Note: This document was prepared as a project in the graduate History & Systems of Psychology course (PSY 5605), Fall 2001, M. E. Rashotte Instructor Behavior analysis at Florida State University originated in an attempt to bring cutting-edge research to psychotherapy techniques use at the University's Human Development Clinic (currently the Psychology Clinic within the Multi-Disciplinary Center). The Clinic was formed in 1948 for the purposes of providing services to members of the Tallahassee and Florida State University communities as well as setting aside a location for internship and practical experiences for graduates in Clinical and School Psychology. The early emphasis on helping the community while training students has persisted at Florida State ever since the inception of the Clinic. It continues today in the local schools, group and private homes, and facilities. Community outreach is part of applied behavior analysis as defined by Baer, Wolf & Risley (1968), and the origins of our behavior analysis emphases as a research-based attempt to improve therapeutic practice is noteworthy. Joel Greenspoon and Other Early Behavioral Influences In 1955, less than ten years after the Clinic was established, an interest in improving the quality of services provided to the community led to Dr. Joel Greenspoon's addition to the Department of Psychology faculty (Ph. D. Indiana University, 1952; FSU: 1955-1963). His dissertation focused on how words spoken by an individual can be altered by the reinforcing effects of verbal utterances by another person. He showed that the frequency of a person's saying plural nouns is increased when such words are reinforced by an experimenter who seemingly innocuously says "uh-huh" when plural nouns are said. In other words, Dr. Greenspoon was interested in behavioral variables associated with changing verbal behavior, an idea that could impact therapeutic approaches such as Carl Rogers' client-centered therapy that was sparking a great deal of interest and a change in psychological treatments. Dr. Wallace Kennedy (2001), a professor in clinical psychology at Florida State University then and now, spoke about the excitement Dr. Greenspoon's dissertation sparked here. Given Rogers' assertion that unconditional positive regard was a key, if not the key, component in a therapeutic relationship, the fact that verbal behavior could be shaped was interesting, to say the least. If even a simple utterance ("uh, huh") could be a reinforcer, the influence of other verbal statements made by therapists needed to be evaluated as well. The Psychology Department felt that this new knowledge would generate research as well as impact the quality of services provided within the Human Development Clinic. However, Kennedy noted that two factors negatively impacted Dr. Greenspoon's success here. First, due to the dynamics associated with a relatively small department and college students as a whole, further research in his chosen area was limited and finally sabotaged because the available subject pool learned of his hypotheses, shared them among the student population, and finally engaged in behaviors during sessions that would eventually lead to false conclusions. The second major difficulty of Dr. Greenspoon's time at Florida State was of a more personal nature. Many, though not all, faculty members and students found him fractious and generally single-minded and therefore a difficult colleague (although, Dr. Kennedy also mentions that socially he could be quite self-effacing and charming). A student of B.F. Skinner, he was a strict devotee of behaviorism, especially with respect to experimental methodology. According to Dr. Kennedy, his outspoken views on the subject resulted in several faculty members leaving and a new group of faculty coming on board. Some of the new faculty members were behavioral as well, including Aaron Brownstein (Ph.D. University of Missouri, 1961; FSU: 1961-1965) and Perrin Cohen. (Ph.D. Columbia University, 1967; FSU: 1969-1973). Dr. James Smith was a student of, and later a faculty colleague with, Dr. Greenspoon and he remembers Greenspoon's stubborn streak as well as his fervor as a teacher (Smith, 2001). Counted among Dr. Smith's major influences, Dr. Greenspoon helped instill in him the importance of reading, analyzing, and gleaning information from primary literature. Dr. Smith described Dr. Greenspoon as a very demanding professor, but one from whom he learned a great deal. Other graduates, however, were not able to appreciate Dr. Greenspoon's skills, and were unhappy with him and his classes. The lack of research opportunity, combined with a smaller than average fan club, led to Dr. Greenspoon's eventual departure from Florida State in 1963. Neither Aaron Brownstein nor Perrin Cohen stayed at Florida State very long. However, they too were strict adherents to radical behaviorism and maintained a behavioral presence in the department. Dr. Kennedy reported that they were in the minority with reference to their approaches to the study of behavior, which may have contributed to the short duration of their stays. However, a story of collaboration between Drs. Smith and Brownstein highlights the important role behavioral methods came to play in the experimental psychology group at FSU. After Dr. Smith earned his Ph.D. here at Florida State, he returned as a faculty member after spending a year at Colgate University. His research interests focused on animal sensation. The Cold War's impact on every aspect of daily life, even psychology research, was evidenced by some of the research questions being asked by Dr. Smith and his students. One of his interests was whether organisms are able to detect the presence of X-rays. This posed several methodological