ABSTRACT
Behavior analysts, like all good citizens, are interested in pro-moting the general welfare of our society. With our expertise in analyzing contingencies of reinforcement, we have a particular interest in encouraging the culture to make better use of the knowledge we have gained over the past 60 years about the basic principles of behavior. All around us we see other methods used to deal with problematic behavior. Many of these methods are ine˜ective or counterproductive. ‹e prison system incarcerates the guilty and calls it “punishment,” but there is no real evidence that putting people behind bars is actually functional in reducing future incidents of the targeted behaviors. ‹ere is evidence that so-called boot camps for delinquents are ine˜ective, but they are politically popular and so persist in many communities. Schools operate primarily on the basis of aversive control (e.g., loss of recess, detention, paddling, suspension), although we now have nearly
30 years of data showing how positive reinforcement can be used in the classroom to produce truly extraordinary performance gains. Many children with autism, if given the opportunity for behavioral treatment, can make great strides in their socialization and language skills with a signi—cant number joining the mainstream educational system.
