[Source:  bSsci21.org]

By Christopher Bloh .D., BCBA-D, Guest Writer

I don’t think that I’m unique as a behavior analyst to say that I understand my world through Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).  What my friends may say is ‘fun,’ I note as reinforcing (provided that the behavior is repeated).  When students or others greet me at work, I wonder if they are manding for just attention or something else.  If my communicative partner replies something that I view to be odd, I mark it as an incorrect or inappropriate intraverbal.  Being given vocal directions on an exercise, I say to myself, “Don’t bother telling me about it.  I’m just going to engage in motor imitation.”  While this may seem odd, weird, or geeky for the non-behavior analyst, this is fun for me.  It helps me to understand and even control (a little…maybe) how my world works.  It may sound like a cliché, but my behavior analyst ‘meter’ does not stop running when I’m outside of work.  I analyze the world around me on the way home, in stores, and even analyze behaviors and stimuli that occur at home.  Don’t pity me.  As I stated previously, this is fun and apparently reinforcing for me.

Read the Rest of this Article on bSci21.org