I like mindfulness as the behavior of self-thought observation and something that can be changed.

Not sure of the abstract nature of the discussion – is this based on a particular religion or thought process?

I’ve just uncovered INFO you might find relevant on ABA race, ethnicity & gender @ Data USA:

https://datausa.io/profile/cip/applied-behavior-analysis#demographics

As a 60-year old White male, ironically, I too feel an outsider as my research concerns Hispanic-Latino(H-L)ABAs and the rates of H-L ASD-clients successfully finding gainful employment … for this USA data suggests the professional ABA community is predominately White females; e.g. my positionality is one of both a White non-H-L AND an old White man. But these issues should not discourage either of us! Best wishes on your quest! G

I also agree with the commnent about the personal touch and I think if we can use technology to support Applied Behavior Analysis, in the field, we will have more time to build rapport and develop essential relationships with those we serve in ABA. As long as the technology is not the focus but the tool, I think it can be useful.

Todd and only Todd?

Over the years I’ve watched between 50-75+ supervisors leave this large organization. It’s been eye opening, but at the same time, unsettling.

In addition to the demanding work load, I’ve failed the BCBA test, 7 times. The last 2 times that I attempted my scores were between 390-395/400.

I am an ambitious behavior analyst at heart, however I’m currently conflicted as a Masters level supervisor, due to the frequent interruptions to my “behavior momentum” as I continue to take the BCBA exam every 3 months and struggle with the demands of the field. I just wanted to take the time to thank you for validating the barriers and challenges that behavior analysts‘ experience.

I surely hope Greta will win, as this could lead to improvement in many other social issues.

Rich

At this time we do not have supervision CEs. Thanks for your interest!

I’m wondering if your Culture & Turnover CE course (link below) would count toward Supervision CEs. It isn’t explicitly stated in the course description. Thanks!

https://bsci21.org/shop/ceus/on-demand/how-aba-agencies-can-improve-corporate-culture-to-reduce-turnover-and-increase-quality-of-services-1-ceu/

Sincerely,
Kayla from AllDayABA

A behavioristic analysis of covert striatal behavior is provocative for one simple reason, namely that it explains all contemplative meditative practices (meditation, mindfulness, relaxation response) , and incorporates those disciplines under an empirically based theory of learning, or a radical behaviorism. Following behavior analytic practice, my explanation must be judged practically and refuted easily, or in other words its validity is judged from the simple and testable procedure that it engenders (p.45-48).

The entire corpus of research on contemplative practices is highly mentalistic and does not subscribe to the clear syntax and rigorous semantics (i.e. clear definition of terms mapped to real empiric events) that are the hallmark of a radical behaviorism. To overturn this well entrenched and lucrative perspective calls for nothing less than a revolution in psychology, and a vindication of the unfortunately marginalized discipline of behavior analysis.

My work is largely based on the latest iteration of incentive or discrepancy-based models of motivation representative of the work Dr. Kent Berridge of the University of Michigan. Although not a Skinnerian, Berridge is a renowned bio-behaviorist and affective neuroscientist. Berridge was kind to vet and endorse the book I have linked below.

My explanation and argument are tiered into three parts, for a lay audience (pp.7-48), an expanded academic version (pp.49-82), and a formal journal article published on the topic in the International Journal of Stress Management. Still, all is moot if the procedure is ineffective.

https://www.scribd.com/doc/284056765/The-Book-of-Rest-The-Odd-Psychology-of-Doing-Nothing

https://www.scribd.com/doc/121345732/Relaxation-and-Muscular-Tension-A-bio-behavioristic-explanation

And Holmes’ Article on Meditation and Rest from ‘The American Psychologist’

https://www.scribd.com/document/291558160/Holmes-Meditation-and-Rest-The-American-Psychologist

Yep, who can remember Pavlov ringing a bell each time a dog mis-behaved? Or Skinner & Ferster’s book, “Schedules of Punishment”? Me neither.

I see that this article popped up on FB again today 16 Feb 2019, but that it was originally published on bsci21.org back on 21 August 2015. I wonder if the author of the Mother Jones article has learned anything about any real “Skinner method” since then. Any odds-takers?

Thank you

It appears that the link you sent to the Therrien and Rodriguez article isn’t working. I took me to a 404 page on the OBM Network site. Do you have another link for this article?

Would this CEU fall under the “Supervision” CEU for the BACB recertification requirements?

