ABSTRACT
Behavioral procedures are ideally suited for changing the behavior of your roommate, friends, in-laws, spouses, or significant others. Frank was a student in one of first author Jon Bailey's psychology classes; he complained in class that his roommate never took out the trash, even though that was one of several chores he had agreed to take on. “He will just walk right by the trash can and head out the door, totally oblivious.” After letting him vent for a couple of minutes Bailey said, “Okay, let me see if I have this right. You're saying your roommate should want to take out the trash.…” Frank nodded, “Yep, I shouldn't have to remind him; it's his responsibility. He agreed to do it.” Bailey replied, “A lot of people feel that way about the behavior of others. They think, ‘My wife should want to quit smoking,’ ‘My husband should want to lose weight,’ but this kind of thinking is nonproductive. The only place you can go with that is to Blamesville, and I'm not going with you. Blaming people just doesn't work; it does not produce any change in behavior; it just makes you feel good about yourself because you do care about your responsibilities. So, let's move on. How about putting your behavior analyst hat on? Let's look at this problem behaviorally.”
