Jack Michael's Motivation

A Clinical Tutorial on Methods to Capture and Contrive Establishing Operations to Teach Mands

Mands are consistently described as critical learning targets for members of vulnerable populations in need of language intervention (Ala'i-Rosales et al., 2018; Michael, 1988; Sundberg, 2004). Reviews of the literature demonstrate a prevalence of the mand in the applied literature (e.g., DeSouza et al., 2017). Yet, gaps between research and practice exist in scientific fields resulting in decades-long delays between identification of evidence-based approaches and adoption in everyday use. The mand may be particularly at risk for procedural drift in practice settings given the sometimes elusive nature of establishing operations (EOs) and the relative complexity of procedures used to contrive them. Thus, the purpose of this tutorial is to build upon prior conceptual (e.g., Shafer, 1994) and applied (e.g., Cengher et al., 2022) reviews on mands to provide a contemporary, in-depth review of three procedures used to contrive EOs: incidental teaching, the interrupted chains procedure, and programmed restriction of reinforcers. Recent examples from the literature are discussed along with considerations for use in practice. Resources to support implementation including integrity checklists and role play scenarios are provided.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40617-024-00985-3.

The Evolution of the Conceptually Systematic Dimension and Its Current Functions in Applied Behavior Analysis

What does it mean to be conceptually systematic in contemporary applied behavior analysis (ABA) research and practice? To answer this question, the present study conducted a historical analysis of ABA scholars' interpretations of the conceptually systematic dimension of ABA over the last 55 years. The present article found the current characteristics of the conceptually systematic dimension are indeed sufficient to suggest ABA's conceptual independence from the experimental analysis of behavior or any other subdisciplines of behavior analysis. Based on this finding, this article addresses the challenges in contemporary ABA field such as ABA's own basic and applied continuum, translational research, and its relationship with other disciplines' research and practice.

Discussion and Conceptual Analysis of Four Group Contingencies for Behavioral Process Improvement in an ABA Service Delivery Quality Framework

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) organizations that provide services to children with autism can apply contingencies to improve employee performance or behavioral processes. Such contingencies may be especially important for maximizing ABA service delivery quality (ASDQ). For some behavioral processes, group contingencies applied to the behavior of individuals within the process may be more appropriate than individualized contingencies. In the history of the profession, behavior analysts have used group contingencies at the operant level of selection, such as independent, interdependent, and dependent group contingencies. However, recent experimental work in culturo-behavioral science suggests the metacontingency, an analogue of the operant contingency at the cultural level of selection, can also control the behavior of individuals in a group. This article discusses how such group-oriented contingencies could be used by managers in organizations in behavioral process improvement efforts to target key performance indicators of quality in an ASDQ framework. The paper ends with a discussion of limitations and future research.

Increasing young children's honest reports and decreasing their transgressions

Young children break rules (i.e., transgress) and then lie about those transgressions. By adolescence, lying is associated with decreased trust, communication, and quality of relationships, and with befriending antisocial peers. To decrease lies, we replicated differentially reinforcing honest reports about transgressions for one 6-year-old neurotypical child and two 7-year-old children who were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. After all children learned to report honestly about transgressions, we extended past research to decrease transgressions by differentially reinforcing alternative play behaviors. For all children, this resulted in increased levels of play, decreased transgressions, and continued honesty about infrequent transgressions. Caregivers were satisfied with children's increased honest reports and decreased transgressions. The results support first reinforcing children's honest reports about transgressions and then decreasing transgressions to satisfying levels for caregivers.

Jack Michael's Contributions to the Treatment of Autism

Jack Michael dedicated his life to teaching behavior analysis. He was passionate about Skinner's works and his enthusiasm was contagious. Jack's primary goal for his students was that they be able to analyze behavior like Skinner analyzed behavior, but with a little bit of Jack Michael sprinkled in here and there. Jack is probably best known to behavior analysts for his conceptual contributions to our field (e.g., his work on motivation), but his contributions to the treatment of autism are perhaps his most socially significant achievement. In our tribute to Jack, we will describe how he advanced the treatment of autism not only through his conceptual work and his teaching, but through his role in the development of applied behavior analysis, and in the application of Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior to language assessment and intervention for children and adults with language delays.

Jack and Me

Although Jack Michael has greatly influenced the field of behavior analysis, very few have had the opportunity to be directly supervised by him. In this article, I share my personal history as one of Jack's last graduate students to illustrate his teaching and mentorship approach. Jack was a caring advisor who has had a long-lasting impact on both my personal life and my professional career.