For example, my basement could be or not be flooded. The reality of that situation will help determine if I take appropriate actions to remediate the flood or not.

This seems to be to be taking FC too far out of the therapy room.

It’s a sensitization training. Epigenetics have already discussed the transfer of methyl tags from generation to generation. A mother may transfer to her kids a trait that will allow the kids to be more hypersensitive. Of course, I’m not talking technical terms, but epigenetics have already discussed this.

One of your previous students from UWO here. I canlme across this article recently on Facebook. You article was so wonderful to read and I agree with your points that we have to look at the whole picture! I would be interested in what your solution was to your initial problem with implementation. Thanks for providing some perspective!

Mary Ann
Colorado

We would recommend using the BACB’s searchable database to find a Board Certified Behavior Analyst near you. You can find the database at https://www.bacb.com/find-a-certificant/

Good Luck!

If the quality of the recording is good then yes!

Todd

I’m not sure the exact count but Functional Analytic Psychotherapy has spread worldwide. Seattle and Washington University is the central point from which it spread. Mavis Tsai and Bob Kohlenberg (the founders) have led efforts to spread it as a community intervention. As with behavior analysis, no certification is really ‘required’ to use behavioral principles in life or in social relationships.

Should you want to learn FAP skills, we offer private consultation for development in partnership with ENSO Group. You can email Angela Cathey, MA (a.cathey@ensogroup.us or dev@bsci21.org) for more information on our consultation packages and other CEs that might fit your interests.

“‘Look at how calm they were sitting there waiting. No one was crying or anything. It was astonishing,’ the mother of one of the boys told the AP, referring to a widely shared video of the moment the boys were found.

Turns out that their coach, Ekapol Chanthawong, who led them on a hike into the cave when it flooded on June 23, trained in meditation as a Buddhist monk for a decade before becoming a soccer coach. According to multiple news sources, he taught the boys, ages 11 to 16, to meditate in the cave to keep them calm and preserve their energy through their two-week ordeal.”

But there’s no doubt. For whatever reason the coach ignored multiple warning signs. Maybe they could have been more assertively written or better highlighted, but the coach should never have brought his team to this potential tragedy. It seems all too likely that multiple children will be lost without incredibly creative training and resource distribution. I foresee a line linking the children, SCUBA tanks and places where additional tanks are located along the way. But the darkness, the rising waters, and the very dangerous conditions are all a severe challenge.

A modified/informal process which mirrors BST was used by the rescue divers, very effectively, when they were learning to dive. However, there are not suitable conditions, resources, or time for the rescuers to now implement these procedures during the process of teaching those who are trapped. The soccer team will not be learning to dive; they will only be learning how to breathe underwater and not panic while they are being moved along through the cave.
Which leads me to….

I do agree that meditation, mindfulness, and defusion techniques would be incredibly helpful for those who are trapped (as well as the rescuers themselves) to have in their repertoire, especially during the process of moving the boys out. However, don’t you think that these would need to have been learned, rehearsed, and mastered before being placed into this situation?
They are desperately pressed for time now, trying to prepare the boys to be taken out; they can’t delay the process any further by spending time teaching these mindfulness techniques. Other very real threats to their survival (e.g. drowning and suffocating) are more pressing concerns.

This is just my two cents. I’ve been thinking about this too much for the past week. :-/

Thanks for this article 🙂

KF

Hope some of that helps! Good luck & Yay for ABA! 🙂

Thanks!

Actually from W Edwards Deming

The quote reads “level displays the average rate of responding.” Which means the total number of data points across time divided by the number of data points, or some other measure of central tendency. For example if your data points are 4,5,6,7,8 then the arithmetic mean rate of responding is 6. Using the median it would also be 6. Using the Geometric Mean the average rate of responding would be 5.8. In short the measure of central tendency selected to determine level is the average of the data points. In-regards to the significance of the x2 celeration I would reference the Precision Teaching Book (Kubina & Yurich, 2012) for a good source of ranging values of significant growth. I hope this is helpful.

Best,

Sal

Also, I’d love some literature that indicates the 2x celeration is clinically significant. I’ve heard this before, but I’d like to be able to cite it.

I’d love to hear any more thoughts from others about this.

I read your article as a call to arms to fellow BCBAs to begin talking about how we can advance the usefulness of behavior analysis in systems that see the practice of behavior analysis as antithetical to person centered practices. I am interested in hearing and discussing specific ideas as to how we might do this. Any takers? Harla, might you be interested in writing another article extending your thoughts on this ? Thank you for writing this article. It is a great start to a much needed discussion.

