My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys.

Abstract

My heroes have always been cowboys. This is true (and also the name of a song written by Willie Nelson). Now, however, my heroes are behavior analytic researchers. They have provided the conceptual and empirical floorboards for behavior analysis, my beloved and chosen field. They have inspired, motivated, and vitalized me throughout my career and still do so. I seek them out, strive to emulate them, and consult their astonishing treasure trove of findings with a regularity that sometimes seems obsessive. So, I find myself conflicted now because I am compelled to stand up for behavior analytic practice. The timely and well-conducted study of publication stats on faculty in Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) programs motivated me to do so. In an insidiously oblique way, the study reflects the bias I perceive favoring research over practice in psychology programs across the country. That bias, implicit in most programs, and explicit in many, does not exist in medical school. Students go to medical school to learn to practice medicine, first and foremost. Some go on to research careers but the primary goal, encouraged strongly by the faculty, is the successful practice of medicine. It is quite the reverse in psychology programs, at least in top tier schools. Practice is not frowned upon; it is merely looked upon as a lesser endeavor. The tacit view seems to be that those who can, research and teach, and those who cannot, practice. Ironically, this is the reverse of the longstanding quote, sometimes used against teaching in the colloquial world (“those who can, do, those who cannot, teach”). It may be the case that research faculty are merely trying to accomplish either or both of two goals: replicating themselves or furthering their lines of scientific investigation. Students pursuing research careers can contribute to both goals, students pursuing practice, not so much.