The behavioral analysis of child development originates from John B. Watson's behaviorism.
History In 1948, Sidney Bijou took a position as associate professor of psychology at the University of Washington and served as director of the university's Institute of Child Development. Under his leadership, the Institute added a child development clinic and nursery school classrooms where they conducted research that would later accumulate into the area that would be called "Behavior Analysis of Child Development". Skinner's behavioral approach and Kantor's interbehavioral approach were adopted in Bijou and Baer's model. They created a three-stage model of development (e.g., basic, foundational, and societal). Bijou and Baer looked at these socially determined stages, as opposed to organizing behavior into change points or cusps (behavioral cusp). In the behavioral model, development is considered a behavioral change. It is dependent on the kind of stimulus and the person's behavioral and learning function. Behavior analysis in child development takes a mechanistic, contextual, and pragmatic approach.
From its inception, the behavioral model has focused on prediction and control of the developmental process.Baer, D.M. (1973). The control of developmental process: Why wait? In J.R. Nesselrode & H.W. Reese (Eds.) Life Span Developmental Psychology: Methodological Issues. Oxford, England: Academic PressSchlinger, H.D., Jr. (1995). A Behavior Analytic View of Child Development. NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers The model focuses on the analysis of a behavior and then synthesizes the action to support the original behavior.Catania, A.C. (1998). Learning (fourth edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. The model was changed after Richard J. Herrnstein studied the matching law of choice behavior developed by studying of reinforcement in the natural environment. More recently, the model has focused more on behavior over time and the way that behavioral responses become repetitive. It has become concerned with how behavior is selected over time and forms into stable patterns of responding. A detailed history of this model was written by Pelaez. In 1995, Henry D. Schlinger, Jr. provided the first behavior analytic text since Bijou and Baer comprehensively showed how behavior analysis—a natural science approach to human behavior—could be used to understand existing research in child development. In addition, the quantitative behavioral developmental model by Commons and Miller is the first behavioral theory and research to address notion similar to stage.Behavioral Development Bulletin, 13 (1)
Research methods
The methods used to analyze behavior in child development are based on several types of measurements. Single-subject research with a longitudinal study follow-up is a commonly used approach. Current research is focused on integrating single-subject designs through meta-analysis to determine the effect sizes of behavioral factors in development. Lag sequential analysis has become popular for tracking the stream of behavior during observations. Group designs are increasingly being used. Model construction research involves latent growth modeling to determine developmental trajectories and structural equation modeling. Rasch analysis is now widely used to show sequentiality within a developmental trajectory.
A recent methodological change in the behavioral analytic theory is the use of observational methods combined with lag sequential analysis can determine reinforcement in the natural setting.
Quantitative behavioral development
The model of hierarchical complexity is a quantitative analytic theory of development. This model offers an explanation for why certain tasks are acquired earlier than others through developmental sequences and gives an explanation of the biological, cultural, organizational, and individual principles of performance. It quantifies the order of hierarchical complexity of a task based on explicit and mathematical measurements of behavior.
Research
Contingencies, uncertainty, and attachment The behavioral model of attachment recognizes the role of uncertainty in an infant and the child's limited communication abilities. Contingent relationships are instrumental in the behavior analytic theory, because much emphasis is put on those actions that produce parents' responses.Cavell, T.A. & Strand, P.S. (2002). Parent-Based interventions for aggressive, antisocial children: Adapting to a bilateral lens. In L. Kuczynski (Ed.) Handbook of dynamics in parent-child relations. (pp. 395–419). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Gewirtz, J.L. & Peláez-Nogueras, M. (1991). The attachment metaphor and the conditioning of infant separation protests. In J.L. Gewirtz & W.M. Kurtines (Eds.), Intersections with attachment. (pp. 123–144). Hillsdale, NJ: ErlbaumPatterson, G.R. (2002). The early development of coercive family processes. In J.B. Reid, G.R. Patterson & J. Snyder, J.J. (Eds.). Antisocial behavior in children and adolescents: A Developmental analysis and model for intervention. APA Press
The importance of contingency appears to be highlighted in other developmental theories,Watson, J.S. (1979). Perception of contingency as a determinant of social responsiveness. In E.B. Thoman (Ed.), Origins of the infant's social responsiveness. In E.B. Thoman (Ed.) Origins of the infant's social responsiveness. (pp. 33–64). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum but the behavioral model recognizes that contingency must be determined by two factors:Gewirtz, J.L. & Boyd, E.F. (1977). Experiments on mother-infant interaction underlying mutual attachment acquisition: The infant conditions the mother. In T. Alloway, P. Plinger & L. Krames (Eds.). Attachment behavior. (pp. 109–143). New York: Plenum Press the efficiency of the action and that efficiency compared to other tasks that the infant might perform at that point. Both infants and adults function in their environments by understanding these contingent relationships. Research has shown that contingent relationships lead to emotionally satisfying relationships.
