Behavior Analysis

It’s not unusual to hear behavior or the circumstances surrounding it described as either “simple” or “complex.” Used to describe our human interactions, these terms often substitute in various ways…

The main title of this commentary was one among many New Year’s resolutions that our local coffee shop invited customers to post on its blackboard (yes, a real blackboard in this digital day and age…

In several earlier commentaries, I have discussed different aspects of shaping behavior by reinforcing successive approximations to the target response – essentially a behavior-analytic version of…

Are our actions determined by the past or by the future? We often speak of implementing plans, looking to the future, and having goals in mind. Our behavior is said to have purpose and intention, to…

The government of Slovakia recently was reported (click here for the New York Times report) to have been having great difficulty collecting value-added taxes (basically, a sales tax) from many…

Are we concerned with "rewarding" or "reinforcing" behavior? Does it matter? Although perhaps not the most burning question in behavior analysis, it does bear on some important issues to those who…

Can it be that only some people like positive reinforcement? The older I get, the more half-truths and unsupported declarations bug me.  Nowhere is this more evident to me than the way writers,…

Behavior is said to be selected by its effects, or consequences, in a way that is similar to the selection of physical characteristics occurs in Darwinian natural selection.  In both instances,…

The principles of operant learning are well known.  If, for example, you give your dog treats from the dinner table, it is highly likely that, whenever you eat, the forlorn critter will be…

The Innovative Work of Betty Hart and Todd Risley Here we recognize the seminal, innovative work of Betty Hart and Todd Risley analyzing the role of early verbal interactions in subsequent academic…

Every business and discipline has its technical terms, neologisms, and acronyms. Such word usage is of great value to those within what we in behavior analysis call a particular “verbal community” (…

The self appears frequently in psychological literature. It is one of Freud’s three structures of human personality and appears in most other personality theories in one form or another, as well as…

Imagine yourself in front of a soft drink machine. You insert your money and make your selection. Nothing happens. Nada. No drink, just a cold, apparently empty machine staring you in the face. What…

In a previous commentary (Technology and Behavior Around the Office Coffee Machine), I described a mechanical solution to the problem of getting people to refill the coffee machine’s water reservoir…

In behavior analysis, a reinforcer is defined functionally, in terms of its effect on behavior. Thus, something (or someone or some activity) is said to be a reinforcer if it develops or maintains…

In discussing compliance or adherence to treatment recommendations, be they drugs, exercises or instructions to cease smoking, one of my colleagues, Stephanie Kincaid, observed the distinction…

In medical research it is well established that the biology of rats and mice is sufficiently similar to humans that these nonhuman species are used routinely and without challenge to further the…

One of my colleagues sent me a link to a New York Times article by Alfie Kohn, Do Our Kids Get Off Too Easy?.  As with most articles by Mr. Kohn, I shouldn’t respond but figured somebody might…