Articles
Here Comes the Sun: How the Weather Affects Our Mood
The weather supplies many metaphors for our changeable minds. Moods can brighten and darken, dispositions can be sunny, futures can be under a cloud and relationships can be stormy. Like the weather, our emotions sometimes seem like fickle forces of nature: unstable,...
Saving Water: The Potential Impact Of Behavior Analysis
Recently, I was driving from Los Angeles to my home in the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s an easy drive once you get through LA traffic, the long, straight stretch of the road providing little distraction beyond standard freeway signs and the occasional billboard. ...
How Do You Know When Your ASD Child is Being Bullied?
Most of us have experienced the physical and/or emotional pain of bullying in our lifetime, the negative effects of which sadly can last a lifetime. Even as adults, we aren’t free from bullying either. There’s potential harassment on the job, prejudice, favoritism,...
5 Ways to Deal When You Don’t Want to Talk About Your Loved One’s Disability
I recently attended a networking dinner during which one guest asked another to share a bit about her previous career in education. “I’m done with that part of my life; I don’t talk about it anymore,” the woman said without a moment’s hesitation. While initially, her...
Evolution of moral outrage: I’ll punish your bad behavior to make me look good
WHAT MAKES HUMAN MORALITY UNIQUE? One important answer is that we care when other people are harmed. While many animals retaliate when directly mistreated, humans also get outraged at transgressions against others. And this outrage drives us to protest injustice,...
5 Lessons Learned From Businesses Hiring Adults With Autism
Ever worked with a colleague or boss and struggled to get them to do something that needed to be done? In many situations, we have the benefit of controlling a wide range of consequences and the authority that allows us to encourage the needed behavior. A boss has...
Paper or plastic? How disposable bag bans, fees and taxes affect consumer behavior
Last month, England became the latest government – and last among members of the UK – to pass a policy to combat the recent rise in the use of disposable plastic shopping bags, in its case a five-pence charge for each one. While English newspapers warned that the new...
When “Digital Natives” Take Over Behavior Analysis
In the pre-social media age, much of the data related to one’s beliefs, opinions, and lifestyle was confined to self-report measures such as surveys or interviews that required participants to reflect on their beliefs or recall past events. Those days are gone. A new...
How the science of human behavior is beginning to reshape the US government
Back in September, President Barack Obama signed an executive order that marked a major turning point in the role that behavioral science plays in helping the federal government achieve policy goals. The order, which directs federal agencies to incorporate insights...
