Behaviorists for Social Responsibility SIG

By BFSR SIG Board of Planners


The Behaviorists for Social Responsibility (BFSR) SIG is composed of dedicated volunteers and a board of Planners (drawing on Skinner’s Walden Two). The Planners, who meet on a monthly basis, currently include Jose Ardila, Amanda Chastain Traci Cihon, Kendra Combs, Jovonnie Esquierdo-Leal, Brett Gelino, Albert Malkin, Camila de Melo, Richard Rakos, and Kathryn Roose. The Planner structure, active volunteers, easy availability of digital communications, and the resulting mutual accountability continues to produce a high level of activity by the SIG. The following report summarizes some of the SIG’s activities for 2023 and upcoming plans for 2024.

The Matrix Project
BFSR has continued to focus on the Matrix Project (see BFSR’s website at bfsr.abainternational.org/ for more information) which was first introduced in the 2014 Behavior and Social Issues editorial (Mattaini & Luke, 2014). The Matrix Project is focused on increasing the number of behavior analysts working on social issues (e.g., social justice, poverty, sustainability, public health) using behavioral systems analysis to identify interrelations and practical steps that may be taken across more than two dozen sectors/players (e.g., behavior-analytic education programs, faculty, journals, students) who might have an impact on this goal. A significant amount of activity has continued to occur in the last year, so we will highlight a few of the recent activities.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Education Group (DEIE)—The goal for this group is to develop materials to increase the inclusion of cultural/behavioral systems level content, particularly with emphasis on social issues, in university coursework. The group is currently finalizing a manuscript that reports the results of a 2020 survey they developed to better understand how individuals were contacting behavior analytic content on social issues and what resources would be most beneficial. Additionally, the group will begin to develop measures to assess the impact of DEI events at ABAI, beginning with a count of events offered by year to identify trends. Last, the group will be collaborating with the ABAI DEI Board. The DEIE working group is currently recruiting new members to support strategic planning and pragmatic action based on the results of the survey. Persons who are interested should contact us at bfsr@abainternational.org.

Regional BFSR Groups—The goal for the regional groups is to create a network of BFSR SIGs in affiliated chapters of ABAI. To date, two affiliated state chapters of the BFSR SIG (TxABA in 2016 and KansABA in 2017) and one regional chapter (O-BFSR in 2022) have been formed. The ABAI BFSR Planners are continually working with state/regional/international affiliated chapters interested in developing BFSR SIGs that extend the reach of the Matrix Project to local action.

In 2023, the KansABA BFSR SIG invested time and energy towards community-engaged projects. Members engaged in community outreach activities and collaborated with community partners to disseminate behavior analysis applications to issues of social importance.

Established in 2022, the O-BFSR has been active in connecting the Ontario-based group with the ABAI BFSR SIG regarding collaboration efforts and social media. The O-BFSR has also set up important infrastructure including an email address (bfsr.sig@gmail.com), a Twitter account (@OntarioBFSR), and website (www.obfsr.org/). In addition, O-BFSR developed and hosted a webinar in collaboration with the A. Britton Smith Center for Behavioral Studies (St. Lawrence College) on the topic of cultural responsiveness. The SIG hosted a monthly reading group, which was free to attend and provided free CEUs. SIG members also developed a “Wild Yard” task force group that held monthly meetings, open to all community members. The SIG participated in Ontario’s annual ONTABA conference by handing out an O-BFSR Poster Award and presented the activities of the group at an Exposition Table. The group also published newsletter updates via the ONTABA quarterly newsletter. Finally, the O-BFSR plans to continue the above activities annually and to continue outreach and recruitment activities with O-BFSR members and the broader community.

Sustainability Group—The group continues to apply the matrix analysis to identify feasible practices that ABAI affiliate chapters could engage in to increase behavior analytic activity in the area of sustainability. The group is working on developing a structure to facilitate community meetings of affiliate chapter sustainability liaisons. In addition, the group has developed a questionnaire that conference planners can use to evaluate areas in which they may be able to reduce the environmental impact of their conferences. The group is currently collaborating with BASS and the Center for Behavior and Climate to disseminate resources to behavior analysts attending conferences.

