The Power of Love

“We are only just beginning to understand the power of love because we are just beginning to understand the weakness of force and aggression.”
                                    - B.F. Skinner, Walden Two

This quote encapsulates the essence of the behaviourist view of society. Right now we use force and punishment and coercion to achieve socially beneficial ends, but ultimately this is doomed to fail and disappoint us. Only a society based on positive, voluntary interactions can succeed. 

The Punishment Society

This is the Prezi I recently delivered at a workshop the Wales Centre for Behaviour Change and Beehive Coaching organised for businesses here in the UK. In it I explore the concepts of behaviour change and why we need to switch from a society based on punishment to one based on reinforcement.

Please feel free to reuse my material for free but please do refer back to my website and the wales centre for behaviour change thank you. 

ABA Needs a Salesman

The science of behaviour analysis needs a salesman. Those who study behaviour analysis are almost universally convinced of its rightness. The science is solid, it has a long way to go to be sure, but it has a solid foundation and for me and many others that is enough to convince me it’s something worth pursuing.

The foundational philosophical ideas of causal determinism backed by a rigorous objective metaphysics and epistemology make Radical Behaviourism a complex, satisfying and most importantly true philosophy of science.

But here is the problem; people don’t understand what I’ve just said. The man on the street is not interested in philosophical proofs or objective metaphysics - no, most people are concerned with one thing; does it work?

And this is where we fall down big time.

Behaviour Analysts have ample evidence that our methods work wonders for children with autism and other developmental disabilities. Unfortunately this is where our salesmanship ends. Behaviour Analysts and Behaviourists have done plenty of research in other areas but we don’t promote it.

This is an open call to Behaviour Analysts everywhere; we need to promote our work. That means shouting, very loudly, every time we show something interesting in our work. Every time we find a new way to solve a problem we all face as a society we need to push it relentlessly until everyone is made to listen.

Just a rant.

Peace.  

A Behavioural Government? Hell no!

In a recent blog Anthony Biglan, a well known behaviour analyst and excellent scientist, made the bold and true (or so I believe) statement that "Behavioral Science May Prove to Be Our Most Important Science".

I recommend you go and read his blog and show your support in the comment section but I also recommend you take a critical eye to some of his allusions. 

I've spoken before (here, here, here, and here) about how I take a libertarian view of Behaviourism and society in general. Although I consider myself to be left of centre on many social issues I would be very averse to calling myself "left wing" in the modern, progressive sense. Anthony points out many wonderful innovations currently taking place in behavioural science but discusses them as though they were bandages one can simply place over the current wounds of society. 

Skinner, in his multitudes of publications spoke about Radical Behaviourism as a force for cultural change right to the core (cf. About Behaviourism, Beyond Freedom and Dignity) including completely rethinking the way we devise systems of governance, economics and social hierarchies. In fact his novel describing a fictionalised behavioural community (Walden Two) presents a view of a society wherein individuals co-operate and live together relatively harmoniously without the need for the use of force or aversive conditions.

Whilst Anthony would undoubtedly agree to this sentiment his call to increase the involvement of governments in forcibly redistributing resources to achieve a reduction in income inequality and poverty is telling of a position that assumes we must retain systems like forcible taxation, redistribution of resources and aversive win-lose social orders in order to achieve positive social change.

I do not wish to imply a lack of positive intention on Anthony's side, but merely wish to point out that in my humble opinion the idea of swinging Leviathan Government around trying to knock over every problem is anachronistic, inefficient and ultimately immoral. The interested reader is pointed towards online communities such as liberty.me to see how individuals are solving the problem of co-operation and voluntary action without a third party intermediary such as the state. If you truly understand the capacity for individuals to work together without the threat of violence hanging over their heads, then you will understand why I agree with Anthony in the sense that Behavioural Science is undoubtedly the most important science we have, and also disagree with his suggestion that just because we know how to change peoples behaviour doesn't mean we have the right to force them to do so.