Towards Objectively Selecting a Career in Psychology
(How Scientific is One in Their Approach to the Discipline of Psychology?) 10/15/09
Part I
Is the Difference Between Areas of Psychology the Same Principles and Different Application?
A. Traditional Breakdown:
The discipline of psychology has usually been broken down into certain traditional areas. These are used when looking at psychology as a:
1. Possible major
2. Possible career
3. Area of study in graduate school
4. Breakdown of the discipline in a general psychology course and the makeup of the field of psychology.
The traditional breakdown of the discipline is apparent when looking at some randomly selected general psychology texts and also when looking at the divisional structure of the American Psychological Association (see Appendix A). This type of breakdown has almost become the traditional DOGmatic and CATegorist way to view the discipline. I am reminded of a small humor gem. The question was asked, “When does a person become more human-like and less like his or her animal ancestors?” The satirical answer is when he or she becomes less DOGmatic and less CATegoristic. (The humor is a CATastrophy but the BEAR fact or point may have some merit).
B. Alternative View:
In this article, an alternative way to look at this traditionally dogmatic and categorist breakdown in careers in psychology is proposed. Here, the major issue of approaching the discipline of psychology becomes more important than what traditional area in psychology one hopes to pursue. A difference exists within psychology (and other human service and social sciences) on issues such as:
1. How objective is one going to be in their job in psychology?
2. How is one going to rid themselves of non-observable inferences in their explanations of behavior?
3. How much is one to use the better established principles of science in his or her look at human behavior?
4. How much useless and harmful explanatory fictions are used in an effort to explain behavior?
5. How much is one able to avoid explanations for human behaviors which are more mysterious than the Easter Bunny?
Scientific inquiry continues to show the complex role that environmental variables play in the cause of human behavior. The scientific laws of behavior become a more primary focus, showing that control of behavior is more and more an unavoidable by-product of humans interacting with the environment. The influence of the environment is powerful. Here, an alternative starting point to the traditional breakdown in looking at careers is proposed. Different areas in social science use the same behavioral principles. Behavior is controlled by existing scientific laws. It appears useful for someone considering career choices to look at how the principles control behavior in the areas of interest. As one goes from one application of learned principles to another, the major difference is not different principles, but a change in setting (same principles, different settings). In the traditional classifications of the areas of psychology, the setting dominated the categorization (i.e. supposed causes, concepts, etc.) such as clinical psychology, industrial psychology, child psychology, and school psychology, and each claimed its own separate set of supposed principles.
Part II
Control of Behavior in Different Settings
One may look at behavioral control in terms of who controls the behavior of others, what the purpose is, and which principles are used in control.
A. Every individual controls behavior in everyday life.
1. Control of self: setting an alarm clock will provide a future stimulus allowing the person to get up in the morning at the right time. If the alarm would not have been set, the person may not have woke up on time / driving the speed limit in order to avoid a costly fine / paying bills on time to avoid late fees and to maintain services.
2. Control of others: An individual controls the behavior of others in his or her environment including strangers, friends, relatives, etc.
B. Parents control the behavior of their children in many settings – this qualifies them as behavioral engineers.
1. Parents serve as educators for a wide variety of their children’s behavior: teaching them manners / teaching them responsibility / teaching them not to step into a busy street without looking both ways first.
2. Parents control social and economic aspects of the family and are involved in behavioral management for the purpose of effective individual function: parents attempt to develop academic and work repertoires in their children / teach children to clean up after themselves / teach children to care for themselves (brushing teeth, putting clothes on, hygiene) / set curfews and mealtimes for the children to follow / teach the value of work by having children do chores to earn an allowance.
C. Business and Industry
1. Generate Behaviors to Accomplish the Group’s Mission: Attracting customers and selling products or services / businesses control the behavior of customers / retail businesses promote their items to customers through effective marketing, they set prices / control “buying” behavior by utilizing advertising / promoting upcoming sales / banks attract customers by controlling “borrowing” and “repaying” behavior / offering attractive interest rates / incentives to buy.
2. Get Staff to Do the Daily Work: Attracting employees to work by offering a good benefits package and competitive salaries / maintaining a safe environment to work in / establishing effective lines of communication / emphasizing the value of each employee’s role within the company.
