The PAX Good Behavior Game: One Model for Evolving a More Nurturing Society
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The PAX Good Behavior Game: One Model for Evolving a More Nurturing Society Magnus Johansson1 · Anthony Biglan2 · Dennis Embry3
© The Author(s) 2020
Abstract This paper describes the culture and components of the PAX Good Behavior Game and offers it as one model for how to enhance the well-being of populations through the diffusion of nurturing practices into several venues of society. The PAX components, also known as evidence-based kernels, are proposed to be useful in classrooms, families, organizations, criminal justice, and in improving public discussion and government. Kernels affect behavior in the short- and long-term through combinations of antecedents, reinforcers, relational networks, and physiological effects. Identifying common strategies, tools, and clear targets of change is suggested as a way to work towards evolving freely available evidence-based tools that can be combined to improve social conditions in multiple contexts. Keywords Nurturing environments · Evidence-based kernels · PAX good behavior game · Changing cultural practices
Introduction This paper presents the PAX Good Behavior Game (PAX GBG/system; Embry, Fruth, Roepcke, & Richardson 2016) as one model for how society might evolve a more nurturing culture in a wide variety of settings beyond schools. We do not propose the implementation of the PAX system in other settings. Rather, we seek to use it to illustrate how a carefully organized set of interlocking behavior-influence kernels (Embry & Biglan 2008) could be relevant to promoting nurturance and prosociality throughout society. One of the most persistent findings in prevention research is the fact that multiple problems result from stressful environments that fail to support the development of a variety of prosocial behaviors and values (Biglan et al. 2004; Dishion & Snyder 2016; Felitti 2009, 2017; Miller et al. 2011). Accordingly, most evidence-based interventions have components designed to reduce stressful social interactions and
* Magnus Johansson [email protected] 1
Department of Behavioural Science, Oslo Metropolitan University, St. Olavs plass, P.O. Box 4, NO‑0130 Oslo, Norway
2
Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, USA
3
PAXIS Institute, Tucson, USA
increase positive support for many forms of prosocial behavior, both of which are key aspects of nurturing environments (Biglan 2015; Biglan et al. 2012). Behavioral scientists are increasingly seeking ways to disseminate interventions widely and effectively (Brownson, Colditz, & Proctor 2017). From this perspective, it makes sense for practitioners, scientists, community leaders, and policymakers to explore diverse ways of promoting the spread of practices that nurture people’s well-being. The PAX system grew out of efforts to strengthen social supports for the implementation of the Good Behavior Game. The Good Behavior Game (GBG) was originally developed by Barrish, Saunders, and Wolfe (1969). In that study, children in a classroom were divided into two teams, each of which could receive a reward of thirty minutes
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