Book Outline

 

Radical Behaviorism for ABA Practitioners

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1 An unavoidable (but Reasonable) Assumption

FREE OR DETERMINED?

Inside versus outside

Are we free to choose?

Or is our behavior determined?

Competing assumptions

A few more issues

Non-physical causation

Responsibility

Choice

Yes, your assumption is itself determined

CONSEQUENCES FOR PRACTITIONERS

2 It’s Just Verbal Behavior

SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT VERBAL BEHAVIOR

Do you agree…?

Verbal behavior is learned

What is verbal behavior?

How do we learn our verbal repertoire?

ORGANIZATION OF VERBAL BEHAVIOR

The concept of response classes

Verbal response classes

Reconsidering conventional concepts

GIVEN THAT VERBAL BEHAVIOR IS LEARNED…

Just verbal behavior?

What is a conviction?

Is something missing?

3 Nevermind

CAUSE AND EFFECT

IS MAKING UP YOUR MIND LIKE MAKING UP YOUR BED?

What is mentalism?

The mind-body problem

Do mental explanations explain?

Inventing inside “causes”

WHAT IS REALLY INSIDE?

Public vs. private

What about thinking?

And emotions and feelings?

Learning to respond to private events

Traits, attitudes, moods, and all that other stuff

WHAT TO DO ABOUT MENTALISM

4 Seeing yourself

LEARNING TO TALK ABOUT OURSELVES

Our verbal community

Who do you think you are?

Perception, awareness, attention, and consciousness

THE BEHAVIOR OF SENSING

The role of reinforcement history

Seeing that you are seeing

MANAGING OUR BEHAVIOR

Self-control

Self-reinforcement

5 The Misdirection of Everyday Dialect

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANGING

PURPOSE, INTENTION, AND GOALS

PROBLEM SOLVING

RULES, ADVICE, AND INSTRUCTIONS

6 Is There Something Special About Reasoning?

WHAT IS REASONING?

More than verbal behavior?

The proposition

Premises and conclusions

Logicality and rules

Deductive reasoning

Inductive reasoning

7 Behavioral Responsibility

CREATIVITY

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE?

ARE WE THEN BLAMELESS?

IT COMES DOWN TO RESPONSIBILITY

CONSCIENCE

8 Ethics, Rights, and Values – Without the Heat

ETHICS AND ETHICAL COMMUNITIES

RIGHTS

What are rights?

And where do rights come from?

VALUES

What are values?

Are values beyond science?

TAKING THE HEAT OUT OF ARGUMENTS

9 A social Life

CULTURE

Culture-free contingencies

And the influence of culture

NATURAL SELECTION

WHERE CAN THIS LEAD?

A role for behavioral science

Cultural engineering

10 Radical Behaviorism

RADICAL BEHAVIORISM

The philosophy of the science of behavior analysis

Historical context

Radical vs. methodological behaviorism

A matter of opinion?

Selling radical behaviorism