ABA While Black: The Impact of Racism and Performative Allyship on Black Behaviorists in the Workplace and on Social Media

Abstract

This study gathered information regarding white behavior analytic professionals’ responses to the recent instances of police brutality against Black people in the United States. Specific objectives included: (1) gathering information from Black Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) certificants regarding their experiences following the responses from the white behavior analytic community, (2) examining the prevalence of topics related to racism and Black experiences in behavior analytic podcasts before and after the recent police brutality events, and (3) to define and describe the impact of performative allyship on Black communities.

This article is being published on an expedited basis, as part of a series of emergency publications designed to help practitioners of applied behavior analysis take immediate action to address police brutality and systemic racism. The journal would like to especially thank associate editor Dr. Kaston Anderson-Carpenter. In addition, the journal extends thanks to Dr. Temple Lovelace for their insightful and expeditious reviews of this article. The views and strategies suggested by the articles in this series do not represent the positions of the Association for Behavior Analysis International, or Springer Nature.

Editor, Jonathan Tarbox

Though behavior analysis (ABA) aims to improve the human condition through meaningful and socially significant behavior change, the field has yet to prioritize the development of interventions to reduce systemic racism (Matsuda et al., 2020). In everyday language, racism is behaving as if one has “a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial indifferences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race” (http://merriam-webster.com). Unfortunately, racism and racist behavior have been a part of American and global history for centuries, as has the fight against it. Although recent acts of police brutality against Black Americans have sparked outrage and cries for racial justice across the United States, it is unknown if these behaviors will bring about meaningful changes in Black lives. Further, how have recent events and calls for social activism impacted Black behaviorists in our field?

After the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, many organizations, large corporations, and individuals attempted to show concern by releasing public statements in support of Black lives. However, most of the statements released provided no actionable steps to mitigate racism and police brutality. The notion of verbal or overt solidarity behavior towards a marginalized community or community member, without direct and measurable changes, is defined as performative allyship. Allyship refers to someone who identifies themselves as a supporter of a particular group. However, as verbal behavior, allyship may also evoke rule-governed behavior that maintains structural racism, yet the individual's behavior contacts reinforcement. In other words, members of a society may reinforce the ally's verbal behavior without reducing racism in any meaningful way. Thus, it is essential to study how such behaviors may occur, be reinforced, or lead to meaningful changes for our community.

The Role of Social Media

In modern-day society, public views and opinions regarding racism are easily accessible via social media. Social media refers to any online service for creating and sharing information (Krishnamurthy & Dou, 2008). Services include user-generated services (e.g., blogs), social networking sites (e.g., Facebook and Instagram), online review/rating sites, video sharing sites, and online communities where consumers produce, design, publish, or edit content (Krishnamurthy & Dou, 2008). According to recent statistics, nearly 70% of adults in the United States reported using social media in 2018 compared to 5% of adults in 2005. In addition, more than half of social media users said they used sites such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat daily.

Previous studies have found that social media can influence various attitudes and behaviors such as consumer buyer behavior, body image, employee work performance, tourism, and political opinions (e.g., Forbes, 2013). Likewise, social media content related to race and social justice issues may influence behaviors. One case study found that the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter was used approximately 12 million times from July 12, 2013, through March 31, 2016. From January 1, 2015, through March 31, 2016, people “tweeted” ’ approximately 995 million times on Twitter about race (Anderson, 2016).

Though social media may play a positive role in increasing awareness of racial injustice, it has also served as a tool for resisting social change (Carney, 2016). For instance, #AllLivesMatter was used as a counter slogan to undermine the message of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Rather than centering marginalized voices, the #AllLivesMatter movement denied violence perpetuated against Black Americans and silenced their voices by deracializing and depoliticizing the #BlackLivesMatter movement (Carney, 2016).

The Function of Performative Allyship

Based on the high volume of social media posts related to racism recently, it appears many people, including those in our field, feel compelled to facilitate change. However, we can better understand verbal social media behaviors, like tweets or Facebook posts, by considering their function. For example, white behavior analysts can identify what reinforcers their behaviors produce from these outward support displays. What are the maintaining consequences of their responses to systemic racism and police brutality on social media? What are the impacts of such statements on their Black colleagues? Those who value equity and justice and hope to demonstrate solidarity with Black people will benefit from closer consideration of their behaviors' impact and outcomes.

