Blog Topics
Looking for something specific? The following topics address a wide range of business needs and challenges.
Get Outta My Head
Have you ever had someone perceive you to be a certain way as if they know what you’re thinking? I just received an invitation to a webinar that teaches managers to read people’s minds. What a…
The Pleasure of Reinforcement
I don’t know about you, but I would describe most of the things that positively reinforce my behavior as “pleasurable.” But, hold on, you say. One of the first things one learns when being taught…
Shaping the Shaper
Shaping is the process whereby we selectively (differentially, for the more technically inclined) reinforce closer and closer approximations to our goal or target behavior to eventually achieve that…
Queens Paideia School: Educational Excellence
Let me introduce you to one school that we think has much of offer American education. Aubrey Daniels and I went to visit Dr. Francis Mechner’s kindergarten through 8th grade Paideia School in…
The Temper Tantrum Heard ‘round the World: What’s a Mother to Do?
Well, this was a little embarrassing for someone. A recent article in the Washington Post described, and included a picture of, a 2-year old having a “full-on” (in the reporter’s words; a…
The Long and Short of Consequences
Everyone on the planet must by now be familiar with the notion of short and long-term consequences of things we do. For those of you familiar with the PICNIC Analysis® made famous by Aubrey…
A Review of "The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self Control" by Walter Mischel
Reviewed by Ronnie Dietrich, Senior Fellow, The Wing Institute, Oakland, California
Very few psychological experiments become well known within the discipline. Even fewer become well…
What is Behavior?
This is a web site largely concerned with the advancement of behavior analysis, but what exactly do we mean by the word behavior? Dictionary definitions indicate that behavior is something an…
Behavior and the Role of Unintended Consequences
Behavior and the Role of Unintended Consequences: Examples from Process Engineering and Bold Community Initiatives
Organizational ethics takes more than good people seeking to do good. It takes more…
I was going to give you feedback but…
How a leader provides feedback is one of those distinguishing factors between being a leader by title and being a truly effective leader. The delivery of frequent feedback allows for continuous…
Unconditional Positive Regard and Response-Independent Reinforcers
The humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers suggested that a most important feature of human interactions was unconditional positive regard, which is defined as “basic acceptance and support of a person…
Behavior Analysis in Mexico: A Long-Standing Tradition
(Note: As part of our From the Field series on behavior analysis around the world, Professors Alicia Roca and Rogelio Escobar of the National Autonomous University of Mexico have kindly written the…
Love and Rock Climbing: A Shaping Story
Shaping is a powerful tool for teaching any new skill. Although most shaping of our behavior is done inadvertently, people who use this process purposefully are better coaches and leaders who…
Behavior Analysis in Colombia
Note from the Institute: This is the second in our series on the status of behavior analysis in countries around the world. Our observer is Andres Garcia-Penagos, who currently is completing his Ph.D…
Beyond the Limits of Intelligence: Children’s Unlimited Potential in Deliberate Practice
Note: The Institute’s guest commentator, Dr. Darnell Lattal, recently assumed the role of Executive Director of the Aubrey Daniels Institute. She was trained as a clinical psychologist, and for many…
Differences 101
I love William James’s observation that, “there can be no difference anywhere that doesn’t make a difference elsewhere – no difference in abstract truth that doesn’t express itself in concrete…
Stability and Change
Getting a baseline of our target behavior before introducing a treatment is essential to assessing the effectiveness of what we are doing, whether it is trying to change a personal bad habit or help…
Standing Up for Ethics
In the ABC series, What Would You Do? host John Quiñones places ordinary folks in situations that force them to make tough, ethical decisions. Will they step in when someone is being mistreated? If a…