36 RACISM
Applying Behavior Analysis to Dismantle Racism: From Ideas to Action
Abstract
Our world faces an entrenched problem of prejudicial behaviors called racism. Despite ongoing efforts of advocacy and resistance, racism has persisted across generations and cultures. The chapter proposes ways that behavior analysts can learn about racism from a behavioral perspective, extend experimental analyses of prejudice, and intervene to reduce racism in varied settings. We aim to describe both traditional behavior-analytic and functional contextualist accounts of racism and summarize the limited related empirical and applied research. The review suggests combining traditional behavior-analytic methods with acceptance and commitment training techniques may attenuate racism more effectively.
Keywords
dominant
racism
oppressed
health problems
bullying
school discipline
police conflict
ethnic group
bias
respondent learning
looting
operant learning
observational learning
stimulus generalization
video modeling
zero tolerance
social skills
poverty
catholic
protestant
Northern Ireland
perspective-taking
values clarification exercises
mindfulness
present moment
racism pandemic
derived relational responding
functional contextualists
social categorization
relational frame theory
stimulus equivalence
Acceptance and Commitment Training
mindfulness
acceptance
perspective-taking
values
About
Kozue Matsuda
ph.d., bcba-d, lba
Dr. Kozue Matsuda, BCBA-D, LBA is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst at the doctoral level and has been teaching online since 2014. She has more than 20 years of experience and expertise working with autism, behavior disorders, early intervention, special education, and positive behavior supports. Dr. Matsuda has been the CEO of Children•Center Inc., an ABA agency in Tokyo, Japan, since 2008, providing services to international and Japanese families through Japanese RBTs and BCBAs. She has also provided school-based behavior analytic services in Japanese local and international schools, including for assignments from the Metropolitan Tokyo government, since 2016. Dr. Matsuda teaches behavior analysis as a faculty member for VCS courses in Japan. In 2021 she joined Pepperdine University as an adjunct professor.
In New York, Dr. Matsuda currently serves as a member of the New York State Association for Behavior Analysis Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and is a full member of the Association for Behavior Analysis International. Her current research interests focus on applications of functional analysis methodology, remote clinical supervision, classwide interventions, cultural competency in behavior analysis, online teaching and professional development, acceptance and commitment training, and diversity (racism).
Yors Garcia
ph.d.
Yors Garcia is a Board-certified behavior analyst that graduated from Southern Illinois University in 2011 with a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Services with a specialization in behavior analysis. His prior experience includes roles as a behavior analyst at a private nonprofit program serving individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities, an adjunct and practicum supervisor in the Behavior Analysis program at the University of Nevada, Reno, and on-site and remote supervision in different countries, including Saudi Arabia, Colombia, and the USA. Subsequently, he has been an associate professor at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSPP) and Konrad Lorenz University in Bogota, Colombia.
He is the current president of the Culture & Diversity ABAI SIG and associate editor of The Psychological Record. Yors’ current research work includes supervising doctoral dissertations and conducting studies of acceptance and commitment training, derived relational responding, international supervision, bias, and racism. He is passionate about research, teaching, and dissemination of behavior analysis worldwide. He also has worked with Latin communities in Colombia and USA. He is a founding member of the ABAI chapter in Colombia.
Robyn Catagnus
EdD, BCBA-D, LBS
Dr. Robyn Catagnus has expertise in learning, verbal behavior, and behavior change, with special interests in OBM, diversity, culture, well-being, and mindfulness. She is a board-certified and licensed behavior analyst; an associate professor and associate chair at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology; and a past national department chair for the multi-campus Applied Behavior Analysis program, an innovative program emphasizing diversity.
Dr. Catagnus has 25 years of practical academic, real-world business and clinical experience. As a business management consultant, she supported executives in developing and implementing human capital initiatives, using science and research to improve organizational behavior. Prior to working in management consulting or academia, Dr. Catagnus owned and operated a successful behavior consulting firm and held executive roles in behavioral health and educational technology organizations.
She is a trustee of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies; a reviewer for Behavior Analysis in Practice, the Diversity in Behavior Analysis section of the American Psychological Association journal Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice; and a former member of the editorial board for Perspectives on Behavior Science, the flagship journal of Applied Behavior Analysis International (ABAI). Dr. Catagnus was the founding president of the Multicultural Alliance of Behavior Analysts, which emphasizes diversity and inclusion, and is Past President of the subsequent Culture & Diversity SIG.
Dr. Catagnus has been invited to give national and international addresses and presentations, and has received grants for her diversity, internationalization, and education projects. Her specialty is helping students create the conditions for inclusion, learning, performance, and professionalism. She consults and supervises about learning, inclusive practices, behavior change, special education, and organizational management. Her professional interests include online instruction, clinical supervision of pre-service behavior analysts, and application of behavior analysis to well-being, professional practice, and social justice. Her research interests include inter-cultural competency in behavior analysis, student and faculty satisfaction with online learning, OBM, mindfulness, and eradicating racism.
Julie Ackerlund Brandt
ph.d., bcba-d, lba
Dr. Julie A. Ackerlund Brandt, BCBA-D, LBA is an Associate Professor with the Applied Behavior Analysis program with the Online Campus. She earned her PhD in Behavioral Psychology from the University of Kansas, her MS in Behavior Analysis & Therapy from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and her BS in Psychology with an emphasis in Behavior Analysis from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. She has been teaching at the graduate and undergraduate level since 2013 and online since 2014. She has more than 15 years of experience and expertise in behavior disorders, early intervention/education, and functional behavior assessments.
Dr. Ackerlund Brandt has presented nationally at conferences on a variety of ABA topics including: variables affecting preference and reinforcer effectiveness, choice, and various teaching procedures. Her current research interests focus on child development from a behavior-analytic view with projects focused on attention as a reinforcer, variables affecting choice behavior, and applications of functional analysis methodology. She currently serves as the Operations Coordinator for the Mid-American Association for Behavior Analysis and is a full member for the Association for Behavior Analysis International.
Dr. Ackerlund Brandt has worked in various clinics, preschools, and elementary schools with children and adolescents with developmental disabilities such as Autism Spectrum Disorders, Fragile X Syndrome, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as well as typically developing children and adolescents. Most recently, she worked as an independent behavioral consultant with parents of typically developing children on topics such as behavior management, sleep training, toilet training, and feeding training.