University of Miami, had none ( Routh, 2002 ); 21 (c) intellectual loyalties: Ayllon and Wolf collaborated with leading behavior analysts of the day, among them, Azrin, Bijou, and Michael, whereas Williams did not; and (d) personal relationships among behavior analysts: Ayllon's and Wolf's adviser was Jack Michael, whereas Williams's adviser was Eckhard Hess at the University of Chicago, who was known for his research on imprinting (e.g., Hess, 1958 ). When priority claims depend significantly on method, then incidental factors may be influential in advancing priority claims.

Research programs

Not only does the identification of the founding publications depend significantly on method, so too does the identification of founding research programs. If, again, founding means first, then Ayllon's was the field's founding program. Its first publication was in 1959 ( Ayllon & Michael, 1959 ), whereas Wolf's was in 1964 ( Harris, Johnston, Kelley, & Wolf, 1964 ). However, if we had included Baer et al.'s (1968) behavioral dimension among our inclusion criteria, then Wolf's would have been the founding program. Allen et al. (1965) reported interobserver agreement data; Ayllon did not.

This dependence on method may also explain variations in the assessments of the programs we identified. Some claimed that Ayllon's program was “groundbreaking,” and others made the same claim for Wolf's. Some claimed that Ayllon's was “ingenious,” “unprecedented,” and “innovative,” and others claimed that Wolf's was a “landmark” and “pioneering.” None, however, claimed that Staats's research program was founding or first or a cognate thereof.

First publications and programs

As we have noted, a field's first publication need not be its founding publication. Whereas the first publication would be, literally, the earliest publication, the founding publication would be the seminal, defining, or classic publication. Among founding publications, the first publication is easy to identify. It is the first on an interval scale of months or years. On this account, Williams (1959) was the first publication in applied behavior analysis. However, just as with founding publications, first publications are also dependent on method. Ayllon and Michael (1959) might be the first publication, given its greater consistency with Baer et al.'s (1968) analytic dimension, but then so might Allen et al. (1964) , given its consistency with the behavioral dimension. Likewise, although Ayllon's research program is the first program among those we identified, Wolf's first program might be the first, given its greater consistency with Baer et al.'s analytic dimension.

In summary, the first reason why priority claims about the founding publications are irresolvable concerns methodology: Their identification depends significantly on method (or, at least, on our method).

Founding as a Process

The second reason why the priority claims are irresolvable is the nature of the field's founding. It was a process. This is supported by two of our earlier points. First, the differences between the publications we included and excluded were differences in degree rather than kind. Second, the publications we excluded still participated in, contributed to, and influenced the field's founding. As Lerman et al. (2013) recently noted, “Tracing the emergence of ABA before 1968 is arbitrary because the borders separating basic, translational, and applied research are fluid” (p. 81), that is, a process.

An evolutionary process

Not only was the field's founding through its publications a process, it was arguably a nonrandom cumulative process. That is, some variations in its publications were retained over time, among them variations in its analytic and behavioral dimensions. This makes the field's founding not just a process, but an evolutionary process; this is supported by two other earlier points.

First, between 1930 and 1967, the experimental analysis of behavior became increasing relevant to applied behavior analysis. This is evident in changes in (a) the contingencies of reinforcement (from simple to complex); (b) the reinforcers and discriminative stimuli used in nonhuman research (from food pellets to drugs as reinforcers); (c) the typicality of nonhuman participants (from typical laboratory rats to those bred for maze brightness and dullness); (d) the behavior of nonhuman participants (from bar pressing to anxiety); (e) the species of the participants (from rats to humans); (f) the reinforcers and discriminative stimuli used in human research (from lights to photographs of humans as discriminative stimuli); (g) the typicality of human participants (from typically developing children to adults with psychiatric disorders); (h) the behavior of humans (from bar pressing to verbal behavior); (i) human behavior important to the participants (from verbal behavior to stuttering); and (j) the research settings (from operant chambers to institutional settings). 22

Second, between 1959 and 1967, the publications we identified became increasingly inclusive of and consistent with Baer et al.'s (1968) seven dimensions. Which of the seven dimensions were necessary for a publication to be a founding publication and to what degree depends on the dimensions and the degree. Not even Baer et al. were entirely prescriptive about this. For instance, in evaluating whether a study was an applied behavior analysis, they wrote, “a study which purports to be an applied behavior analysis … must be applied , behavioral , and analytic . In addition, it should be technological , conceptually systematic , and effective , and it should display some generality” (p. 92). Musts and shoulds are different prescriptions. The musts make the applied, behavioral, and analytic dimensions necessary for a study to be an applied behavior analysis, whereas the shoulds make the technological, conceptually systematic, effective, and generality dimensions neither necessary nor sufficient.

In any event, the nonrandom, cumulative relevance, inclusion, and consistency of applied research and behavioral applications with the dimensions of applied behavior analysis support not only the nature of the field's founding as a process but also as an evolutionary process. 23

Selection by consequences

In the philosophy of science, nonrandom, cumulative “conceptual change” in theories and knowledge is referred to as evolutionary epistemology . Although it is agnostic in its account of the change, evolutionary epistemology usually offers selectionist accounts based on variation, selection, and retention of scientific practices and their products ( Campbell, 1974 ; Popper, 1972 ; Toulmin, 1972 ), some of them sympathetic to behavior analysis (e.g., D. L. Hull, 1988 , 2001 ; see D. L. Hull, Langeman, & Glenn, 2001 ). Not only is science an evolutionary process in this sense, but so too is technology (see Basalla, 1988 ; Hughes, 2011 ; Petroski, 1992 ), including behavioral technology. Moreover, beyond science and technology, universal Darwinism ( Dawkins, 1983 ) and universal selection theory ( Cziko, 1995 ) hold that all nonrandom, cumulative change in biology, behavior, and cultural practices is subject to selectionist accounts.

An evolutionary account of the founding of applied behavior analysis through its publications requires explanations of (a) variations in the publications (e.g., in their reports of the field's dimensions); (b) the selection of variations in the dimensions (e.g., in reports of dimensions that were increasingly consistent with Baer et al.'s, 1968 , descriptions of them); and (c) the retention of those variations in the dimensions (see Rider, 1991 ; contra. Marr, 1991 , on evolutionary analogies for changes in behavior analysis). Ultimately, of course, a selectionist account will have to address the coevolution and selection of the field's science and technology (see Lattal, 2008 ). Offering this account, however, is beyond the scope of our study. We sought only to identify the founding publications or, if that proved futile, to describe the nature of the field's founding.

Evolution or revolution

Although we have observed that the founding of applied behavior analysis through its publications was an evolutionary process, other fields might have arisen from singular, revolutionary publications. Among the often-cited examples are Nicolaus Copernicus's (1543/1976) On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres , Isaac Newton's (1687 / 1803 ) Principia Mathematica , and Charles Darwin's (1859) On the Origin of Species in astronomy, physics, and evolutionary biology, respectively.

The historiography of science, however, is divided over whether singular publications are revolutionary or evolutionary. Revolutionary accounts view them as discontinuous from earlier publications (e.g., I. B. Cohen, 1985 ; Kuhn, 1962 ), whereas evolutionary accounts view them as continuous (e.g., D. L. Hull, 1988 ; Laudan, 1977 ; see Batts & Crawford, 1991 ). In the latter, putative revolutions are simply accelerated processes of change (see Eldredge & Gould, 1972 , on punctuated equilibria). Given that the behavior-analytic account of cultural change is evolutionary and selectionist ( Skinner, 1981 ), then so too, presumably, is its account of scientific change. Science is a cultural practice. Its products, among them publications, are selected by consequences.

Although Skinner's selectionist account is not unique in the philosophy of science, behavior analysis offers a conceptual innovation that might be. Putative revolutions are not only accelerated processes of change, but also, perhaps, scientific cusps. We borrow the concept of cusps from the behavior-analytic approach to development (its concept of behavioral cusps ) that accounts, in part, for discontinuities in behavioral development (e.g., stages; see Bosch & Hixon, 2004 ; Rosales-Ruiz & Baer, 1997 ).

Scientific cusps include discoveries and inventions that offer (a) opportunities to expand and transform behavioral repertoires, as well as to acquire new ones (e.g., scientific, social, and cultural repertoires with respect to research designs, research management, and cultural competence); (b) opportunities to encounter new, transformed, and expanded environments (e.g., in nature, society, and cultures at large with respect to subject matter, applications, and research support); (c) opportunities to discover new reasons and motivation for conducting research and pursuing applications (e.g., new problems of individual, social, and cultural importance); and (d) opportunities to contact new contingencies that strengthen the expanded, transformed, and new repertoires (e.g., improvements in experimental control for improvement of the human condition). Some of the founding publications in applied behavior analysis might be cusps of this sort, but this awaits further study.

The evolution of behavior analysis

Our conclusion that the founding of applied behavior analysis was an evolutionary process requires that we qualify a claim we made in our introduction. We claimed that Skinner's (1938) book, The Behavior of Organisms , and his 1945b article, “The Operational Analysis of Psychological Terms,” were the founding publications in Skinner's basic science and its philosophy, respectively. Our qualification: Just as the founding of applied behavior analysis was an evolutionary process, so too were these founding publications.

Skinner (1956) made this point about his science in “A Case History in Scientific Method,” in which he described the founding of his science as a process of change in his behavior and the products thereof (e.g., experimental control, apparatus). Not until the 1960s, however, did he systematically describe the selectionist parallel between the reinforcement of operant behavior and the natural selection of species. Both are selected by consequences ( Skinner, 1966 ). And, not until the 1980s did he systematically describe the selectionist parallels among species, operant behavior, and cultural practices. All three evolve, selected by consequences ( Skinner, 1981 ). Today, a small literature on Skinner's development as a scientist and a systematist suggests that his 1938 book and 1945b article were also the products of practices selected by consequences (e.g., Coleman, 1991 ; Iversen, 1992 ; Moxley, 1992 , 1997 , 2001 ). Thus, his publications were not revolutionary in his own work but were continuous with it, even if they seemed revolutionary in psychology at the time (and more so today).

