ERIC Number: EJ1402833
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0889-9401
EISSN: EISSN-2196-8926
Parents' Emotional Responses to Behavior Analysis Terms: A Comparative Analysis
Marshall, Kimberly B.; Weiss, Mary Jane; Critchfield, Thomas S.
Analysis of Verbal Behavior, v39 n2 p247-259 2023
Behavior analysts are concerned with developing strong client-therapist relationships. One challenge to the development of such relationships may be a reliance on technical language that stakeholders find unpleasant. Previous research suggests that some behavior analysis terms evoke negative emotional responses. However, most relevant research was conducted with individuals from the general public and not individuals with a history of interaction with behavior analysts. The current study evaluated how parents of individuals with disabilities, who accessed behavior analytic services for their child, rated their emotional responses to 40 behavior analysis terms. We found that half of behavior analysis terms were rated as less pleasant than the majority of English words by parents. Furthermore, word emotion ratings by our stakeholder sample corresponded closely to norms obtained from the general public (Warriner et al. "Behavior Research Methods, 45"(4), 1191-1207, 2013). Our findings suggest that, while learning history may mediate some emotional responses to words, published word emotion data could be a useful guide to how stakeholders may respond to behavior analysis terminology. A need remains for additional studies examining word emotion responses that may be unique to particular sub-categories of stakeholders and evaluating how emotional responses impact the development of effective relationships.
Descriptors: Parent Attitudes, Children, Disabilities, Emotional Response, Vocabulary, Behavior Modification
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A