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. 1981 Fall;14(3):327–338. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1981.14-327

Setting events in applied behavior analysis: Toward a conceptual and methodological expansion

Robert G Wahler 1,2, James J Fox 1,2
PMCID: PMC1308218  PMID: 16795646

Abstract

The contributions of applied behavior analysis as a natural science approach to the study of human behavior are acknowledged. However, it is also argued that applied behavior analysis has provided limited access to the full range of environmental events that influence socially significant behavior. Recent changes in applied behavior analysis to include analysis of side effects and social validation represent ways in which the traditional applied behavior analysis conceptual and methodological model has been profitably expanded. A third area of expansion, the analysis of setting events, is proposed by the authors. The historical development of setting events as a behavior influence concept is traced. Modifications of the basic applied behavior analysis methodology and conceptual systems that seem necessary to setting event analysis are discussed and examples of descriptive and experimental setting event analyses are presented.

Keywords: setting events, correlational analyses, stimulus control, molar units of measurement

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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