Let’s finish this week strong with a discussion of the concept of variability as it directly relates to manding. The concept of variability is one that perhaps needs to be framed with the disclaimer that… A behavior analyst should not contingently reinforce variability unless the acquisition of variability increases the quality of life of the client being served. If a client and an Analyst agree to target variability, one is left confused on where to start. After all, variability seems more like a concept than a behavior. The purpose of this article is to operationalize and give a review over variability literature and provide some operational definitions for this concept. In addition to clarifying the concept, the author makes some strong arguments on why we need to be reinforcing and encouraging variability, especially in the context of functional communication training and the reduction of problematic behavior.

Silbaugh, B.C. (2021). Some Dimensions of Mand Variability and Implications for Research and Practice. Analysis Verbal Behavior, 37(1), 123–145. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-021-00144-7