Do as I say, not as I do

Crafting Sequences of Sight and Sound: A Behavior Analysis of Filmmaking

The discipline of film studies often engages in analyses of the functions of filmmakers' decisions in terms of their effects on viewers. Behavior analysis uses a similar, functional-analytic approach toward understanding the relationship between individuals' behavior and the environmental effects that maintain their behavior. Given converging similarities between the two disciplines, a functional analysis of filmmaking is provided, using Skinner (1957)'s Verbal Behavior as a guiding framework. Similar to behavioral conceptualizations of language and speaker-listener verbal episodes, the analysis prioritizes functional explanation of the controlling variables and conditions that underlie the meaning of filmmakers' behavior and behavioral products, rather than solely focusing on their topographical description. Viewers' responses to the audiovisual stimuli of the film are emphasized as key controlling variables, through rules specifying contingency relations as well as through contingency shaping, including when the filmmaker acts as a self-viewer who directly shapes their own behavior. Their responding as a self-viewer during the production and editing of a film is explored as a problem-solving process, similar to other artists who serve as their own audience when creating and editing their behavioral products.

(I Think) You Are Pretty: a Behavior Analytic Conceptualization of Flirtation

Much research in flirtation has been approached from a socio-cognitive perspective and has overemphasized subjective self-reports rather than overt behavior. Existing work pertinent to flirtation is reviewed here in addition to proposing a behavior-analytic perspective on the topic with a conception that includes both rule-governed and contingency-shaped behavior. Of particular interest within a verbal behavior conception of flirtation is the importance of autoclitics-features of a verbal response that affect the listener's reaction to the rest of the verbal response. Applications of a behavior analytic conception of flirtation and future directions relevant to research on interpersonal relationships are discussed.

Psychological concerns in questionnaire research

The questionnaire survey is a common and important tool in nursing research. However, there are many psychologically related issues and limitations which may not always be considered. This paper brings these issues together under four headings: theory-building; validity of self-report; measurement and analysis — that is, spanning the formulation of the research, the collection and analysis of data through to the interpretation of the results. In planning questionnaire research the explanatory limitations must be recognised, the aims must be linked directly to the measures, other methods should be considered as checks, and, most importantly, professional advice should be sought during the planning.

A review of correspondence training: Suggestions for a revival

Doing what is promised or accurately reporting what has been done increases with correspondence training. Early research showed that training produced positive correlations between saying and doing, but did not always produce useful generalized correspondence to new, untrained say-do sequences (Baer, 1990). Recent research (reviewed here in detail) questioned early procedures and introduced new issues: functional criteria, functional verbal responses, baseline measures, and response chains in correspondence training. Correspondence research was almost abandoned after 1992. This review suggests new procedures and directions to revive this important research area. Specific suggestions are to combine correspondence procedures with similar features from ongoing research in compliance and self-instruction; consider important guidelines for future research derived from recent studies; consider interactions between applied and basic research with correspondence issues; compare correspondence between different participant cohorts; examine the use of descriptive and functional terms; examine punishment procedures; and provide a behavioral analysis of the relations between verbal and nonverbal behaviors related to correspondence.

Effects of perceived risk and strength of affiliation on decisions to help others: toward a convergence of evolutionary and social psychology

In this study, the influence of perceived affiliation with a target and perceived risk on decisions to act altruistically were investigated. These are variables which have been suggested by the social and evolutionary psychology literatures, respectively. 12 participants responded to automobile accident scenarios that combined risk and affiliation with a target in descriptions of opportunities to render aid. Participants reported a lower likelihood to help when perceived risk was high, but only if their perceived affiliation with the targets was low or moderate; tendency to help highly affiliated targets was uniformly high throughout all risk conditions. Participants' ratings of certainty in their decisions to render aid were directly related to both perceived risk and perceived affiliation with a target. Decisions were arrived at more slowly when perceived risk and perceived affiliation were both moderate. Therefore, both risk and affiliation were considered by participants when deciding whether to act altruistically. This illustrates a convergence of predictions from social and evolutionary psychology.

Say-do-report training to change chronic behaviors in mentally retarded subjects

Two mentally retarded subjects with language deficits participated. A say-do-report correspondence training was implemented to break the functions of present conditions given by a long history of contingencies maintaining chronic inadequate patterns of behavior. The say-do-report procedure was implemented following a multiple baseline design across two behaviors in one subject and in an AB design for the other. During baseline, all possible social contingencies maintaining the inadequate behaviors were eliminated. Promising or saying what a subject would do was then implemented and followed by the differential reinforcement of say-do correspondence reports. All behaviors changed and were maintained at an appropriate level, even after eliminating the components involved in the say-do-report procedure, that is, the reports, the extra consequences, and even the promise. Results are discussed in the context of verbal behavior altering the function of present conditions in subjects with limited verbal repertory, as well as in the context of new applications to make a difference in chronic behaviors.

Environment-behavior relations, behavior therapy and the process of persuasion and attitude change

The phenomena described by the cognitive dissonance literature, especially to explain attitude change, have important relevance to understanding certain aspects of therapy. Contrary to popular beliefs, these phenomena can be described in behavior-analytic terms. To do so requires an analysis of learning histories that select and maintain consistency in what individuals say and do. An understanding of the environmental variables that produce consistency can then be applied to the kinds of attitude change and stability found in the cognitive dissonance literature that have therapeutic importance.