A general understanding of performative allyship is that exhibited behaviors positively impact the “ally” and not the marginalized community (Kowal, 2015). For example, an individual may post in support of protests on their social media page as a function of receiving attention or accolades. Accolades may be in the form of receiving positive praise or even paid speaking engagements. Thus, the person may benefit from making verbal statements yet fail to advocate for change in their personal lives. It is possible to speak in support and continue to behave in ways that uphold policies that marginalize the Black community. We must conceptualize responses to systemic oppression, in part, by its impact on the oppressed group. When one’s public actions fail to address the community’s needs, it may be harmful and ineffective to the very people or cause the individual intended to support (Willingham, 2020). One recent example of performative allyship was local and state government funding for “Black Lives Matter” murals; another was people posting 14.6 million Black squares on social media (Bursztynsky & Whitten, 2020). These actions did not directly defund police or increase social service budgets for the broader community; two stated aims of some involved in the social justice movement.

There is little behavior analytic research related to social justice and racism (Matsuda et al., 2020) and even less research regarding social media’s role in supporting social justice movements. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to (1) explore the experience of racism in the field of behavior analysis from the perspective of Black professionals; (2) amplify their voices during the current social-political movement; (3) investigate the role of social media in the dissemination of race-related issues within the behavior analytic community; and (4) discuss the function of performative allyship and its impact on Black ABA professionals and the broader Black community.

Method

Black Experience Survey

Sampling Procedure

We recruited certified ABA professionals (e.g., Registered Behavior Technicians- RBT, Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts-BCaBA, Board Certified Behavior Analysts-BCBA, Board Certified Behavior Analysts-Doctoral- BCBA-D) who identified as Black or African American to participate in this study. We shared the survey via public social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn) and researchers’ direct emails to contacts. A snowball method maximized the number of potential participants, because individuals receiving the recruitment message were encouraged to share the information with their contacts (Peterson & Valdez, 2005). Participants completed 103 surveys. Although this sampling procedure did not allow for the response rate calculation, it is consistent with recent research published in behavior analysis (e.g., Taylor et al., 2019).

Survey Data Collection and Analysis

The survey was created using Google forms and included a mixture of 36 multiple choice and short answer questions developed by the first and third authors, who identify as Black. Disaggregated sections of the questions included: (1) basic demographic information; (2) Black experiences in ABA organizational settings; (3) microaggressions, code-switching, and tone policing; and (4) interactions with the white ABA community via social media. Participants were able to withdraw from the survey at any time. The survey included term definitions to increase the likelihood of participants interpreting the survey questions consistently.

Microaggressions were any indirect, subtle, or unintentional discriminatory statements against members of a marginalized group by members from the dominant group (e.g., “You speak English well,” “You are not like other Black people”). Code-switching was alternating between varieties of language in conversation; for example, adjusting or self-correcting words and pronunciation of words due to interacting with white individuals. Lastly, tone-policing was corrections or criticism of tone, voice volume, or emotional display provided to marginalized group members by members from the dominant group. Examples include “You should not be so angry” or “People would listen to you if you spoke more nicely." Upon completion of the survey study, data were exported and analyzed using Microsoft Excel. Two authors reviewed raw data to ensure accurate transfer of data to the Microsoft Excel® software system.

Podcast Topic Review

To further examine racism-related changes to social media behaviors in the ABA community and assess possible increased interest in topics related to racism, we analyzed the title and description of 488 episodes of six different behavior analytic podcasts. We compared the periods before and after May 25, 2020 (the date of George Floyd’s murder). Podcasts remained anonymous for privacy. Each of the podcasts was affiliated with at least one social media account containing a minimum of several thousand members during the review. We chose terms related to systemic racism: (1) race, (2) racism, (3) Black, (4) African American, and (5) social justice. The first and second authors reviewed the podcast titles and summaries, noting if they included any terms. The first and second authors reviewed the podcast episodes titles and descriptions to determine the percentage of episodes containing keywords before and after recent police brutality events. Interobserver agreement (IOA) was assessed through random sampling of 33.3% of all episodes across the six podcasts. We calculated IOA by dividing the number of episodes for which both authors agreed by the total number and multiplying by 100. IOA was 100% across each of the six podcasts Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Table 1.

