Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 29, 2026

Assessment of Social Interaction Behaviors
Published on: February 26, 2011
Jack Michael, Behavior Analyst
1California State University, 5151 State University Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90032 USA.
Abstract:
Jack Michael was the quintessential behavior analyst. Despite his reputation as a theoretician and expert in verbal behavior and on Skinner's book Verbal Behavior, Jack was actually an applied behavior analyst in the literal sense before anyone had coined the term. Prior to becoming one of Jack's doctoral students at Western Michigan University, I was a behavior-analytic neophyte. After I graduated and began my own teaching (modeled after Jack's behavior-analytic method of teaching) and thinking and writing about behavior analysis, I found myself talking and thinking like Jack. He had a similar behavior changing effect not only on many of his other students, but also on others who had the good fortune to know him.
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