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Toward A Behavior Analysis Of Discrimination And Prejudice: Racism, Sexism, And The Stigmatization Of Autism, Claire M. Zuch Jan 2023

Toward A Behavior Analysis Of Discrimination And Prejudice: Racism, Sexism, And The Stigmatization Of Autism, Claire M. Zuch

MSU Graduate Theses

Behavior analysts are becoming increasingly aware of and involved in the study of issues related to sex, gender, disability, prejudice, and discrimination. This thesis integrates and discusses two collaborative manuscripts that revolve around the shared subject matter of multi-level research on systemic issues. In the first chapter, sexism and gender bias are conceptualized and informed by the framework of the nested sociobehavioral model of racism developed by Belisle et al. (2022), including implicit bias, selective gender norms, and systemic oppression, while integrating feminist and queer theories in the analysis. A model-dependent scoping review of research in major behavior analytic journals …


The Effects Of Pyramidal Training Of Behavioral Skills Training On Staff Interactions With Students With Developmental Disabilities, Mallory Eoff Jan 2022

The Effects Of Pyramidal Training Of Behavioral Skills Training On Staff Interactions With Students With Developmental Disabilities, Mallory Eoff

MSU Graduate Theses

Well-trained staff are critical for quality care in human service settings, but training requires resources that are often unavailable or restricted. This results in staff with inadequate training and worse outcomes for those in their care. Behavioral Skills Training (BST) is an effective training strategy with empirical support. The current study implemented a pyramidal training procedure with BST to train staff to increase staff use of positive interactions and behavior-specific praise statements when working with children with developmental disabilities in a public-school setting. Instruction, modeling, practice, and feedback were used to teach lead classroom teachers and their paraprofessionals how to …


Using Music Training To Increase Social Responsiveness And Happiness In Children With Autism, Meghan Talarico Jan 2022

Using Music Training To Increase Social Responsiveness And Happiness In Children With Autism, Meghan Talarico

MSU Graduate Theses

Social skills are imperative for individuals’ success in their daily lives because they are applied in areas such as shared interests and cooperative work and play. This study was a replication with extension of the study on a musical treatment of social skills by Finnigan and Starr (2010). The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of musical and non-musical interventions on the sharing and turn-taking behavior of five children with autism. The participants were four boys and one girl between the ages of 4- and 8-years-old who had a diagnosis of autism and were receiving ABA …


Maintenance Of Language And Learning Skills Using Peak Relational Training During Extended School Closure, Kayla Marie Welch Jan 2022

Maintenance Of Language And Learning Skills Using Peak Relational Training During Extended School Closure, Kayla Marie Welch

MSU Graduate Theses

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental and neurological disorder that affects how people communicate, interact with others, behave, and learn. Applied Behavior Analysis is a scientific approach to predicting and influencing behavior that has been applied successfully in supporting children with ASD. Due to communication and intellectual differences experienced by those diagnosed with ASD, it is important to identify therapies and interventions that focus on language development as well as maintenance of intervention gains during unexpected lapses in instruction. The PEAK Relational Training System (Dixon et al., 2017)is a treatment framework that exists within ABA to address language and …


Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Self-Compassion Training With Disability Support Staff, Jessica M. Venegoni Jan 2022

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Self-Compassion Training With Disability Support Staff, Jessica M. Venegoni

MSU Graduate Theses

The current study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of self-compassion training with disability support staff concurrently completing their college education for career advancement. The intervention was guided by a combined Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Self-Compassion training framework. The ACT Matrix was utilized within the study prior to intervention to determine values within self-compassion and to identify three behaviors to target within the weekly self-compassion training, and daily behavior report (Polk and Schoendorf, 2014). During the intervention phase, daily reported self-compassion behaviors and weekly reported self-compassion scores were collected (Neff, 2003a; Belisle et al., 2022), as well as their …


Using Scorecards To Improve The Performance Of Behavior Technicians In An Autism Treatment Clinic, Carly M. Ruether Jan 2022

Using Scorecards To Improve The Performance Of Behavior Technicians In An Autism Treatment Clinic, Carly M. Ruether

MSU Graduate Theses

Staff performance is important to the success of businesses and employers often use different methods to increase staff performance and motivate their staff. Performance scorecards, goal setting, and feedback are some methods of increasing staff performance. The goal of the current study was to partially replicate and extend Griffin et al.’s (2019) study utilizing performance scorecards to increase targeted behaviors of employees. In the current study, pre-intervention survey results were used to inform the choice of intervention based on deficiencies. Based on the results of the pre-intervention questionnaire, it was concluded that “task clarification and prompting” and “performance consequences, effort, …