Since 1961, behavioral research has shown that there is relationship between the parents' responses to separation from the infant and outcomes of a "stranger situation.".Gewirtz, J.L. (1961). A learning analysis of the effects of normal stimulation, privation, and deprivation on the acquisition of social motivation and attachment. In B.M. Foss (Ed.), Determinants of infant behaviour. (pp. 213–229). New York: Wiley. In a study done in 2000, six infants participated in a classic reversal design (see single-subject research) study that assessed infant approach rate to a stranger. If attention was based on stranger avoidance, the infant avoided the stranger. If attention was placed on infant approach, the infant approached the stranger.Gewirtz, J. & Pelaez-Nogueras, M. (2000). Infant emotions under the positive-reinforcer control of caregiver attention and touch. In J.C. Leslie & D. Blackman (Eds.), Issues in Experimental and Applied Analysis of Human Behavior. (pp. 271–291). Reno, NV: Context Press
Recent meta-analytic studies of this model of attachment based on contingency found a moderate effect of contingency on attachment, which increased to a large effect size when the quality of reinforcement was considered. Other research on contingency highlights its effect on the development of both pro-social and anti-social behavior. These effects can also be furthered by training parents to become more sensitive to children's behaviors, Meta-analytic research supports the notion that attachment is operant-based learning.
An infant's sensitivity to contingencies can be affected by biological factors and environment changes. Studies show that being placed in erratic environments with few contingencies may cause a child to have conduct problems and may lead to depression. (see Behavioral Development and Depression below).Cairns, R.B. (1979). The analysis of social interaction: Methods, issues, and illustrations. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence ErlbaumQuay, H.C. (1987). Patterns of delinquent behavior. In H.C. Quay (Ed.). Handbook of Juvenile Delinquency. (pp. 118–138). New York: Wiley Research continues to look at the effects of learning-based attachment on moral development. Some studies have shown that erratic use of contingencies by parents early in life can produce devastating long-term effects for the child.Commons, M.L. (1991). A comparison and synthesis of Kohlberg's cognitive developmental theories and Gewirtz's learning-developmental attachment theories. In J.L. Gewirtz & W.M. Kurtines (Eds.) Intersections with attachment. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
Motor development Since Watson developed the theory of behaviorism, behavior analysts have held that motor development represents a conditioning process. This holds that crawling, climbing, and walking displayed by infants represents conditioning of biologically innate reflexes. In this case, the reflex of stepping is the respondent behavior and these reflexes are environmentally conditioned through experience and practice. This position was criticized by maturation theorists. They believed that the stepping reflex for infants actually disappeared over time and was not "continuous". By working with a slightly different theoretical model, while still using operant conditioning, Esther Thelen was able to show that children's stepping reflex disappears as a function of increased physical weight. However, when infants were placed in water, that same stepping reflex returned. This offered a model for the continuity of the stepping reflex and the progressive stimulation model for behavior analysts.
Infants deprived of physical stimulation or the opportunity to respond were found to have delayed motor development. Under conditions of extra stimulation, the motor behavior of these children rapidly improved. Some research has shown that the use of a treadmill can be beneficial to children with motor delays including Down syndrome and cerebral palsy. Research on opportunity to respond and the building of motor development continues today.