FUTURE RESEARCH

Given the limitations of our study, further research on the founding of applied behavior analysis is warranted, through both its publications and other methods. Other methods include those we addressed earlier (e.g, identification of the field's founders and founding institutions and consideration of its cultural context). As for its founding publications, further research could analyze the references cited therein. This might reveal something about the field's earlier foundations. Citation analyses of the publications we identified could be conducted. This might provide more insight into their influence from today's perspective. Futhermore, the consistency of the publications with Baer et al.'s (1968) seven dimensions of applied behavior analysis could be rated and ranked. This might yield additional insight into their importance and further inform a selectionist account of the field's founding as a process. For the moment, though, we have the results of this study.

Acknowledgments

We thank Christy Alligood and Chris Newland for questions that sharpened our analysis, Sam Leigland and Jay Moore for answering queries about Skinner (1945b) , Don Routh and Rod Wellens for archival materials and comments, Megan Hafen for research on the origins of time-out, and the journal's reviewers for having us clarify our focus. Earlier versions of the manuscript were presented at the meetings of the Southeastern Association for Behavior Analysis, October 11, 2012, and the Behavior Analysis Association of Michigan, February 21, 2013.

1 Its other sciences include behavioral syntheses and simulations 7 ( Epstein, 1984 ) and translational research ( Mace & Critchfield, 2010 ).

2 Although the field of behavior analysis comprises the discipline and practice of behavior analysis and the discipline comprises, at least, the experimental analysis of behavior, applied behavior analysis, and radical behaviorism, we refer to applied behavior analysis as a field for brevity's sake, although we distinguish it from the field of behavior analysis more generally. The two fields should not be conflated.

3 Prior to Fuller's publication, Skinner had taken up applications. In “Baby in a Box” ( Skinner, 1945a ), he integrated materials science with his scientific outlook on infant health and behavior ( Benjamin & Nielson-Gammon, 1999 ). In Walden Two ( Skinner, 1948 ), he offered a fictional extension of operant principles to community practices ( Altus & Morris, 2004 ). And, in “Pigeons in a Pelican” ( Skinner, 1960 ), he described efforts during World War II to teach pigeons to guide simulated missiles to precise destinations (see Capshew, 1996 ). For a review of his contributions to applied behavior analysis, see Morris, Smith, and Altus (2005) .

4 Skinner's (1953) book, Science and Human Behavior, was also transitional. It has been viewed as “the main factor responsible for the development of the area called behavior modification” ( Michael, 1980 , p. 364; see also Marr, 2003 , p. 311). As such, it fathered the field of applied behavior analysis ( Morris et al., 2005 , pp. 111–114).

5 These books reprint not only articles but also chapters, technical reports, original contributions, revisions of articles, previously unpublished manuscripts, conference presentations, and colloquia.

6 The terms behavior analysis and behavior analyst are seemingly based on the term applied behavior analysis . We do not find them before 1968, but thereafter they were used in the context of applications (e.g., Goldiamond, 1973 ), most obviously at the 1974 Drake Conference on Professional Issues in Behavior Analysis ( Wood, 1975c ). The published conference proceedings contain such terms and phrases as “behavior analysis procedures and programs” ( Wood, 1975b , p. xvii), “the field of behavior analysis” ( Wood, 1975a , p. xiii), “a profession called behavior analysis” ( Malott, 1975 , p. 39), and the “behavior analyst” ( Sulzer-Azaroff, Thaw, & Thomas, 1975 , pp. 52, 57).

7 A behavioral synthesis is both a process and a product. As a process, it is the production or creation of more complex behavior out of its less complex components, the latter having been discerned through experimental analyses or behavioral interpretations. As a product, a synthesis is the result of this process ( Catania, 2013 , pp. 465, 468). A behavioral simulation is also a process and a product, but it may be simple or complex and synthesized or not. It is a model of behavior based on behavior as a subject matter (e.g., animal simulations of human cognition, human simulations of psychiatric disorders) or on nonbehavioral subject matter (e.g., computer simulations; see Epstein, 1984 ).

8 Although contemporary textbooks on behavior modification include behavior therapy (e.g., Martin & Pear, 2002 , pp. 339–353; Miltenberger, 2008 , pp. 541–563), those on applied behavior analysis often do not (e.g., Cooper et al., 2007 ; Fisher, Piazza, & Roane, 2011 ; Mayer, Sulzer-Azaroff, & Wallace, 2012 ; but see Chance, 1998 , pp. 363–396).

9 We excluded a successor to this program of research: Risley and Wolf's studies of children with echolalia (one of these children was Dicky). Of this program's publications, we would have included only Risley and Wolf (1967a) . We would have excluded Risley and Wolf (1966 , 1967b) because they were identical reprints of the same presentation ( Risley & Wolf, 1964 ) and Risley and Wolf (1968) because it was published after 1967.

10 As Wood (1975a) wrote of Michael, “The field of behavior analysis would unquestionably exist and function as an important social resource without Jack, but it probably would have taken longer and it certainly would be a lot duller” (p. xiv).

11 We excluded two books of reprinted publications: (a) Eysenck's (1964) Experiments in Behavior Therapy: Readings in Modern Methods of Treatment of Mental Disorders Derived from Learning Theory because it reprinted mainly nonbehavioral publications, for instance, applications of hypnosis, objective and rational psychotherapy, and behavior therapy (e.g., reciprocal inhibition, guided imagery) and (b) Verhave's (1966) The Experimental Analysis of Behavior: Selected Readings because it reprinted mainly nonapplied publications. The applied research articles it reprinted were not behavioral applications (e.g., Greenspoon, 1955 ).

12 We excluded Hock's (2012) Forty Studies that Changed Psychology . It included Pavlov (1927) , Watson and Rayner (1920) , Skinner (1948) , and Wolpe (1961) , but no publications we identified as being among the founding publications in applied behavior analysis.

13 As a vernacular term and a practice, the origin of time-out lies in the mid-1800s, when it meant both a break from work and an official break in sporting events. As a practice in the modern sense, its lineage surely antedates behavior analysis. Parents likely have sent their children to bedrooms as a consequence of problem behavior since children have had bedrooms. The first published behavior-analytic use of the term and the procedure was in the experimental analysis of behavior. Ferster and Skinner (1957 , pp. 34–36, 734) included it in their glossary and described its arrangement; Ferster (1957) used it as an aversive stimulus. The first published use of the term and practice in applied behavior analysis seems to have been Wolf et al. (1964) , who cited Ferster and Appel (1961) on the use of the term and procedure. For their practice, they put Dicky in his room contingent on his temper tantrums. We have no evidence to dispute Staats's claim that he used the term and the practice earlier in raising his daughter and influenced its use by Wolf et al. ( Staats, 2012 , pp. 34, 228; Strauss, 2006 ; http://www2.hawaii.edu/∼staats/contributions.htm ). However, he apparently did not use the term in print until 1968 ( Staats, 1968b , pp. 345–346). Thus, although he may have been the first behaviorist to use the term and the practice in applied behavior analysis, priority claims in science are usually credited to first publications rather than first unpublished uses.

14 Token reinforcer systems, rather than programs, had been used in earlier research with chimpanzees ( Cowles, 1937 ; Wolfe, 1936 ), some by behavior analysts (e.g., Kelleher, 1957a , 1957b ). Staats claimed to have developed the “first token-reinforcement system in behavior modification studies” in 1959 ( Staats et al., 1970 , p. 332), followed by their report in publications (e.g., Staats et al., 1962 ; Staats, Finley, et al., 1964 ; Staats, Minke, et al., 1964 ). However, like Ferster and DeMyer's (1961 , 1962 ) use of tokens to analyze the behavior of children with autism, this was applied research rather than behavioral application. As for token economies, their antecedents lay outside behavior analysis (e.g., in early 1800s English and American schools; see Kazdin & Pulaski, 1977 ; Ravitch, 1974 ). Their first behavioral application may have been Ayllon and Haughton's (1962) establishment of pennies as reinforcers for social behavior, soon after which reports of token economies burgeoned (e.g., Ayllon & Azrin, 1964 , 1965 , 1968 ; Birnbrauer & Lawler, 1964 ; Birnbrauer et al., 1965 ; Lent, 1968 ; O'Leary & Becker, 1967 ; Staats & Butterfield, 1965 ; Staats et al., 1967 ).

15 As for the field of child behavior analysis, it was begun by Bijou in 1955 ( Kazdin, 1978 , pp. 260–264, 268, 273, 1982; Morris, 2012 ).

16 In considering these assessments, two caveats are warranted. First, Risley may have been partial to Wolf's publications. He and Wolf were close colleagues and collaborators at Washington (1962–1964) and then at Kansas (1965–1982). However, Risley's assessments of Ayllon's research were also compelling (he called it “unprecedented”; Risley, 2001 , p. 267) as were Wolf's assessments of Ayllon and Michael (1959) . He called it “the pioneering applied behavioral study” and “the model for applied research” ( Wolf, 2001 , p. 289). Second, although not as closely associated with Wolf, the authors of the present article are a faculty member who overlapped with him at the University of Kansas (Morris), a Kansas graduate who took courses from him (Altus), and a current Kansas graduate student (Smith).

17 The reprint of Ayllon and Azrin (1964) in Malott et al. (1967) was not from JEAB , where it was published, but from an unpublished “investigation” (Malott et al., p. 139).

18 Although the publication dates belie any influence on the later publication by the earlier publications, publication dates do not always correspond to the dates when research was conducted.