Using Self-Management Procedures To Decrease Social Media Usage In Adults, Olivia Joy Solari Dec 2021

Using Self-Management Procedures To Decrease Social Media Usage In Adults, Olivia Joy Solari

MSU Graduate Theses

Social media is a widely used tool and the effects it has on well-being and productivity levels are well known. Due to widespread concern about the negative effects (e.g., addiction, reduced productivity, unhappiness) of social media there is increased interest in methods for reducing this behavior. Self-management techniques have shown great utility for managing behavior. The current study used a changing-criterion design with an embedded reversal to determine the effectiveness of a self-management treatment package on decreasing participant social media usage. The treatment package consisted of feedback, self-monitoring, goal setting, and a token economy. Results of the current study show …


Building A Repertoire Of Joint Attention Bids In Children With Autism, Erica Jordan Rackers Dec 2021

Building A Repertoire Of Joint Attention Bids In Children With Autism, Erica Jordan Rackers

MSU Graduate Theses

The current study extended previous research through evaluating if a multiple-probe procedure including auditory scripts and script-fading procedures could build a generalized repertoire of initiating bids for joint attention in three young children with autism. Stimuli were selected from four categories. Three categories were associated with teaching procedures and within-category generalization. The fourth category was associated with across-category generalization. The four categories were (a) visually alluring toys, (b) strangely placed objects, (c) large pictures, and (d) sounds. Category assignments in which teaching procedures or generalization were assessed were counterbalanced across the participants. Three different auditory scripts were selected and used …


The Influence Of Human Attentional State And Familiarity On Bengal Tiger (Panthera Tigris Tigris) And Siberian Tiger (Panthera Tigris Altaica) Sociability, Jenna J. Dail Aug 2021

The Influence Of Human Attentional State And Familiarity On Bengal Tiger (Panthera Tigris Tigris) And Siberian Tiger (Panthera Tigris Altaica) Sociability, Jenna J. Dail

MSU Graduate Theses

An essential element of an animal’s character is sociability (Gosling and John, 1999) and is demonstrated through interactions with other individuals (Capitanio, 2002). Although it is common to believe that domestic cats are not social beings, they have exhibited variance in solitary and social behavior, contingent on their environment and history (Turner, 2014). Much of the research on sociable behavior of animals has been completed between conspecifics. There has been less examination into interspecies sociability, and that which has been reviewed is focused on the relationship between humans and the domestic dog (Udell et al., 2010). Following this work, Vitale …


The Use Of Relational Training To Help Children With Autism Learn Emotions In Context: Extending Results With A Case Study, Ashlee Holderby May 2021

The Use Of Relational Training To Help Children With Autism Learn Emotions In Context: Extending Results With A Case Study, Ashlee Holderby

MSU Graduate Theses

People who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulty with identifying and interpreting emotions and coordinating their facial expressions. This defiency extends to both their own emotions and expressions as well as those of other people. Understanding emotions is important in developing social behaviors such as sharing or empathy. However, researchers have found that emotion recognition training, video modeling, and other procedures have helped children with autism build these skills. Previous research demonstrated a method for teaching the identification of private events of others in context using stimulus equivalence and transformation of stimulus function procedures. The current case study addressed …


Content Validity Of Aba Language Assessments In The Totality Of Skinner's Verbal Operant Theory, Taylor Marie Lauer May 2021

Content Validity Of Aba Language Assessments In The Totality Of Skinner's Verbal Operant Theory, Taylor Marie Lauer

MSU Graduate Theses

Content validity describes the degree of which a measure represents all the components of the overall construct being measured. Behavior analytic language assessments are largely based on Skinner’s verbal operant theory (1957). Three behavior analytic language assessments were utilized to measure the coverage of Skinner’s verbal behavior theory: the VB-MAPP, ABLLS-R, and PEAK. The purpose of the current study was to examine the content validity of each of these assessments coverage on the totality of Skinner’s verbal operant theory. Expressive items on each of the three assessments were compared to definitions of Skinner’s verbal operants and were coded as the …


A Literature Review: Applied Behavior Analysis And Performance; The Past, The Present, And The Future, Molly Patrice Fields Dec 2020

A Literature Review: Applied Behavior Analysis And Performance; The Past, The Present, And The Future, Molly Patrice Fields

MSU Graduate Theses

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and sports performance has been a topic of research since as early as the 1960s. ABA principles and interventions have been used all over in sports from enhancing athlete performance on the field, court, or course, sportsmanlike behaviors off the field, court, or course, and even looking into coaching behaviors. The purpose of this paper is twofold; to assess and analyze the current research for applied behavior analysis and sports and to use what literature is already established and systematically set the framework for future avenues of research and support a strong insert of applied behavior …