Demographics across participants

Question	n	%
Gender
Male	9	9.3
Female	14	13.7
Other	0	0.0
Age
18 to 24	7	6.8
25 to 24	66	64.1
35 to 44	24	23.3
45 to 54	6	5.8
55 to 64	0	0.0
65 to 74	0	0.0
75 or older	0	0.0
Highest level of education
High school	1	1.0
Some college	2	1.9
Associate’s	2	1.9
Bachelor’s	19	18.4
Master’s	73	70.9
Doctorate	6	5.8
Current certification
RBT	38	36.9
BCaBA	3	2.9
BCBA	59	57.3
BCBA-D	3	2.9
Primary role in the field
Student	14	13.7
Clinician	80	78.4
Faculty	6	5.9
Researcher	2	2.0

Table 2.

White supremacy in your workplace or organization

Question	n	%
Connection to an organization
Connected to an organization	88	86.3
Not connected to an organization	14	13.7
Organization's response to the recent police brutality events
My organization issued a solidarity statement which included actionable steps	19	18.6
My organization issued a statement of solidarity only	34	33.3
My organization did NOT issue a solidarity statement	38	37.3
My organization issued a statement using language in support of systemic racism	5	4.9
Emotional support for Black members/employees following recent police brutality events
My organization provided substantial wellness support	8	7.8
My organization provided some wellness support	24	23.5
My organization did NOT provide wellness support	64	62.7

Table 3.

Black experiences with microaggressions code-switching and tone policing

Question	n	%
Experience with Microaggressions following police brutality events
Microaggressions have increased	16	15.5
Microaggressions have decreased	8	7.8
Microaggressions occur at the same rate as before police brutality incidents	67	65
I have never experienced microaggressions	12	11.7
Experience with Code-switching following police brutality events
I code-switch more often	21	20.4
I code-switch less often	23	22.3
I code-switch at the same rate now as before police brutality incidents	46	44.7
I have never code-switched	13	12.6
Experience with Tone policing following police brutality events
Tone-policing has increased	16	15.8
Tone-policing has decreased	8	7.9
Tone-policing occurs at the same rate now as before police brutality incidents	52	51.5
I have never experienced tone-policing	25	24.8

Table 4.

Interactions with the white ABA community and social media

Question	n	%
Most frequently used social media platform
Facebook	80	78.4
Instagram	85	83.3
Twitter	32	31.4
Snapchat	21	20.6
Tik Tok	15	14.7
Youtube	37	36.3
New contact initiated from the white behavior analytic community in the past six weeks
I received many new contact initiations in the past six weeks (3 or more)	25	24.3
I received a few new contact initiations in the past six weeks (1-2)	30	29.1
I did not receive any new contact initiations in the past six weeks	48	46.6
Frequency of white ABA professional contacts to discuss racism prior to police brutality
Regularly contacted to discuss racism	1	1
Occasionally contacted to discuss racism	6	5.8
Seldom contacted to discuss racism	24	23.3
Never contacted to discuss racism	72	69.9
Requests to engage in tasks related to racism in the past six weeks
Answer questions about racism	24	24
Provide learning resources	21	21
Lead diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings	23	23
Review/edit a statement	14	14
Participate in a podcast	13	13
Follow-up received after participation in a podcast
I received a check in follow up about my mental/emotional health	6	7.4
I received a follow-up about continued collaboration or future projects	9	11.1
I did NOT receive a follow-up from the host(s)	9	11.1
Comfort discussing information on a podcast	16	15.8
Hesitant to discuss information	10	55.5
Not hesitant to discuss any information	8	44.4
Comfort providing educational resources to the white ABA community
Comfortable providing educational resources	28	82.3
Not comfortable providing educational resources	6	17.6
Comfort answering questions from the white ABA community
Comfortable answering questions	23	56.1
Not comfortable answering questions	18	43.9
Comfort editing a statement
Comfortable editing a statement	12	50
Not comfortable editing a statement	12	50

Results

Black Experience Survey

Demographics

Table 3 illustrates the demographic information reported by the 103 survey participants, all of whom identified as Black or African American. Of these participants, 78.4% indicated that they were clinicians, 13.7% identified as students, and 7.9% stated they were faculty or researchers. The majority of participants (86%) reported affiliation with an organization (e.g., employed by a behavior analytic organization or studying at a university), and 76.7% of participants indicated that they had completed a graduate degree. Of these participants, 56.9% reported having held their graduate degrees for 1–3 years.