questions for Dr. Smith. For instance, how could experimenters know if and when an animal detected a stimulus given their obvious lack of ability for verbal communication. With Brownstein's collaboration, Smith's solution was for the animals to behave repetitively except when they detected x-rays. This difficult task required teaching the animals to perform at a steady response rate, clearly a job for a behaviorally oriented researcher versed in Skinner methods. This collaboration resulted in application of the Conditioned Suppression technique by Smith with many different species of animals and many different stimulus types at Florida State University. Another early behavior analyst of note was Dr. Todd Risley, (Ph.D. University of Washington, 1966) who spent only one year at Florida State (1966-1967). Dr. Risley was a faculty member in the Clinical Psychology program whose research focus was children. While here, Dr. Risley conducted research on social-skills training with autistic children, an area of research that is still of interest and concern today. After leaving Florida State, and while at the University of Kansas, Dr. Risley co-authored the article that defined and continues to define the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (Baer et al, 1968). Another behavioral faculty member was Dr. William Hopkins (Ph. D. Indiana University, 1962) who joined the department in 1964 (departure date unknown). For a short time period in the early 1970s, under Dr. Cohen's influence, Fred Keller's method of programmed instruction was utilized in all of the General Psychology courses taught at Florida State. This approach was ultimately discontinued because class management was very time consuming and costly. The fact that the approach was used here demonstrates that, although behavior analysis has never been the main focus of the Psychology Department, behavior analysis has impacted its instructional approaches as well as its research. Behavior Analysis, School Psychology, and Jon Bailey By the late 1960s the Clinical, Experimental, and School Psychology graduate programs were in full swing. A very diverse group of researchers and practitioners comprised the School Psychology program, however it still lacked someone whose behavioral background, interest and experience overlapped the field of education. A behaviorally-oriented clinical psychologist Dr. Charles Madsen (Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1965; FSU: 1967-present) contacted Jon Bailey, a new PhD (1970, University of Kansas) who applied to fill a position for a behavior analyst in the Department's School Psychology program. Dr. Bailey accepted the position, moved to Tallahassee in 1970 and continues to teach, mentor, and impact the local and state community. Dr. Bailey has supervised over 50 doctoral students whose research interests were varied, but based within the community. Bailey (2001) recently commented, "If I'm proud of anything, it's that I've turned out students with interests in a wide range of areas." Here is a small sample: Brandon Greene (Ph.D., 1979) is the director of Project 12-Ways at Southern Illinois University; Maxin Reiss (Ph.D., 1979) is a behavioral consultant in Tallahassee; James Partington (Ph. D., 1980) was interested in language development of young children with developmental disabilities and did important behavioral work with autistic children; he now is Director of the STARS school for children with autism; Ken Bauman (Ph.D., 1980) is retired from Intel Corporation and Joanne Bauman (Ph. D., 1982) is Director of School Psychology for the Scottsdale Arizona School System; Mark Rapport (Ph.D. 1981) is director of clinical psychology at the University of Central Florida; James Carr (Ph.D., 1996) is professor in the clinical program at Western Michigan; John Austin (Ph.D., 1996) is now a tenured professor at Western Michigan University; Janet Barnet (Ph.D., 1999) and Ken Wagner (Ph.D., 2000) are consultants with Aubrey Daniels and Associates. It is apparent from even this short list that Dr. Bailey's students had interests that spanned a broad range of topics. In 1995, Jon Bailey's students gathered at the Department for a weekend symposium to honor him on the occasion of his 25 years at FSU. Community Impact: Peer Review and the Florida Association for Behavior Analysis No overview of the history of behavior analysis at Florida State would be complete without noting the contributions of Dr. Jack May (Ph.D., University of Indiana, 1965) who was a faculty member from 1963-1994 (deceased 1999). Dr. May was also behaviorally oriented and extremely dedicated to working with individuals with developmental disabilities. In 1974 he co-chaired the State task-force (with Dr. Todd Risley) whose purpose was to define the overriding themes for behavior analytic services in Florida. Later, in 1978, when the state agency responsible for overseeing and managing services provided to the developmentally disabled (HRS) announced a state wide Peer Review Committee, Jack May was asked to be the chair. Dr. Bailey was one of the other four members of the committee. The main purpose of the committee was to enforce behavior management guidelines by making recommendations for treatment and by approving any special procedures to be implemented in these facilities. In 1979 or early 1980, at one of the Peer Review Committee meetings, Dr. Bailey first brought up the idea of a state wide conference for practitioners in behavior analysis. The First Florida Work Session on Behavior Analysis in Retardation was held on September 18-19, 1980. At this meeting the formation of FABA (Florida Association for Behavior Analysis) was announced and 52 Charter Members signed up (Bailey, 2001). Dr. Bailey was elected president in 1985 and has continued to serve as the Executive Director and Secretary/Treasurer since. For the past 15 years graduate students in Dr. Bailey's program have served as office managers for FABA, providing them with experience organizing a large state conference and invaluable contacts for the future. FABA impacts the graduate students in other ways as well, by making available a means of presenting research at professional conferences in venues close enough for easy attendance. Our students also benefit from opportunities to observe and participate in workshops and symposia on topics of current interest. Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences In an effort to keep up with changing research trends in psychology, the department decided in the mid-1980s to restructure its graduate training areas in a way that would attract cognitive psychologists. The result was the formation of a new Cognitive and Behavioral Science (CBS) area, and discontinuation of the School Psychology program after the currently enrolled students had completed their doctorates. The new area included a combined emphasis in cognitive psychology and behavior analysis; some faculty in the old School program whose interests were more clinical, moved to the Clinical area, but the others (including Bailey) became members of the new CBS area. These changes had significant new implications for the professional credentialing of students we trained in behavior analysis because graduated of the CBS program were not eligible for licensure in clinical psychology, and were no longer eligible for licensure as school psychologists. The need for a professional certification program for those who wanted to practice behavior analysis was recognized, and Dr. Bailey was among those who participated in devising standards for a State certification test. Certification of behavior analysts in Florida was seen as a huge step toward making behavior analysis a legitimate therapeutic practice and allowed qualified practitioners to provide services without needing to work under a licensed psychologist. In addition, certification of behavior analysts was seen as an important step in providing oversight and accountability for services rendered by practitioners. Performance Management Inspires Undergraduates In the early 1990s, Dr. Bailey's interest in the applications of behavior analysis to business and industry led him develop a class for undergraduates. The title of the class was Performance Management. Eventually, interest in the class grew such that a second semester-long course was needed. The Advanced Topics in Performance Management class added a requirement for research in a community setting that is a notable characteristic of the behavior analysis program at Florida State. In 2000, the University approved a Performance Management Track of coursework and experiences for an undergraduate emphasis, with its own certificate of completion for undergraduate students. Dr. Bailey oversees this track closely and many Performance Management graduates have now entered graduate programs in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Applied Behavior Analysis, or Instructional Design. Master's Degree with a Tan: The Applied Behavior Analysis Specialty at FSU's Panama City Campus The most recent development in behavior analysis at Florida State is the establishment of a Master's degree program in Psychology at the Panama City Campus with a specialty in Applied Behavior Analysis in Fall, 1999. This program was initiated by Dr. Jon Bailey with the administrative assistance of Dr. Ellen Berler (Ph.D, SUNY-Binghamton, 1980). According to the Panama City website, "FSU has been a leader in the generation of behavior analysis research and has achieved "Top 50" status in the world in both authors published and educational institutions represented. The Master's degree in Psychology at the Panama City Campus is designed to meet certification standards set by the Association for Behavior Analysis and the Certified Behavior Analyst requirements of the Florida Department of Children and Families as well as the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB)." The special attention paid to the development of the curriculum and experience-requirements for this Master's program makes it easier for well-trained practitioners to be certified and working shortly after graduation. Under the direction of Dr. Colin Peeler (Ph.D., Washington State University, 2000), Dr. Harry "Al" Murphy (Ph.D., FSU, 1986) and Dr. Jon Bailey, the first class of students graduated from the program in 2001, and the program continues to draw the interest of applicants nationwide. Dr. Peeler was hired in 2001 as a Psychology faculty member located at the Panama City campus and charged with leading the new Program. His enthusiasm and energy are the perfect combination for the program. Dr. Murphy brings many years of consulting experience and community contacts to the program. The addition of the Master's Program in Applied Behavior Analysis is the latest, but undoubtedly not the last contribution to be made in the field of behavior analysis to both Florida and the university alike. REFERENCES Baer, D., Wolf, M. , Risley, T. (1968). Some current dimensions of applied behavior analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 91-98. Bailey, Jon S. (2001). Personal Communication, 9/13/01. Kennedy, Wallace. (2001). Personal Communication, 11/16/01. Kimber, C. , McKenzie, R. , Roberts, R. (2001). Florida's behavior analysis revolution. Reflections on the Early Development of Behavior Analysis in Florida: A Special Issue of the FABA Newsletter, 21, 4-5. Smith, James C. (2001). Personal Communication, 10/19/01.
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