Using Visual Prompts And A Raffle To Increase Recycling On Campus, Heather Marie Felske Aug 2020

Using Visual Prompts And A Raffle To Increase Recycling On Campus, Heather Marie Felske

MSU Graduate Theses

Landfills pose a risk to the current level of human development and population growth. Leachates have the potential of polluting the ground water which can cause severe birth defects and decrease the population. When municipal solid waste breaks down it produces methane gas creating debilitating health problems that are fatal. More attention will have to be directed towards sustainable growth by reducing the amount of recyclable materials being discarded as waste. Part of the public affairs mission of Missouri State University is to engage in pro-social behavior and incorporate the student body and community whenever possible. One way of modeling …


Using Behavior Skills Training To Increase Quality Parent Talk During A Read-Aloud, Britnea Monaco Aug 2020

Using Behavior Skills Training To Increase Quality Parent Talk During A Read-Aloud, Britnea Monaco

MSU Graduate Theses

Reading to children is one way to engage a child in high-level conversations that go beyond the explicit message of the book. There is a positive correlation between the amount of high-quality caregiver/child joint attention activities and language development. The purpose of this study was to use Behavior Skills Training to teach parents seven component reading skills in order to increase parents word count and quality of words read during read-alouds with their children. Results showed as parents mastered the seven reading components they increased their overall word count. Implications of these findings are discussed within the context of caregiver/child …


Cell Phone Use And Class Participation: An Interdependent Group Contingency, Heather R. Becker Aug 2020

Cell Phone Use And Class Participation: An Interdependent Group Contingency, Heather R. Becker

MSU Graduate Theses

Students face distractions in their learning environments. This is true for all students, including college students. One such distraction for college students can be their cell phones. The purpose of this study was to decrease cell phone usage of college students in class using an interdependent group contingency with a multiple baseline research design across three classes. The study also collected data on class participation to discover if decreases in distraction might lead to increased class participation. Results of this study provide evidence to support the use of an interdependent group contingency to decrease student cell phone usage in class. …


Evaluating Correlations Between The Peak Equivalence And Transformation Assessments With Intelligence Quotient Scores And The Relational Acquisition Of Skills In Children With Autism, Hannah L. Wallace May 2020

Evaluating Correlations Between The Peak Equivalence And Transformation Assessments With Intelligence Quotient Scores And The Relational Acquisition Of Skills In Children With Autism, Hannah L. Wallace

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate correlations between PEAK Equivalence and Transformation assessment scores to Intelligence Quotient (IQ) scores in children with autism. An assessment called the Relational Acquisition of Skills in Children with autism (RASC) was created as a pilot test. This method was used to test relational responding in young children with autism. The scores of this assessment were correlated with scores obtained using PEAK Equivalence and Transformation assessments and IQ. It was found that PEAK Equivalence and Transformation assessments had a strong positive correlation with IQ. No significant relationship between the Relational Acquisition of …


Delay And Geographic Discounting Exert Multiple Control Over Climate Change Policy Preference, Celeste Noelle Unnerstall May 2020

Delay And Geographic Discounting Exert Multiple Control Over Climate Change Policy Preference, Celeste Noelle Unnerstall

MSU Graduate Theses

The procedures were informed by a pilot investigation conducted by this research team that is described below. In the primary study, students attending Missouri State University chose between a policy with no restrictions or taxation on their carbon emissions versus a restriction on the amount of mileage driven per month and taxation related to the mileage. The main study also included an added variable of the influence a redistribution taxation policy into different geographic distances would have on policy preference. Results were interpreted in terms of a multilevel hyperbolic discounting model using the “R” program. The results suggest that there …


Evaluating Changes In Peak And Iq Scores In Children With Autism Following A Peak Treatment Program, Megan Nicole Kimzey May 2020

Evaluating Changes In Peak And Iq Scores In Children With Autism Following A Peak Treatment Program, Megan Nicole Kimzey

MSU Graduate Theses

The present study evaluated the relationship between scores on the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Pre-Assessments (Equivalence & Transformation Modules; PEAK) in one individual with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their corresponding performance on standardized IQ tests (WPPSI-IV Short Form), their performances on PEAK assessments following 10 weeks of treatment with four hours per week, and the corresponding obtained relational deceleration coefficient. The data indicated a strong, significant relationship between participation in PEAK treatment and an increase in scores on PEAK and IQ tests. The relational deceleration coefficient score did not change significantly. These results have the implications PEAK …


