Table Of ContentEthics for Behavior Analysts
A Practical Guide
to the Behavior Analyst Certification
Board Guidelines for Responsible Conduct
Ethics for Behavior Analysts
A Practical Guide
to the Behavior Analyst Certification
Board Guidelines for Responsible Conduct
Jon S. Bailey
Florida State University
Mary R. Burch
Board Certified Behavior Analyst
LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS
2005 Mahwah, New Jersey London
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
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Copyright © 2005 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
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without prior written permission of the publisher.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers
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Mahwah, New Jersey 07430
www.erlbaum.com
Cover design by KathrynHoughtalingLacey
Cover photo by Jon S. Bailey, featuring Mary KateLettera,
Alex Vergara, and MarilynMcGhee. Printed with permission.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bailey, Jon S.
Ethicsforbehavioranalysts:apracticalguidetotheBehaviorAna-
lystCertificationBoard:guidelinesforresponsibleconduct/JonS.
Bailey, Mary R. Burch.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8058-5117-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 0-8058-5118-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1.Behavioralassessment—Moralandethicalaspects—UnitedStates—
Handbooks,manuals,etc.2.Behavioranalysts—Professionalethics
—UnitedStates—Handbooks,manuals,etc. 3.Behavioranalysts—
Certification—UnitedStates—Handbooks,manuals,etc. I.Burch,
Mary R. II. Title.
RC473.B43B355 2005
174.2'0973—dc22 2004061977
CIP
ISBN 1-4106-1373-9 Master e-book ISBN
Contents
Preface vii
PART I Background for Ethics in Behavior Analysis
Chapter 1 How We Got Here 3
Chapter 2 Core Ethical Principles 12
Chapter 3 What Makes Behavior Analysis Unique? 25
PART II Understanding and Following the Behavior
Analyst Certification Board Guidelines for Responsible
Conduct in Real-life Contexts
Chapter 4 Responsible Conduct of a Behavior Analyst 33
(Guideline 1)
Chapter 5 The Behavior Analyst’s Responsibility to Clients 53
(Guideline 2)
Chapter 6 Assessing Behavior (Guideline 3) 80
Chapter 7 The Behavior Analyst and the Individual 99
Behavior Change Program (Guideline 4)
v
vi CONTENTS
Chapter 8 The Behavior Analyst as Teacher or Supervisor 113
(Guideline 5)
Chapter 9 The Behavior Analyst and the Workplace 129
(Guideline 6)
Chapter 10 The Behavior Analyst and Research 139
(Guideline 7)
Chapter 11 The Behavior Analyst’s Ethical Responsibility 175
to the Field of Behavior Analysis (Guideline 8)
Chapter 12 The Behavior Analyst’s Ethical Responsibility 182
to Colleagues (Guideline 9)
Chapter 13 The Behavior Analyst’s Ethical Responsibility 190
to Society (Guideline 10)
PART III Tips and Exercises for Students
Chapter 14 A Dozen Practical Tips for Ethical Conduct 207
on Your First Job
Appendix A Behavior Analyst Certification Board Guidelines 227
Appendix B Index for Behavior Analyst Certification Board 253
Guidelines for Responsible Conduct
Appendix C Ethics Scenarios for Behavior Analysts 265
Appendix D Suggested Further Reading 283
References 287
Author Index 291
Subject Index 293
Preface
EVOLUTION OF THIS BOOK AND HOW TO USE IT
My first experience in ethics came when I was a graduate student in
psychologyinthelate1960s.Iwasworkingwithaprofoundlydevelop-
mentallydisabledyoungmanwhowasconfinedtoaheavymetalcrib
in the small ward of a private institution in Phoenix, Arizona. Blind,
deaf,nonambulatory,andnottoilettrained,my“subject”engagedin
self-injuriousbehaviorvirtuallyalldaylong.Hishead-bangingbehav-
ior against the metal bars could be heard twenty-five yards away and
greetedmeeachtimeIenteredhisdepressing,malodorouslivingunit.
Dayafterday,Isatbyhiscribtakingnotesonapossiblethesisconcern-
inghowonemighttrytoreducehischronicself-injuriousbehavioror
SIB(wecalleditself-destructivebehaviorinthosedays).Afterafewin-
formalobservationsessions,andreadingthroughhismedicalchart,I
hadsomeideas.Isetupameetingwithoneofmycommitteemembers,
Dr. Lee Meyerson, who was supervising the research at the facility.
“I’m observing a subject who engages in self-destructive behavior,” I
began.“Hehitshishead10to15timesperminutethroughouttheday.
