Behaviorists for Social Responsibility

05/23/2026

Here are some of the events we're excited about today!

05/23/2026

Continuing their ABAI tradition, Drs. Alavosius, Rakos, and Krispin will discuss three recent books focusing on sustainability today at 11am. Hope to see you there!

05/20/2026

Who will be in San Francisco this week? Don’t miss the BFSR Business Meeting on Friday night! Let’s kick off the conference together!

01/02/2026

Calling all students! BFSR is inviting you to apply for the Mark Mattaini Student Engagement Award. This award is open to students working in social-cultural justice areas in alignment with the mission of BFSR. Faculty, please tell your students!

Priority will be given to current BFSR student members, or those willing to become BFSR student members. The award comes with a $1,000 check and an opportunity for an ABAI conference presentation and/or a publication of the funded work.

Applications are due on February 28.

Please follow the link below to read more about eligibility requirements.

08/21/2025

Behavior and Social Issues has published a new article by Albert Malkin and Louis Busch, titled “No Conference Tote Bag Is Worth This: An Analysis of Academic Border Resistance.”

Beginning in January 2025, increasingly restrictive measures at the Canada–U.S. border—including enhanced surveillance, device searches, and differential treatment based on origin, political views, research topics, or gender identity—have emerged as aversive controls that impede academic freedom and scholarly mobility.

Through a culturo-behavioral lens, the authors propose collective institutional responses that uphold scholarly productivity while safeguarding vulnerable researchers.

📖 Read the full article:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-025-00209-5

08/20/2025

Behavior and Social Issues has published a new brief by Louis Busch and Spyridon Kotsovilis: “Reinforcing Injustice: A Complex Adaptive Systems Framework to Address the Criminalization of Indigenous Life.”

The paper portrays Canada’s criminal justice system as a maladaptive complex adaptive system that co-opts reform efforts into superficial change, preserving colonial structures. Through a three-stage analysis, the authors identify systemic requirements for Indigenous legal resurgence, proposes Indigenous Legal Orders as autonomous, culturally grounded systems, and pinpoints key leverage points where culturo-behavioral and contextual behavioral scientists can support structural transformation in partnership with Indigenous communities.

Read the full article here:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-025-00216-6

Canada’s criminal justice system functions as a maladaptive complex adaptive system that continues to produce disproportionate harm to Indigenous Peoples, despite a decade of reform efforts following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. This paper uses a systems science fra...

08/19/2025

Behavior and Social Issues has published a new open-access article by Bernard Guerin: “Comprehensive Contextual Solutions for Behavioral Challenges: Observations from the Social Sciences Minus Their Mentalisms.”

The paper shifts focus from “inner causes” to the shaping influences of relationships, cultural groups, and social systems. Guerin outlines strategies such as changing contexts, teaching new behaviors within real-life situations, resolving contextual conflicts, and developing new patterns of social exchange.

This work highlights how behavior change can be understood and supported through contextual, social, and cultural solutions rather than internalized explanations.

📖 Full article: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-025-00213-9

08/18/2025

La revista Behavior and Social Issues acaba de publicar un nuevo informe breve: "Countering the Chilling Effect of ICE Raids Using Behavior Science"

Este trabajo aplica principios de la ciencia cultural-conductual (culturo-behavior science) y evidencia de la resistencia no violenta para abordar los efectos dañinos de las redadas migratorias. Los autores presentan un marco en forma de matriz diseñado para apoyar a científicos, defensores y líderes comunitarios en:
- Movilizar respuestas comunitarias amplias y efectivas
- Respaldar acciones no violentas y fortalecer coaliciones locales
- Promover la dignidad, los derechos humanos y la participación cívica ética

El artículo subraya el papel urgente de la ciencia del comportamiento en la construcción de movimientos sociales constructivos y en la contrarrestación del miedo como mecanismo de control.

El informe fue elaborado por Megan S. Kirby y Kathryn M. Roose, quienes destacan cómo la investigación puede orientar el activismo centrado en la justicia y la resiliencia comunitaria.

https://bfsr.abainternational.org/4400-2/




🙏 Agradecimiento especial a Edson Escalante de Familias ABA por la traducción.

08/18/2025

Countering the Chilling Effect of ICE Raids Using Behavior Science

A new brief report has been published in Behavior and Social Issues: "Countering the Chilling Effect of ICE Raids Using Behavior Science"

This work applies principles from culturo-behavior science and evidence from nonviolent resistance to address the harmful effects of immigration enforcement raids. The authors present a matrix-style framework designed to help scientists, advocates, and community leaders:
- Mobilize broad and effective community responses
- Support nonviolent actions and strengthen local coalitions
- Promote dignity, human rights, and ethical civic engagement

The article emphasizes the urgent role of behavior science in shaping constructive social movements and countering fear-based suppression.

Authored by Drs. Megan Kirby and Kathryn Roose, the report highlights how research can inform justice-centered activism and community resilience.

Read the full publication here: https://lnkd.in/eFDtRCgq

08/17/2025

A new article has been published in Behavior and Social Issues: “Issues of Systematization in Culturo-Behavior Science” by Will Fleming.

The paper addresses fundamental challenges in consolidating culturo-behavior science (CuBS), highlighting:
- The need to demonstrate cultural relations that cannot be described solely through traditional behavioral contingencies.
- The potential utility of the metacontingency construct, especially if it helps identify cultural consequences that are not interpreted as reinforcers.
- The proposal to develop a molar subfield, with focus areas such as matching, which could strengthen CuBS and build connections both within and outside of behavior science.
- The relationship between systematization, cultural diversity, adaptability, and values in CuBS, along with the risks of neglecting careful analysis of those values.

This article extends discussions from the Culturo-Behavior Science Think Tank 8, underscoring the importance of systematization for the growth and future direction of the field.

📖 Read the full article here:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-025-00207-7

Culturo-behavior science (CuBS) is a growing, productive, and vibrant enterprise in behavior science. Despite this, certain critical issues that are pivotal for systematizing CuBS persist. Experimental analyses of cultural selection have yet to demonstrate relations among events that cannot be descr...