– Alfred Kinsey

Thank you for your kind comments! You are definitely correct that higher rates of reinforcement increase a behavior’s resistance to extinction. When discussing the alternative, replacement behavior, we would begin with a continuous schedule of reinforcement and, once it reaches a desired and reliable state, we would want to slowly transition to an intermittent schedule of reinforcement. Basically, the understanding is that intermittent schedules are more resistant to extinction than continuous schedules due to the fact that it is almost immediately apparent to the individual whose behavior has been maintained on continuous reinforcement that the contingency has changed. Upon implementation of an extinction program for a behavior that has been maintained on continuous reinforcement, with the very next expression of the target behavior, the extinction program is felt. When behaviors are maintained on intermittent schedules, it may take a period of time before the individual realizes a change in contingency has occurred. Because the individual has expressed the target behavior a number of times without reinforcement, and only some of expressions of the behavior have obtained reinforcement, the extinction program, while officially “on,” may not actually influence the behavior the first time the reinforcer is withheld due to the seemingly random nature of the reinforcement.
I apologize if I was a bit confusing. 🙂
Harla

This article is so on point! Have you become certified as a BCBA yet? If so, what would be your follow-up to this article?

This is clearly not the case. Let’s break it down.

First, what is a gift? As far as I’m aware, the BACB does not provide a definition. It seems clear that an expensive watch or a holiday constitute a gift. A gift card – as the name suggets constitutes a gift. But what about a thank you card? A Christmas card?

A painting by a client? Does the monetary value of the painting affect the situation? For example, if the clients paintings sometimes sell for £100 dollars is that different from a situation where they have no monetary value.

A Starbucks coffee would seem to constitute a gift. But what about a glass of water? If your client is a business and you take a free water or coffee at reception, are you taking a gift? If working in a client’s home, does the water consitute a gift when it comes from a bottle or a tap in a situation where people do not pay for tap water?

Accepting a wedding gift for a client seems unprofessional. But what about something like a funeral card. Mass cards are given in some Catholic communities whereby somebody will pay to have a mass offered up for a loved one or the loved one of somebody they know. They may cost up to 20 dollars. If somebody receives such a card where a client has effectively paid a priest to pray for one of your loved one’s, do you return the card? Do you then contact the cleric and ask that they do not pray for your mother or father?

It seems clear that what constitues a gift depends on context and that there is no clear definition. The BACB is not helpful in defining “gift”.

Next, let’s move to the “multiple relationship” that is somehow established. When you work in certain sectors, at certain times of the year or folllowing certain events, it is normal to provide your colleagues or clients with gift baskets or cards of gratitude. The recipient and the giver both understand that this does not alter the nature of their relationship. It is simply customary that in these contexts you provide tokens of esteem, gratitude and respect to business colleagues. If I run a small recruitment company and I, like all of the other companies that provide recruitment services to a local IT company, receive a hamper from that company, I do not imagine that the CEO of the IT company and I will soon by going for drinks together at my local bar.

In some communities, it is customary to provide workers who work in the home with offers of food or drink. And in some, it is considered rude or offensive to refuse. You can of course refuse and explain, but given that within many of these communities, it is customary to strongly refuse and offer justifications for refusal when the offer is made, you are not communicating what you are saying.

Which raises another issue. Refusal to accept gifts can lead to an alteration to the professional relationship in much the way that we fear accepting gifts can. A professional relationship is usually based on respect for the client and in a good professional relationship, you ensure that the client and other stakeholders also feel respected. The refusal to accept a gift in a context where it is customary to do so within the context of a professional relationship can often be interpreted by the rejected client or stakeholder as a deliberate act of disrespect. With accepting gifts, we fear that clients may believe that we are friends. When we reject gifts, we, in some cases, risk clients believing that we are enemies.

Lastly, I think we need to be realistic about our relationships with clients. Multiple relationships are inevitable. Let’s take the example of an ABA tutor who works in the home of a client on a daily basis for 5 hours per day. They’re working with a three year old child. They provide them with care and therapeutic input under the supervision of a BCBA consultant. After 5 years of working with that child for 5 hours per day, is there anybody who would have a purely professional relationship with that child? If that child were to die, would they not feel pain and loss? Is it possible to care for somebody for that long and over such a period of time and not love that child? I’m talking about love that is essentially the same as that of a family member, but I’m not sure that I would want anybody working with my son or daughter who could feed them, clothe them, toilet them, teach them how to speak and to listen, play with them etc. and not hold some degree of affection for that child? We say that the code applies to those who are seeking certification and yet many of them will find themselves in such situations.