10 Williams's 1984 vita lists 88 publications in which his 1959 article was “reprinted in whole or in part” between 1962 and 1984. He notes on his vita that the article was one of “the 123 most important studies in the history of the psychology of learning” (see Bugelski, 1975 ) and one of “116 great experiments in behavior modification” (see Willis & Giles, 1976 ). It also lists Williams as the “chairperson” or “cochairperson” on Ed Malagodi's 1965 master's thesis, “Some Effects of Intermittently Pairing a Neutral Stimulus with a Primary Reinforcing Stimulus” and on his 1967 dissertation, “Second-Order Chained and Tandem Schedules of Token Reinforcement in the Rat.” We thank Rod Wellens for retrieving and sending us Williams's vita.

20 In an e-mail to the first author, Don Routh, now retired from the University of Miami, wrote, “As far as I know, that Williams paper you know about is the only one of his that is at all famous” (Donald Routh, personal communication, September 29, 2012).

21 In his unpublished manuscript, “Psychology at the University of Miami: 1927–2002,” Don Routh (2002) wrote that “the first Director of Experimental Psychology in the department in 1959–1960 was Carl Williams. Williams originally came to the university as an instructor in 1950 before he completed his PhD at the University of Chicago in 1951. After this he was promoted through the ranks, becoming professor in 1963 and reaching emeritus status in 1984. Williams published papers on such topics as probability learning, often in collaboration with Raymond D. Hartley, before and after Hartley moved from Miami to Memphis State University” (p. 27).

22 Our focus on human behavior in the evolution of applied behavior analysis is not meant to dismiss applied behavior analysis with nonhumans. It is a vibrant part of the field. However, little or no such analyses were published until after the field was founded. For reviews, see Bloomsmith, Marr, and Maple (2007) , Edwards and Poling (2011) , and Frothman and Ogden (1992) (Christy Alligood, personal communication, November 13, 2012).

23 Even after JABA was founded, the field has continued to evolve. For instance, assessments of social validity include not only the social importance of the behavior (i.e., the applied dimension) and the social significance of its effects (i.e., the effective dimension), but now also the social appropriateness of behavioral applications ( Wolf, 1978 ). In addition, the behavioral dimension now often includes interobserver agreement on independent variables in what is called treatment integrity (see L. Peterson, Homer, & Wonderlich, 1982 ).

