Increasing Appropriate Composting in High-Traffic University Settings.

Composting systems are poised to make a significant impact on waste-management strategies and greatly contribute to global sustainability efforts. However, risk of contamination by potentially detrimental compounds must be overcome before these systems can be widely adopted. Behavior analytic approaches to waste disposal adherence have consisted of antecedent and consequence strategies; many such strategies require continual oversight and significant investment of resources to maintain effectiveness.

The Self-perception of Text-message Dependency Scale (STDS): Psychometric update based on a United States sample.

Background: Some have suggested that text messaging is an addictive behavior. However, this characterization is uncertain, partly due to lack of well-validated measures of text messaging attitudes and behaviors. One standard instrument for measuring text messaging attitudes and behaviors is the Self-perception of Text-message Dependency Scale (STDS), though the psychometric properties of this scale have only been examined with a sample of Japanese youth.

An initial study of behavioral addiction symptom severity and demand for indoor tanning.

Indoor tanning remains a popular activity in Western cultures despite a growing body of literature suggesting its link to skin cancer and melanoma. Advances in indoor tanning research have illuminated problematic patterns of its use. With problems such as difficulty quitting, devoting resources toward its use at the expense of healthy activities, and excessive motivation and urges to tan, symptoms of excessive indoor tanning appear consistent with behavioral addiction.

Normative Emotional Responses to Behavior Analysis Jargon or How Not to Use Words to Win Friends and Influence People.

It has been suggested that non-experts regard the jargon of behavior analysis as abrasive, harsh, and unpleasant. If this is true, excessive reliance on jargon could interfere with the dissemination of effective services. To address this often discussed but rarely studied issue, we consulted a large, public domain list of English words that have been rated by members of the general public for the emotional reactions they evoke.

Erratum to: On the Social Validity of Behavior-Analytic Communication: a Call for Research and Description of One Method.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s40616-017-0077-7.].

On the Social Validity of Behavior-Analytic Communication: a Call for Research and Description of One Method.

It has often been suggested that nonexperts find the communication of behavior analysts to be viscerally off-putting. We argue that this concern should be the focus of systematic research rather than mere discussion, and describe five studies that illustrate how publicly available lists of word-emotion ratings can be used to estimate the responses of general-audience listeners. Our results provide support for the hypothesis that some of the ways in which behavior analysts tend to discuss their discipline can be unpleasant, but also illustrate inter- and intraindividual variations in pleasantness.

Function-Altering Effects of Rule Phrasing in the Modulation of Instructional Control.

This study evaluated the effects of four instructional variants on instruction following under changing reinforcement schedules using an operant task based on Hackenberg and Joker's , , 367-383 (1994) experimental preparation. Sixteen college-aged adults served as participants and were randomly assigned to one of four instruction conditions (directive, generic, non-directive, and control). Results suggest textual verbal behavior modulated instruction following.

Toward quantifying the abuse liability of ultraviolet tanning: A behavioral economic approach to tanning addiction.

Many adults engage in ultraviolet indoor tanning despite evidence of its association with skin cancer. The constellation of behaviors associated with ultraviolet indoor tanning is analogous to that in other behavioral addictions. Despite a growing literature on ultraviolet indoor tanning as an addiction, there remains no consensus on how to identify ultraviolet indoor tanning addictive tendencies.

On the Social Acceptability of Behavior-Analytic Terms: Crowdsourced Comparisons of Lay and Technical Language.

Behavior analysis has a marketing problem. Although behavior analysts have speculated about the problems regarding our technical behavior-analytic terminology and how our terminology has hindered the dissemination of behavior analysis to outsiders, few have investigated the social acceptability of the terminology. The present paper reports the general public's reactions to technical behavioral jargon versus non-technical substitute terms that refer to applied behavior-analytic techniques.

The Experts Have Spoken!: A Reply to Four Commentaries.

Four prominent behavior analysts provided advice to graduate students when attempting to correct misunderstandings about behavior analysis. This article briefly summarizes the four commentaries.

Ask the Experts: How Can New Students Defend Behavior Analysis from Misunderstandings?

The success of behavior analysis as a field depends on the successes of its students, researchers, practitioners, and advocates. A new generation of graduate students will ultimately speak on the behalf of the field. In order to further promote the field, students must not only learn about what behavior analysis is, but also about what behavior analysis is not.