Behavioral contrast: An exploratory survey of practitioner experiences

Abstract

Behavioral contrast is defined as a change in reinforcement conditions in one context that causes a change in behavior in the opposite direction in another, unchanged context. Although behavioral contrast has implications for applied behavior analysts, researchers have not examined ramifications or identified common methods of mitigating contrast in applied settings. Therefore, we surveyed Board Certified Behavior Analysts in an exploratory investigation to determine practitioner experiences with behavioral contrast. Participants' responses reflected a variety of themes: contrast resulted in conversations with stakeholders; supporting stakeholders and mitigating factors are important; contrast is due to inconsistencies across settings; and contrast affects stakeholder buy‐in, hurts rapport or relationships, and produces negative emotions. Our results suggest that contrast is not an innocuous occurrence in applied settings. We recommend a variety of areas for future research to further predict and control contrast and to identify the extent to which it affects clinical practice.

Reinforcement‐schedule thinning practices during functional communication training: A survey of behavior analysts

“…Additionally, the authors programmed a lottery of Amazon gift cards to incentivize participation. However, it is worth noting that the sample size is similar to recently published surveys in behavior analysis that have analyzed outcomes of credentialed providers using 150 participants or fewer (Boyle et al, 2023;Malkin et al, 2023;Mead Jasperse et al, 2023;Warren Ralston & Brown, 2023).…”