She learned early on that if you’re going to work with subjects whose lives are an undifferentiated bundle of dysfunctional behaviors, you have to limit your scope of influence by identifying only a couple of vital behaviors and then working on them. Otherwise you dilute your efforts and eventually fail. As you chat with Dr. Silbert, she’s quick to point out that if you want to help ex-cons change their lives, you need to focus on behavior, not values, homilies, or emotional appeals.
