Behavior Analysis

The WiFi connection in my apartment is not the greatest. When I try to use my various gadgets for connecting to the internet from my bedroom, the service often cuts out, leaving me suspended outside…

Every parent has heard their child(ren) say “Well, if you don’t let me (fill in the blank), then I will (fill in the blank).”  Every child has heard their parent(s) say, “Well if you (fill in…

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.”  For most of my adult life I have been in the enviable position of being able to do…

(Note: This commentary was written during Dr. Lattal’s sabbatical year in France) My apartment in France came with a washer/dryer combo unit, which is simply wonderful. The last time I…

There is a great deal of emphasis on testing and outcome in American education circles these days.  School systems, individual schools, and individual teachers all have had the onus on them to…

“Always faithful” is a message not only for members of the United States Marines but also for anyone involved in changing behavior. The core principle of behavior change is reinforcement, and the…

I ran across this quaint old expression recently in an 1839 novel by British writer Frances Trollope (the mother of Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope, for you trivia fans). Though it was my first…

A common aphorism is that if you “build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door."  Although that was not really what Ralph Waldo Emerson said, this common expression survives…

Or is it? What makes things the same and what makes them different? When I say “a kiss” or “she kissed me,” certain images are conjured up. What is conjured, however, may vary hugely. A kiss given by…

Richard Coniff takes some of the lessons he has learned from writing a number of books on natural history, specifically, the behavior of nonhuman animals in their natural habitats, and extrapolates…

Environments shape behavior even when people don’t.  A more fundamental behavioral process is difficult to imagine. Skilled shapers - people like animal trainers in amusement parks, most…

Announcer during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, after watching US gymnast Gabby Douglas fall off the balance beam in that event’s final competition: “Her focus is just not on today.”   “…

In a recent piece, I introduced readers to the pigeon as the subject extraordinaire for laboratory research on basic learning processes. Pigeons are used because of their long lives and their…

At a recent luncheon I found myself in conversation with two interesting entrepreneurs who had, over the past 16 months, created what seemed to be a quite excellent behavior recording/management…

I spent a sabbatical year in Lille, France, a city surrounded by what Colonel John McCrae immortalized as “Flanders Fields.” Some of the most horrific fighting that has ever taken place on…

A listener recently told Ira Glass, host of the NPR show This American Life, that he was told that pigs’ rectums were being sold by packing plants to be used as artificial calamari. The…

Is that how you teach persistence, resilience and grit?  This is another story that just drives me crazy! I have read several articles and blogs about the value in failing. Are they kidding?…

Self-awareness is a topic of great interest in psychology. It’s important in everything from personal health care to problem solving, but one of its most important implications is in terms of how we…