There is No Such Thing as a Bad Behavior Analyst
Recorded in 2023
Abstract:
A growing number of people peremptorily characterize behavior analysis as an intrusive and harmful treatment. But BA is not a treatment. BA is a science, a very powerful science. The axiomatic assumption underlying the science is that behavior is a function of circumstances. And that assumption is the most powerful idea ever invented by personkind for understanding, knowing, and approaching human behavior especially when it is a problem. This idea is woven into the conceptual fabric of numerous effective inventions for some of the most intractable behavior/psychological problems confronting humans in the modern world. An abbreviated list includes juvenile delinquency, various forms of addiction, Tourette’s syndrome, multiple other less pernicious habit disorders, almost every form of incontinence, sleep problems, lifesaving medical compliance, high intensity self-injurious behavior, anorexia, suicidal ideation, and I could keep going. But the purpose of this talk is to honor behavior analysts, not the effective treatments they use, and that the idea pervades. For two reasons. First the culture at large does not properly honor behavioral service-oriented work especially if the beneficiaries of the work have very limited access to political, economic, and social resources. And second, behavior analysts do not properly honor their fellow behavior analysts, and all too often, even themselves. This talk is part of an ongoing campaign to address both concerns.
Objectives
Attendees will be able to describe the foundational assumption underlying behavior analysis otherwise known as the circumstantial view of behavior.
Attendees will be able to describe at least three ways that the circumstantial view of problem behavior is superior to the conventional view.
Attendees will be able to recognize at least four serious and historically intractable behavioral/psychological problems.
Attendees will be able to describe at least three ways that practicing behavior analysts routinely serves people in need.
