A Contingency Analysis of Social Referencing becomes clinically important the moment a team has to turn good intentions into reliable action inside adult services and community participation. In A Contingency Analysis of Social Referencing, for this course, the practical stakes show up in clearer case conceptualization, better instructional targets, and stronger generalization, not in abstract discussion alone.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via BABAT
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Join Free →Social referencing is a social communicative response that emerges within the first year of life (Feinman, 1992). Defined as a two-component behavior chain (Dequinzio et al., 2016), social referencing consists of a gaze shift from an ambiguous stimulus to a familiar adult (i.e., an observing response) and a conditional discrimination toward the ambiguous stimulus. To date, there are few studies that have evaluated the impact of ambiguity as a variable that exerts control over the observing response. In this study, a multiple baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the effect of a brief contingency exposure protocol on the probability of the observing response across five participants. A multielement design was used to evaluate the impact of ambiguous and familiar stimuli on the observing response for each participant. Results of this study indicate that brief exposure to consequences is sufficient to increase the probability of an observing response in neurotypical infants and toddlers and may be an effective strategy by which researchers can set the occasion for future assessment of social referencing. Results for three of five participants provide support for the role of ambiguity as a motivating operation.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1 | General |
Dr. Pamela Peterson is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and licensed applied behavior analyst specializing in early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for young children with autism. Dr. Peterson has been working in the field of ABA with a focus on EIBI for over 12 years and is currently a clinician at Blueview Autism Services. She received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her masters and doctorate degrees in Behavior Analysis through Western New England University. Dr. Peterson has co-authored book chapters on common components of EIBI as well as a peer-reviewed article on the establishment of social referencing in young children with autism in the presence of safe and dangerous stimuli. She currently services as an adjunct lecturer for Regis College and Western New England University. Her current research interests include the emergence and maintenance of complex social repertoires such as imitation, joint attention, social referencing, and observational learning; the implementation of incidental teaching strategies by providers and caregivers; and the evaluation of outcomes of early intensive behavioral intervention for children and their families.
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
279 research articles with practitioner takeaways
258 research articles with practitioner takeaways
252 research articles with practitioner takeaways
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.