Private events: Do they belong in a science of human behavior?

The role of thinking, feeling, and other private events has received a grea t deal of attention in mainstream psychology but has been virtually ignored in behavior analysis until recently. This paper introduces a series of pap ers from a symposium that explored the roles of private events in a science of human behavior. We briefly explore the role private events are assigned in several behavioral orientations. Next, we discuss several positions on how private events might be conceptualized within a behavior-analytic frame work. We conclude by noting that the dearth of research and conceptualizati ons about private events unnecessarily limits the theoretical or conceptual understanding on which applied behavior analysts base their work. With thi s paper and the papers that follow, we hope to spark research, discussion, and yes, thinking, about the roles of thinking and feeling.