Applied behavior analysis

Applied behavior analysis (ABA), also called behavioral engineering, is a psychological intervention that applies empirical approaches based upon the principles of respondent and operant conditioning to change behavior of social significance. It is the applied form of behavior analysis; the other two forms are radical behaviorism (or the philosophy of the science) and the experimental analysis of behavior (or basic experimental laboratory research). The name applied behavior analysis has replaced behavior modification because the latter approach suggested attempting to change behavior without clarifying the relevant behavior-environment interactions. In contrast, ABA changes behavior by first assessing the functional relationship between a targeted behavior and the environment. Further, the approach often seeks to develop socially acceptable alternatives for aberrant behaviors. Although service delivery providers overwhelmingly specialize in utilizing structured and naturalistic early behavioral interventions for individuals with autism, ABA has also been utilized in a range of other areas, including United States military psychological operations. ABA is controversial, especially among members of the autism rights movement, for a number of reasons. Some ABA interventions emphasize normalization instead of acceptance, and there is a history of, in some forms of ABA and its predecessors, the use of aversives, such as electric shocks. ABA is also controversial due to concerns about its evidence base. In the last few years, there have been reforms in some types of ABA interventions to address these criticisms and concerns, especially regarding masking. ABA is an applied science devoted to developing procedures which will produce observable changes in behavior. It is to be distinguished from the experimental analysis of behavior, which focuses on basic experimental laboratory research, but it uses principles developed by such research, in particular operant conditioning and classical conditioning.

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