A Behavioral Analysis of Problem Solving: Session 282 with Judah Axe

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Quick, what's 47 minus 12? What did you have for breakfast the day before yesterday? When is the next leap year? Hit pause real quick and try to answer these.

Don't worry, I'm not going to hold you to your answers. What's more important is the processes you went through derive them. If you find this sort of thing interesting, then this is the podcast for you!

Dr. Judah Axe joins me in Session 282 to discuss a behavioral interpretation of problem solving. Judah is a Professor in the Department of Behavior Analysis at Simmons University, and along with Drs. Paul Alberto and Anne Troutman, he is the author of Applied Behavior Analysis for Teachers. Here are just some of the topics we hit on:

  • What, in behavioral terms, constitutes a problem?
  • How Skinner first conceptualized problems and problem solving.
  • How self-talk, visualization, and other private events play a role in problem solving.
  • How we both wished we had stronger backgrounds in Developmental Psychology. 
  • A quick review of Blooms Taxonomy.
  • Current educational practices that potentially impede the development of higher order problem solving.
  • Some topics that Judah may discuss at the upcoming Verbal Behavior Conference.
  • How to determine if or when to teach problem solving skills.
  • How improvisation might be fostered.
  • The role of developing rules.
  • The challenges of studying problem solving.

Here are some resources we discussed:

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