• Allen K. E. The week's citation classic. Current Contents. (1983); 38 :22. [ Google Scholar ]
• Allen K. E., Harris F. R. Elimination of children's excessive scratching by training the mother in reinforcement procedures. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (1966); 4 :79–84. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Allen K. E., Hart B. E., Buell J. S., Harris F. R., Wolf M. M. Effects of social reinforcement on isolate behavior of a nursery school child. Child Development. (1964); 35 :511–518. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Altus D. E., Morris E. K. B. F. Skinner's utopian vision: Behind and beyond Walden Two . Contemporary Justice Review. (2004); 7 :267–286. [ Google Scholar ]
• Anastasi A., Urbina S. Psychological testing (7th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall; (1997). [ Google Scholar ]
• Ayllon T. Intensive treatment of psychotic behaviour by stimulus satiation and food reinforcement. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (1963); 1 :55–61. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ayllon T. Some behavioral problems associated with eating in chronic schizophrenic patients. In: Ullmann L. P., Krasner L., editors. Case studies in behavior modification. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; (1965). pp. 73–77. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Ayllon T., Azrin N. H. Reinforcement and instructions with mental patients. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1964); 7 :327–331. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ayllon T., Azrin N. H. The measurement and reinforcement of behavior of psychotics. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1965); 8 :357–383. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ayllon T., Azrin N. H. The token economy: A motivational system for therapy and rehabilitation. New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts; (1968). [ Google Scholar ]
• Ayllon T., Haughton E. Control of the behavior of schizophrenic patients by food. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1962); 5 :343–352. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ayllon T., Haughton E. Modification of symptomatic verbal behaviour of mental patients. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (1964); 2 :87–97. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ayllon T., Haughton E., Hughes H. B. Interpretation of symptoms: Fact or fiction. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (1965); 3 :1–7. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ayllon T., Haughton E., Osmond H. O. Chronic anorexia: A behaviour problem. Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal. (1964); 9 :147–154. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ayllon T., Michael J. The psychiatric nurse as behavioral engineer. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1959); 2 :323–334. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Azrin N. H. A strategy for applied research: Learning based but outcome oriented. American Psychologist. (1977); 32 :140–149. [ Google Scholar ]
• Azrin N. H., Lindsley O. R. The reinforcement of cooperation between children. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. (1956); 52 :100–102. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bacon F. New Atlantis. In: Haight G. D., editor. Essays and New Atlantis. New York, NY: Black; (1942). pp. 243–302. (Ed.) (Original work published 1624) [ Google Scholar ]
• Bacon F. The new organon (F. H. Anderson, Ed.) Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill; (1960). (Original work published 1620) [ Google Scholar ]
• Baer D. M. Laboratory control of thumbsucking by withdrawal and re-presentation of reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1962); 5 :443–455. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Baer D. M. Perhaps it would be better not to know everything. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1977); 10 :167–172. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Baer D. M. The week's citation classic. Current Contents. (1982); 46 :14. [ Google Scholar ]
• Baer D. M., Peterson R. F., Sherman J. A. The development of imitation by reinforcing behavioral similarity to a model. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1967); 10 :405–416. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Baer D. M., Wolf M. M., Risley T. R. Some current dimensions of applied behavior analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1968); 1 :91–97. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bailey J. S., Burch M. R. Research methods in applied behavior analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; (2002). [ Google Scholar ]
• Ball L. C. Genius without the “Great Man”: New possibilities from the historian of psychology. History of Psychology. (2011); 15 :72–83. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bandura A. Behavior modification. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston; (1969). [ Google Scholar ]
• Barrett B. H. Reduction in rate of multiple tics by free operant conditioning methods. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. (1962); 135 :187–195. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Basalla G. The evolution of technology. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press; (1988). [ Google Scholar ]
• Batts B., Crawford L. L. Problematic progress: A review of Laudan's Progress and Its Problems and Science and Values . Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1991); 55 :337–349. [ Google Scholar ]
• Behavioral roots of JABA's editors and associate editors. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1993); 26 :540–541. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Benjamin L. T. A history of teaching machines. American Psychologist. (1988); 43 :703–712. [ Google Scholar ]
• Benjamin L. T., Nielson-Gammon F. B. F. Skinner and psychotechnology: The case of the heir conditioner. Review of General Psychology. (1999); 3 :155–167. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bensberg G. J., Colwell C. N., Cassel R. H. Teaching the profoundly retarded self help activities by behavior shaping techniques. American Journal of Mental Deficiency. (1965); 69 :674–679. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bernard C. An introduction to the study of experimental medicine (H. C. Green, Trans) New York, NY: Henry Schuman; (1927). (Original work published 1865) [ Google Scholar ]
• Bijou S. W. A systematic approach to an experimental analysis of young children. Child Development. (1955); 26 :161–168. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bijou S. W. Patterns of reinforcement and extinction in young children. Child Development. (1957); 28 :47–54. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bijou S. W. Reflection on some early events related to behavior analysis of child development. The Behavior Analyst. (1996); 19 :49–60. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bijou S. W. Child behavior therapy: Early history. In: O'Donohue W. T., Henderson D. A., Hayes S. C., Fisher J. E., Hayes L. J., editors. A history of the behavioral therapies: Founders' personal histories. Reno, NV: Context Press; (2001). pp. 105–124. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Bijou S. W., Baer D. M., editors. Child development: Readings in experimental analysis. New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts; (1962). (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Bijou S. W., Peterson R. F., Ault M. A. A method to integrate descriptive and experimental field studies at the level of data and empirical concepts. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1968); 1 :175–191. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bijou S. W., Ribes-Inesta E., editors. Behavior modification: Issues and extensions. New York, NY: Academic Press; (1972). (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Birnbrauer J. S. Applied behavior analysis, service and the acquisition of knowledge. The Behavior Analyst. (1979); 2 :15–21. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Birnbrauer J. S., Lawler J. Token reinforcement for learning. Mental Retardation. (1964); 2 :275–279. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Birnbrauer J. S., Wolf M. M., Kidder J. D., Tague C. E. Classroom behavior of retarded pupils with token reinforcement. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. (1965); 2 :219–235. [ Google Scholar ]
• Blake P., Moss T. The development of socialization skills in an electively mute child. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (1967); 3 :349–356. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bloomsmith M. A., Marr M. J., Maple T. L. Addressing nonhuman primate behavior problems through the application of operant conditioning: Is the human treatment approach a useful model. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. (2007); 102 :205–222. [ Google Scholar ]
• Boakes R. From Darwin to behaviourism: Psychology and the minds of animals. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press; (1984). [ Google Scholar ]
• Boring E. G. The problem of originality in science. The American Journal of Psychology. (1927); 39 :70–90. [ Google Scholar ]
• Boring E. G. Great men and scientific progress. Proceedings from the American Philosophical Society. (1950); 94 :339–351. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bosch S., Hixson M. D. The final piece to a complete science of behavior: Behavior development and behavioral cusps. The Behavior Analyst Today. (2004); 5 :244–254. [ Google Scholar ]
• Boyle M. E., Greer R. D. Operant procedures and the comatose patient. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1983); 16 :3–12. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Brigham T. A., Sherman J. A. An experimental analysis of verbal imitation in preschool children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1968); 1 :151–158. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bugelski B. R. Empirical studies of the psychology of learning. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett; (1975). [ Google Scholar ]
• Burchard J., Tyler V. The modification of delinquent behavior through operant conditioning. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (1965); 2 :245–250. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Campbell D. T. Evolutionary epistemology. In: Schilpp P. S., editor. The philosophy of Karl R. Popper. LaSalle, IL: Open Court; (1974). pp. 412–463. (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Capshew J. H. Engineering behavior, Project Pigeon, World War II, and the conditioning of B. F. Skinner. In: Smith L. D., Woodward W. R., editors. B. F. Skinner and behaviorism in American culture. Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press; (1996). pp. 128–150. (Eds.) [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Carr R. M., Williams C. D. Exploratory behavior in three strains of rats. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology. (1957); 50 :621–623. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Catania A. C. Learning (5th ed.) Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY: Sloan; (2013). [ Google Scholar ]
• A celebration of The Behavior of Organisms at fifty Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1988); 50 :277–354. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chance P. First course in applied behavior analysis. Long Grove, IL: Waveland; (1998). [ Google Scholar ]
• Chance P. Thorndike's puzzle boxes and the origins of the experimental analysis of behavior. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1999); 72 :433–440. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cloninger S. C. Theories of personality: Understanding persons (3rd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall; (2000). [ Google Scholar ]
• Cohen D. J. Justin and his peers: An experimental analysis of a child's social world. Child Development. (1962); 33 :697–717. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cohen I. B. Revolution in science. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; (1985). [ Google Scholar ]
• Coleman S. R. From critic to theorist: Themes in Skinner's development from 1928 to 1938. Journal of Mind and Behavior. (1991); 12 :509–534. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cook C., Adams H. E. Modification of verbal behavior in speech deficient children. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (1966); 4 :265–271. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cooper J. O., Heron T. E., Heward W. L. Applied behavior analysis (2nd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson; (2007). [ Google Scholar ]
• Copernicus N. On the revolutions of the heavenly spheres (A. M. Duncan, Ed., Trans.) Newton Abbot, England: David & Charles; (1976). (Original work published 1543) [ Google Scholar ]
• Cowles J. T. (1937). Food-tokens as incentives for learning in chimpanzees. Comparative Psychology Monographs, 14, No. 71. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cziko G. Without miracles: Universal selection theory and the second Darwinian revolution. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; (1995). [ Google Scholar ]
• Darwin C. On the origin of species by means of natural selection. London: Murray; (1859). [ Google Scholar ]
• Dawkins R. Universal Darwinism. In: Bendall D. S., editor. Evolution from molecules to men. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press; (1983). pp. 403–425. (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Day W. F. On certain similarities between Wittgenstein and Skinner. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1969); 12 :489–606. [ Google Scholar ]
• Day W. F. The historical antecedents of contemporary behaviorism. In: Rieber R. W., Salzinger K., editors. Psychology: Theoretical-historical perspectives. (2nd ed., pp. 301–352) New York, NY: Academic Press; (1998). (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Deitz S. M. Two correct definitions of “applied.” The Behavior Analyst. (1983); 6 :105–106. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• DeMyer M. K., Ferster C. B. Teaching new social behavior to schizophrenic children. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry. (1962); 1 :443–461. [ Google Scholar ]
• Drash P. W., Freeman B. J. Behavior modification, behavior therapy, and operant conditioning: An historical survey and a bibliography of books in print, 1900–1972. Baltimore, MD: Behavioral Information and Technology; (1973). [ Google Scholar ]
• Edwards T. L., Poling A. Animal research in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis . Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (2011); 44 :409–412. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Eldredge N., Gould S. J. Punctuated equilibria: An alternative to phyletic gradualism. In: Schopf T. J. M., editor. Models in paleobiology. San Francisco, CA: Freeman Cooper; (1972). pp. 82–115. (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Epstein R. Simulation research in the analysis of behavior. Behaviorism. (1984); 12 :41–59. [ Google Scholar ]
• Estes W. K., Skinner B. F. Some quantitative properties of anxiety. Journal of Experimental Psychology. (1941); 29 :390–400. [ Google Scholar ]
• Eysenck H. J., editor. Experiments in behavior therapy: Readings in modern methods of treatment of mental disorders derived from learning theory. Oxford, England: Pergamon Press; (1964). (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Ferster C. B. Withdrawal of positive reinforcement as punishment. Science. (1957); 126 :509. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ferster C. B. Classification of behavioral pathology. In: Krasner L., Ullmann L. P., editors. Research in behavior modification. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; (1965). pp. 6–26. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Ferster C. B., Appel J. B. Punishment of S Δ responding in match to sample by time out from positive reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1961); 4 :45–56. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ferster C. B., DeMyer M. K. The development of performances in autistic children in an automatically controlled environment. Journal of Chronic Diseases. (1961); 13 :312–345. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ferster C. B., DeMyer M. K. A method for the experimental analysis of the autistic child. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. (1962); 32 :89–98. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ferster C. B., Skinner B. F. Schedules of reinforcement. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall; (1957). [ Google Scholar ]
• Fink A. Conducting research literature reviews. London, England: Sage; (2005). [ Google Scholar ]
• Fisher W. W., Piazza C. C., Roane H. S., editors. Handbook of applied behavior analysis. New York, NY: Guilford; (2011). (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Flanagan B., Goldiamond I., Azrin N. H. Operant stuttering: The control of stuttering behavior through response-contingent consequences. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1958); 1 :173–177. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Fowler F. J. Survey research methods (4th ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; (2009). [ Google Scholar ]
• Frothman D. L., Ogden J. J. The role of applied behavior analysis in zoo management: Today and tomorrow. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1992); 25 :647–652. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Fuller P. R. Operant conditioning of a vegetative human organism. Journal of Psychology. (1949); 62 :587–590. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Furumoto L. The new history of psychology. In: Cohen I. S., editor. The G. Stanley Hall lecture series (Vol. 9, pp. 7–34) Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; (1989). (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Garfield E. Introducing Citation Classics : The human side of scientific papers. Current Contents. (1977); 1 :5–7. [ Google Scholar ]
• Garvey W. D., Griffith B. C. Scientific communication: Its role in the conduct of research and creation of knowledge. American Psychologist. (1971); 26 :349–362. [ Google Scholar ]
• Gelfand D. M., Hartmann D. P. Behavior therapy with children: A review and evaluation of research methodology. Psychological Bulletin. (1968); 69 :204–215. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gewirtz J. L., Baer D. M. The effect of brief social deprivation on behaviors for a social reinforcer. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. (1958); 56 :49–56. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Giles D. K., Wolf M. M. Toilet training institutionalized, severe retardates: An application of operant behavior modification techniques. American Journal of Mental Deficiency. (1966); 70 :766–780. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Goldiamond I. Self-control procedures in personal behavior problems. Psychological Reports. (1965); 17 :851–868. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Goldiamond I. A diary of self-modification. Psychology Today. (1973, November); 7 :95–101. [ Google Scholar ]
• Goodall K. Shapers at work. Psychology Today. (1972, November); 6 (6):53–62, 132–138. [ Google Scholar ]
• Goodall K. This little girl won't interact with other little girls and she crawls around a lot. Psychology Today. (1973, January); 7 (1):65–72. [ Google Scholar ]
• Grantham G. The institutionalization of science in Europe, 1650–1850. In: Rhode P. W., Rosenbloom J. L., Weiman D. E., editors. Economic evolution and revolution in historical time. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press; (2011). pp. 51–85. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Greenspoon J. The reinforcing effect of two spoken sounds on the frequency of two responses. American Journal of Psychology. (1955); 68 :409–416. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Griffith B. C., Miller A. J. Networks of informal communication among scientifically productive scientists. In: Nelson C. E., Pollack D. K., editors. Communication among scientists and engineers. Lexington, MA: Heath; (1971). pp. 125–140. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Grossberg J. M. Behavior therapy: A review. Psychological Bulletin. (1964); 62 :73–88. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Guess S., Sailor W., Rutherford G., Baer D. M. An experimental analysis of linguistic development: The productive use of the plural morpheme. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1968); 1 :297–306. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Guthrie E. R. The psychology of learning. New York, NY: Harper and Brothers; (1935). [ Google Scholar ]