The intent of the rules related to multiple relationships is good, but they are not good rules. They are not based on evidence and they fail to acknowledge the fact that behaviour analysts operate in a large number of different contexts across the planet. In fact, worse than not being based on evidence, it is quite clear that the claim that accepting a gift “constitutes a multiple relationship” is false.

The issue is tackled in more depth here:

http://mattbrodhead.squarespace.com/new-blog/2017/12/22/behavior-analysts-accept-gifts-during-practice-so-now-what

The alternatives offered in the piece above are useful but they don’t solve the problem. There is a reason that other professional organisations do not prohibit accepting gifts where it would be culturally inappropriate to refuse them. This rule may be useful in terms of disciplining those who engage in unethical behaviour but it creates far more problems than it solves.

Excellent and timely article!

Harla

Check out Behav Anal. 2002 Fall; 25(2): 135–150. Some great quotes throughout the interview.

On a personal note, I have not found a way to make money in ABA outside of ASD. And while I love my job and the young adults I work with, it has never been my career goal to work with this population. I’ve searched for OBM opportunities, including contacting the network, but the jobs just don’t exist where I live.

It is a simple app that help teams collect concrete data to make solid data based decisions. Formats include momentary time sample, frequency counter, duration, and simple interval timer. A random peer comparison can be included. Results can be generated as a chart to place directly into reports or as a CSV file (Excel) for further analysis. Templates can be saved for future use or shared across multiple devices so observations can be completed by a multidisciplinary team.

If you are interested, check out this introduction video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt0NwxY93VM
Email me if you have any questions – EdPsychLA.org@gmail.com

I would like to share my favourite Skinner quotes, though: “Regard no practice as immutable. Change and be ready to change again. Accept no eternal verity. Experiment.”

It really highlights how we ought to be approaching treatments and other supports in the field. I may only slightly disagree with the function point (everything we do has a function) but probably reword it as it’s not for social valid therapeutic reasons (we are using it when nothing else works as a necessity).

I also think those who are responding above in opposition are missing the key element in understanding restraints as necessary but not desired versus putting some type of apriori ban on restraints as a strategy in emergency situations.

I don’t know about others but that’s the only time restraints or any other type of aversive/potentially harmful procedures are put into place is when everything else fails. I certainly hope behavior analyst are using restraints or seclusions when other non-aversive, non-restrictive methods are available. So to claim it’s anything more than what we do when treatment fails is shocking. And if and when there are cases where restraint/seclusion is required (life or death), I would hope we would still consider this a failure and continue to advance our science to the point where we no longer have to.

This topic reminds me of this article, which is about a school (where I trained) that was able to get rid of most of their restraints, hospital visits, and injuries to students and staff.

https://www1.lehigh.edu/news/respect-begets-respect

It’s not meant to prove restraints are not necessary but does highlight some key issues surrounding this topic, including the perception that nothing else is working and restraints are the only option. They use to restrain all the time and thought it was just the way the clients were until they were able to get better practices in. But of course everyone anywhere that regularly uses restraints and seclusion says that. The JRC folks still say that, I asked for evidence last time and got anecdotes and some very loose case studies that did not ever document proper history of non-aversive, positive procedures with high fidelity under the right expertise.

Thank you so much for your post! You are absolutely right about the importance of excellent data! I believe that determining the child’s toileting schedule is vital to success, so your intensive dry checks every 10-minutes would absolutely set you up for the determination of an accurate toileting schedule that your parents – and others – can follow! Thank you for this! Harla

However, I would give the exact opposite advice for number 1.

I think that type of training leads to the problems we have in behavior analysis in being more widely accepted and our methods disseminated. It puts us into academic ghettos and gives a cult like mentality to the field.

Especially for those of us who aspire to be scientist and science based practitioners, we shouldn’t pick our methods/education on a community of practice but on what best science shows us. The former breeds loyalty to a group (arbitrarily), the latter loyalty to science and best practices.

I also want to point out that many behavior analyst exist outside of the ABA term, which weirdly has become the label for autism services. This can often make us think Applied Behavior Analysis as a broad discipline is more narrowly used than it actually is.

Look at contextual behavioral science and incredible wide depth and breath of the work being done there.