Community Resilience Group—This working group was created in late 2020 with an initial focus on understanding how individuals as cultural collectivities respond and recover from systemic issues related to climate change such as hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, among others. The overall goal of this group is to develop measurement tools with a behavior systems orientation for assessing the practices involved in community resilience seen as adaptive outcomes. The group has collected relevant literature from within and outside behavior analysis that discusses resilience as a concept. The outcomes of this first step were presented at ABAI 2021 during a BFSR symposium. Following the completion of literature review, a measurement tool that identifies the multiple contingencies constituting a community’s recovery efforts is the next goal. Currently all the group members are Spanish speaking behavior analysts working in Bogotá, Colombia. Consequently, the object of analysis has been adapted to the cultural context, that being, resilient actions of individuals living in armed conflict. Persons who are interested should contact us at bfsr@abainternational.org.

Public Health Group—This working group was established in 2020 and has been actively working toward increasing connections between behavior science and public health. In 2022, members of this working group developed a fact sheet that briefly summarized public health as an ABA subspeciality area and is now included in the “ABA Subspeciality Resources” section on the BACB website. Potential opportunities for interdisciplinary work in these areas were presented at the 2022 and 2023 ABAI convention. Further examples will be highlighted in a panel discussion at the 2024 ABAI convention. Currently, members of this group are working with the senior editorial team of Behavior and Social Issues and Springer to develop a special section on Human Behavior and Public Health. Members of this working group are also working on manuscripts for submission to both behavior analytic and public health journals to further foster interdisciplinary collaboration between the disciplines.

BFSR will continue to work on the Matrix Project over the coming year with a particular focus on increasing access to opportunities to learn about the matrix methodology. Members of the ABAI BFSR SIG Planners will provide a 3-hour workshop (W13: The Matrix Project: Using Behavior Analysis to Promote Social Change) at the annual ABAI convention in 2024, scheduled for Thursday May 23, 2024 from 4 pm to 7 pm EST. For folks who may not be attending the ABAI convention but still want to learn more about the matrix project and methodology, we are also revamping an online training program. Workshop attendees and those who complete the online training will both be introduced to the matrix methodology and how to analyze the systems that promote and hinder behavioral approaches to understanding and addressing societal issues.

For those who are seeking a more in-depth experience, they might consider joining the Culturo-Behavior Science Innovation Network (CBSIN), a recently developed initiative, co-facilitated by Drs. Traci Cihon, Kyosuke Kazaoka, and Albert Malkin. The mission of the CBSIN is to create a community of faculty, scholars, and practitioners interested in learning more about CBS and advancing the corresponding research and practice (cf. Cihon, 2023). We aim to foster mentorship and collaboration in CBS research and practice. Members of the CBSIN will engage in critical analyses of the existing literature (behavioral analytic and from related natural and social sciences) on CBS, develop basic and translational experiments that extend this literature base; and apply cultural level and contingency analyses to problems of social importance. This lab meets virtually on the first and third Mondays of each month (starting March 4, 2024) from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm CST. Persons who are interested in joining are encouraged to reach out for more details.


We will also continue our efforts to develop measures to track our progress with the Matrix Project, to update the activities and outcomes of active sectors, and to coordinate the activities of the less developed sectors. Those who want to get involved can contact BFSR at bfsr@abainternational.org.

Membership Options and Benefits
The BFSR membership structure includes student members ($5), full members ($20), supporting members ($50), and sustaining members ($100). The SIG has also developed a process for getting volunteers involved with SIG activities (email bfsr@abainternational.org if you are interested in volunteering). The SIG has been actively working on developing our website to house resources, disseminate information, and provide members with a way to connect with the SIG.