Goal-Setting And Prompting To Increase Id-Checking Behavior, Samantha N. Carton May 2020

Goal-Setting And Prompting To Increase Id-Checking Behavior, Samantha N. Carton

MSU Graduate Theses

Credit card fraud is an important issue that occurs in many different business settings and locations across the world (Federal Trade Commission, 2018). The United States shifted to the use of Europay, Mastercard, and Visa (EMV) system to help with this issue but credit card fraud continues unabated. ID-checking is infrequently performed by employees when customers are purchasing items with debit/credit cards and results in an increase in fraudulent charges that cost businesses and consumers a considerable amount of time, frustration, and money. Two studies (Geller 1997; Geller 2001) showed that by using goal-setting, feedback, prompting, and utilizing managerial involvement …


Evaluating The Construct Validity Of The Peak Comprehensive Assessment: Measuring Language And Cognition, Nicole Rae Mcdonald May 2020

Evaluating The Construct Validity Of The Peak Comprehensive Assessment: Measuring Language And Cognition, Nicole Rae Mcdonald

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of the current study was to conduct a pilot investigation of the internal construct validity of the four modules of the PEAK Comprehensive Assessment (PCA). The PCA has been developed through robust research over the past five years (Dixon et al. 2017) and is designed to evaluate language and cognitive skills of individuals with developmental disabilities, including neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder. Although the PCA contains four modules exemplifying four distinct learning processes (Direct Training, Generalization, Equivalence, and Relational Learning), these four processes may represent one singular learning construct, described loosely as “executive functioning” or “cognitive …


Effects Of Peak Equivalence And Transformation Treatment On Derived Relational Responding As A Generalized Operant And Iq, Lindsey Schneider May 2020

Effects Of Peak Equivalence And Transformation Treatment On Derived Relational Responding As A Generalized Operant And Iq, Lindsey Schneider

MSU Graduate Theses

The present study examined Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System; Equivalence (PEAK-E) and Transformation’s (PEAK-T) effect on a participant with ASD’s derived relational responding, intelligence scores (WPPSI-IV; Weschler 2012), and the deceleration coefficient. One participant with ASD was given 10 weeks of PEAK-E and PEAK-T treatment for four hours a week, along with probes throughout the study for IQ scores and deceleration coefficient scores. The data indicated a significant relationship between PEAK-E and PEAK-T treatment and IQ scores, as well as a relationship between PEAK scores and a participant’s deceleration coefficient. This indicated that PEAK-E and …


Making A Tiger's Day: Free-Operant Assessment And Environmental Enrichment, Trista Yvonne Shrock Aug 2019

Making A Tiger's Day: Free-Operant Assessment And Environmental Enrichment, Trista Yvonne Shrock

MSU Graduate Theses

Problem behaviors occur often in captive wild animals due to stress and boredom. Environmental enrichment is one of the most successful methods to help minimize these types of behaviors in many captive wild animals. The current study investigated preferences of play items and scents for seven adult Bengal tigers in a Tiger Sanctuary using a free-operant preference assessment. Two subspecies of Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris) are represented. Six of the tigers are Panthera tigris tigris and one is Panthera tigris altaica. Three phases were run on each tiger, ultimately establishing a hierarchy of preferred play items and …


The Use Of An Individualized Levels System And Extinction To Increase Task Compliance And To Decrease Aggressive Behavior With A Child With Autism, Savanna A. Chojnacki Aug 2019

The Use Of An Individualized Levels System And Extinction To Increase Task Compliance And To Decrease Aggressive Behavior With A Child With Autism, Savanna A. Chojnacki

MSU Graduate Theses

In a token economy level system, as an individual progresses from one task level to the next, there is an increase in the demand of tasks and an increase in the magnitude of reinforcers earned. The motivation for the individual in level systems stems from the increasing of value of reinforcers earned at each level. In this study a level system in concordance with an extinction procedure for aggressive behaviors was employed as a behavioral intervention. In this single-subject design study, a 5-year-old boy with autism was observed across a variety of 15 minute teaching sessions, implementing synchronously, the reinforcement …


Comparison Of Trial-Based, Synthesized Trial-Based, And Traditional Functional Analyses, Kara Leigh Forck Dec 2017

Comparison Of Trial-Based, Synthesized Trial-Based, And Traditional Functional Analyses, Kara Leigh Forck

MSU Graduate Theses

I evaluated a synthesized trial-based functional analysis with two students who engaged in problem behavior by combining the methods from the trial-based functional analysis and synthesized contingency functional analysis. Multiple test conditions were combined into one test condition and were evaluated in 2-min trials. The purpose of this study was to compare the degree of correspondence of the results between the trial-based, synthesized trial-based, and traditional function analyses. One participant showed exact correspondence between the three functional analyses, while the other participant showed partial correspondence.