You mentioned schools and OBM but shocked you didn’t mention School-wide Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports programs, which are now in 1/5th of all schools and use the OBM procedures for school wide implementation (note, they hide it well but to those that know OBM, you can find the principles there).

What I typically find though is that many people who identify with ABA narrowly seen are those who have been trained in BCBA programs with the broad vision but very little training and direct contact with the broader world of behavior analysis. This often leads to frustration but also just shock that there are other folks, who are not BCBAs, who are just as much behavior analyst as they are doing great work.

Todd, is there a possibility of having a printable format accessible here?

Thank you!

https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Education-Practical-Guidebook-Understanding/dp/1597380563

I am trying to get my hours needed for the certification and being met with decline after decline. It made me realize that I made the wrong choice although my passion is working with children and their families.
I also found that when applying for positions they would ask me to apply for the assistant or lower positions and not the positions applied for.

Please offer some suggestions in moving forward. Can anyone also open the way for minorities in this field without feeling displace or uncomfortable while working in it?

RESAA outcomes would easily translate over. We need more focus on fluent implementation of instructional procedures.

Regardless, a great article and reminder about how to train staff! Thank you for sharing!!

I’ll be curious how BACB and BCBAs plan on handling all of these practices issues when it comes to scaling up. APBS and ACBS have done a great job of it but many of the criticisms raised in the articles can be raised (in some cases) against these two initiatives. Don’t we, as behavior analyst (note, not just BCBAs), need to have a broader conversation regarding expanding behavior analysis beyond individuals with what autism and what tradeoffs will look like in that respect between rigorous data collection and wide scale change?

Thank you for this excellent article! It’s so important to find things that the child likes and values, as opposed to what we parents “think” he or she likes or should value. It’s so important to be aware that a child’s likes and preferences will change over time, and that we have to stay on top of those changes.

And finally, it’s so important to realize that when the reinforcers fail (i.e., are no longer valuable to the learner), that then the behavior plan is stuck.

Developing reinforcers and monitoring the child’s likes and dislikes are critically important for the child’s success.

Thank you!

Martha Gabler

Behavior Analysis in the 21st Century should consider revising editorial policies and accept only behaviorally based works. Students and newly certified behavior analysts may be confused when an article is published that is so far off from a behavioral account. Our Professional and Ethical Compliance Code section 6.01(a) states: “Above all other professional training, behavior analysts uphold and advance the values, ethics, and principles of the profession of behavior analysis.” It does not appear that this article is in compliance with that section, as the explanation is actually contrary to the principles of the profession.

This is such an incredible story about behavior analysis in action! 🙂 As I was reading your article, I kept thinking, “Wow! What a great way to build rapport with the community.” We live up to others’ expectations of us, so I wonder if it will promote a deeper sense of respect for local laws.

Great article!

Harla

Thank you for this interesting article. It is an excellent reminder of the role of the ABCs (Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence),and the crucial importance of the Consequence in maintaining behavior.

It seems that many people turn to antecedent-based strategies because they are unaware of how to implement consequence-based strategies.

In regards to transitions, the consequence-based approach known as Teaching with Acoustical Guidance (TAGteach) has been demonstrated to be effective in reducing problem behavior during transitions. Please see link to the research abstract here: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5443/. The PDF of the complete report is available at the bottom of that reference.

Thank you for raising this important issue.

Sincerely,
Martha Gabler
Autism Parent
TAGteach Faculty

Great job!

True for human learners as well.

Please email me at todd.ward@bsci21.org. Thank you!

Todd

I have gone on several job interviews where my color was an issue. The question is, there will be families who will not want a person who looks like me in their home. So, the assumption is if you are white, you are welcome wherever you go. If you are other, you are welcome in your own communities. Those of us in the field of ABA need to work harder to bring diversity to the forefront.

The last ABA convention I attended had about 5 African Americans out of 700 people.

Thank you so much for this article! It is a tremendous help as I too attend FIT. I am currently in BEHP 5017a. I completed the Intro course for OBM and that is where I fell in love with this subdivision of ABA. I am pursuing the Masters of Professional ABA (and BCBA certification) and taking the courses for the certificate in OBM. I had no idea there was a degree program. I looked on the site for such a program, but could not find it. Can you please tell me how I can find this info. I am seriously interested in a degree in OBM. My email is heatherprimus28@yahoo.com.

Thank you!

