The widespread misrepresentation of behaviorism in the scientific and popular literature has caused its contributions to the understanding of behavior to be systematically ignored or denied. This misrepresentation is manifested, in large part, as a form of academic folklore that codifies erroneous accounts of behaviorism's assumptions, findings, and goals. This article examines three representative "case histories" of the academic folklore about behaviorism: its alleged environmentalism, totalitarian aims, and intellectual intolerance. Because academic folklore has been highly resistant to the corrective efforts of behaviorists, explicit strategies are suggested for identifying and correcting folklore and for promoting more effective interdisciplinary communication.

Behavior analysts have recently expressed concern about what appear to be misrepresentations of behaviorism in psychology textbooks. This paper presents an analysis of currently used textbooks in the areas of introductory, social, cognitive, personality, and developmental psychology that confirms this. Topics on which behavior analysis is most often misrepresented relate to the role of animal learning research, environmentalism, the "empty organism," language, and the overall utility of the approach. Because textbooks are often a major medium of interaction between the public and behaviorism, behavior analysts must work to correct these errors and to prevent possible negative consequences of widespread misunderstanding. Several potential solutions to these problems are presented that take into account current publishing practices and the monetary contingencies which support them.

The persistence of fad interventions in the face of negative scientific evidence: Facilitated communication for autism as a case example, Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention, 8:2, 62-101, AbstractCommunication disorder and mental health professionals may assume that once novel clinical techniques have been refuted by research, they will be promptly abandoned. Using facilitated communication (FC) for autism as a recent case example, we provide evidence to the contrary. Although FC was scientifically discredited by the mid-to-late 1990s, data we review demonstrate that it is still frequently administered in clinical and educational settings. We examine evidence for FC's (a) continued use as an intervention for autism, (b) persistence in academic and institutional settings, (c) popularity in online and print sources, (d) promotion in the media, and (e) ongoing risk to caregivers accused of sexual abuse. We analyze the sources of these troubling developments, explore their ethical implications, and offer recommendations for addressing the spread of FC and other fad interventions.

Studies do not demonstrate a link between thimerosal-containing vaccines and ASD, and the pharmacokinetics of ethylmercury make such an association less likely. Epidemiologic studies that support a link demonstrated significant design flaws that invalidate their conclusions. Evidence does not support a change in the standard of practice with regard to administration of thimerosal-containing vaccines in areas of the world where they are used.

Alcoholism is occasionally complicated by zinc deficiency. We have assessed the possibility that malabsorption of zinc may be a potential cause. Using a dual isotope absorption technique the absorption of ⁶⁵Zn in 18 alcoholic patients was 37% (13 ± SD) and 56% (10 ± SD) in a normal control group (p < 0.001). The mean serum zinc in 55 alcoholic patients was 11.6 μmol/l (3.0 ± SD) and in 36 normal volunteers the mean serum zinc was 13.6μmol/l (1.8 ± SD; p < 0.001). This study suggests that chronic alcohol abuse will decrease the absorption of zinc and this may contribute towards the zinc deficiency occasionally associated with alcoholism.

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This article has two main purposes. First, it introduces the discipline of historiography and, second, it provides a selected bibliography on the history of behavior analysis. In introducing the former in the context of the latter, four important methodological considerations involved in the process and product of historiography are described: The sources from which historical materials are drawn (i.e., primary, secondary, and tertiary) and three dimensions along which historiography is conducted and evaluatedinternalist vs. externalist, great person vs. Zeitgeist, and presentist vs. historicist. Integrated throughout are four purposes for the historiography ofbehavior analysis, as well as an overview ofthe topics covered in the extant literature. The manuscript concludes with a listing of current bibliographic material by publication type and topic.

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