Is ACTraining Behavior Analytic? A Review of Tarbox et al. (2020)

In an effort to determine if acceptance and commitment training (ACTraining) can be called behavior analytic, Tarbox et al. (2020) evaluated whether (1) ACTraining methods can be linked to behavior analytic principles, (2) they align with the seven dimensions of applied behavior analysis described by Baer et al. (1968, 1987), and (3) ACTraining relates to items on the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) task list. We briefly address, from a pragmatic, functional-analytic perspective, Tarbox et al.'s arguments and contend that they are not sufficient to conclude that ACTraining meets the conditions under which it would be considered behavior analytic. If this is the case, ACTraining would not fall under the scope of practice of Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) and, moreover, may pose ethical problems for any BCBAs implementing ACTraining without a disclaimer that doing so is not covered by the BACB credential.