As educators do we not hyper-focus on a hierarchy of response competence rather than focus on a hierarchy of levels of learning leading up to abstract thinking a.k.a. concept formation that transcends people, places and time?

Very nice article, and I am sincerely hoping that your thoughts will be acted upon by many in the ABA community. My own experiences with fluency instruction, or fluency based instruction, OR Precision Teaching began with autistic teenagers in a program that I directed. My staff were amazing folks, most trained in errorless procedures through their work in Murray Sidman’s residential program WAY back at the Fernald State School. My staff and I wanted to assure that our students could learn new (and much more exciting!) tasks such as tool handling, fine motor vocational assembly tasks, etc. We used our excellent backward chaining skills to teach these tasks. BUT we kept seeing the tasks deteriorate over time. We were charting EVERYTHING our student’s did at the time, so we could see all too well that the well taught skills were falling apart, usually blocked by high frequency movements that were far better practiced. These “self stimulation” movements seemed almost impossible to stop! Eric Haughton, who we were fortunate to have as a consultant, noted that these movements were the best, most frequent movements of our students. We were regarding them as weeds in a garden of skills–he advised we learn to — USE these movements and adapt them to the skills we were trying to teach. Looking at small fragments of skill (the Big Six) changed our way of teaching AND our rate of success with our students! Keep up the good work!

Where does this leave us?
While Skinner did hypothesize various solutions, he did admit, disquietly, that the control over these behaviors were no match to responses/reinforcement to external stimuli that can be manipulated because the stimulus control over private events at best varies from speaker to speaker.

The heuristic you propose to “unify the behavioral sciences” in dealing with this vexing issue, is, in my view, an excellent first step towards assisting the industry in grappling and harnessing these “higher level constructs”, we cannot conspire to ignore.

Hayes, S.C., Dermot Barnes-Holmes, Roche, R.(2001). Relational Frame Theory. A Post-Skinnerian Account of Human Language and Cognition. Plenum Publishers. New York, NY

Skinner, B.F. (1957). Verbal Behavior. Prentice Hall, MA

From and organizational perspective, individual behavioral history is very difficult to assess. Even the very best employee selection instruments have only limited predictive ability, regarding future behavior. Really the only thing an organization can control are the on-the-job contingencies it establishes to encourage ethical and desirable behavior.

(But I prefer “behology” over behaviorology)

The problems are less being data driven since behavior analysis shares that reality with most clinical professions. The problems instead, I think, more reflect on those BCBAs who have learned a

1) ‘one trick pony’ approach but don’t actually know it;

2) think they can isolate out behavioral analytic treatments/interventions from the person’s world and primary other persons; and/or

3) don’t actually have the breadth of knowledge and experience to function as a primary clinical behavioral provider…but don’t actually know this, either.

https://www.linkedin.com/groups/86856/86856-6185708967784697860?trk=hp-feed-group-discussion

This is pretty close to what some might call “projecting.”

It’s particularly interesting to me in behavior analysis because I think we often walk a tight rope between “explaining” a phenomena based on behavior analytic epistemology (as Eli points out) and “explaining away” the phenomena. I think this is a separate issue from the topic of what behavior analysis has yet to explain (which is a lot!), even with RFT making great advances.

I often find that what people are objecting to is when they feel that their own first person conscious experience is somehow seen as less important or even some extreme cases, dismissed as not “true” because it is not couched in scientific behavioral terminology. Or that once we have a behavioral explanation, that the personal experience is no longer needed as it’s been reduced to behavioral lingo.

I think this is a mistake. As functional contextualism rightfully points out, behavior analysis is about approaching behavior for very specific scientific purposes with very specific goals and the epistemology/methods used are in service of those goals. That however does not undermine someone’s personal conscious experience of their life, nor does it replace it with a “better” scientific one. It adds to it, it has the personal conscious experience AND the scientific explanation.

To take the example of love, I think we would all agree that various behavioral principals can be utilized to explain love (predict and influence) but that also doesn’t substitute or reduce or explain away the personal experience of love or the qualitative account of love that people give.

The only one that I can highlight in my own field (School Psychology) is by Kent McIntosh, called the Vulnerable Decision Point (VDP) that is deployed for school staff to be able to pause and make better decisions based on objective procedure rather than emotional decisions in the moment, that would be based on more implicit (biased) responding.

I don’t think he has published any papers on it yet but here is a link to a presentation that covers it. Vulnerable Decision Point (VDP)

Looking forward to seeing your list in the future and what other steps we can take!