3. Get Support Services to Perform Quality Work: The function of these support services may very well be contacted or hired out. They may include: janitorial, secretarial, temporary (temp) services, computer services, pay roll, accounting, tax specialist, financial planning, laundry, copying and printing, tracking and delivery, food service, medical services, teaching or training consultants, motivational lectures, childcare, security, advertising, landscaping, auto leasing, or travel. The control of the behaviors for these services could be accomplished through the creation of a specific position that would be solely responsible for speaking with the management of the various companies to help implement methods to manage the work of others.
4. Keep Customers Coming Back: Creating “repeat” customers who continually buy products / attracting new customers / use methods to get a loyal customer base.
5. Get Members of the Group to Live up to Ethical Standards in Their Personal Lives: The company may offer developmental opportunities to employees which challenge them to live according to ethical standards / encouraging good conduct in employees even when they are “off the clock”.
6. Pay the Bills: Decreasing loss / preventing theft and shoplifting / pricing items accurately / offering extra benefits to increase the number of purchases (e.g. green stamps, points for purchases)
7. Generate Positive Public Relation Behaviors: Communicating to the public through various media outlets / supporting a specific charity or other worthwhile cause.
8. Accomplish Training: Training employees at all levels to be effective / training managers and supervisors to use effective reinforcement systems to build and maintain the required employee repertoires (set of skills).
9. Generate Behaviors to Best Ensure the Perpetuation of the Group and to Establish a Need for the Group’s Ideology: Ensuring that the company is compliant with federal and state laws concerning all operations, employee safety, and accounting and payroll / basing operations on a code of ethics / finding a niche in the market / evolving new products or services.
D. Labor Organizations
1. Generate Behaviors to Accomplish the Group’s Mission: Promoting and controlling the behavior of “joining” the labor group / building relationships and gathering resources to represent workers’ rights.
2. Get Staff to do the Daily Work: Setting standards of acceptable work / creating incentives to encourage good work / establishing effective lines of communication / emphasizing the value of each employee’s role within the organization.
3. Get Support Services to Perform Quality Work:
4. Keep Customer’s Coming Back: Fighting for laborer’s rights / establish a reputation of success, have members regularly attend meetings and communicate actionable items such as going out on strike / controlling management to benefit workers.
5. Get Members of the Group to Live Up to Ethical Standards in Their Personal Lives: Encouraging appropriate standards of conduct / “Don’t be a Scab” (a “scab” is a person who takes a position that is available because the regular worker is on strike).
6. Pay the Bills: Getting members to pay dues.
7. Generate Positive Public Relation Behaviors: Communicating effectively with the media to create a constructive image of the organization / supporting a charity or other worthwhile cause / sponsoring community events.
8. Accomplish Training: Training employees at all levels to be effective / training managers and supervisors to use effective reinforcement systems to build and maintain the required employee repertoires (set of skills) / maintain performance.
9. Generate Behaviors to Best Ensure the Perpetuation of the Group and to Establish a Need for the Group’s Ideology: Ensuring that staff is current on labor law updates and changes / enforcing compliance with all applicable laws / continually generating membership in the organization / ensuring that members project a positive image of the organization’s mission / generating interest in the organization through marketing materials / promoting the message of “Fair wage for a fair day’s work.”
E. Religious Agencies
1. Generate Behaviors to Accomplish the Group’s Mission: Get parishioners or members to work on the objectives of the church group.
2. Get Staff to do the Daily Work: Scheduling and getting staff to the right service at the right time / provide appropriate work environments / establishing effective lines of communication among staff / emphasizing the value of each employee’s role within the organization.
3. Get Support Services to Perform Quality Work: Getting bulletins from the printing service by the meeting time.
4. Keep Customers Coming Back: Describe the consequences set forth in the ideology of the group / generate quality activities for members to participate in / emphasizing the importance of the group’s ideology which creates an incentive to stay a member of the group since the mission of the group is desirable (i.e. working for the good of other members).
5. Get Members of the Group to Live Up to Ethical Standards in Their Personal Lives: Preaching acceptable behaviors which are in accordance with the group’s ideology / many religious agencies establish behavioral rules which members are expected to follow in their personal and professional lives. These may include relationship guidelines, participation in sanctioned events, and prioritization of personal objectives and services according to the group’s ideologies.