Black Experiences at Work

The first section of the survey consisted of questions related to experiences in ABA organizational settings. On a Likert-type scale (1 = very comfortable and 5 = very uncomfortable), participants rated how they felt about their white coworkers' responses following events that took place on May 25, 2020. About half (48.5%) reported feeling uncomfortable. Furthermore, the survey asked if organizations provided emotional support to Black members or employees following recent police brutality events. Most participants' organizations (62.7%) did not offer emotional support; however, about a quarter of participants (23.5%) indicated that their organization provided some support. Although few organizations offered emotional support to their Black members, half (51.9 %) of participants reported that their organization displayed solidarity with the Black community with a written statement. But a much smaller percentage (18.6%) of these organizational statements incorporated actionable steps against racism. Of even more concern, some organizations (4.9%) reportedly issued a statement that used language supporting racism. Fourteen percent of participants' organizations asked them to help with editing or reviewing the statements; half of those who assisted with the task reported discomfort. Eighty-two percent of participants (82%) felt comfortable providing educational resources (e.g., book recommendations, podcasts) to the white behavior analytic community, but 44% were not comfortable answering their questions related to racism.

Black Experiences with Microaggressions, Code-Switching, and Tone Policing

Microaggressions, code-switching, and tone policing are somewhat subtle experiences that may cause feelings of discomfort in the presence of members of a dominant group over time. More than 75% of participants indicated they experience microaggressions, code-switching, and tone policing to some degree within the ABA field. Regarding recent changes in their experience, responses were somewhat variable. However, more than half of participants (65%) reported that microaggressions occurred at the same rate before and after May 25, 2020. Likewise, code-switching and tone-policing were experienced at the same rate before and after May 25, 2020 by 44.7% and 51.5% of participants, respectively. Though the survey does not reveal the degree to which Black behaviorists experienced microaggressions, code-switching, and tone policing, few participants reported a decrease in these behaviors (less than 22%).

How Black Communication with the White ABA Community via Social Media has Changed

Almost all survey participants reported that they believed social media was influential to the ABA community (92%), with Instagram and Facebook being the most widely used platforms (83.3% and 78.4% of participants, respectively). The majority (70%) reported minimal antiracism and social justice behaviors from the white behavior analytic community before recent police brutality events. Overall, Black ABA professionals were contacted about racism much less frequently via social media before May 25, 2020. Only 1% reported regularly receiving requests from contacts before May 25, 2020, more than half (69.9%) reported no racism-related contact before this date, and 24% stated that contact from the white behavior analytic community was rare. After May 25, 2020, 54% of survey participants received at least one new contact about racism, and 24% indicated they received three or more. Of those, initiations consisted of requests from the white ABA community to educate, provide resources, or assume leadership roles in addressing racism in some form.

Many Black ABA professionals experienced more contacts, and they also observed increased public displays of solidarity in the white behavior analytic community. Before May 25, 2020, only 10% of participants saw increases in white colleagues listening to Black voices and experiences, compared to 62% after. Likewise, 6.9% noted increasing public statements and posts against racism on social media before, compared to 66% afterward. Of those surveyed, 32.8% noticed the white behavior analytic community created more professional opportunities for the Black community due to the publicized police brutality on social media. Figure 1 summarizes participants’ observations of behaviors exhibited by the white behavior analytic community pre- and post-.

Fig. 1.

