Social behavior lies at the heart of applied behavior analysis, yet the mechanisms underlying cooperation, rapport, and decision-making remain among the most complex phenomena behavior analysts study and attempt to influence. This symposium, presented by Katie Nicholson and colleagues, brings together three complementary perspectives on social behavior that collectively advance our understanding of how behavioral principles operate within therapeutic relationships and broader social systems.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via Florida Association of Behavior Analysis
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Join Free →Social behavior is shaped by complex and interacting contingencies, both within the therapeutic environment and broader social systems. This symposium brings together three behaviorally grounded presentations that explore distinct but complementary mechanisms underlying human cooperation, rapport, and decision-making. The first presentation focuses on therapeutic rapport, examining the behavioral dimensions that contribute to effective and empathic clinician-client interactions, with implications for treatment adherence and outcomes. The second presentation investigates metacontingency arrangements that promote cooperative behavior for the benefit of others, highlighting how interlocking behavioral contingencies and cultural-level consequences maintain prosocial behavior in group contexts. The final presentation explores probability discounting in adults with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder, identifying differences in risk-sensitive decision-making that may underlie some social deficits associated with ASD. Collectively, these presentations aim to deepen our understanding of how individual and group-level behavioral processes influence social functioning, with relevance for clinical practice, behavioral economics, and the analysis of complex social systems.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1.5 | Ethics |
| COA | 1.5 | — |
| FL MH/PSY | 0 | — |
Katie Nicholson is an Assistant Professor at Florida Institute of Technology (FIT). She received her Ph.D. in Behavior Analysis from FIT in 2013 and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Munroe-Meyer Institute at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Her interests include the conceptual analysis of verbal behavior, assessment and treatment of children with developmental disabilities, staff training and performance management, instructional design, and social justice and persuasion. Dr. Nicholson has over 20 years of clinical experience in Applied Behavior Analysis, particularly in Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) for individuals on the autism spectrum and other disorders, across a wide variety of settings.
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
258 research articles with practitioner takeaways
239 research articles with practitioner takeaways
224 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.