6. Pay the Bills: Encouraging members to donate money, time, and services to the group / monetary support is required to “pay the bills” of leaders, clergy, staff, etc. and to keep the church’s building maintained and functional / soliciting donations from the public / encouraging members to donate their time and resources to assist with activities such as day care, Sunday School programs, educational programs, fundraising events, community outreach programs, and worship programs.
7. Generate Positive Public Relations Behaviors: Utilizing various media channels to positively portray the group / ensuring that members reflect positively on the group’s mission / advertising socially acceptable activities to the public / providing services to the public / sponsoring community events.
8. Accomplish Training: Many religious agencies function as educators who develop new repertoires in children and adults / training of new staff and maintenance of performance.
9. Generate Behaviors to Best Ensure the Perpetuation of the Group and Establishing a Need for the Group’s Ideology: Attracting new members to join and maintaining existing members / proposing the group’s ideology as an answer to the problems of people and of the world / expanding and improving the building that houses the group / emphasizing unity in working towards a common goal / developing quality programs.
F. Professions, including (but not limited to) dentistry, veterinary medicine, general medicine, engineering, psychology, and law.
1. Generate Behaviors to Accomplish the Group’s Mission: Obtaining and maintaining clients through quality of service / control of some aspect of the client’s behavior with respect to the client’s own social, economic, and personal activities while respecting the client’s interpersonal relations.
2. Get Staff to do the Daily Work: Setting standards for staff / provide appropriate work environments / establishing effective lines of communication (doctors must work effectively with nurses, interns, etc.) / emphasizing the value of each employee’s role within the organization.
3. Get Support Services to Perform Quality Work: Support personnel can turn off a client as easily as bad professional service.
4. Keep Customers Coming: Serving all customers, even those who are unable to pay for services in some situations / increasing and maintaining “help seeking” behavior / maintaining established customers and clients by providing essential and valuable services / prevention programs may help the business.
5. Get Members of the Group to Live Up to Ethical Standards in Their Personal Lives: Professionals (especially those working in private practices) must maintain socially acceptable behavior in order to maintain a good reputation.
6. Pay the Bills: Certain types of lawyers must control the behavior of judges and juries in order to secure a financial settlement / in private practices, professionals may be more directly involved with billing customers for services.
7. Generate Positive Public Relations Behaviors: Portraying a positive image through marketing, advertising, and public communications / establishing a good reputation.
8. Accomplish Training: Keeping current on licensing requirements and changes in state and federal laws / implementing new technologies / training new employees and interns.
9. Generate Behaviors to Best Ensure the Perpetuation of the Group and to Establish a Need for the Group’s Ideology: Helping people improve their lives / helping people obtain justice / maintaining the health of the population / providing necessary services.
G. Federal, State, and Local Government Agencies
1. Generate Behaviors to Accomplish the Group’s Mission: Controlling aspects of the governed individual’s behavior through law enforcement agencies, tax collectors, public health agencies, etc.
2. Get Staff to do the Daily Work: Hiring effective and reliable employees / setting work requirements / creating acceptable work environments / providing employees with adequate health and financial benefits.
3. Get Support Services to Perform Quality Work: Monitoring and controlling other governing agencies with respect to international relations and interstate relations.
4. Keep Customers Coming: Stay in touch with voters / pass bills and implement policies that are in line with the stated goals of the voters.
5. Get Members of the Group to Live Up to Ethical Standards in Their Personal Lives: Get members to avoid fraud, conspiracy, adultery, and other socially unacceptable behaviors.
6. Pay the Bills: Ensuring that citizens pay bills, taxes, fines / law enforcement agencies and tax collectors create aversive consequences which motivate citizens to pay bills.
7. Generate Positive Public Relation Behaviors: Justifying policy changes to the public / accurately relaying information to the public / maintaining the public’s trust.
8. Accomplish Training: Training employees at all levels to be effective / training managers and supervisors to use effective reinforcement systems to build and maintain the required employee repertoires (set of skills) / maintain performance / ensuring that staff maintains compliance with laws.
