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The following article appeared recently in the New York Times. It describes how police in Mumbai, India, undertook an experiment to control the excessive blowing of car horns by drivers caught in what must be nightmarish traffic in that largest of Indian cities.

Happiness pervades modern life. It is a major topic of talk-show interviews, best-selling books, psychotherapeutic interactions, everyday gossip (“How can she really be happy with him?”), and personal ruminations. Poets, cartoonists, and novelists have done as good a job as psychologists in understanding it.

The A-B-A, or reversal, design is one of the most recognized, single-case experimental designs in both research and practice (although in practice, the return to baseline is followed by a return to the treatment, or B, phase). In non-experimental settings, A-B, or non-reversal designs, occur often.

“Why did Johnny just throw the mother of all temper tantrums?” is a question many of you have asked and been asked, in some form or another. The response to this question, under scrutiny, may have been different. The perpetrator may have been different. The circumstances may have been different.

Every behavior analyst (hopefully) has learned that ours is a science of behavior. We do not learn that ours is a science of the individual or a science of the person. Why is that? Are we not, however, concerned with people, you may ask? Are we not concerned with the human condition?

3 Steps to protect your team during pandemicsLessons from Lean Hospitals and OBMWhen pandemics st

A few days into the “home-isolation” policy during the Coronavirus outbreak of 2020, David, one of my colleagues at the Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas made a smart suggestion:

Measurement of performance and performance appraisals strike fear in the hearts of employees and supervisors alike.

As behavior analysts, we are specifically trained to find functional alternatives to ongoing issues. We are frequently called on when a child or an adult becomes overly aggressive, either towards themselves or others.

 

It’s COVID-19, and everyone is talking about new shows to binge-watch or new hobbies to start. How nice.