ABSTRACT

Behavior analysts have, in their vast catalog of work to be done, a clear

set of responsibilities to their colleagues. If you are a practitioner or

therapist, you may be concerned about possible ethical violations of

other behavior analysts. It should first be understood that attending to a

situation like this does not make you a “busybody” or “snitch.” Most of

us have been culturally conditioned by parents and teachers to “mind

your own business,” and in your private life, this is a pretty good rule to

follow. How others conduct their lives really is their own business, un-

less, of course, it affects your life in some way. This is basically the situa-

tion you confront when you believe that a behavioral colleague has

violated the BACB® Guidelines for Responsible Conduct. It becomes

your business by virtue of the fact that an unethical colleague can stain

not only their reputation but yours as well. It is in this vein that Guide-

line 9.01 is written to encourage you, despite how uncomfortable it may

make you feel, to bring the issue in question to the attention of the per-

son and seek a resolution. Ideally, the individual will quickly see the er-

ror of his or her ways, apologize, and correct the situation with

appropriate action. It is not your job to dictate the action but rather to

serve as a “trusted colleague” for the person on behalf of the field and 182

possibly the client who may have been involved.1 In this role you should

seek an ethical solution to the problem and then fade from the picture as

quickly as possible. This works most of the time. However, it might hap-

pen that the colleague stubbornly resists recognizing the problem or re-

fuses to do anything about it. This will present you with a dilemma that

the Guidelines do not cover. If this happens, you may want to check the

“Disciplinary Standards, Procedures for Appeals” section of the BACB

Web site (BACB, 2004) for further details on what to do next.