9. Generate Behaviors to Best Insure the Perpetuation of the Group and to Establish a Need for the Group’s Ideology: Enforcing acceptable standards of conduct / creating safer communities and environments for citizens to live in / ensuring that criminals are apprehended and appropriately dealt with / identifying and eliminating criminal behavior / appeal to the voting base.
H. Educational Agencies: Nursery schools, elementary schools and secondary schools, colleges and universities, military schools and academies, and professional schools for training in medicine and law.
1. Generate Behaviors to Accomplish the Group’s Mission: Generating an effective repertoire for students / providing placement opportunities.
2. Get Staff to do the Daily Work: Hiring and maintaining staff / motivating teachers / ensuring that teachers provide their students with the necessary skills to excel in their chosen field / monitoring the quality of students’ education.
3. Get Support Services to Perform Quality Work:
4. Keep Customers Coming: Provide quality education, utilize marketing and advertising to attract new students / implement an efficient curriculum to keep students moving through the program / monitoring students through accurate testing.
5. Get Members of the Group to Live Up to Ethical Standards in Their Personal Lives: Teaching staff (teachers and members of the administration) to behave in a socially acceptable and healthy manner / some of these agencies (similar to religious agencies) also establish guidelines to maintain appropriate behaviors in the personal lives of students.
6. Pay the Bills: Motivating students to pay tuition bills and providing support and resources for those who need financing / lobbying for state funding / soliciting individuals and businesses for donations.
7. Generate Positive Public Relation Behaviors: Utilizing available media to portray a positive representation of the institution in the local community / sponsoring community events.
8. Accomplish Training: Training educators and maintaining performance / staying current on teaching techniques, implementing new technologies.
9. Generate Behaviors to Best Ensure the Perpetuation of the Group and to Establish a Need for the Group’s Ideology: Keeping all areas of the institution constantly striving to achieve success and distinction / compliance with laws / strive to make sure students become well-rounded graduates that have a positive impact on society / providing the community with various services such as interns, advising, and entertainment.
I. Specialized Institutions for people who require assistance in order to function well in society.
1. Generate Behaviors to Accomplish the Group’s Mission: Psychiatric hospitals and rehabilitation institutions strive to improve behavioral and physical health by modifying and teaching new behavioral repertoires / group homes for the developmentally disabled provide a serviceable living space for those who could not live on their own without learning new behaviors / homes for the aged assist and improve the quality of life for those people who cannot function purely on their own due to behavioral deficits or physical ailments / medical hospitals improve the physical health of patients and modify unhealthy behaviors / doctors give advice on how to adjust diet and exercise behaviors to improve health and well being / schools for the blind or the deaf seek to teach the students the repertoires necessary to communicate effectively.
2. Get Staff to do the Daily Work: Hiring effective and reliable employees / controlling and influencing the behavior of staff members / ensuring that the staff interacts effectively with clients / emphasizing the importance of the staff’s role in modifying the patient’s behavioral repertoires / encouraging staff to stay positive / establishing effective lines of communication / maintaining a safe and efficient work environment.
3. Get Support Services to Perform Quality Work:
4. Keep Customer’s Coming: Effectively modifying behaviors to create room for new patients / controlling “help seeking” behavior / ensuring that employees maintain a high level of professionalism with patients.
5. Get Members of the Group to Live up to Ethical Standards in Their Personal Lives: The company may offer developmental opportunities to employees which challenge them to live according to ethical standards / encouraging good conduct in employees in all situations / setting expectations for standards of conduct.
6. Pay the Bills: Working with patients’ insurance companies to pay for services / making the patient or patient’s guardian accountable for their bills when possible / in some situations, generating continued funding from state and federal agencies / lobbying to lawmakers.
7. Generate Positive Public Relation Behaviors: Utilizing available media to create a positive representation of the institution in the local community / creating a reputation for quality care / communicating the success of the institution / generating trust in the institution’s mission / sponsoring community activities, providing for charity.
8. Accomplish Training: Keeping current on licensing requirements and changes in state and federal laws / implementing new technologies and methods to improve the care of patients / monitoring staff to ensure the quality of work being done.
9. Generate Behaviors to Best Ensure the Perpetuation of the Group and to Establish a Need for the Group’s Ideology: Keeping all areas of the institution constantly striving towards goals of excellence / improving the patient’s quality of life / treating those who cannot pay for services.