Volunteer Opportunities
BFSR has steadily received the help of hundreds of volunteers throughout the years. In fact, much of what has been and can be achieved through the Matrix Project is through the support of BFSR members and volunteers. Currently, aspiring volunteers can reach the group via our webpage, and based on their interests and skills, we can suggest one or more working groups within the Matrix with which they may participate. If you are interested in volunteering, please reach out at bfsr@abainternational.org.

Social Media
BFSR remains active on various social media platforms but like many other people and groups, the changing landscape of the social media platforms themselves has presented new challenges. BFSR is committed to finding the most effective way to communicate with its members and others on social media in a way that fits with our values. Creating and disseminating our own content is another aspect of our social media goal that we hope to focus more on in the coming months. Any interested people can volunteer at bfsr@abainternational.org and mention that they are hoping to get involved with social media.

Behavior and Social Issues Journal
The BFSR Planners also maintain a collaboration with the journal, Behavior and Social Issues (BSI). Working with the support of our continuing (Rich Rakos and Sarah Richling) and newly appointed Associate Editors (Denise Ross-Page and Laercia Vasconcelos), we published two issues of the journal in 2023. The spring issue (June, 2023) included 18 total articles including those published as part of a special section focused on culturally responsive pedagogy (Guest Editors: Lenwood Gibson, Lefki Kourea, and Temple Lovelace). The fall issue (December, 2023) included 14 total articles including those featured in Part II of our special sections on Climate and Behavior (Guest Editors: Mark Alavosius, Brett Gelino, and Cindy Pietras). Both issues also included several manuscripts featured in our ongoing special sections (i.e., the Forum on Diversity and Inclusion, and Activism, Advocacy, and Accompaniment). BSI also received its first impact factor of 1.6 in 2023.

Efforts are already underway for what we hope to bring to our readers in 2024 and 2025. First, we are currently reviewing papers submitted to our special section on Literacy and Social Justice (Guest Editors: Denise Ross-Page, Shannon Hammond, Gwendolyn Cartledge, Jane Howard) and for a special section focused on Human Behavior and Public Health (Guest Editors: Drs. Elizabeth Schieber, Jonathan Schulz, Crystal Slanzi, and Sarah Weinsztok) that we plan to include in the spring 2024 and fall 2024 issues, respectively. Second, we look forward to a forthcoming call for papers for a special section on Interprofessional Collaboration (Guest Editors: Holly Brown, Louis Busch, Kim Crosland, Deborah Napolitano, Tziporah Rosenberg, and Adrienne Jennings) that we anticipate will be featured in the spring 2025 issue of BSI. Third, we are preparing for a special section focused on papers prepared for and resulting from the 8th Think Tank in Cultural Analysis held in Reno, NV in November, 2023 (Guest Editors: Drs. Aecio Borba, Angelo Sampaio, and Laercia Vasconcelos). Finally, BSI is currently recruiting papers for its ongoing special sections in the Forum on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; and Activism, Advocacy, and Accompaniment.

More details about the journal, including the calls for papers regarding these special sections can be found here: www.springer.com/journal/42822/. Please stay tuned for future journal updates; we anticipate there will be even more featured collections of papers to come that we have yet to develop!

Mark Mattaini Student Engagement Award
In 2021 the BFSR Planners created an annual award to recognize the significant contributions that Dr. Mark Mattaini has made to BFSR, and culturo-behavior science. Dr. Mattaini was passionate about motivating students of behavior science to be actively engaged in work pertaining to social issues. More information on the award and how to apply can be found on the BFSR website: bfsr.abainternational.org/student-award/.

ABAI Annual Convention
BFSR held our annual business meeting at the ABAI Annual Convention. BFSR was also represented at the convention through presentations, panel discussions, and posters. Please join us at our next annual business meeting, held in conjunction with the BSI annual business meeting, at the 2024 Annual Convention where we will also be showcasing our activities through posters, panel discussions, symposia, and a workshop.


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