Today, like never before words matter. Think about our political discourse and the words that are used to refer to “hot button” issues from abortion to immigration. Words are important in the behavior and training field too. As scientific research about cognition, emotions, and behavior of dogs and cats has become more widespread, trainers and behavior consultants are routinely exposed to the language used by research scientists. But some words and phrases are commonly misused by scientists. Such misuse only grows and expands as the words flow outward to non-scientist professionals in related fields and the lay public. Giving words imprecise meanings leads to imprecise thinking about the concepts to which they refer. In a field such as dog training striving to be better grounded in the behavioral sciences, this can be a significant set-back. In addition, in relatively young sciences like psychology and animal behavior (as compared to say physics and chemistry) where our concepts and theories are not fully established, we have to be even more precise about what we say and what words we use, because NOT doing so can result in MORE confusion rather than less. For example, the terms fear, anxiety and stress are often used interchangeably but it is NOT at ALL clear that they are interchangeable processes. This has led to widespread confusion about each of these processes, and how they different and how they are similar. In this webinar we’ll explore a handful of psychological and psychiatric words and phrases – all of which we’ve heard used in the behavior and training fields – that a group of scientists consider to be inaccurate, misleading, commonly misused, logically inaccurate and ambiguous. Some of these are terms we’ve used ourselves many times, and if these scientists are to believed, we haven’t done a stellar job of using them correctly either! Come join us for an informative and fun webinar about words that matter! Terms and phrases will be covering are: Fear = anxiety = phobia = stress? Predatory behavior is “hard-wired” There is a gene for that behavior Interaction Biological and environmental influences Certain areas of the brain “light up” Oxytocin is the “love” hormone There is a class of drugs called “anti-depressants” There is a “steep learning curve” for that behavior The Scientific Method Scientific Proof Empirical Data Neuro-cognition Pleonasms

Sponsor:Behavior Edcuation Network
Speaker(s):Suzanne Hetts, Ph.D., CAAB and Dan Estep, Ph.D., CAAB

Contact: Tracey Metzler
 Email: info@animalbehaviorassociates.com
 Phone: 303-932-9095
 Web: http://www.behavioreducationnetwork.com/