A Comparison Of Traditional, Trial-Based, And Synthesized Contingency Trial-Based Functional Analyses, Kaitlin S. Curtis Dec 2017

A Comparison Of Traditional, Trial-Based, And Synthesized Contingency Trial-Based Functional Analyses, Kaitlin S. Curtis

MSU Graduate Theses

Researchers have developed functional analyses (FAs) to improve efficiency and correspondence that still use core components of the traditional format. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the correspondence between the trial-based FA and the traditional FA. I also evaluated the correspondence between the synthesized-contingency trial-based FA and the traditional FA. Within this study, I determined that by combining methods, I was able to reduce false negatives for escape found within the trial-based FAs and false-positives found within the synthesized contingency FAs.


The Effects Of Goal Setting Type And Feedback On Basketball Skill Improvement, Shelby Diane White Dec 2017

The Effects Of Goal Setting Type And Feedback On Basketball Skill Improvement, Shelby Diane White

MSU Graduate Theses

Goal setting is a process that is used by many people in a variety of settings. For example, goals can be set for weight loss, career milestones, or anything a person would like to increase or decrease. According to Locke and Latham (1984), the best way to set a goal is to make sure the goal is specific. If someone wants to lose weight, the individual should state exactly how much weight they would like to lose and set a specific deadline for achieving the weight loss. A second aspect to goal setting is to make sure the goal is …


Examining The Impact Of The Haven Training On Perceptions Of Rape, Katerina Marie Oberdieck May 2017

Examining The Impact Of The Haven Training On Perceptions Of Rape, Katerina Marie Oberdieck

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of this research was to study the effect of a university-mandated sexual assault prevention program-Haven: Understanding Sexual Assault-on college students' judgments of three different rape vignettes (Stranger Rape, Acquaintance Rape, Acquaintance Rape with Intoxication), and overall rape myth acceptance. A sample of 490 participants who either had or had not completed Haven training participated in the study, and each participant was also randomly assigned to read either a brief summary of the Haven training or a control paragraph before judging the vignettes. Gender was also treated as an independent variable due to robust evidence of gender differences in …


The Use Of Behavior Skills Training To Teach Paraprofessionals Discrete Trial Teaching, Ali Jo-Celeste Headley Dec 2016

The Use Of Behavior Skills Training To Teach Paraprofessionals Discrete Trial Teaching, Ali Jo-Celeste Headley

MSU Graduate Theses

Behavioral skills training (BST) was used to teach discrete trial teaching (DTT) to three paraprofessionals. Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT) has been used successfully with students with autism to individualize and simplify classroom instruction. DTT is an evidence-based training procedure used with elementary aged children to promote the development of communication/language, adaptive behavior, cognitive/academic skills, social and play skills, and for reducing interfering behaviors. Behavioral skills training is a training package that includes instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. A multiple baseline design across participants was used to assess the treatment effects. The paraprofessionals in this study increased their implementation of DTT …


Using Behavior Skills Training To Teach Effective Conversation Skills To Individuals With Disabilities, Allison L. Schmidt Dec 2016

Using Behavior Skills Training To Teach Effective Conversation Skills To Individuals With Disabilities, Allison L. Schmidt

MSU Graduate Theses

A behavioral skills training (BST) package consisting of instructions, modeling an appropriate conversation, participant rehearsal, and constructive feedback, was used to teach appropriate conversation skills to three adults with developmental disabilities. A task analysis was used to define the steps of having a conversation. These steps included greetings, initiations, initiating a topic, responding, and maintaining a topic as the target skills. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants was used; an A-B-C format was embedded within the design for participants 1 and 2. Participant 3 was assessed using an A-B format. In situ was measured across three settings: each participant's …


Multiple Effects Of A Brief Mindfulness Training, Stephanie Aholt Dec 2016

Multiple Effects Of A Brief Mindfulness Training, Stephanie Aholt

MSU Graduate Theses

Mindfulness-based interventions have been related to emotional regulation, reduced stress, and increased psychological flexibility. The current investigation extended previous findings by examining the short-term effects of a brief mindfulness training in undergraduate psychology students. The non-concurrent multiple baseline design evaluated heart rate and cortisol changes in response to a brief mindfulness-based intervention. The results found for some individuals, participation in the mindfulness intervention helped regulate their emotions and heart rate, as evidenced by the decrease in heart rate and cortisol and increase in psychological flexibility by changes in Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-2 and Perceived Stress Scale-14 scores. Findings suggest more …