The first class I attended at CC in 1973 was Psychology 101 with Dr. Carl Roberts. I immediately fell in love with behavioral psychology. Our primary text was Elementary Principles of Behavior (Whaley & Malott), which, as Carl put it, explains behavior “elegantly.” That class put me on the path to obtain my degree in Psychology in 1977. It was a journey of discovery and revelation traveled with a handful of other students. In my Learning and Behavior Theories class, we only had seven students. Carl told us at the outset of the class that we would have eight hours for sleeping, three hours for eating, and one hour for other activities each day. The rest of the time would be spent on the class. It was rigorous, but I still found time to go to Tuesday Evening Club (TEC) at the FIGI House to party, and I never missed a home hockey game at the Broadmoor.
Dr. Don Shearn took us into the physiology of the brain, which continues to fascinate me and explains much of human behavior. I do not have fond memories of having to kill my trained rat and cut its brain into slices for histology slides. I do, however, have a great respect for Don and all that I learned from him and the other professors, and fun memories of St. Patrick’s Day at Murphy’s Bar with them.
Fast forward to 2011, to when I attended a presentation on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). That experience re-awakened my passion for behavioral psychology and prompted me to enroll in an ABA program at CU Denver, which was kind of scary since it was 35 years after graduating from CC. The texts used in my first class in the ABA program were Principles of Behavior (Malott) and, of course, texts by B.F. Skinner. I thought “Yay, I’ve got this!” Thanks to the Psychology Department requirements that students needed to show 90% mastery over each step of the curriculum before moving to the next one, my brain had retained almost all of the information taught way back then. I believe that it is a testament to objective truth and the quality of education at CC that decades later, the same truths are being used to further our understanding of behavior. I reached out to Dick Malott and told him the story, which he greatly appreciated. After a year of classes and 1,500 hours of supervised internship, I obtained my certification as a Behavior Analyst (BCBA).
There has been much advancement in the field of Behavioral Psychology since my matriculation at CC. The ABC chain of behavior (antecedent, behavior, consequence) has been expanded to include establishing and abolishing operations (motivating operations), as well as many other empirical principles. Technology has exponentially increased methods of tracking and analyzing behavior patterns. ABA is now supported by the medical world as the primary intervention to assist people with autism and behavioral challenges.
I am forever grateful to the education I received and retained from Colorado College. It laid the foundation for a continual journey of discovery and utilization of skills, which allows me to serve others in the best possible way.