• Hackenberg T. D. Jacques Loeb, B. F. Skinner, and the legacy of prediction and control. The Behavior Analyst. (1995); 18 :225–236. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hake D. F. The basic-applied continuum and the possible evolution of human social and verbal research. The Behavior Analyst. (1982); 5 :21–28. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hansen G. D. Enuresis control through fading, escape, and avoidance training. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1979); 12 :303–307. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Harris F. R., Johnston M. K., Kelley C. S., Wolf M. M. Effects of positive reinforcement on regressed crawling of a nursery school child. Journal of Educational Psychology. (1964); 55 :35–41. [ Google Scholar ]
• Harris F. R., Wolf M. M., Baer D. M. Effects of adult social reinforcement on child behavior. Young Children. (1964); 20 :8–17. [ Google Scholar ]
• Harris F. R., Wolf M. M., Baer D. M. Effects of adult social reinforcement on child behavior. In: Bijou S. W., Baer D. M., editors. Child development: Readings in experimental analysis. New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts; (1967). pp. 146–158. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Hart B. M., Allen K. E., Buell J. S., Harris F. R., Wolf M. M. Effects of social reinforcement on operant crying. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. (1964); 1 :145–153. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hart C. Doing a literature search: A comprehensive guide for the social sciences. London, England: Sage; (2001). [ Google Scholar ]
• Haughton E., Ayllon T. Production and elimination of symptomatic behavior. In: Ullmann L. P., Krasner L., editors. Case studies in behavior modification. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; (1965). pp. 94–98. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Hawkins R. P., Peterson R. F., Schweid E., Bijou S. W. Behavior therapy in the home: Amelioration of problem parent-child relations with the parent in a therapeutic role. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. (1966); 4 :99–107. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hearst E., Capshew J. H., editors. Psychology at Indiana University: A centennial review and compendium. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Department of Psychology; (1988). (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Heidbreder E. Seven psychologies. New York, NY: Appleton-Century; (1933). [ Google Scholar ]
• Hess E. H. Imprinting in animals. Scientific American. (1958); 198 :81–90. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hewett F. M. Teaching reading to an autistic boy through operant conditioning. The Reading Teacher. (1964); 17 :613–618. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hewett F. M. Teaching speech to an autistic child through operant conditioning. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. (1965); 35 :927–936. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Higgins J. P. T., Green D., editors. Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions. (2008). (Eds.) Chichester, England: Wiley. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hilts P. J. Behavior mod. New York, NY: Harpers; (1974). [ Google Scholar ]
• Hock R. R. Forty studies that changed psychology (7th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson; (2012). [ Google Scholar ]
• Honig W. K., editor. Operant behavior: Areas of research and application. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall; (1966). (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Hughes J. On the origins of teepees. New York, NY: Free Press; (2011). [ Google Scholar ]
• Hull C. L. Principles of behavior. New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts; (1943). [ Google Scholar ]
• Hull D. L. Science as a process: An evolutionary account of social and conceptual development in science. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; (1988). [ Google Scholar ]
• Hull D. L. Science and selection: Essays on biological evolution and the philosophy of science. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press; (2001). [ Google Scholar ]
• Hull D. L., Langeman R. E., Glenn S. S. A general account of selection: Biology, immunology, and behavior. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. (2001); 24 :511–573. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Isaacs W., Thomas J., Goldiamond I. Application of operant conditioning to reinstate verbal behavior in psychotics. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders. (1960); 25 :8–12. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Iversen I. H. Skinner's early research: From reflexology to operant conditioning. American Psychologist. (1992); 47 :1318–1328. [ Google Scholar ]
• Jensen M. D., Wosmack M. G. Operant conditioning techniques applied in the treatment of an autistic child. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. (1967); 37 :30–34. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Johnston J. M. Distinguishing between applied research and practice. The Behavior Analyst. (1996); 19 :35–47. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Johnston J. M., Pennypacker H. S. Strategies and tactics of behavioral research (3rd ed.) New York, NY: Routledge; (2009). [ Google Scholar ]
• Johnston J. M., Shook G. L. Developing behavior analysis as the state level. The Behavior Analyst. (1987); 10 :199–233. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Johnston M. K., Kelley C. S., Harris F. R., Wolf M. M. An application of reinforcement principles to the development of motor skills of a young child. Child Development. (1966); 37 :379–387. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Jones M. C. A laboratory study of fear: The case of Peter. Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology. (1924); 31 :308–315. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Jones M. C. Albert, Peter, and John B. Watson. American Psychologist. (1974); 29 :581–584. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kanfer F. H., Phillips J. S. Learning foundations of behavior therapy. New York, NY: Wiley; (1970). [ Google Scholar ]
• Kazdin A. E. The token economy: A review and evaluation. New York, NY: Plenum; (1977). [ Google Scholar ]
• Kazdin A. E. History of behavior modification: Experimental foundations of experimental research. Baltimore, MD: University Park Press; (1978). [ Google Scholar ]
• Kazdin A. E. History of behavior modification. In: Bellack A. S., Hersen M., Kazdin A. E., editors. International handbook of behavior modification and therapy. New York, NY: Plenum; (1982). pp. 3–32. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Kazdin A. E. Research design in clinical psychology (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon; (2003). [ Google Scholar ]
• Kazdin A. E., Pulaski J. L. Joseph Lancaster and behavior modification in education. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences. (1977); 13 :261–266. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kelleher R. T. A comparison of conditioned and food reinforcement on a fixed ratio schedule in chimpanzees. Psychology Newsletter. (1957a); 8 :88–93. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kelleher R. T. Conditioned reinforcement in chimpanzees. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology. (1957b); 50 :571–575. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Keller F. S. A personal course in psychology. (1963, August). Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Philadelphia, PA. [ Google Scholar ]
• Keller F. S. A personal course in psychology. In: Ulrich R., Stacknik T., Mabry J., editors. Control of human behavior (Vol. 1, pp. 91–93) Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman; (1966). (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Keller F. S., Schoenfeld W. N. Principles of psychology. New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts; (1950). [ Google Scholar ]
• Kelley M. L., Jarvie G. J., Middlebrook J. L., McNeer M. F., Drabman R. S. Decreasing burned children's pain behavior: Impacting the trauma of hydrotherapy. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1984); 17 :147–158. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kennedy C. H. Single-case studies for educational research. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon; (2005). [ Google Scholar ]
• Konorski J., Miller S. Two types of conditioned reflex. Journal of General Psychology. (1937); 16 :264–272. [ Google Scholar ]
• Krasner L. An interview with Bijou. In: Etzel B. C., LeBlanc J. M., Baer D. M., editors. New developments in behavioral research: Theory, method, and application. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum; (1977). pp. 587–599. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Krasner L. History of behavior modification. In: Bellack A. S., Hersen M., Kazdin A. E., editors. International handbook of behavior modification and therapy. New York, NY: Plenum; (1990). pp. 3–25. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Krasner L., Ullmann L. P., editors. Research in behavior modification. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; (1965). (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Kronick D. A. A history of scientific and technical periodicals: The origins and development of the scientific and technical press, 1665–1790 (2nd ed.) Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press; (1976). [ Google Scholar ]
• Kuhn T. S. The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; (1962). [ Google Scholar ]
• Laties V. G. Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior: The first thirty years (1957–1987) Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1987); 48 :495–512. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Laties V. G., Mace F. C. Taking stock: The first 25 years of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis . Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1993); 26 :513–525. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lattal K. A. JEAB at fifty: Co-evolution of research and technology. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (2008); 89 :129–135. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Laudan L. Progress and its problems: Toward a theory of scientific growth. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press; (1977). [ Google Scholar ]
• Leff R. Behavior modification and the psychoses of childhood: A review. Psychological Bulletin. (1968); 69 :396–409. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Leigland S. The functional analysis of psychological terms: In defense of a research program. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior. (1996); 13 :105–113. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lent J. R. Mimosa Cottage: Experiments in hope. Psychology Today. (1968, June); 2 :51–58. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lerman D. C., Iwata B. A., Hanley G. P. Applied behavior analysis. In: Madden G. J., editor. APA handbook of behavior analysis. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; (2013). pp. 81–104. (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Lindsley O. R. Operant conditioning methods applied to research in chronic schizophrenia. Psychiatric Research Reports. (1956); 5 :118–139. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lindsley O. R., Hobika J. H., Etsten R. E. Operant behavior during anesthesia recovery: A continuous and objective measure. Anesthesiology. (1961); 22 :937–946. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Loeb J. The mechanistic conception of life: Biological essays. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; (1912). [ Google Scholar ]
• London P. Behavior control. New York, NY: Harper & Row; (1969). [ Google Scholar ]
• Lovaas O. I., Beberich J. P., Perloff B. F., Schaeffer B. Acquisition of imitative speech by schizophrenic children. Science. (1966); 151 :705–707. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lovaas O. I., Freitag G., Gold V. J., Kassorla I. C. Experimental studies in childhood schizophrenia: I. Analysis of self-destructive behavior. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. (1965); 2 :67–84. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lutzker J. R. Todd R. Risley (1937–2007) American Psychologist. (2008); 6 :559. [ Google Scholar ]
• Mace F. C., Critchfield T. S. Translational research in behavior analysis: Historical traditions and imperatives for the future. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (2010); 93 :293–312. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mach E. The analysis of sensations and the relation of the physical to the psychical (C. Williams, Trans.) New York, NY: Dover; (1959). (Original work published 1897) [ Google Scholar ]
• Mach E. The science of mechanics: A critical and historical account of its development (T. J. McCormack, Trans.) LaSalle, IL: Open Court; (1960). (Original work published 1883) [ Google Scholar ]
• Malagodi E. F. (1965). Some effects of intermittently pairing a neutral stimulus with a primary reinforcing stimulus (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Miami, Miami, FL. [ Google Scholar ]
• Malagodi E. F. (1967). Second-order chained and tandem schedules of token reinforcement in the rat (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Miami, Miami, FL. [ Google Scholar ]
• Malone J. C. Psychology: Pythagoras present. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; (2009). [ Google Scholar ]
• Malott R. W. Response. In: Wood W. S., editor. Issues in evaluating behavior modification. Champaign, IL: Research Press; (1975). pp. 39–41. (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Malott R. W., Whaley D. L., Ulrich R. E., editors. Analysis of behavior principles and applications. Dubuque, IA: William C. Brown; (1967). (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Marr M. J. ‘Tis the gift to be simple: A retrospective appreciation of Mach's The Science of Mechanics. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1985); 44 :129–138. [ Google Scholar ]
• Marr M. J. The speciation of behavior analysis: The unnatural selection of foxes and hedgehogs. The Behavior Analyst. (1991); 14 :183–186. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Marr M. J. A still great voice: The golden sovereignty of Science and Human Behavior . Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (2003); 80 :311–312. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Martin G., Pear J. Behavior modification: What it I and how to do it (7th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall; (2002). [ Google Scholar ]
• Mayer G. R., Sulzer-Azaroff B., Wallace M. Behavior analysis for lasting change (2nd ed.) Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY: Sloan; (2012). [ Google Scholar ]
• Meadows A. J., editor. The scientific journal. London, England: Aslib; (1979). (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Mellon M. W., McGrath M. L. Empirically supported treatments in pediatric psychology: Nocturnal enuresis. Journal of Pediatric Psychology. (2000); 25 :193–214. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Merton R. K. Resistance to the systematic study of multiple discoveries in science. European Journal of Sociology. (1942); 4 :237–282. [ Google Scholar ]
• Merton R. K. Priorities in scientific discovery. American Sociological Review. (1957); 22 :635–659. [ Google Scholar ]
• Merton R. K. Singletons and multiples in scientific discovery: A chapter in the sociology of science. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. (1961); 105 :470–486. [ Google Scholar ]
• Metz J. R. Conditioning generalized imitation in autistic children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. (1965); 2 :389–399. [ Google Scholar ]
• Michael J. Flight from behavior analysis. The Behavior Analyst. (1980); 3 :1–24. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Michael J. Five early studies that shaped applied behavior analysis. (2004, March). Paper presented at the meeting of the Behavior Analysis Association of Michigan, Ypsilanti, MI. [ Google Scholar ]
• Miltenberger R. Behavior modification: Principles and procedures (4th ed.) Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole; (2008). [ Google Scholar ]
• Moore J. Conceptual foundations of radical behaviorism. Cornwell-on-Hudson, NY: Sloan; (2008). [ Google Scholar ]
• Morris E. K. Sidney W. Bijou: Outstanding and out standing in his fields. In: Pickren W. E., Dewsbury D. A., Wertheimer M. C., editors. Portraits of pioneers in developmental psychology (Vol. 7, pp. 205–227) New York, NY: Taylor & Francis; (2012). (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Morris E. K., Smith N. G., Altus D. E. B. F. Skinner's contributions to applied behavior analysis. The Behavior Analyst. (2005); 28 :99–131. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mowrer O. H. Learning theory and behavior. New York, NY: Wiley; (1960). [ Google Scholar ]
• Mowrer O. H., Mowrer W. M. Enuresis: A method for its study and treatment. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. (1938); 8 :436–459. [ Google Scholar ]
• Moxley R. A. From mechanistic to functional behaviorism. American Psychologist. (1992); 47 :1300–1311. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Moxley R. A. Skinner: From determinism to random variation. Behavior and Philosophy. (1997); 25 :3–38. [ Google Scholar ]
• Moxley R. A. Sources of Skinner's pragmatic selectionism in 1945. The Behavior Analyst. (2001); 24 :201–212. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Neale D. H. Behaviour therapy and encopresis in children. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (1963); 1 :139–149. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Neuringer A., Michael J. L., editors. Behavior modification in clinical psychology. New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts; (1970). (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Newton I. Principia mathematica (A. Motte, Trans.) London, England: Symonds; (1803). (Original work published 1687) [ Google Scholar ]
• O'Donnell J. M. The origins of behaviorism: American psychology, 1870–1920. New York, NY: Columbia University Press; (1985). [ Google Scholar ]
• O'Donohue W. T., Henderson D. A., Hayes S. C., Fisher J. E., Hayes L. J., editors. A history of the behavioral therapies: Founders' personal histories. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger; (2001). (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Ogburn W. F., Thomas D. Are inventions inevitable? A note on social evolution. Political Science Quarterly. (1922); 37 :83–93. [ Google Scholar ]
• O'Leary K. D., Becker W. C. Behavior modification on an adjustment class: A token reinforcement program. Exceptional Children. (1967); 33 :637–642. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• O'Leary K. D., O'Leary S. G., editors. Classroom management: The successful use of behavior modification. New York, NY: Pergamon; (1972). (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Packard V. The people shapers. Boston, MA: Little, Brown; (1977). [ Google Scholar ]
• Patterson G. R., Jones R., Whittier J., Wright M. A. A behaviour modification technique for the hyperactive child. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (1965); 2 :217–236. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pauly P. J. Controlling life: Jacques Loeb and the engineering ideal in biology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; (1987a). [ Google Scholar ]
• Pauly P. J. General physiology and the discipline of physiology, 1890–1935. In: Geison G. L., editor. Physiology in the American context. Bethesda, MD: American Physiological Society; (1987b). pp. 195–207. (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Pavlov I. P. Conditioned reflexes: An investigation of the physiological activity of the cerebral cortex (G. V. Anrep, Trans.) London, England: Oxford University Press; (1927). [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pear J. J. A historical and contemporary look at psychological systems. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum; (2007). [ Google Scholar ]
