PODCAST EPISODE

In previous appearances on this podcast and elsewhere, Pat Friman has told the story of Father Flanagan, founder of BoysTown. According to Pat, Father Flanagan often made the following statement when describing his philosophy of helping troubled youths: "there is no such thing as a bad boy, only bad environments, bad modeling, and bad teaching."

For the Spring 2021 issue of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Dr. Linda LeBlanc invited Pat to expand on these remarks in the issue's lead paper. In this podcast, I'm joined by both Linda and Pat, as well as Inside JABA regular, Dr. Claire St. Peter, where we talk at length about the "circumstantial view" of behavior as it applies to both clinical practice in particular, and societal trends more generally.

Specifically, we discuss:

• How this paper fits into LeBlanc’s “big idea” concept.
• How “big idea” papers are often conceptual rather than data based.
• Why Pat stopped presenting papers with original data, and why he started giving more thematic talks.
• The difference, from Pat’s perspective between giving a talk and writing a journal article.
• A brief history of BoysTown.
• Just what is the Circumstantial View of problem behavior?
• Some examples from Pat’s life where he failed to take the Circumstantial View of behavior.
• Why the Circumstantial View has failed to flourish?
• How supervisors can incorporate these views with trainees and other team members?
• Why it is important to tell a real-life story as a vehicle for explain a behavioral principles.
• Why Pat’s view of Walden Two has changed.
• Movies that demonstrate both the Circumstantial and Characterological View of behavior.
• And much more!

Instructions for this event:

1. Listen to Session 155 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast. Click here for the various places to download and listen to it (note: if the link does not work, cut and paste the following into your browser: https://www.behavioralobservations.com/start-here/)
2. Purchase the CE. This will require creating an account for first time purchases, or logging in for returning customers.
3. Check your email for a link to a quiz.
4. Take the quiz in order to demonstrate attendance. NOTE: prior to taking the quiz, you will be prompted to enter your name and BACB Certificant #. Please enter your name in the way you want it to appear on your CE attendance certificate. This is important because some customers will occasionally enter their user names into this field, and in the event of a CE audit, the BACB will likely refuse to accept documentation with incorrect names.
5. Download the certificate of completion.
6. Save all materials, including emails confirming purchase.
7. Optional: complete C.E. feedback survey, again you may need to cut and paste this URL into your browser: (https://goo.gl/forms/vA1Uyd5hsCcCdzAG2)

Thank you so much for participating in this Continuing Education event. If you have any questions about this event or anything else related to the podcast, please feel free to email me at Matt@behavioralobservations.com!