November 2015


How to Take Family Conversations from Painful to Pleasant

By Leanne Page, M.Ed, BCBA bSci21 Contributing Writer, and your “Behavior BFF” A parent writes:  “My son likes to talk about the Octonauts (Cartoon). If I hear one more thing about Kwazii the cat, I may stab myself in the…


10 Excruciatingly Painful Steps to a Better Life

By Scott Herbst, PhD bSci21 Contributing Writer Back in September, I wrote about integrity, what it is, why it contributes to your experience of self, and how to restore your integrity when it goes out.  The nickel version is basically…


One way to teach self control with ABA.

By Todd A. Ward, PhD, BCBA-D Founding Editor, bSci21.org Self control is something many applied behavior analysts target in their behavior plans as it is a skill that, if learned, can help remove barriers to skill development in the form…


JEAB: Contingent Shock Increases Response Rate

By Todd A. Ward, PhD, BCBA-D Founding Editor, bSci21.org The presentation of shock contingent on a response should decrease responding, right?  Not necessarily. A study by Everly and Perone in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior demonstrated that response-dependent shock can…


When behavior persists during extinction…

By Todd A. Ward, PhD, BCBA-D Founding Editor, bSci21.org Intermittent schedules of reinforcement make behavior more resistant to extinction, right?  Maybe not. According to a study published by MacDonald, Ahearn, Parry-Cruwys, Bancroft, and Dube in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, behavior…


9 Tips to Avoid Paralysis by Analysis

By Manny Rodriguez, M.S. bSci21 Contributing Writer How do you behave when it comes to decision-making? Do you spend a long time thinking over every single decision? Are you sometimes afraid of making the wrong decision? Do you feel a need…


Science vs. Human Behavior: Designing a Sustainable Culture

By Julia Fiebig, PhD, BCBA bSci21 Contributing Writer I’ve never been to Paris in December, but I imagine if there, in spite of the cold, my sight would be captivated by the shorter winter days, and the holiday lights enhancing…


Did she really say that? Or was it my derived relational response?

By Scott Herbst, PhD bSci21 Contributing Writer I’d like to write about reinforcing good social behavior.  It’s something we recommend; I don’t know that we practice it so well.  I was really confronted by this recently when a colleague reached…


You know you are a behavior analyst when…

By Emaley McCulloch, M.Ed., BCBA bSci21 Contributing Writer You know you are a behavior analyst when… you are making a behavior plan in your head for the kid in front of you in the grocery store line. you compare bruises…