Date of Award

Summer 8-15-2025

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA Applied Behavior Analysis

Department

Professional Psychology and Family Therapy

Advisor

Lauren Goodwyn, PhD, BCBA

Committee Member

Frank Cicero, PhD, BCBA, LBA

Committee Member

Jessie Dello Russo, MA, BCBA, LBA

Keywords

Autism spectrum disorder, Applied behavior analysis, TikTok, social media

Abstract

The current study was conducted to investigate individuals’ perceptions of ABA as influenced by social media. A survey that included videos selected from TikTok, a social media platform, was provided to parents/stakeholders of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), practitioners/employees of ABA (BCBAs, RBTs, etc.), and teachers. Participants were acquired using recruitment posts on TikTok and Facebook, through email, and by word-of-mouth/referral. 58 participants in total fully completed the survey. The survey was conducted using Qualtrics and included 32 questions and eight TikTok videos. The results showed that parents/stakeholders’, practitioners’, and teachers’ opinions of ABA were not influenced by the posts on social media (i.e., TikTok) included in this study. These participants also reported using various social media platforms daily, with almost half of them also reporting that they see posts regarding ABA on social media without searching for it. The lack of change in opinion about ABA reported by the participants should be noted, especially considering research which suggests that one’s real-life perceptions may often be shaped by content posted on social media and can subsequently impact one’s behavior offline. Participants also reported that they felt the opinions of others would be changed as a result of watching the selected videos, although they reported their own perception would not. Discussion of these differences in perception of perception change and additional survey data are provided. Both limitations and future research are suggested at the conclusion of this study.

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