The limits of technological talk.
Drop a mini-theory paragraph into every report so your procedures stay glued to their scientific roots.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hayes (1991) wrote a think-piece, not an experiment. The author looked at how behavior analysts talk and write.
The paper says we love step-by-step manuals but skip the "why" behind them. It asks us to add a short paragraph that states our big ideas.
What they found
No data were collected. The finding is a warning: if we only share recipes, we forget the cookbook’s purpose.
The author claims our field sounds like a tech manual and risks losing its soul.
How this fits with other research
Bauman (1991) came out the same year with the same worry. Both papers say "stop the jargon" and give plain-English fixes. This is a direct replication in essay form.
Burgos et al. (2019) extends the cry for philosophy. They say the war against mentalistic words has failed and we should make peace. Hayes (1991) asked for more theory; Burgos shows one place to start.
Travers et al. (2025) flips the script. Thirty-four years later, they defend ABA with data, not extra theory. The two papers seem to clash—one wants more philosophy, one waves the evidence flag. The gap is timing: Hayes (1991) feared we had no story; Travers says the story is already written in outcomes.
Why it matters
Next time you write a program plan, add one short paragraph that says why you chose this intervention. Name the principle, not just the prompt sequence. This tiny habit keeps your clinical file tied to the science that backs it and trains new staff to think, not just do.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Applied behavior analysts and behavior thera- pists have long prided themselves on their tech- nological precision and methodological sophistication.Some even go so far as to define the field on the basis of its commitment to the "specification of treatment in operational ... terms" (Kazdin & Hersen, 1980, p. 287).This emphasis is a proud component of the behavioral tradition, but along with it has come a deemphasis of theoretical and philosophical concerns.Science can be divided into four levels of in- creasing scope (Hayes, 1978): technique (how to do it), method (how to know it has been done), theory (how to talk in a systematic fashion), and philosophy (assumptions about how to view the world).The first 10 years of JABA were charac- terized by an increasing loss of interest in theoretical development, even to the point of a failure to speak 1991)24,
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1991 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1991.24-417