A Behavior-Analytic Approach to Antivaccination Practices

In recent years, there has been an increase in outbreaks of diseases that are preventable by vaccination. As vaccination involves behavior, behavior analysts are uniquely positioned to contribute solutions to this socially significant problem. The present article explores a behavior-analytic approach to understanding the function of the behavior of both people who have their children vaccinated and those who do not have their children vaccinated, and potential interventions to increase vaccination rates. An introduction to the problem is followed by a brief history of the antivaccination movement. In our analysis, a failure to vaccinate is conceptualized as a noncompliance response (i.e., medical nonadherence), and conditions giving rise to that noncompliance are evaluated. In this process, the roles of avoidance, the functional-altering impact of rule-governed behavior, relational frames, and countercontrol are considered. Potential solutions informed by applied behavior-analytic literature, including contingency management and behavioral safety, are discussed.

Some Dimensions of Mand Variability and Implications for Research and Practice

Since Skinner's conceptualization of the mand, applied behavior analysis researchers have used the concept to develop stimulus control transfer procedures effective for addressing manding deficits. More recently, researchers have explored the clinical utility of reinforcing mand variability during mand training and functional communication training. However, limitations in the conceptual analysis of mand variability may have limited the kinds of questions addressed in this research and our understanding of the findings. The current article reconceptualizes mand variability as consisting of eight distinct dimensions and provides operational definitions of the dimensions that may be useful for more precisely characterizing the effects of reinforcement on mand variability in future research. The article concludes with a brief discussion of potential clinical and research implications.

Current Diversification of Behaviorism

Over the last few decades, behaviorism as a philosophy of the science of psychology, especially in the field of behavior analysis and related areas, has diversified to the point that scholars from inside and outside the field are often confused about what exactly behaviorism is. The aim of this study is to analyze how such diversification of behaviorism has arisen over time and what factors might have contributed to it using evolutionary biology's concept of adaptive radiation as an analogical process. Diversification of behaviorism has occurred in many areas over time as behaviorism has extended its field of practice. Although some characteristics of behaviorism remained, other characteristics were modified. One such characteristic that went through extensive modification is the agent-free approach to the analysis of behavior: the agent problem. This approach has met criticism from inside and outside the field and has been under a strong selective pressure. The present article discusses how the agent problem in a different niche has shaped behaviorism into new forms that we see today.

The Generalization of Mands

The mand is a type of verbal operant whose response form is under control of a motivating operation (MO). It is the first verbal operant to be acquired, directly benefits the speaker, leads to the development of other behaviors, and may serve to replace problem behavior. Even though the topography of the mand is under the functional control of an MO, its occurrence is influenced by a multitude of variables functioning as discriminative stimuli (SDs). Thus, the generalization of mands can occur across both MOs and SDs. Additionally, the same MO may evoke new mand topographies-a form of response generalization. The purpose of this article is to distinguish and describe these types of mand generalization in order to encourage future research and influence practice.

A Bibliographic Tribute to Jack Michael

"In the late 1950's, Jack Michael, a bright but irritating young psychology instructor, moved from the Universities of Kansas to Houston to Arizona State. Along the way he befriended two nontraditional students, protected them through their Ph.D. programs, and turned them loose on the world: Teodoro Ayllon…and Montrose Wolf…" (Risley, 2001, p. 267). So begins Risley's chapter on the origins of applied behavior analysis. For almost 50 years, Jack Michael provided a model for us to "talk like Skinner" and to analyze behavior as Skinner would. For this, he has been widely respected and revered. The purpose of this bibliography is to explain to new and familiar readers alike Jack's contributions to the field of behavior analysis in areas of his primary focus: (a) behavioral function taxonomy, (b) motivation, (c) reinforcement, (d) response topographies, (e) multiple control, (f) duplic and codic verbal behavior, and (g) teaching. Throughout, we weave his role in the field's history and his leadership in its expansion, as these have been additional areas of significant contributions. Above all, we wish to highlight Jack's work, in bibliographic and narrative form, in a way that expresses a heartfelt tribute on behalf of his students and others whom he influenced to learn about psychology as a natural science and to think and talk like Skinner.

On the Distinction Between the Motivating Operation and Setting Event Concepts

In recent decades, behavior analysts have generally used two different concepts to speak about motivational influences on operant contingencies: setting event and motivating operation. Although both concepts still appear in the contemporary behavior-analytic literature and were designed to address the same antecedent phenomena, the concepts are quite different. The purpose of the present article is to describe and distinguish the concepts and to illustrate their current usage.

Thirty Points About Motivation From Skinner's Book Verbal Behavior

Skinner discussed the topic of motivation in every chapter of the book Verbal Behavior (1957), usually with his preferred terminology of "deprivation, satiation, and aversive stimulation." In the current paper, direct quotations are used to systematically take the reader through 30 separate points made by Skinner in Verbal Behavior that collectively provide a comprehensive analysis of his position regarding the role of motivation in behavior analysis. In addition, various refinements and extensions of Skinner's analysis by Jack Michael and colleagues (Laraway, Snycerski, Michael, & Poling, 2003; Michael, 1982, 1988, 1993, 2000, 2004, 2007) are incorporated, along with suggestions for research and applications for several of the points.