Newsletter
Volume 29 | 2006 | Number 2
Interbehaviorists in ABA
By Dr. Thomas Sharpe
The Interbehaviorist Special Interest Group (SIG) within the Association for Behavior Analysis International promotes discussion, development, and organization of basic assumptions, theories, and methods pertaining to Interbehavioral Psychology in specific and Behavior Systems theory and application in general. Original contributors to, and organizers of, the SIG were guided by the scientific principles posited by J. R. Kantor. Kantor’s original Interbehaviorism promotes a contextualistic, integrated-field approach to the natural science of behavior, of which many contemporary theoretical positions and practical applications within the experimental and applied analysis of behavior are compatible. To this end, the SIG encourages contributions from a variety of disciplines, including ongoing work in the areas of psychology, education, and the social and physical sciences.
SIG members can be relied on to discuss recently developed technologies that support more comprehensive descriptions of psychological events, and, in concert with evolving system-oriented methodologies within ABA, the SIG provides a forum for dissemination of multiple-event and other interactional analysis methods that can be used productively in experimental and applied behavior analyses. A sampling of areas of activity currently engaged in by SIG members includes computer-based learning systems, software-based data gathering and analyses tools, constructional approaches to social problems, historicocritical analyses, operational analyses, large-scale clinical service delivery systems, and self-reflection.
Currently, the SIG is experiencing a period of reorganization and rejuvenation. Guided by the leadership over the years from Ed Morris and colleagues at the University of Kansas, Dennis Delprato at Eastern Michigan University, and most recently a variety of individuals in the Psychology Department at the University of Nevada, Reno, the SIG hopes to provide a forum for information exchange and renewed interest organized around interbehavioral and systems theory principles and practice.
SIG objectives will be addressed through the following activities:
- Continuing the listserv developed and implemented by Dennis Delprato for purposes of information exchange and invited articles.
- Revitalizing the SIG newsletter, The Interbehaviorist, first published in 1970 under the editorial direction of Noel W. Smith at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, in electronic and hard copy formats.
- Ongoing maintenance of the Interbehaviorist Web site http://web.utk.edu/~wverplan/kantor/kantor.html or the Web-based discussion forum http://list.emich.edu/mailman/listinfo/ib-l
- Revitalizing the Interbehavioral Fellowship, offered to promote research in the history of psychology, and historically supported by the sale of books published by the Principia Press and distributed by the Archives. Proposals that draw on any of the resources of the Psychology Archives at the University of Akron are invited, but because this award is in honor of J.R. Kantor, preference may be given to projects that are relevant to a behavioral viewpoint. The Fellowship has been offered annually in the amount of $750 and is intended to assist the recipient in meeting travel and living expenses while using the resources of the archives. A fact sheet describing the Fellowship that includes upcoming deadlines may be obtained from the Archives. Write or call Dr. John A. Popplestone, Psychology Archives, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325-4302, (330) 972-7285; Fax: (330) 972-6170; Jpopplestone@UAKRON.EDU.
- Expanding membership through connectivity with Association for Behavior Analysis International mailout, newsletter article, and on-line Web site services.
- Representing the SIG through ABA International conventions by scheduling the SIG meeting within program activities and presenting a booth at the ABA Expo to promote SIG membership and activity involvement.
Membership is encouraged through initial e-mail address submission to Tom Sharpe, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, sharpe@unlv.nevada.edu. Current and past members will be included in all SIG correspondence through compiling of existing historical SIG membership lists. As a function of membership, a fifteen dollar ($15) contribution is encouraged to help support ongoing and intended SIG activities.