• Peterson L., Homer A. L., Wonderlich S. A. The integrity of independent variables in behavior analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1982); 15 :477–492. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Peterson R. F. Some experiments on the organization of a class of imitative behaviors. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1968); 1 :225–235. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Petroski H. The evolution of useful things. New York, NY: Knopf; (1992). [ Google Scholar ]
• Plaud J. J. Analysis of complex human behavior: A reply to Staats. The Behavior Analyst. (1995); 18 :167–169. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Popper K. R. Objective knowledge: An evolutionary approach. (1972). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. [ Google Scholar ]
• Pressey S. L. A simple apparatus which gives tests and scores—and teaches. School and Society. (1926); 23 :373–376. [ Google Scholar ]
• Ravitch D. The great school wars, New York City, 1805–1973: A history of the public schools as battlefield of social change. New York, NY: Basic Books; (1974). [ Google Scholar ]
• Rider D. P. The speciation of behavior analysis. The Behavior Analyst. (1991); 14 :171–181. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Risley T. R. Generalization gradients following two-response discrimination training. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1964); 7 :199–204. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Risley T. R. Montrose M. Wolf: The origin of the dimensions of applied behavior analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1997); 30 :377–381. [ Google Scholar ]
• Risley T. R. Do good, take data. In: O'Donohue W. T., Henderson D. A., Hayes S. C., Fisher J. E., Hayes L. J., editors. A history of the behavior therapies: Founders' personal histories. Reno, NV: Context Press; (2001). pp. 267–287. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Risley T. R. Montrose M. Wolf (1935–2004) Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (2005); 38 :279–287. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Risley T. R. Montrose M. Wolf (1935–2004) American Psychologist. (2006); 61 :73. [ Google Scholar ]
• Risley T. R., Wolf M. M. Experimental manipulation of autistic behaviors and generalization into the home. (1964, September). Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, CA. [ Google Scholar ]
• Risley T. R., Wolf M. M. Experimental manipulation of autistic behaviors and generalization into the home. In: Ulrich R. E., Stacknik T., Mabry J., editors. The control of human behavior (Vol. 1, pp. 193–198) Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman; (1966). (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Risley T. R., Wolf M. M. Establishing functional speech in echolalic children. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (1967a); 5 :73–88. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Risley, R T., Wolf M. M. Experimental manipulation of autistic behaviors and generalization into the home. In: Bijou S. W., Baer D. M., editors. Child development: Readings in experimental analysis. New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts; (1967b). pp. 184–194. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Risley T. R., Wolf M. M. Establishing functional speech in echolalic children. In: Sloane H. N., MacAulay B. D., editors. Operant procedures in remedial speech and language training. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin; (1968). pp. 157–184. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Rosales-Ruiz J., Baer D. M. Behavioral cusps: A developmental and pragmatic concept for behavior analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1997); 30 :533–544. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Routh D. K. Psychology at the University of Miami: 1927–2002. Coral Gables, FL: Unpublished manuscript; (2002). [ Google Scholar ]
• Rutherford A. Skinner boxes for psychotics: Operant conditioning at Metropolitan State Hospital. The Behavior Analyst. (2003); 26 :267–279. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Rutherford A. Beyond the box: B. F. Skinner's technology of behavior from laboratory to life, 1950s–1970s. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press; (2009). [ Google Scholar ]
• Ryback D., Staats A. W. Parents as behavior therapy-technicians in treating reading deficits (dyslexia) Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. (1970); 1 :109–117. [ Google Scholar ]
• Salter A. Conditioned reflex therapy: The direct approach to the reconstruction of personality. New York, NY: Capricorn; (1961). [ Google Scholar ]
• Saville B. K., Beal S. A., Buskist W. Essential reading for graduate students in behavior analysis: A survey of the JEAB and JABA boards of editors. The Behavior Analyst. (2002); 25 :29–35. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Schneider S. M., Morris E. K. A history of the term radical behaviorism: From Watson to Skinner. The Behavior Analyst. (1987); 10 :23–39. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Schroeder S. R., Holland J. G. Operant control of eye movements. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1968); 1 :161–166. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Shadish W. R., Cook T. D., Campbell D. T. Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth; (2002). [ Google Scholar ]
• Sherman J. A. Reinstatement of verbal behavior in a psychotic by reinforcement methods. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders. (1963); 28 :398–401. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Sherman J. A. Use of reinforcement and imitation to reinstate verbal behavior in mute psychotics. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. (1965); 70 :155–164. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Sidman M. Tactics of scientific research. New York, NY: Basic Books; (1960). [ Google Scholar ]
• Simonton D. K. Multiple discovery and invention: Zeitgeist, genius or chance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. (1979); 37 :1603–1616. [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. On the conditions of elicitation of certain eating reflexes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. (1930); 16 :433–438. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. Two types of conditioned reflex and a pseudo type. Journal of General Psychology. (1935); 12 :66–77. [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. Two types of conditioned reflex: A reply to Konorski and Miller. Journal of General Psychology. (1937); 16 :272–279. [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis. New York, NY: Appleton-Century; (1938). [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. Baby in a box: Introducing the mechanical baby tender. Ladies' Home Journal. (1945a); 62 (10) [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. The operational analysis of psychological terms. Psychological Review. (1945b); 52 [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. Walden two. New York, NY: Macmillan; (1948). [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. Science and human behavior. New York, NY: Macmillan; (1953). [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. A case history in scientific method. American Psychologist. (1956); 11 :221–233. [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. Teaching machines. Science. (1958, October 24); 128 :969–977. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. Pigeons in a pelican. American Psychologist. (1960); 15 :28–37. [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. Two “synthetic social relations.” Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1962); 5 :531–533. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. The phylogeny and ontogeny of behavior. Science. (1966); 153 :1205–1213. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. Beyond freedom and dignity. New York, NY: Knopf; (1971). [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. The particulars of my life. New York, NY: Knopf; (1976). [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. The shaping of a behaviorist. New York, NY: Knopf; (1979). [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. Selection by consequences. Science. (1981); 213 :501–504. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. The operant side of behavior therapy. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. (1988); 19 :171–179. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. Skinner B. F. Recent issues in the analysis of behavior. Columbus, OH: Merrill; (1989a). The initiating self; pp. 27–33. [ Google Scholar ]
• Skinner B. F. The origins of cognitive thought. American Psychologist. (1989b); 44 :13–18. [ Google Scholar ]
• Sloane H. N., MacAulay B. D., editors. Operant procedures in remedial speech and language training. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin; (1968). (Eds) [ Google Scholar ]
• Smith L. D. On prediction and control: B. F. Skinner and the technological ideal of science. American Psychologist. (1992); 47 :216–223. [ Google Scholar ]
• Smith L. D. Knowledge is power: The Baconian roots of Skinner's social meliorism. In: Smith L. D., Woodward W. R., editors. B. F. Skinner and behaviorism in American culture. Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press; (1996). pp. 56–82. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W. Learning theory and “opposite speech.” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. (1957); 55 :268–269. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W. A case in and a strategy for the extension of learning principles to problems of human behavior. In: Staats A. W., editor. Human learning; Studies extending conditioning principles to complex behavior. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; (1964a). pp. 121–144. (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W., editor. Human learning: Studies extending conditioning principles to complex behavior. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; (1964b). (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W. A case in and a strategy for the extension of learning principles to problems of human behavior. In: Krasner L., Ullmann L. P., editors. Research in behavior modification. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; (1965). pp. 27–55. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W. A general apparatus for the investigation of complex learning in children. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (1968a); 6 :45–50. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W. Learning, language, and cognition. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; (1968b). [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W. Social behaviorism. Homewood, IL: Dorsey; (1975). [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W. Paradigmatic behaviorism, unified theory, unified theory construction methods, and the zeitgeist of separatism. American Psychologist. (1981); 26 :239–256. [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W. Psychological behaviorism and behavioralizing psychology. The Behavior Analyst. (1994); 17 :93–114. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W. Aberrance in science: Should behavior analysts know about psychological behaviorism. The Behavior Analyst. (1996); 19 :121–124. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W. The marvelous learning animal: What makes human nature unique. Amherst, NY: Prometheus; (2012). [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W., Butterfield W. H. Treatment of nonreading in a culturally deprived juvenile delinquent: An application of reinforcement principles. Child Development. (1965); 36 :925–942. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W., Finley J. R., Minke K. A., Wolf M. M. Reinforcement variables in the control of unit reading responses. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1964); 7 :139–149. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W., Minke K. A., Butts P. A token-reinforcement remedial reading program administered by black therapy-technicians to problem black children. Behavior Therapy. (1970); 1 :331–353. [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W., Minke K. A., Finley J. R., Wolf M. M., Brooks L. O. A reinforcer system and experimental procedure for the laboratory study of reading acquisition. Child Development. (1964); 35 :209–231. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W., Minke K. A., Goodwin W., Landeen J. Cognitive behavior modification: “Motivated learning” reading treatment with subprofessional therapy technicians. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (1967); 5 :283–299. [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W., Staats C. K. Complex human behavior. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; (1963). [ Google Scholar ]
• Staats A. W., Staats C. K., Schultz R. E., Wolf M. The conditioning of textual responses using “extrinsic” reinforcers. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1962); 5 :33–40. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Straughan J. H., Potter W. K., Hamilton S. H. The behavioral treatment of elective mutism. Journal of Child Psychol. Psychiatry. (1965); 6 :125–130. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Strauss R. 20 people who changed childhood. Child. (2006, October):107–114. [ Google Scholar ]
• Sulzer-Azaroff B., Thaw J., Thomas C. Behavioral competencies for the evaluation of behavior modifiers. In: Wood W. S., editor. Issues in evaluating behavior modification. Champaign, IL: Research Press; (1975). pp. 47–98. (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Sundberg M. L., Michael J. The benefits of Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior for children with autism. Behavior Modification. (2001); 25 :698–724. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Thompson R. H., Borrero J. C. Direct observation. In: Fisher W. W., Piazza C. C., Roane H. S., editors. Handbook of applied behavior analysis. New York, NY: Guilford; (2011). pp. 191–205. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Thompson T. The examining magistrate for nature: A retrospective review of Claude Bernard's An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine . Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1984); 41 :211–216. [ Google Scholar ]
• Thompson T. Benedictus behavior analysis: B. F. Skinner's magnum opus at 50. Contemporary Psychology. (1988); 33 :397–402. [ Google Scholar ]
• Thorndike E. L. Animal intelligence: An experimental study of the associative processes in animals. Psychological Review Monograph Supplements. (1898); 2 ((4, Whole No. 8)) [ Google Scholar ]
• Tolman E. C. Purposive behavior in animals and men. New York, NY: Century; (1932). [ Google Scholar ]
• Touchette P. E. The effects of a graduated stimulus change on the acquisition of a simple discrimination in severely retarded boys. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1968); 11 :39–48. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Toulmin S. Human understanding: The collective use and evolution of concepts. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press; (1972). [ Google Scholar ]
• Ullmann L. P., Krasner L., editors. Case studies in behavior modification. NewYork, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; (1965). (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Ulrich R., Stacknik T., Mabry J., editors. Control of human behavior (Vol. 1) Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman; (1966). (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Verhave T., editor. The experimental analysis of behavior: Selected readings. New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts; (1966). (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Wahler R. G., Winkel G. H., Peterson R. F., Morrison D. C. Mothers as behavior therapists for their own children. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (1965); 3 :113–134. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Watson J. B., Rayner R. Conditioned emotional responses. Journal of Experimental Psychology. (1920); 3 :1–14. [ Google Scholar ]
• Whitehead W. E., Lurie E., Blackwell B. Classical conditioning of decreases in human systolic blood pressure. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1976); 9 :153–157. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Williams C. D. The elimination of temper tantrums by extinction procedures. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. (1959); 59 :269. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Williams C. D. Franks (Chair) C. M. The application of learning theory principles to the treatment and prevention of abnormal behavior. (1962, September). Extinction and other principles of learning in the treatment and prevention of children's disorders. Symposium presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, St. Louis, MO. [ Google Scholar ]
• Williams C. D., Tallarico R. B., Tedeschi J. T. Manifest needs and manifest anxiety. Journal of Consulting Psychology. (1960); 24 :371. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Willis J. W., Giles D. Great experiments in behavior modification. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett; (1976). [ Google Scholar ]
• Wolf M. M. Some effects of combined S D 's. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1963); 6 :343–347. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wolf M. M. Social validity: The case for subjective measurement or how applied behavior analysis is finding its heart. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1978); 11 :203–214. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wolf M. M. The week's citation classic. Current Contents. (1983); 39 :18. [ Google Scholar ]
• Wolf M. M. Remembrances of issues past: Celebrating JABA's 25th anniversary. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. (1993); 26 :543–544. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wolf M. M. Application of operant conditioning procedures to the behavior problems of an autistic child: A 25-year follow-up and the development of the teaching family model. In: O'Donohue W. T., Henderson D. A., Hayes S. C., Fisher J. E., Hayes L. J., editors. A history of the behavior therapies: Founders' personal histories. Reno, NV: Context Press; (2001). pp. 289–294. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Wolf M. M., Risley T. R., Johnston M. K., Harris F. R., Allen K. E. Application of operant conditioning procedures to the behaviour problems of an autistic child: A follow up and extension. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (1967); 5 :103–111. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wolf M., Risley T., Mess H. Application of operant conditioning procedures to the behaviour problems of an autistic child. Behaviour Research and Therapy. (1964); 1 :305–312. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wolfe J. B. (1936). Effectiveness of token-rewards for chimpanzees. Comparative Psychology Monographs, 12, No. 60. [ Google Scholar ]
• Wolpe J. The systematic desensitization of neuroses. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases. (1961); 132 :180–203. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wolpe J., Lazarus A. A. Behavior therapy techniques: A guide to the treatment of neuroses. New York, NY: Pergamon; (1966). [ Google Scholar ]
• Wood W. S. Acknowledgements. In: Wood W. S., editor. Issues in evaluating behavior modification. Champaign, IL: Research Press; (1975a). pp. xiii–xiv. (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Wood W. S. Introduction. In: Wood W. S., editor. Issues in evaluating behavior modification. Champaign, IL: Research Press; (1975b). pp. xv–xvii. (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Wood W. S., editor. Issues in evaluating behavior modification. Champaign, IL: Research Press; (1975c). (Ed.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Woodward W. R. Skinner and behaviorism as cultural icons: From local knowledge to reader reception. In: Smith L. D., Woodward W. R., editors. B. F. Skinner and behaviorism in American culture. Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press; (1996). pp. 7–29. (Eds.) [ Google Scholar ]
• Zimmerman E. H., Zimmerman J. The alternation of behavior in a special classroom situation. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. (1962); 5 :59–60. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]

