Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Access Criminology and Criminal Justice journals now

CiteULike is a free service for managing and discovering scholarly references - click here to get started.

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Plaud, J. J.
Right arrow Articles by Newberry, D. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Plaud, J. J.
Right arrow Articles by Newberry, D. E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Rule-Governed Behavior and Pedophilia

Joseph J. Plaud

Department of Psychology, University of North Dakota, P.O. Box 8380, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58202-8380

Donald E. Newberry

Department of Psychology, University of North Dakota, P.O. Box 8380, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58202-8380

The experimental analysis of verbal and rule-govemed behavior is one area that potentially has much relevance to applied clinical settings, including the assessment and treatment of pedophilia. Much of the interaction between therapists and clients takes place in a verbal context. Since the publication of Skinner's Verbal Behavior in 1957, however, not much systematic clinical research conceming verbal behavior has been integrated into clinical practice, partly evidenced in the past several years by the many cognitive theories proclaiming to some extent that "mental way stations" explain the causes of behavior. This paper analyzes the fundamental aspects of rule-governed behavior, summarizes current research in this area, and explores some of the research methods and issues involved with rule-governed behavior. In addition, the potential of this area of behavioral psychology to provide important alternatives to explanations offered by cognitive psychology is also explored. Implications for the scientific use of rule govemed behavior in conducting psychological assessments with pedophiles is also examined.

Key Words: rule-governed behavior • contingency-shaped behavior • behavior analysis • behavior therapy • pedophilia • sexual offending • cognitive psychology.

Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, Vol. 8, No. 2, 143-159 (1996)
DOI: 10.1177/107906329600800208
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?