BehaviorAnalysis-Speak

Revised on 1/4/14

In your class discussion posts, in your CAs, and in whatever you do as a part of your course, or whenever you're dealing with your fellow behavior analysts on professional matters (when you're hanging out at a bar it's different), you should use behavioral language. Think before you speak or write. Are you about to indulge in mentalistic language? Say or write something that invites or reveals circular reasoning? The stuff in the latter part of Ch. 2 (starting with "Avoid Circular Reasoning" on p. 26 & through p. 32) just might be the most important material in the book. There's a close connection between how you think and how you speak/write. Each has effects on the other. If you want to understand behavior, you have to speak and write about it properly. If you speak and write about it properly, you're more likely to think about it properly too.