Editorial: Emerging Cultural and Behavioral Systems Science

Abstract

Skinner (1948) imagined a world in which the natural science of behavior would be applied to free us from coercive cultural practices, and its applications could contribute to intentional cultural design to achieve that end. He elaborated on these ideas in several subsequent, nonfictional works (e.g., Skinner 1953Skinner , 1971Skinner , 1974Skinner , 1981Skinner , 1987. These works provided the conceptual and theoretical bases for many behavior scientists to begin to consider the evolution of cultures and the selection of cultural practices (e.g., Baum 2005;Couto and Sandaker 2016;Glenn 2004;Houmanfar et al. 2010;Malott and Glenn 2006) and to actively challenge behavior scientists to work toward mitigating some of the world's most pressing challenges (e.g., Biglan 2015Biglan , 2016Biglan and Embry 2013;Dixon et al. 2018;Mattaini and Aspholm 2016;Wilson et al. 2014).Cultural and behavioral systems science brings together a broad range of behavior scientists with different influences, specializations, and focus areas from within and outside of behavior science. Two fairly well-known examples of such work include Brethower's (1972) Total Performance System and Glenn's (1986) conceptualization of the metacontingency (see also Glenn et al. 2016 for the most recently agreed upon terms and definitions). Brethower's work was strongly influenced by general system(s) theory (e.g., von Bertalanffy 1968; cf. Brethower 2008) and is broadly applied by behavior scientists who consider their specialization behavioral systems analysis or organizational behavior management (e.g. McGee and Crowley-Koch, this issue). Glenn's seminal contributions to cultural and behavioral systems science were inspired by anthropology (i.e., cultural materialism;Harris 1964Harris , 1979 see also Glenn 1988) and biology (cf., Glenn 1991;Hull et al. 2001) and is very influential with those behavior scientists who describe their specializations as cultural systems analysis and/ or cultural selection. Even though many working in cultural and behavioral systems science identify with a specific lineage or claim a particular specialization, many also

A systematic review of cultural adaptations in the global application of ABA‐based telehealth services

“…Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine whether behavior analysts consider relevant cultural variables in everyday practice when bias is implicit (FitzGerald et al, 2019). The emerging evidence in favor of cultural adaptations (Naeem et al, 2015; Pan et al, 2011), along with the rich history of cultural analysis in the behavioral sciences (Cihon & Mattaini, 2019) lend support to the expansion of research in this potentially impactful area of study. It is yet unclear whether we will achieve consensus on adaptations based on well‐designed experimental research, but at the very least, it seems important to generate a list of factors to consider within our typical scope of personalized practice when serving CLD families.…”

Exploring Quality in the Applied Behavior Analysis Service Delivery Industry

“…We believe the blog post fell short of listing or describing quality indicators or practical suggestions for how to apply the metacontingency to identify quality indicators or address ABA service quality. This may be due in part to the fact that culturo-behavioral science (e.g., Cihon & Mattaini, 2019) and related concepts such as the metacontingency are evolving and applied technology for intervening on cultural problems using metacontingencies is lacking (Zilio, 2019).…”

Barriers and Facilitators of Access to Psychological Services for Indigenous Populations: A Scoping Review and Thematic Analysis

“…Ten of the 37 studies included an evaluation of a specific intervention regarding the cultural adaptations made during training; all studies described some sort of barriers and facilitators of psychological services (see Table 1 for an overview of the study characteristics). Most intervention studies involved parent training programs (Studies 1, 7, 16,18,29,33,37) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (Studies 2-5, 17, 22), though several others were based on cognitive-behavioral principles. Only one paper employed single-case research methods to assess the behavioral impact of an intervention (6).…”

“…The remaining studies employed mainly qualitative methods save two studies that used quantitative methods (Studies 14-16). Several Indigenous populations were included: First American Indians/Alaska Natives (Studies 5-6, 8-10, 12, 15, 18-19, 25-26, 31, 35), followed by Māori (Studies 2 -3, 7, 11, 14, 16, 21-22, 27-28, 32), followed by Aboriginal and Torres Islanders ( Studies 1,4,13,17,29,33,36,37)…”

“…Nevertheless, cultural adaptations seem important if we are to promote acceptance of psychological interventions as a pre-requisite for effective and equitable delivery of services for those in need. Efforts to account for culture in interventions are a recent development (28), and cultural-behavioral systems scientists are increasingly contributing to a better understanding of the interaction between complex systems such as socioeconomic factors (29). In New Zealand, Te Tiriti o Waitangi puts an ongoing obligation on the Crown for partnership, participation and protection of Māori.…”