ABSTRACT
To understand why an individual acts in a particular way, it helps to avoid “pretended reasons” and to find “real” ones. This chapter shows how to find the causes of behavior. It helps to distinguish between fictional explanations and those that can help to improve the teaching. Finding “causes” becomes a search for aspects that make a difference, among all of the contingencies that occur. In the behavioral sciences, functional relations are often assumed but are non-existent. In schools, people “explain” behavior with “causes” like “intelligence,” “self-esteem,” “attention deficit disorder,” “aptitude,” and so on. Explanatory fictions rephrase observable behavior and put their restatement inside the student as a “cause.” A Mentalistic Explanation attributes observable behavior to hypothesized agencies inside the person behaving. Heredity plays an important role in behavior. Behavior is even more susceptible than human physiology to environmental influences. Descriptions like “aggressive” or “hyperactive” describe behavior patterns, but do not explain why or when those actions occur.
