Behavior analysts and educators often recommend using praise, particularly descriptive praise, despite mixed empirical findings to support this recommendation. We evaluated the effectiveness of praise as a reinforcer during a reinforcer assessment using known tasks with preschoolers in Experiment 1. Praise functioned as a reinforcer for 2 of 6 participants; the remaining 4 participants required additional reinforcers (edibles) to show a reinforcement effect. We then compared the effectiveness of descriptive versus general praise for acquisition of unknown tacts and assessed participants' preference for the different types of praise for 4 participants from Experiment 1. Results are discussed within the context of the importance of determining individual efficacy and preference for praise.

Researchers have identified an unbalanced diet as a key risk factor in the etiology of many chronic diseases (World Health Organization, ). Although researchers have found that numerous factors influence children's food choices, no assessment exists to identify these factors. In Experiment 1, we established preliminary empirical evidence of children's preferences for healthier and less‐healthy foods, and found that 16 of 21 children preferred less‐healthy foods to healthier foods. In Experiment 2, we established the utility of an analogue, competing parameters assessment designed to approximate children's food choices in the natural environment. We identified either quality or immediacy as the most influential parameters governing four of four childrens' food choices. We found that effort influenced the efficacy of these reinforcer parameters in a predictable manner for one of four children.

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The previous issue of The Behavior Analyst contained an article by Critchfield (2011), entitled ''Interesting Times: Practice, Science, and Professional Associations in Behavior Analysis,'' about a rift between the field's scientists and practitioners. Critchfield observed that the science and practice of behavior analysis are subject to different contingencies of survival. He argued from history that scientists and practitioners are served best by aligning with separate professional associations to manage these contingencies. And, he concluded that behavior analysis would be served best if its scientists aligned with the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) and its practitioners with the Association of Professional Behavior Analysts (APBA).

Applied behavior analysis focuses exclusively on the interaction between the behavior of organisms and environmental events. Behavior is the primary subject matter, and all causes of behavior are attributed to the environment. The basic unit of analysis is the three‐term contingency which includes an antecedent (A), a behavior (B), and a consequence (C). Antecedents are events or conditions that occur prior to the behavior, including biological and experiential influences, and that play a critical role in behavioral processes. Thus, antecedent interventions, the primary focus of this entry, are valuable and sometimes preferable to consequent interventions.