Recent Issues in the Analysis of "Self" and "Mindfulness" matters because it changes what a BCBA notices when decisions have to hold up in clinical documentation, payer communication, supervision records, and leadership review. In Recent Issues in the Analysis of "Self" and "Mindfulness", for this course, the practical stakes show up in service continuity, accurate reporting, and defensible clinical decisions, not in abstract discussion alone.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via Skinner Foundation
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Join Free →When examining the smooth curves in Skinner's early cumulative records, we don't attribute the orderliness of the data to the rat's "self-confidence" in pressing the bar to obtain food. Similarly, when conducting a functional analysis, we don't appeal to the client's "sense of responsibility" (or lack thereof) when our interventions systematically increase or decrease an individual's aggressive behavior. Despite the countless scientific demonstrations that behavior is a function of environmental variables, our everyday verbal communities continue to describe behavior in ways which subtly appeal to a "self" as the underlying cause of our actions. Such tendencies appear to be inescapable, even within the practices of the scientific community. In Science and Human Behavior, Skinner devoted two chapters to scientifically analyzing what is meant by the everyday notions of the "self" and "self-control." Thirty-six years later, in his final published book Recent Issues in the Analysis of Behavior, Skinner refined this analysis to include important distinctions among what is meant by the terms "organism," "person," and "self." This talk will explore these distinctions and examine the ways in which the practices of our verbal communities contribute to problematic notions of an "initiating self." Lastly, this talk will discuss how potential collaborations between behavior analysts and contemporary teachers of meditation and "mindfulness" may provide scientifically-supported interventions to help weaken the illusion of a self that appears to initiate our actions when there are no data to prove otherwise.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1 | General |
David Roth has been a passionate student of B.F. Skinner’s works for over 20 years, with a special focus on applying behavior analytic principles to topics such as mindfulness, meditation, and lovingkindness. He is the former editor-in-chief of Operants magazine with the B.F. Skinner Foundation and currently serves on its publication committee. He is also a former member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. David has written conceptual articles and presented at conferences on Skinner’s molecular analysis of the operant, complex verbal behavior, and the intersection of behavior analysis with contemplative practices. He contributed a chapter on inclusion in education for the third edition of Julie Vargas’s Behavior Analysis for Effective Teaching, co-authored a book chapter (in-press) with Dr. Vince Carbone on the multiple control of verbal behavior, and wrote the foreword for the 2024 edition of B.F. Skinner’s Reflections on Behaviorism and Society. David also recently wrote the foreword for Dr. Paulie Gavoni’s (2025) book Finding Your Authentic Self: The Fight to Become You.He is the co-host of the podcast series Dialogues on Verbal Behavior with David Palmer, which offers a deep, chapter-by-chapter exploration of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior (1957).Professionally, David is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst serving school-age autistic support classrooms in Pennsylvania.
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
280 research articles with practitioner takeaways
258 research articles with practitioner takeaways
252 research articles with practitioner takeaways
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.