Applied Behaviour Analysis for Autism: Evidence, Issues, and Implementation Barriers

• Autism Spectrum (A Richdale and L Lawson, Section Editor)
• Published: 28 September 2021
• Volume 8 , pages 191–200, ( 2021 )

Cite this article

• Angelika Anderson   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1156-4066 1 &
• Monica Carr 2  

4938 Accesses

12 Citations

19 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

Purpose of Review

Interventions to address the needs of autistic individuals have been extensively researched. We briefly review the key findings and explore why, in spite of strong supporting evidence, the uptake of evidence-based procedures remains poor.

Recent Findings

Numerous meta-analyses, systematic reviews, and cost benefit analyses testify to the effectiveness of interventions based on applied behaviour analysis (ABA). Despite the progress made by both the autism advocacy and scientific communities, controversy and division remain among researchers, clinicians, and within the autism community. Funding for these evidence-based interventions is not always available.

Misunderstandings and misconceptions about ABA abound. Challenges regarding appropriate research methods to evaluate the effectiveness of individualised interventions contribute to disagreements about what counts as evidence. There is an urgent need to reconcile these differences, develop mutual understanding between these communities, work together on research focused on promoting implementation, and to influence policy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save.

• Get 10 units per month
• Download Article/Chapter or eBook
• 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
• Cancel anytime

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Evidence-Based Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Autism Treatments: An Overview of Comprehensive and Focused Meta-Analyses

Defining Evidence-Based Practice in the Context of Applied Behavior Analysis and Autism Intervention

Evaluation parameters for evidence-based practices for people with autism spectrum disorder: a narrative review of group and single-subject design studies

Explore related subjects.

• Medical Ethics
• Artificial Intelligence

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mental health: a report of the surgeon general. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health; 1999. Available from: https://www.hsdl.org/?abstract&did=730796 . Accessed 24 September 2021

Fombonne E, MacFarlane H, Salem AC. Epidemiological surveys of ASD: advances and remaining challenges. J Autism Dev Disord. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05005-9 .

