FOCUSED SELF-PACED COURSE · US$69 · START ANYTIME
A technical word can put a lab coat on a guess. It is still a guess.
You give a treat after a behavior. Did the treat reinforce it? Perhaps—but “came after” and “made this behavior more likely” are not the same claim. The same problem appears when we call a word a cue, describe a dog as unmotivated, or name the function of a behavior from one dramatic result.
Behavior Geek makes the science useful at the training table. Across twelve case-based lessons, you will first ask what happened in plain language, then learn the technical term for the relation you can actually support. The aim is not to sound more scientific. It is to make a better training decision.
Labels feel tidy. Training rarely is.
“He knows it.” “She is stubborn.” “Food is reinforcing.” Each sentence can close the case before we have opened the evidence folder. This course gives you a repeatable way to slow down: describe what a camera could capture, name the context, ask which relation the concept actually describes, compare it with the nearest alternative, and say what evidence is present or missing.
When change is needed, you will also ask a practical constructional question: what useful behavior, option, or route to an important outcome does this learner need us to build? That keeps the analysis pointed toward teaching, not just better labels.
Behavior science should feel like a light you can aim at a real problem, not a vocabulary test you can fail. The concepts stay precise, but every one has to earn its place by helping you observe more carefully, teach more clearly, or protect the learner from a confident story that the evidence does not support.
Plain first. Precise next. Geekier when you want it.
You begin with things you can see and measure. Then you explore two kinds of learning that can happen together, the many events around one response, what consequences and cues actually do, why “motivation” is not mind-reading, how shaping shows selection, how to form a careful function hypothesis, what to build next, and whether the learner has meaningful ways to pause or choose.
Each lesson starts with an ordinary training case and plain-language question. The correct technical term comes after the relation is clear, beside the closest term that does not fit. Paired cases, worked reasoning, practice, and a self-check help the distinction stick. The Geekier Corner keeps notation, conceptual history, and debate available without making them the doorway to the lesson.
- Direct observation: describe what a camera or reliable record captured.
- Descriptive assessment: identify a pattern that repeats in ordinary conditions.
- Functional hypothesis: state the relation the current pattern suggests—and the closest alternative it does not yet rule out.
- Experimental functional analysis: reserve the strongest claim for a planned comparison that demonstrates the functional relation with suitable safeguards.
You will learn to
- describe behavior in context instead of turning it into a trait inside the animal;
- choose a measure that answers your question—and say what it cannot prove;
- tell “food arrived,” “the learner ate it,” and “this consequence increased the behavior” apart;
- work out which job a word, gesture, setup, or consequence is doing before naming it;
- use an ABC record to build a careful hypothesis without treating “after” as proof of “because”;
- include the trainer and the other available routes instead of putting the whole explanation inside the learner;
- replace “make this stop” with a plan for the useful behavior or option that is missing; and
- check whether pause, withdrawal, return, and alternatives work well enough for participation to mean something.
What is inside
You receive an orientation, twelve complete lectures, an integrated final case, a materials hub, paired and near-miss cases, practical records, two matched private self-checks, worked explanations, and direct routes back to the exact distinction that needs another look. The supplied cases let you concentrate on analysis without manufacturing a difficult situation in real training.
See the twelve-lecture sequence
- ABA Is Not a Bag of Labels
- Behavior Is a Relation, Not a Trait
- Measure the Question, Not the Dog
- Two Learning Processes Can Be Happening at Once
- Contingencies, Plural: ABC Is Not a Timeline
- Did the Treat Reinforce That?
- The Same Stimulus Can Do Different Jobs
- Motivation Without Mind-Reading
- Shaping Shows Selection in Motion
- Function: From Description to a Defensible Hypothesis
- Build What Is Missing: The Constructional Functional Approach
- Alternatives, Degrees of Freedom, and Learner Agency
Who this course is for
Behavior Geek is for professionals, students, and serious training enthusiasts who want behavior analysis without needing a university course—or a secret handshake. There is no formal prerequisite. Curiosity helps; so does being willing to replace a confident label with “these two explanations still fit, so I need a better comparison.”
Format and access
- Study format: complete self-paced course
- Start: anytime; access begins immediately after purchase
- Access: one year
- Price: US$69
- Included: complete lessons, paired cases, practice records, visuals, two private self-checks, worked explanations, and direct links to the exact lesson or tool to revisit
- Study support: private self-checks, worked examples, answer explanations, and clear routes for revision
Finish with an integrated case that asks you to use the full analytic route and explain where the evidence stops.