J. Armed Forces.
1. Generate Behaviors to Accomplish the Group’s Mission: Controlling complex behavior to ensure the nation’s security, intervene in world affairs, and to win wars.
2. Get Staff to do the Daily Work: Recruiting new members through advertising and promotion of the group’s mission / communicating expectations to staff at all levels / creating acceptable work environments / ensuring that staff maintains compliance with laws / providing employees with adequate health and financial benefits / assisting deployed members in maintaining communication with family when possible.
3. Get Support Services to Perform Quality Work:
4. Keep Customers Coming: Monitor national and world affairs in order to identify a need for military action.
5. Get Members of the Group to Live Up to Ethical Standards in Their Personal Lives: Standards of conduct are established, monitored, and implemented to provide a basis for appropriate behavior of members in all situations.
6. Pay the Bills: Higher level officers and upper management work with the government to obtain funding, justify the need for funding, and create budgets to cover expenses and negotiate benefits for soldiers and their families.
7. Generate Positive Public Relation Behaviors: Promoting the mission of the group to the public / creating a positive representation of the military’s goals and mission / communicating effectively to the media / handling controversial issues in a manner which maintains a positive image / generating public support and loyalty.
8. Accomplish Training: Creating valuable behavioral repertoires in members which will assist soldiers in maintaining their health, safety, and effectiveness when they are deployed and serving in the field.
9. Generate Behaviors to Best Ensure the Perpetuation of the Group and to Establish a Need for the Group’s Ideology: Generating public support and loyalty / generating support from the government / communicating success to justify the mission.
PART III, REFERENCES:
Below we have cited just a few references for different areas of application of
behavioral principles. Over the years a vast number of articles and books are in
the literature, but we have only listed a few sample readings not necessarily the
most recent, "best," "first," etc.
Drug Addiction
Miller, Peter M. and Mastria, Marie A. Alternatives to Alcohol Abuse: A Social
LearningModel. Research Press Co., 1977.
Aging
Skinner, B.F., Vaughan, Marge. Enjoy Old Age A Program of Self-Management,
W.W. Norton & Company, 1983
Behavior Problems
Matson, Johnny L. Treating Depression in Children and Adolescents. Pergamon
Press, Inc., 1989
Developmental
Schlinger, Henry D., Theory in Behavior Analysis: An Application to Child
Development. American Psychologist, November 1992, vol. 47 no. 11, p. 1396-
1410.
Gewirz, Jacob. and Pelaz-Nogueras, Martha. B.F. Skinner's Legacy to Human Infant Behavior and Development, American Psychologist. November 1992, vol. 47 no. 11, p. 1396-1410.
Child Behavior
Patterson, Gerald R., Gullion, Elizabeth M., Living with Children, Research Press
College Teaching
Michael, Jack., A Behavioral Perspective on College Teaching. In Concepts and
Principles of Behavioral Analysis. 1993 S.A.B.A., Kalamazo, MI.
Community
Greenwood, Charles, et al. Out of the Laboratory and Into the Community: 26
Years of Applied Behavior Analysis. American Psychologist. November 1992 vol.
47 no 11, p. 1464-1474.
Nietzel, Michael T., Winett, Richard A., MacDonald, Marian L., Davidson, William
S., Behavioral Approaches to Community Psychology, Pergamon Press
Enuresis
Lovibond, S.H., Conditioning and Enuresis, Pergamon Press
Habit Control
Azrin, Nathan H., Nunn, Gregory R., Habit Control in a Day, Simon and Schuster
Industrial
O'Brien, Richard M, Dickinson, Alyce M, Roscow, Michael P. Industrial Behavior
Modification: A Management Handbook. Peragon Press Inc. 1982.
Fredrickson, Lee W. Handbook of Organizational Behavior Management. John
Wiley and Son Inc. 1982.
Marriage Counseling
Bornstein, Philip H., Bornstein, Marcy T., Marital Therapy A Behavioral-
Communications Approach, Pergamon Press
Mental Health
Lamberg, Paula in Bauer, Barbara B., Hill, Signe S., Essentials of Mental Health
Care Planning and Interventions, W.B. Saunders Company
Miller, Peter M., Hersen, Michel, Rankin, Howard J., Addictive Behaviors an
International Journal, Pergamon Press
Natural Settings
Tharp, Roland G., Wetzel, Ralph J., Behavior Modification in the Natural
Environment, Academic Press Subsidiary of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Publishers
Personality
Lundin, Robert W., Personality A Behavioral Analysis 2nd. Edition, Macmillan
Publishing Co. Inc.
