Ethics for Behavior Analysts

314 Pages·2017·3.87 MB·English

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2nd Expanded Edition
by Jon Bailey & Mary Burch
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Routledge Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group
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New York, NY 10016 Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA
© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
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Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
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International Standard Book Number: 978-0-415-88029-9 (Hardback) 978-0-415-88030-5 (Paperback)
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bailey, Jon S.
Ethics for behavior analysts / by Jon S. Bailey and Mary R. Burch. -- 2nd
expanded ed.
p. cm.
First published: Mahwah, N.J. : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-415-88029-9 (hardback : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-415-88030-5
(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Behavioral assessment--Moral and ethical aspects--United States--
Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Behavior analysts--Professional ethics--United States--
Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Behavior analysts--Certification--United States--
Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Burch, Mary R. II. Title.
RC437.B43B355 2011
174.20973--dc22 2010035023
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the Routledge Web site at
http://www.routledgementalhealth.com
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Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Disclaimer
Evolution of the 2nd Expanded Edition
SECTION
Background for Ethics in Behavior Analysis
I
Chapter 1 How We Got Here
Chapter 2 Core Ethical Principles
Chapter 3 What Makes Behavior Analysis Unique?
Chapter 4 Most Frequent Ethical Problems
Everyday Ethical Challenges for Average Citizens and Behavior
Chapter 5
Analysts
Understanding and Following the Behavior Analyst certification
SECTION II
Board Guidelines for Responsible conduct
Chapter 6 Responsible Conduct of a Behavior Analyst (Guideline 1)
Chapter 7 The Behavior Analyst's Responsibility to Clients (Guideline 2)
Chapter 8 Assessing Behavior (Guideline 3)
The Behavior Analyst and the Individual Behavior Change
Chapter 9
Program (Guideline 4)
Chapter 10 The Behavior Analyst as Teacher or Supervisor (Guideline 5)
Chapter 11 The Behavior Analyst and the Workplace (Guideline 6)
The Behavior Analyst's Ethical Responsibility to the Field of
Chapter 12
Behavior Analysis (Guideline 7)
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The Behavior Analyst's Ethical Responsibility to Colleagues
Chapter 13
(Guideline 8)
The Behavior Analyst's Ethical Responsibility to Society
Chapter 14
(Guideline 9)
Chapter 15 The Behavior Analyst and Research (Guideline 10)
SECTION
Professional Skills for Ethical Behavior Analysts
III
Chapter 16 Conducting a Risk–Benefit Analysis
Chapter 17 Delivering the Ethics Message Effectively
Avoiding the “Slippery Slope” of Ethical Problems by Using a
Chapter 18
Declaration of Professional Services
SECTION
Tips, Guidelines, Index, and Scenarios for Students
IV
Chapter 19 A Dozen Practical Tips for Ethical Conduct on Your First Job
Appendix Behavior Analyst Certification Board Guidelines for Responsible
A: Conduct for Behavior Analysts
Appendix Index for BACB Guidelines for Responsible Conduct for
B: Behavior Analysts DEVELOPED BY JON BAILEY
Appendix
Fifty Ethics Scenarios for Behavior Analysts
C:
Appendix
Suggested Further Reading
D:

References
Index
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Preface
EVOLUTION OF THIS BOOK AND HOW TO USE IT
My first experience in ethics came when I was a graduate student in psychology in
the late 1960s. I was working with a profoundly developmentally disabled young
man who was confined to a heavy metal crib in the small ward of a private
institution in Phoenix, Arizona. Blind, deaf, nonambulatory, and not toilet trained,
my “subject” engaged in self-injurious behavior virtually all day long. His head-
banging behavior against the metal bars could be heard 25 yards away and greeted
me each time I entered his depressing, malodorous living unit. Day after day, I sat
by his crib taking notes on a possible thesis concerning how one might try to reduce
his chronic self-injurious behavior, or SIB (we called it self-destructive behavior
in those days). After a few informal observation sessions, and reading through his
medical chart, I had some ideas. I set up a meeting with one of my committee
members, Dr. Lee Meyerson, who was supervising the research at the facility. “I'm
observing a subject who engages in self-destructive behavior,” I began. “He hits his
head 10 to 15 times per minute throughout the day. I've taken informal data at
different times of the day, and I don't see any consistent pattern,” I offered. Dr.
Meyerson let me go on for about 10 minutes, nodding and occasionally taking a puff
on his pipe (smoking was allowed everywhere in those days). Then he stopped me
abruptly and, gesturing with his pipe, began to ask me questions that I had never
thought about. Did I know my “subject's” name? Did I have permission to observe
and report on this individual? Who gave me permission to look at this medical
record? Had I discussed this case with any of my graduate student colleagues or
shown the data in class? I had no good 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 and that
he needed to be treated with dignity and respect, not as just another “subject” to
help me complete a master's thesis. As it turns out, Dr. Meyerson was ahead of his
time in grilling me with ethical questions that would not actually come up in legal
circles for another 10 years (see Chapter 1). Dr. Meyerson's questions helped
sensitize me to looking at what I was doing from an extra-experimental perspective.
How would I like to be treated if I was a “subject” in someone's experiment? Or
how would I want my mother or sister to be treated? “With kindness, compassion,
and respect” is no doubt the quick response that most of us would offer. And so it is
that ethics in psychology, and particularly in behavior analysis, can be easily
personalized and made tangible if we will just stop and think about what we are
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