ABSTRACT
ACT-based interventions seek to broaden behavioral repertoires in the service of contacting values more fully. To be a pragmatic science necessitates values and valuing as not only central to behavioral programming for clients but as the guiding focus of the evolution of the field of ABA itself. In this chapter, we revisit the concept of social validity given the concept of values and we discuss the behavioral process of values as motivative augmental stimuli that emerge from within hierarchical relational networks. Approaching values in this way allows for a functional analysis of the role of language around values both privately and publicly in evoking values-consistent behavior. Values-based living, or values-behavior coherence, is introduced as a dependent variable that can be targeted directly within behavioral programming. Within behavioral intervention, guiding the client through identifying and clarifying freely chosen values can improve the probability of behavior that leads to greater contact with valued reinforcement. Moreover, once established, values-based stimuli can evoke desired behavior and strengthen the reinforcing value of events occurring in the present environment. Values stimuli can be embedded within the environment as an antecedent strategy, and interventions should allow clients to contact value sources of reinforcement with greater regularity. We conclude the chapter by discussing the interaction between values and the prior processes.
