BCBA Exam: Ethics
Ethics ans: BEHAVIORS, PRACTICES, and DECISIONS that address 3 fundamental questions that guide how you conduct yourself to help others improve their physical, social, psychological, familial, or personal condition
Question: Why is Ethics Important? ans: To further the welfa...
BCBA Exam: Ethics
Ethics ans: BEHAVIORS, PRACTICES, and DECISIONS that address 3 fundamental questions that guide
how you conduct yourself to help others improve their physical, social, psychological, familial, or
personal condition
Question: Why is Ethics Important? ans: To further the welfare of the client
3 Fundamental Questions of Ethical Practice ans: 1. What is the right thing to do?
2. What is worth doing?
3. What does it mean to be a good behavior analyst?
1. What is the right thing to do? ans: -Considerations related to cultural practices: what may be
acceptable in one culture is not in another
-Differences across time: what may have been acceptable 20 years ago is not today
Things to Help You Guide the Decision-Making Process ans: 1. Professional Training and Experience
-Your training should influence the methods you use. The decision to opt for Method A (e.g., differential
reinforcement) or Method B (e.g., overcorrection) should be based on your clinical training, not your
personal history
-Your training as a behavior analyst should ALWAYS OVERRIDE your personal history.
2. Personal History
-A personal history is your individual cultural, religious, or social background. It should not influence
your clinical decisions.
-Recognize that your personal history may lead to inappropriate solutions (e.g., if a person was raised in
a family that believed in "spare the rod, spoil the child", that person may tend to be harsh with children)
-If you recognize that your personal history is impacting your clinical decision-making, get help from
supervisors, colleagues, and research. If you cannot get the help or change your behavior, excuse
yourself from the case.
3. The Context of Practice
-Refers to where you practice and the specific nature of job (e.g., at home, at school, etc.)
-Determines what is legal vs. illegal, ethical vs. unethical
Question: What is Legal, but Unethical? ans: 1. Breaking a professional confidence.
2. Accepting valued heirlooms in lieu of payment.
3. Engaging in consensual sex with a client over the age of 18.
,Question: What is Both Illegal and Unethical? ans: 1. Misrepresenting promised services or skills.
2. Stealing a client's belongings.
3. Abusing a client physically, emotionally, financially, socially, or sexually.
4. Engaging in consensual sexual relations with persons under age 18.
Question: What are Ethical Codes of Behavior? ans: -Guidelines that specify what IS a violation.
-Guidelines for deciding a course of action or conducting professional duties.
-Guidelines to help to discriminate between legal and ethical distinctions making us more likely to:
-provide effective services
-maintain sensitivity towards clients
-not break the law or our professional
standards of conduct
2. What is Worth Doing? ans: -Addresses the goals and objectives of practice and forces us to ask the
questions:
1. What are we trying to accomplish?
2. How are we trying to accomplish it?
3. Is the objective socially valid?
4. What is the risk-benefit ratio?
Social Validity ans: -When the results show meaningful, significant, and sustainable change.
-When the goals, procedures, and results of an intervention are socially acceptable to the client, the
behavior analyst, and society.
-Not every skill has social validity (ex. teaching an adult with developmental disabilities to play with
children's coloring books is not socially valid.
2 Ways to Assess Social Validity ans: 1. Social Comparison:
-Comparison of the performance of clients
exposed to the intervention with an
equivalent or "typically developing" group.
-Limitation: normative data may not be really
relevant for the client's functioning.
2. Subjective Evaluation of Experts:
-Evaluation of the client's performance by
experts who are very familiar with the client.
-Limitation: subjective evaluation of experts
may not tell us about the success of an
intervention.
, 3. What Does it Mean to Be a Good Behavior Analyst? ans: - Following professional codes of conduct
(BACB)
-Keeping client's welfare in your ideas
A Good Practitioner is Self-Regulating ans: Seeks ways to calibrate decisions over time to ensure that
values, contingencies, and rights and responsibilities are integrated and an informed combination of
these is considered.
3 Reasons Why We Abide By Ethics (MHS) ans: 1. M: Meaningful Change
-To produce meaningful behavior change of
social significance to the client
- Increase the likelihood of appropriate
services being rendered to individuals
3. S: Standards
-To conform to the ethical standards of
learned societies and professional
organizations
Question: What Are Professional Standards? ans: (Standards is an umbrella word for everything.)
-Standards are written guidelines that provide a direction for conducting the practices associated with
an organization.
BACB ans: -Certifies individual practitioners
-In 1999, the BACB started credentialing behaviorists in the US and other countries. The BACB
certification is based on Florida's certification program. It ensures consumers that an individual's
specialization is ABA.
Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA) ans: Accredits university programs
5 Documents that Describe Standards of Professional Conduct and Ethical Practice for ABA
(TLCEPBT): TLC Eating Peanut Butter Together ans: 1. TL: Task List
-The BCBA and BCaBA Task List Fourth
Edition, 2015
2. C: Code
-Professional and Ethical Compliance Code
for Behavior Analysts (BACB, 2016)
3. E: Education
-The Right to Effective Education
(Association for Behavior Analysis, 1990)
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller Classroom. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $7.99. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
