Group Identity& Guidelines

Group Identity Statement

The East Texas Contextual Behavioral Science (ETX-CBS) lab is an intentional community which aims to support growth within the field of psychology. We aim to provide a welcoming and supportive home for scholars. We come to behavioral science as practitioners and scholars who aim to address human suffering and help people thrive while reducing barriers to care. As a group, we are organized by principles of meeting people where they are (considering behavior in context) and using behavioral science to do good. 

Lab Guidelines and Expectations

Note: The following are expectations were outlined through collaborative group discussion informed by Atkins and colleagues (2019) Prosocial framework. 

1. Facilitating growth: we recognize that supporting ongoing development and growth of skills among our fellow lab members benefits all of us. To promote this lab value, we expect that each of us will provide social support, constructive criticism, and opportunities to our fellow lab members. Where we are able, we will share our experiences with others and provide opportunities for more junior lab members to be involved in our projects.

2.  Providing scaffolding: we recognize that we come to this lab with varied experiences, training, and opportunities to have worked on various projects. As such, we understand that some members may need more or less support to succeed in various lab tasks. To facilitate discussion around scaffolding, when beginning a new project, groups will discuss areas in which members are more or less confident. Regular check ins throughout working on the project about these domains (e.g., How are you feeling about (domain less confident in)?).

3.  Consistency: lab members should be consistently involved and active within the lab to maximize benefits of their participation.

4.  Clear communication: lab members should be open and consistent in their communication when working on projects, discussing deadlines and timelines early, communicating when changes need to be made, and working together to set expectations.

5.  Authorship: authorship is awarded in a manner consistent with APA guidelines and related to the extent to which individuals contribute to a particular project. All lab members should track their contributions in a manner which is accessible to all project collaborators. Authorship disputes or disagreements should be resolved by the following: 1) collaborative review of APA guidelines for authorship, 2) discussion between authors of contribution as it relates to APA guidelines, 3) request for lab leader mediation if authorship disputes cannot be resolved by following the prior steps.

6. Addressing challenges: if lab members begin working together on a project and do not complete expected contributions, the following steps will be taken to address challenges: 1) informal problem solving and revisiting deadlines, 2) discussion if issues continue, 3) discussion with faculty and project leader if needed, 4) removal from the project. Of note: we aim to honor commitments and recognize the negative impact we have on other lab members by not meeting these; however, we also recognize that it is more harmful to continue to say we will work on a project when we know we are not able to do so.