ABSTRACT
As a profession, behavior analysis has evolved in a unique way when
compared to the other “helping professions.” We have a relatively short
history, going back only to the mid-1960s, and our roots are firmly
planted in the experimental analysis of behavior. The original behavior
analysts were often experimental psychologists who recognized how
their animal lab procedures could be applied to help the human condi-
tion. The original applications with humans (Ayllon & Michael, 1959;
Wolf, Risley, & Mees, 1964) were almost direct replications of experi-
mental (animal lab) procedures. These procedures were used with pop-
ulations that were abandoned by the other service professionals at the
time. This was also a time in which questions about the ethics of treat-
ment were not raised. Well-trained, responsible, experimental psychol-
ogists used their own conscience, common sense, and respect for human
values to create new treatments. Based on learning theory, it was be-
lieved that these treatments might work to relieve suffering or dramati-
cally improve the quality of life for institutionalized individuals who
were not receiving any other forms of effective treatment. There were no
“guidelines for responsible conduct” and there was no oversight of these
PhD researchers turned cutting-edge therapists. Their work was done in
the public eye with full knowledge of parents or guardians, and a review
of the work today would find little to fault in terms of ethical conduct. It
was only much later that some poorly prepared and insensitive behavior
analysts would run into ethical problems creating the scandals de-
scribed in chapter 1.