Observations of behaviors exhibited by the white behavior analytic community before and after the recent police brutality events

Changes in Behavior among Behavior Analytic Podcast Recordings

The survey asked individuals who participated in podcasts or social media recordings about their participation experience. Thirteen percent of participants reported receiving requests to participate in a podcast or social media recording. More than half of those (55%) felt hesitant to discuss their experiences related to racism on social media. Further, less than 20% of those who participated indicated the host discussed their efforts to address systemic racism. Forty-five percent of participants received a follow-up contact about continued collaboration on future projects; only 30% reported that they received a follow-up about their mental or emotional health. Forty-five percent received no follow-up after participation.

The analysis of six popular behavior analytic podcast titles and descriptions suggested changes to white behavior in the ABA social media community. Before May 25, none (0%) of the reviewed ABA podcast episodes focused on racism or Black ABA professionals’ experiences; after May 25, podcast episodes related to racism increased to 16%.

Overall Perceptions and Emotions among the Black ABA Community

Participants noted if they felt pressured or obligated to educate the white behavior analytic community regarding racism. Seventy-two participants responded to this question. About half (48%) felt obligated to participate or pressured by the white ABA community. Some of this number also felt a desire to advocate for their community. Overall, some respondents willingly educate about racism, but others think members of the white community are responsible for educating themselves.

Forty participants shared short answers about experiences of racism in the field or general sentiments about workplace dynamics and social media. In general, participants reported feelings of sadness, frustration, hurt, exhaustion, and disappointment regarding their interactions with the white behavior analytic community (see Fig. 2). Many expressed concerns about a continued lack of organizational support and representation in leadership for Black professionals. Comments included "I do not anticipate any substantial long-term changes," "I am not sure this trend will last," and “I am the only Black person at my job."

Fig. 2.

Participant reported common themes of experiences related to racism in behavior analysis

Discussion

This study examined the experiences of Black professionals in applied behavior analysis regarding the dissemination of recent race-related social media by white professionals in our field. The Black ABA community observed an increase in organizational statements, social media posts, and new collaboration requests from the white behavior analytic community. However, data indicated that the experience was often uncomfortable, exhausting, or disappointing for them. Indeed, many Black professionals reported unfavorable feelings towards the white ABA community’s responses.

The Impact of Performative Allyship

Many respondents don’t predict meaningful change, regardless of their white colleagues’ recent interest in systemic racism. Real change requires policy and cultural shifts for equity and social justice, as defined and quantified by members of the Black community. White community members' recent increased social media posts, recordings, and public solidarity statements may be performative allyship. Some overt behavior nominally supports a marginalized group, such as posting anti-discrimination statements on social media platforms. But such behaviors don’t necessarily lead to real change. Worse yet, they may benefit members of the white community personally, even as they fail to help Black colleagues. Ending systemic oppression takes more than verbal behavior. It requires changing contingencies and creating new environments that mitigate the experience of racism.

We encourage members of the white ABA community to consider when their antiracism efforts benefit them versus serving to modify the contingencies maintaining racism. For example, posting in support of wellness for Black colleagues or seeking Black collaborators for presentations might get social media attention or praise. But do these behaviors facilitate changes in social policies to benefit marginalized groups? Social media interactions won't suffice to end systemic racism. Performative behaviors help only one individual rather than impacting racism in our communities.

Though some trends existed in the data, it is essential to honor variations in the participants’ experience of racism—feelings of discomfort with experiences educating the white ABA community, and individual perceptions of microaggressions, etc. Substantial variability exists among organizations, social contexts, experiences, and private events of Black professionals. A trend across respondents doesn't capture the personal experience of racism. White behavior analysts can be mindful when interacting with the Black ABA community, prioritizing the needs of individuals rather than assuming the needs of the entire group.

A limitation of this study was recruitment via social media. Responses of those that don't use social media may be different. Also, questions about organizational experiences did not specify university, employer, or other company, nor did the survey ask about geographic location. Finally, we did not analyze the podcasts for the content discussed in the episodes. Future research could explore the verbal content of racism-related podcasts and social media posts.

Eradicating systemic racism requires behavior change by white members of our community. Disseminating antiracism information, particularly on social media, may benefit white individuals yet fail to create contingencies that foster equity. Performative antiracism behaviors do not promote social justice for marginalized groups. However, self-awareness and a behaviorist viewpoint can help ABA professionals be true allies engaging in a genuine effort to end racism.

Declarations

Conflict of Interest

We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.