Comments on Dr. Foxcroft’s Classification System

Excerpt

What is the purpose of a taxonomic system for prevention? From a functional contextualist’s perspective (Biglan and Hayes 1996; Hayes et al. 2012), one would hope that the system contributes to the prediction and influence of behavior with precision, scope, and depth (Biglan and Hayes 1996; Hayes et al. 2012). We precisely predict and influence a phenomenon when we can use a limited number of concepts that unambiguously apply to the phenomenon or its context. Our analyses are broad in scope when they apply to a wide range of phenomena. An analysis has depth when it coheres with analyses at other levels, such as an analysis of the environmental influences on behavior that is consistent with an analysis of the biological processes that mediate these influences on behavior. In this sense, to say that a taxonomic system is functional implies that it contributes to prediction and influence. …