I’vetakeninformaldataatdifferenttimesofthedayandIdon’tseeany
consistentpattern,”Ioffered.Dr.Meyersonletmegoonforabout10
minutes,noddingandoccasionallytakingapuffonhispipe(smoking
vii
viii PREFACE
wasallowedeverywhereinthosedays).Thenhestoppedmeabruptly
andgesturingwithhispipebegantoaskmequestionsthatIhadnever
thought about. Did I know my “subject’s” name? Did I have permis-
siontoobserveandreportonthisindividual?Whogavemepermission
tolookatthismedicalrecord?HadIdiscussedthiscasewithanyofmy
graduatestudentcolleaguesorshownthedatainclass?Ihadnogood
answers to any of Dr. Meyerson’s questions. I wasn’t thinking of my
“subject” as a person, only as a source of data for my thesis. It never
dawned on me that “Billy” had rights to privacy and confidentiality
andthatheneededtobetreatedwithdignityandrespectnotasjustan-
other “subject” to help me complete a masters thesis. As it turns out,
Dr. Meyerson was ahead of his time in grilling me with ethical ques-
tions that would not actually come up in legal circles for another ten
years (see chap. 1). Dr. Meyerson’s questions helped sensitize me to
looking at what I was doing from an extra-experimental perspective.
HowwouldIliketobetreatedifIwasa“subject”insomeone’sexperi-
ment?Or,howwouldIwantmymotherorsistertobetreated?“With
kindness, compassion and respect,” is no doubt the quick response
thatmostofuswouldoffer.Andsoitisthatethicsinpsychology,and
particularlyinbehavioranalysis,canbeeasilypersonalizedandmade
tangibleifwewilljuststopandthinkaboutwhatwearedoing.
Studentstodayhaveagreatadvantageovermygeneration.Wehadno
codeofethicsorguidelinestofollow;wehadonefootintheanimallab
andoneintherealworldandweweretryingtofigureouthowtotrans-
form powerful operant conditioning principles into effective treat-
ments. It didn’t dawn on us at the time that ethics was involved at all,
untilofcourse,weencounteredDr.LeeMeyerson.Today,graduatestu-
dents in behavior analysis have nearly thirty years of applied research
andpracticetofallbackon(andtolearnfromandbeheldaccountable
forknowing).Inaddition,theyhaveawealthofresourcesonethicsin-
cludingcaselawandprecedent-settinglegalfindings.Finally,students
today have a perfectly legitimate, thoroughly researched, and well-
vettedsetofguidelinesspecificallydesignedforourfield:TheBehavior
AnalystCertificationBoard®(BACB)GuidelinesforResponsibleCon-
duct.Inteachingthegraduatecourse“ProfessionalandEthicalIssuesin
PREFACE ix
Behavior Analysis” for the past five years, I have learned a great deal
abouttheethicalissuesthatappeartobeuniquetoourfield(seechap.3)
andhavebeendevelopinglecturesandtryingtodiscoverwaysofmaking
ethics interesting, informative, and engaging for students who do not
quiteseetherelevanceorappreciateourcautiousapproach.Onething
I’vediscoveredisthatalthoughwenowhaveanexcellentsetofGuide-
lines, they are somewhat dry and by themselves do not convey the ur-
gency and relevance that they should. Reading the Guidelines is
something like reading instructions for computer software: it’s clearly
importantbutyouwouldratherjuststartusingit.
Afewyearsago,Iwasscheduledtogiveahalf-dayworkshopatPenn
StateonethicswithDr.JerryShook.Intheprocessofpreparingmyma-
terials,Iwonderedwhatkindofethicalquestionstheparticipantsmight
have.Dr.Shookarrangedinadvancetohaveeachparticipantwriteand
submittoustwoquestionsor“scenarios”thatheorshehadconfronted
intheworksetting.WhenIgotthequestions,Irealizedthatreadingthe
scenariossuddenlymadetheethicalissuesjumprightoffthepage.Ibe-
gan trying to look up the correct responses (according to the BACB®
Guidelines), and this turned out to be quite difficult. Something was
missing,anindexofsomesortwouldhelp,butnonewasavailablethatI
could find. Severalall-nighters later, Ihad developed one. By the time
Dr. Shook and I traveled to the conference, I had a new approach to
teaching ethics. It involved presenting scenarios, having the students
look up the relevant sections in the Guidelines, and then present their
proposed ethical actions. This approach teaches students that some-
timesbroad,ethicalconsiderationsalwayscomedowntosomespecific
Guidelines. My experience in using this method over the past several
yearsisthatitbringsthetopictolifeandgeneratesexcellentdiscussions
ofveryrelevantissues.
OnetroublingproblemIencounteredinteachingthe“EthicsforBe-
havior Analysis” course was that specific code items were often very
muchoutofcontext,orwritteninsuchstiltedlegalesethatstudentsdid
not understand why they were necessary or how they were relevant. I
foundmyselfoften“translating”specificGuidelinesintoplainEnglish.
This process, along with providing some historic context and back-
Description:Behavior analysis, a rapidly growing profession, began with the use and application of conditioning and learning techniques to modify the behavior of children or adults presenting severe management problems, often because of developmental disabilities. Now behavior analysts work in a variety of sett
