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Behavior Analysis Program

*Core and concentration courses will usually not be offered in the summer term.

Core Courses

Completion of five core courses is part of the requirements for the doctoral degree. The following are the core courses (all of which yield 3 credits):

PSY 610 (3 cr.) Professional Issues, Ethics, and Research Design
This course will (a) introduce students to the expectations of students within the doctoral program at Western New England College; (b) bring students into contact with the values and rules of behavior analysis and psychology through primary and secondary source writings on ethics and professional issues (e.g., submitting or reviewing original research); (c) allow students to apply these value systems to their own clinical, educational, and research endeavors via class discussion; (d) review the institutional review board processes and human subjects research guidelines; and (e) review the logic and ethical application of single-subject and traditional group designs.

PSY 620 (3 cr.) Experimental Analysis of Behavior
The course will provide the student with a thorough review of the development of the experimental analysis of behavior beginning with Watson and Skinner and continuing into the present. The focus will be on understanding the development of the field in elucidating general principles of behavior (e.g., reinforcement, extinction, shaping, respondent-operant interactions, discrimination, generalization, punishment and aversive control, etc.), paying particular attention to experimental and applied interactions.

PSY 630 (3 cr.) Descriptive and Inferential Statistics
This course will focus on interpretation and application of descriptive and inferential statistical techniques required for an understanding of data presentations in psychological research. The primary focus will include: measures of central tendency and variability, frequency distributions and graphical presentations; the normal curve; probability theory; hypothesis testing; the t-test; analysis of variance (ANOVA); multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA); multiple regression; and correlation.

PSY 640 (3 cr.) Quantitative Analysis of Behavior
The course will provide an introduction to the use of quantitative analysis in behavior analytic research and clinical practice. Topics will include statistical inference in behavior analysis; visual vs. statistical analysis; hypothesis testing, effect size, power, and non parametric tests; and quantitative models of common behavioral phenomena (e.g., choice, matching law, molar vs. molecular analyses).

PSY 650 (3 cr.) The Philosophy of Behaviorism
Behaviorism is the philosophy of the scientific approach to the study of behavior, including verbal behavior and private events. The approach holds that all behavior is a function of the interactions of ontogenic and phylogenic variables rather than hypothetical structures. This course focuses on the philosophies of methodological, radical, and cognitive behaviorism. The primary focus is on B.F. Skinner, his conceptual works, and his major critics.

Concentration Courses

Completion of at least four concentration courses is part of the requirements for the doctoral degree. The following are the possible concentration courses which may be scheduled (all of which yield 3 credits):

PSY 705 (3 cr.) Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention
This course will focus on current research and practice in early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for autism and related disorders. Best practices and evidence-based approaches will be identified and reviewed. Attention will also be paid to effective preschool design, home-based intervention for common pediatric problems, and factors influencing successful inclusion of children with disabilities in typical classrooms.

PSY 720 (3 cr.) Assessment of Severe Behavior Disorders
A brief overview of each of the three functional assessment methods currently in use will be covered (indirect or anecdotal methods, descriptive analysis, and functional analysis). After reviewing the defining characteristics, major procedural variations, strengths and weaknesses of each approach, the course will examine current research involving modifications and extensions of current functional analysis methodology and function-based interventions.

PSY 735 (3 cr.) Organizational Behavior Management
This course examines individual human behavior in organizations. The objective of this course is to teach students how to analyze organizational behavior and performance improvement techniques from a behavioral perspective; as well as to learn about common Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) and Performance Management techniques to improve performance in organizations. Topics include: the history of OBM, performance appraisal, performance diagnosis (measurement and assessment), behavioral systems, analysis/metacontingency analysis, feedback, goal setting, rewards and monetary incentives, and the relationship between job satisfaction and performance.

PSY 740 (3 cr.) Behavior Analysis of Child Development
This course will survey the history, philosophies, and theories of typical and atypical development with particular emphasis on early-childhood through young adulthood. The role of organismic and environmental variables in the development of motor, perceptual, social, emotional, and cognitive behavior will be examined. The relation between development and education will also be covered.

PSY 750 (3 cr.) Advanced Verbal Behavior
This course will review the conceptual and empirical foundations of a functional-analytic approach to human language and cognition. This approach represents the underpinnings of a scientific analysis of language. Research on the elementary verbal relations, generative language, symbolic behavior, grammar and syntax, as well as applied research on language training will be discussed.

PSY 770 (3 cr.) Teaching in the College Environment
This course will focus on practical issues and methods for teaching in the college environment. It will focus on selection and use of teaching materials; course structure and development of instructional sequences; the role of lecture, discussion, and active participation; student evaluation and grading practices; and student motivation.

PSY 780 (3 cr.) Special Topics in Behavior Analysis
This seminar will conduct an in-depth review of a current topic in applied or experimental analysis of behavior. Topics may include: social skills and play behavior, joint attention, behavioral pharmacology, stimulus control and stimulus equivalence, relational frame theory, behavioral counseling, or behavioral medicine.

Behavior Analysis Practica

All students are expected to maintain at least 20 hours per week of field work in a supervised clinical practice, educational, or research setting during the first three years of the program. This supervised experience is considered an integral part of the training program, and thus is a program requirement for all students.

PSY 801-809 (1 cr.) Behavior Analysis Practica
This supervised practicum experience will involve at least 20 hours per week of field work in a supervised clinical practice, educational, or research setting in which procedures based on behavior-analytic principles are being implemented.

Dissertation Research

All students are required to complete at least 9 credits of Dissertation Research hours and may complete up to 18 credits of Dissertation Research.

PSY 850-586 (3 cr.) Dissertation Research
This course will provide the structure for designing, conducting, writing, and presenting dissertation research. Students will meet individually with the dissertation advisor and will attend a general research meeting at least monthly. Formal presentation and discussion of the dissertation research will take place during these research meetings.

Comprehensive Orals (Review Paper and Oral Defense)

In collaboration with their faculty advisor, students are expected to prepare for a Comprehensive Examination. For the Comprehensive Examination the student writes and orally defends a publication-quality review paper.  The review paper should be an extended, integrated, and critical review of a basic, applied, or conceptual literature relevant to behavior analysis, and must conform to the guidelines in the latest edition of the APA Publication Manual.

Dissertation

The dissertation requirements include a written proposal and dissertation, and oral defense of the dissertation. Acceptable dissertation research contributes to original knowledge and is greater in scope or depth than already known intervention analyses for an individual or individuals.

Example Program of Study

The following table provides the anticipated schedule with which courses and program requirements may be completed.

* = Core course