TOWARD A CONSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH TO SOCIAL PROBLEMS: ETHICAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES RAISED BY APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

The article refers to the creation of a Brave New World. In an earlier article, I referred to that work: "Brave New World depicts a society which is far beyond what we possess today, but not beyond the bounds of reason. A level of technology this advanced will contain stimuli that at present we can not even conceive of. . . . If our behavior [then] does not conform to the new stimuli but stays the same way it is today, we will become extinct more rapidly than did the dinosaurs . . . Inasmuch as I can not predict what future stimuli will be created, I can not predict what behavioral or societal developments will occur. I would suggest, however, that we keep our eyes open and try to understand what is going on, especially in the scientific community" (Goldiamond, 1965). McConnell is projecting all the defects of the prison system of today upon the events of the future. As I also noted: "The notion that behavioral technology will mean a prison state or manipulation of behavior on a total scale ignores some of the more recent developments in the experimental analysis of behavior and in self-control. When one starts to apply experimental analysis to practical problems, the procedures which develop in practice differ considerably from those which may be projected from a theoretical understanding" (Ibid).59

Indeed, to cite but three deviations from the expectations of McConnell's article, Cohen and Filipczak (1971) set up a reformatory environment which increased the options available to delinquents and set as their targets limited and clearly defined set of repertoires (academic achievement). And Fairweather et al. (1969) set up a contingency system within a mental institution, with limited and clearly defined targets relatable to the patients' requirements for normal life outside the hospital, and developed mutually supportive groups. And Keehn (Keehn, et al.) surmised that the critical consequence for skid-row alcoholism was skid-row community. The requirement for membership was alcoholism. Community was provided on a rented farm, with the members democratically planning goals and programs for each other. Membership was contingent upon meeting such goals and meeting Keehn's contractual responsibilities of detoxification. The community began to develop services for neighbors and was on the way to becoming self-supporting when the project terminated.60

A carefully planned long-term project which provides measures enabling continual evaluation is one in which the possibilities for incremental knowledge are optimized-to the extent that one deviates from ages-old coercive procedures (which have little to teach us that we do not already know) and moves in a direction of mutual consent between contracting parties. This is a constitutional direction.

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS

In discussing constitutional and ethical issues, I shall be guided by the four programing elements already noted, namely (a) outcome, (b) entry repertoire, (c) change procedures and (d) maintenance. However, before discussing these, we must consider who the contracting parties are. Stated otherwise, who is the client of the change agent?