NCJ Number
58135
Journal
American Psychologist Volume: 32 Issue: 10 Dated: (OCTOBER 1977) Pages: 860-873
Date Published
1977
Length
14 pages
Annotation
IN AN EFFORT TO FIND WAYS TO EXPLAIN AND PREVENT DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR, APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS OF DELINQUENCY HAS BEEN ATTEMPTED. THE POINT OF THIS 1977 ARTICLE IS THAT IT MIGHT NOT WORK.
Abstract
BEHAVIOR THERAPISTS AND BEHAVIOR MODIFIERS HAVE SUCCESSFULLY INTERVENED IN A WIDE VARIETY OF CLINICAL PROBLEMS. THE PROBLEM LIES IN THE FACT THAT MOST OF THESE APPLICATIONS HAVE FOCUSED ON READILY APPARENT EXCESSES OF OR OTHERWISE INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR, BUT HAS NOT GONE BEYOND READILY APPARENT CAUSE AND EFFECT RELATIONSHIPS. APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES ARE CURRENTLY BEING USED TO ATTEMPT TO SOLVE PROBLEMS OF SOCIAL RELEVANCE. THE TECHNIQUES APPEAR TO WORK, BUT A QUESTION REMAINS AS TO WHETHER THE PERCEIVED CHANGES ARE MEANINGFUL AND RELEVANT TO SOCIETY. A STUDY WAS MADE OF THE USE OF THIS TECHNIQUE, THROUGH THE SELECTION OF 27 ARTICLES FROM 4 PROFESSIONAL JOURNALS IN PSYCHOLOGY. ALL ARTICLES DEALT WITH EITHER APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS OR BEHAVIOR THERAPY, AND WERE PUBLISHED BETWEEN 1968 AND 1976. A REVIEW OF THESE ARTICLES SUGGESTS THAT BEHAVORIAL INTERVENTION MAY BE PRODUCING ONLY FIRST ORDER CHANGES, CHANGES IN READILY APPARENT BEHAVIOR. THE EXPERIMENTS STUDIED DID NOT INCLUDE INDIVIDUALIZED TARGET BEHAVIORS, FOLLOW UP DATA AND DID NOT SHOW A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SUCCESSFUL EFFORTS TO CHANGE BEHAVIOR AND A RESULTANT REDUCTION IN MEASURES OF DELINQUENCY. THESE ARE CRITICAL OMISSIONS WHICH DETRACT FROM THE VALUE OF THE RESULTS. A RETURN TO TRUE APPLIED BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS IS ADVOCATED. FOOTNOTES AND REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. (KCP)