Religion
Schoenfeld, William N., Religion and Human Behavior, Authors Cooperative,
Inc., Publishers
Research Design
Johnston, J.M. and Pennypacker, H.S. Strategies and Tactics of Behavioral
Research, Erlbaum, 1993.
School Psychology
Paine, Stan C., Radicchi, JoAnn, Rosellini, Lynne C., Deutchman, Leslie, Darch,
Craig B., Structuring Your Classroom For Academic Success, Research Press
Company
Self Management or Self Control
Watson, David L. and Tharp, Roland G. Self-Directed Behavior: Self-Modification
For Personal Adjustment. Brooks/Cole Publishing Co., 1993.
Watson, David L. & Tharp, G., Self-Directed Behavior Self-Modification for
Personal Adjustment 5th Edition, Brooks/Cole Publishing Company
Teaching General Principles of Behavior
Mallot, R., et. al. Elementary Principles of Behavior, 3rd Ed.. Prentice Hall, 1993.
Smoking
Mausner, Bernard and Platt, Ellen S., Smoking: a Behavioral Analysis, Pergamon
Press
Social Action
Rakos, Richard. Achieving the just Society in the 21st Century: What Can
Skinner Contribute? American Psychologist. November 1992. vol. 47. no 11, p.
1499-1506.
Social Work
Jehu, Derek, Hardiker, Pauline, Yelloly, Margaret, Shaw, Martin, Behaviour
Modification In Social Work, Wiley Interscience A division of John Wiley & Sons
Ltd.
Sociology
Burgess, Robert L., Bushell, Don Jr., Behavioral Sociology the experimental
analysis of social process, Columbia University Press
Space Travel
Rohles, Fredrick., Orbital Bar Pressing a Historical Note on Skinner and the
Chimpanzees in space. American Psychologist, November 1992. vol. 47. no 11,
p. 1531-1533.
Toliet Training
Azrin, Nathan H., Foxx, Richard M., Toilet Training In Less Than A Day, Simon
and Schuster
Verbal Behavior
The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, a journal
APPENDIX A
Divisions of the American Psychological Association
1. General Psychology
2. The teaching of Psychology
3. Experimental Psychology
4. Evaluation, Measurement and Statistics
5. Psychological and Comparative Psychology
6. Developmental Psychology
7. Personal and Social Psychology
8. Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
9. Psychology and the Arts
10. Clinical Psychology
11. Consulting Psychology
12. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology
13. Educational Psychology
14. School Psychology
15. Counseling Psychology
16. Psycholinguistics
17. Military Psychology
18. Adult Development and Aging
19. Society of Engineering Psychologist
20. Rehabilitation Psychology
21. Consumer Psychology
22. Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology
24. Experimental Analysis of Behavior
25. History of Psychology
26. Community Psychology
27. Psychopharmacology
28. Psychotherapy
29. Psychological Hypnosis
30. State Psychological Association Affairs
31. Humanistic Psychology
32. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities
33. Population and Environmental Psychology
34. Psychology of Women
35. Psychologists Interest in Religious Issues
36. Child, Youth, and Family Services
37. Health Psychology
38. Psychoanalysis
39. Clinical Neuropsychology
40. Psychology and the Law
41. Psychologists in Independent Practice
42. Family Psychology
43. Society for Psychological Study of Lesbian and Gay Issues
44. Society for Psychological Study o Ethnic Minority Issues
45. Media Psychology
45. Exercise and Sports Psychology
46. Peace Psychology
47. Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy
48. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors
(Sample of areas: Behavior Analysts Work) It can also be used to illustrate the
world view of a behavioral approach. That is the all inclusive nature of the
behavioral approach. Any area of psychology is of interest to the Behavior
Analyst or behaviorist.
(This article expanded on a talk given by Jack Michael, presented at St. Cloud
State University, on the nature of control of behavior.)