Baxter AJ, Brugha TS, Erskine HE, Scheurer RW, Vos T, Scott JG. The epidemiology and global burden of autism spectrum disorders. Psychol Med. 2015;45(3):601.

Article   CAS   Google Scholar  

Laragy C, Fisher KR. Choice, control and individual funding: the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme. In: Stancliffe R, Wehmeyer M, Shogren K, Abery B. (eds) Choice, preference, and disability. Positive psychology and disability series. Springer, Cham. (2020). Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35683-5_7 .

Lovaas OI. Behavioral treatment and normal educational and intellectual functioning in young autistic children. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1987;55(1):3–9. Available from:  https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.55.1.3 .

Kanner L. Autistic disturbances of affective contact. Nervous Child. 1943;2(3):217–50.

Skinner B. Behavior modification Science New Series. 1974;184(4154):813.  https://doi.org/10.1126/science:185.4154.813 .

Friedman PR. Legal regulation of applied behavior analysis in mental institutions and prisons. Ariz Law Rev. 1975;17(1):39–104.

PubMed   Google Scholar  

American Psychological Association (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.) Arlington VA.

Gillberg C, Allely C, Bourgeron T, Coleman M, Fernell E, Hadjikhani N, Sarovic D. The neurobiology of Autism. In: Volkmar FR, editor. Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2019. p. 129–57.

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Whitehouse A, Varcin K, Waddington H, Sulek R, Bent C, Ashburner J, Eapen V, Goodall E, Hudry K, Roberts J, Silove N, Trembath D. Interventions for children on the autism spectrum: a synthesis of research evidence. Autism CRC, Brisbane, 2020.

Hubbard R, Parsa RA, Luthy MR. The spread of statistical significance testing in psychology: the case of the Journal of Applied Psychology, 1917–1994. Theory Psychol. 1997;7(4):545–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354397074006 .

Article   Google Scholar  

Loftus G. On the tyranny of hypothesis testing in the social sciences. Psyccritiques. 1991;36:102–5.

Google Scholar  

Blampied N. A legacy neglected: restating the case for single-case research in cognitive-behaviour therapy. Behav Chang. 1999;16(2):89–104. https://doi.org/10.1375/bech.16.2.89 .

Baer DM, Wolf MM, Risley TR. Some current dimensions of applied behavior analysis. J Appl Behav Anal. 1968;1(1):91–7. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.1968.1-91 .

Article   CAS   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Chiu MM, Roberts CA. Improved analyses of single cases: dynamic multilevel analysis. Dev Neurorehabil. 2018;21(4):253–65. https://doi.org/10.3109/17518423.2015.11199046 .

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 1990. US Congress - Public Law. 1990.

United Nation Convention for the Rights of the Child. UNCRC; 1990. Available from: https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/MTDSG/Volume%20I/Chapter%20IV/IV-11.en.pdf . Accessed 24 September 2021

Reichow B. Overview of meta-analyses on early intensive behavioral intervention for young children with autism spectrum disorders. J Autism Dev Disord. 2012;42:512–20.

Fusar-Poli P, Radua J. Ten simple rules for conducting umbrella reviews. Evid Based Ment Health. 2018;21(3):95–100. https://doi.org/10.1136/ebmental-2018-300014 .

National Standards Report, Phase 2. National Autism Centre, National Autism Center, Randolph MA. 2015. Available from: http://www.autismdiagnostics.com/assets/Resources/NSP2.pdf Accessed 9 Nov 2020.

Hume K, Steinbrenner JR, Odom SL, Morin KL, Nowell SW, Tomaszewski B, Szendrey S, McIntyre NS, Yücesoy-Özkan S, Savage MN. Evidence-Based Practices for Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Autism: Third Generation Review. J Autism Dev Disord. 2021.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04844-2 .

Eldevik S, Hastings RP, Hughes JC, Jahr E, Eikeseth S, Cross S. Using participant data to extend the evidence base for intensive behavioral intervention for children with autism. Am J Intellect Dev Disabil. 2010;115(5):381–405.

Smith T, Iadarola S. Evidence base update for autism spectrum disorder. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2015;44(6):897–922.

Virués-Ortega J. Applied behavior analytic intervention for autism in early childhood: meta-analysis, meta-regression and dose-response meta-analysis of multiple outcomes. Clin Psychol Rev. 2010;30(4):387–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2010.01.008 .

• CASP, the Council of Autism Service Providers Applied Behavior Analysis Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Practice Guidelines for Healthcare Funders and Managers 2 nd Edition accessed May, 2020;6. Available from: https://casproviders.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ABA-ASD-Practice-Guidelines.pdf. ( These practice guidelines provide comprehensive, succinct, and accessible information regarding all dimensions affecting the effective and efficient delivery of behavioural interventions for individuals with ASD .)

Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Available from: https://www.bacb.com/services/o.php?page=101134 .

Shook GL, Favell JE. The Behavior Analyst Certification Board and the Profession of Behavior Analysis. Behav Analysis Practice. 2008;1:44–8. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03391720 .

Cooper JO, Heron TE, Heward WL. Applied behavior analysis. 3rd ed. Pearson Education, Inc; 2020.

Sandoval-Norton AH, Shkedy G. How much compliance is too much compliance: is long-term ABA therapy abuse? Cogent Psychol. 2019;6:1. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2019.1641258 .

•• Gorycki KA, Ruppel PR, Zane T. Is long-term ABA therapy abusive: a response to Sandoval-Norton and Shkedy. Cogent Psychology. 2020;7:1. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2020.1823615 . ( In their academically rigorous response to Sandoval-Norton and Shkedy (2019), the authors of this paper address many of the common misconceptions and mis-information about ABA )

Dillenburger K, Keenan, M, Gallagher S. A seat at the table: families affected by Autism. Amazon Kindle. 2015.

Americans with Disabilities Act 1990. Available from: https://www.ada.gov/ada_intro.htm . Accessed 24 September 2021

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network. Available from: https://autisticadvocacy.org/ Accessed 7 Nov 2020.

Autism Speaks. Available from: https://www.autismspeaks.org/ . Accessed 7 Nov 2020.

Office of Autism Research Coordination, National Institute of Mental Health, on behalf of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC). 2016 IACC Autism Spectrum Disorder Research Portfolio Analysis Report. January 2019. Available from: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. Available from: https://iacc.hhs.gov/portfolio-analysis/2016/index.shtml . Accessed 24 September 2021

Botha M, Dibb B, Frost DM. “Autism is me”: an investigation of how autistic individuals make sense of autism and stigma. Disabil Soc. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2020.182278 .

Fletcher-Watson S, Adams J, Brook K, Charman T, Crane L, Cusack J, Leekam S, Milton D, Parr JR, Pellicano E. Making the future together: shaping autism research through meaningful participation. Autism. 2019;23(4):943–53.

Milton DE, Bracher M. Autistics speak but are they heard? Journal of the BSA Medsoc Group. 2013;7:61–9.

Bottema-Beutel K, Kapp SK, Lester JN, Sasson NJ, Hand BN. Avoiding Ableist Language: suggestions for autism researchers. Autism in Adulthood. 2020;00:00. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2020.0014 .

Bourke R, Holden B, Curzon J. Using evidence to challenge practice: A discussion paper. Wellington: Ministry of Education; 2005.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

School of Psychology, The University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, 3240, New Zealand

Angelika Anderson

Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

Monica Carr

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Angelika Anderson .

Ethics declarations

Human and animal rights and informed consent.

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Note on Terminology:

There is currently no one term referring to individuals on the autism spectrum that is acceptable to all. We will use two terms interchangeably: (1) autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is the diagnostic term used in the healthcare sector and in much of the scientific literature, and (2) autist, or autistic person, which is identity first language , preferred by those who believe that being autistic is part of a person’s identity.

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Autism Spectrum

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Anderson, A., Carr, M. Applied Behaviour Analysis for Autism: Evidence, Issues, and Implementation Barriers. Curr Dev Disord Rep 8 , 191–200 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40474-021-00237-x

Download citation

Accepted : 07 September 2021

Published : 28 September 2021

Issue Date : December 2021

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s40474-021-00237-x

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Applied behaviour analysis
• Misconceptions

Advertisement

• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless.

• Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal

Ethical Concerns with Applied Behavior Analysis for Autism Spectrum “Disorder”

• Daniel A. Wilkenfeld , Allison M. McCarthy
• Johns Hopkins University Press
• Volume 30, Number 1, March 2020
• 10.1353/ken.2020.0000
• View Citation

Additional Information

This paper has both theoretical and practical ambitions. The theoretical ambitions are to explore what would constitute both effective and ethical treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, the practical ambition is perhaps more important: we argue that a dominant form of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which is widely taken to be far-and-away the best “treatment” for ASD, manifests systematic violations of the fundamental tenets of bioethics. Moreover, the supposed benefits of the treatment not only fail to mitigate these violations, but often exacerbate them. Warnings of the perils of ABA are not original to us—autism advocates have been ringing this bell for some years. However, their pleas have been largely unheeded, and ABA continues to be offered to and quite frequently pushed upon parents as the appropriate treatment for autistic children. Our contribution is to argue that, from a bioethical perspective, autism advocates are fully justified in their concerns—the rights of autistic children and their parents are being regularly infringed upon. Specifically, we will argue that employing ABA violates the principles of justice and nonmaleficence and, most critically, infringes on the autonomy of children and (when pushed aggressively) of parents as well.

Project MUSE Mission

Project MUSE promotes the creation and dissemination of essential humanities and social science resources through collaboration with libraries, publishers, and scholars worldwide. Forged from a partnership between a university press and a library, Project MUSE is a trusted part of the academic and scholarly community it serves.

2715 North Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland, USA 21218

+1 (410) 516-6989 [email protected]

©2024 Project MUSE. Produced by Johns Hopkins University Press in collaboration with The Sheridan Libraries.

Now and Always, The Trusted Content Your Research Requires

Built on the Johns Hopkins University Campus