Inside Behavior Analysis
Volume 2 | 2010 | Number 1 | On-line ISSN: 2151-4704
2010 ABAI Presidential Address: Steps to Take and Missteps to Avoid on the Quest for Mainstream Relevance
Monday, May 31, 5:00 p.m.–5:50 p.m.
Ballroom A (CC)
Patrick C. Friman (Father Flanagan’s Girls and Boys Town)
Patrick C. Friman
Patrick C. Friman is Director of Clinical Services at Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home (Boys Town) and a Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Nebraska School of Medicine. He also served as Director of Clinical Training and Associate Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno and formerly held faculty positions at the University of Pennsylvania, John Hopkins, and University of Kansas Schools of Medicine. He is an internationally recognized expert in the application of behavior analytic methods to behavioral medicine. One of his specialties is behavioral pediatrics, particularly on the successful treatment of common, but potentially serious, childhood behavior disorders such as habits, sleep problems, oppositional behavior, and incontinence. He has published more than 170 articles, two books, and is widely recognized as a preeminent lecturer and disseminator of the values and applications of behavior analysis to both layman and scientific audiences. He has served as a reviewer or editorial board member for virtually every major behavioral journal and was the Editor of The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis during the years 2005-2007.
Abstract: Behavior analysis is a generic science and Skinner’s vision was for it to become a mainstream science relevant to most, if not all, human concerns, both major and minor. Clearly, his vision has not been realized, despite the fact that behavioral analysis has produced numerous extraordinary findings in both basic and applied domains. Those outside the field continue to view its general relevance to basic or applied knowledge of human affairs as very limited. The behavior analytic approach to human behavior, however sexy and satisfying it may be to its few adherents (recall Skinner’s lament, “We happy few, but why so few?”), is simply not sexy or satisfying to everyone else. Among the many plausible reasons for this state of affairs is that its best known basic science findings have been obtained from studying rats and pigeons and its best known applied science findings from studying persons with developmental disabilities. But there are multiple other possibilities. Behavior analysis employs an arcane language even when discussing mundane subjects. Furthermore, although that language is eminently capable of capturing the dynamics of behavior—its primordial subject matter—it seems completely incapable of capturing the aesthetics of that subject matter. Its adherents exhibit a deep mistrust of, and even contempt for, the treasured concepts used by the masses to discuss and explain their lives. Although behavior analysts eschew mentalism, many engage in it when talking about or to their critics. There are still other possibilities that explain behavior analysis’s lack of prominence, but space limitations and reader patience bid me stop. In my presidential address I will suggest some steps to take and missteps to avoid as we happy few slowly, but inexorably, trudge forward in our quest for mainstream relevance, the rightful context for the extraordinary science of behavior analysis.