University of Kent

Mecca Chiesa is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst who has published widely on philosophical and experimental issues in the science of behaviour. She received her Ph.D from the University of Wales Cardiff in 1990. Her thesis was subsequently revised and published as Radical Behaviorism: The Philosophy and the Science (1994, Boston: Authors Cooperative), and is now in its second printing. She was on the editorial board of The Behavior Analyst from 1995 to 2001 and is currently on the editorial boards of the European Journal of Behavior Analysis and Behavioral Technology Today. Before joining the Tizard Centre in September 2003, Mecca spent several years setting up early intervention programmes for young autistic children and ran a research programme on the effects of fluency building (a Precision Teaching procedure) for children struggling with the mainstream maths curriculum. Mecca is a founding member of the ABA Lecturers Cooperative who, in collaboration with the Treehouse Trust, established the first course in the UK to be approved by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) as meeting the educational and experience requirements for their Associate-level exam. The first cohort to complete the course are now accredited behaviour analysts. Her research interests currently are concerned with integrating fluency building into early intervention programmes for autistic children and skills-development programmes for learning disabled clients more generally.

Contact Details

Tizard Centre
Beverley Farm
University of Kent
Canterbury
Kent CT2 7LZ

M.E.Chiesa@kent.ac.uk
Tel: 01227 823955

Publications

• Chiesa, M. (in press) "Implications of Determinism: Moral responsibility and the value of science" in K. A. Lattal & P. Chase (Eds) Behavior Theory and Philosophy. Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
• Chiesa, M. (2003). "Sobre la Meta-Etica, la Etica Normativa y el Conductismo". Revista Latinoamericana de Psicologia. 35:3. 289-297.
• Hobbs, S. Chiesa, M. (2003). "Errors of Omission and Commission: The analysis of misrepresentation in secondary sources". History and Philosophy of Psychology. 5:1. 46-56.
• Chiesa, M. (2001). "Does terminology from biology work in the realm of operant behaviour?". Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 24:3. 533-534.
• Chiesa, M. Robertson, A. (2000). "Precision Teaching and Fluency Training: Making maths easier for pupils and teachers". Educational Psychology in Practice. 16:3. 297-310.
• Hobbs, S. Cornwell, D. Chiesa, M. (2000). "Telling Tales about Behavior Analysis: Textbooks, Scholarship and Rumor" in J. Leslie & D. Blackman (Eds) Issues in Experimental and Applied Analysis of Human Behavior. Reno, NV: Context Press. Pp.251-270.
• Chiesa, M. (1998). "Beyond mechanism and dualism: Rethinking the scientific foundations of psychology". British Journal of Psychology. 89. 353-370.
• Chiesa, M. (1996). "Cause, Explanation, and Theory in a Science of Behavior". Mexican Journal of Behavior Analysis. 22.61-82.
• Chiesa, M. (1992). "Radical Behaviourism and Scientific Frameworks: From Mechanistic to Relational Accounts". American Psychologist 47:11. 1287-1299.

Research

Mecca has many years experience of supervising research and postgraduate students. She welcomes inquiries from graduates interested in Behaviour Analysis generally, and particularly in Precision Teaching, Fluency Building, Autism, and Learning Disabilities. The Centre is recognised for ESRC studentships and for ESRC CASE studentships.