Response postings separately

Posting #1: What is behavioral analysis?

First of all, behavioral analysis is the scientific study of how people behave in one way to another. It the understanding, describing, predicting, and changing one’s undesirable behavior to a more desirable one. It is also where researchers look at all the factors of biological and environmental norms to be able to find the why and how to behaviors are to be changed accordingly. Behavior analysis focuses on the basic principles to individuals change their behaviors to have a better quality of life.

The one career I see for myself is working as an MFT and Behavioral Analyst to helping families with children with special needs by understanding how and why their child is responding to certain behaviors of the family system. I also see myself within the school system as well as working with DD population. Especially those who have been traumatized in one way or another. That alone can affect behavior in more ways than ever. I am especially interested in working with those on Autism Spectrum. I first became interested in this career advancement as I was completing my first Master’s MFT internship as I had two young brothers; one who was non verbal.

Working with the DD population within group homes was as well an rather rewarding experience as I learned how to respond to their emotional needs as their behavioral needs played a key role in getting what they desired from different staff members. Although I don’t know too much about the research behind behavior analysis; I am always finding out and looking up ways of communicating with responding to how they are trying to get their needs met.

References

New Mexico Association for Behavior Analysis. (2011). Retrieved from What is Behavior Analysis? : http://www.nmaba.org/ (Links to an external site.).

Posting #2: Hi everyone,

Behavior analysis is the observation of behavior to find the reason for the behavior, to then treat it with effective interventions. “The “analysis” part of behavior refers to our search for maintaining variables that prompt a behavior and for those that keep it going” (Bailey & Burch, pg 7). Kevin’s case is the most I found interesting because it is a scenario that can happen to anyone at any time. It was interesting to me because instead of being harsh on Kevin for his behavior, there was a different approach by trying to learn why the behavior is occurring. This is a type of situation that anyone can learn from because there is so much more that goes into why a person is behaving a certain way, and this behavior analysis search for that to know how to address it.

One of the new career possibilities that I see for myself is the possibility for conducting research and sharing my knowledge in other countries. This was an idea that had not crossed my mind until after I read some of the faculty bios. This interests me because it is collecting and sharing more information about behavior analysis to those who may not know much about it and gathering more information to the field.

Bailey, J., & Burch, M. (2006). How to think like a behavior analyst: Understanding the science that can change your life. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Posting # 3: What was most interesting in the required readings for this module was the scenario about Kevin. According to Bailey,J. & Burch, M (2006), behavior analysis involves finding a cause of a behavior. For example, you observe that a friend, “Kevin” is constantly interrupting a conversation when you get together for a party. You may think “that guy is such a jerk, I don’t know why I even hang out with him. I think you should dump him” As a behavior analyst, you may say to yourself “I wonder why Kevin does this? Its really rude and irritating but there must be something that sets him off” Everything you see people do has a cause. As competent behavior analysts, the next time this behavior is observed in Kevin, the behavior analyst should look for the stimulus that sets the stage for Kevin’s interrupting and watch closely for anything that seemed to prompt his rude behavior. He may interrupt when a certain person speaks or a certain topic comes up. As competent behavior analysts, would finding the cause of Kevin’s behavior help us to develop the most effective treatment plan possible to change this behavior in Kevin?

Reference

Bailey, J., & Burch, M. (2006). How to think like a behavior analyst: Understanding the science that can change your life. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.