Social Validity and Contemporary Applied Behavior Analysis.

Abstract

For behavior analysts, social validity should be a standard and evolving component of our own self-evaluation process. Our field has known that for decades, but we have not always been good about implementing such self-evaluations. Recent criticism of our field should be viewed as setting the occasion for self-reflection and improvement of our practices. To accomplish those aims (self-relection and improvement), we need to identify specific practices to extinguish, modify, or (at least) explain better. We will address this challenge in three contexts. First, we provide discussion on what is "meant" by "ABA." Second, we distinguish between ABA as a discipline and ABA as an intervention (we contend it is the former and not the latter). Third, we acknowledge and identify nuances of social validation, often by drawing parallels and comparisons to medical fields.