Behavioral Inquiry
Where modern topics meet behavioral research
Category: General Psychology
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by Christian Sawyer, M.Ed., BCBA, LBS, IBA Perceived inauthenticity occurs when someone appears to belong to a group, adopting visible or behavioral traits like clothing, language, or voiced experiences, but is judged as failing to align with its in-group values, creating tension. We can see this in all kinds of subcultures, including even in online…
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Imagine for a moment, the process of therapy. It is a give and take where the participant wants change to occur, both in themselves, and in how they interact in the world. Something in the past has not gone as right as they’d like, and this process is meant to help them explore a better…
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No matter what you do, you’ll often find yourself in a position to either teach a skill or train someone in a proficiency you have. In some cases, many times. One of the most necessary parts in my line of work is data collection on human behavior and performance. I’ve met hundreds of professionals and…
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Failure is a tough topic to bring up but a necessary one. When we are in it, it’s all we can think about. When we are past it, we often do not want any further reminders of it. Failure, behaviorally, and psychologically, is a part of everything we do as a variable, and factors in…
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There are important assumptions, or attitudes of science, which ground scientific study across all disciplines; Determinism, Empiricism, Experimentation, Replication, Parsimony, and Philosophic Doubt. The last one holds a key role in how we deal with the information we gain from science, and what we do with it in the future. Philosophic Doubt is the attitude…
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“Token Economies”- two words springing up at Blockchain and Cryptocurrency summits and conferences with increasing regularity. Token Economies have been used by behavioral scientists and practitioners for decades, but recently they have taken off in the field of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency technologies. Both applications use the term “Token Economy” interchangeably. In technology conferences and summits,…
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Some hold firm to the idea that the division between behaviorism and cognitivism is a vast divide; where there is a winning theory and a losing theory. You’ll hear them- “Behaviorism died decades ago!” and “Thoughts about thoughts? That’s just unprovable mentalism!” shouted from entrenched believers until they are blue in the face. There may…
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In the early 20th century, there was a developmental psychologist named Lev Vygotsky working on theories of learning and development in parallel to many of the behaviorist traditions. If you were to ask a graduate student taking behavior analytic courses who Vygotsky was, they would most likely shrug their shoulders and wonder why that was…
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Forewarning to the regular readers; I’m talking about video games today. In particular, a fantastic action-adventure game I was turned on to by friends called Far Cry 5. That’s not an entire truth; I’ve played the predecessors too, but this one stands out to me narratively because it has a story based around social control.…
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Opinion piece time. I leave my political hat at home. Or, at least I try to. I leave my belief systems about policy and voting to conversations with friends, Twitter (if I can’t help myself), and the local networking events where local politicians from town hang out- that way it’s just contextual. I’m friends with…
Behavioral Inquiry 