LEGACY OF B.F.SKINNER-THE SCOPE OF BEHAVIOR

ANALYSIS

• BASIC BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS

• APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

• CONCEPTUAL ISSUES

• PRINCIPAL JOURNALS

• PRINCIPAL ORGANIZATIONS

MEN ACT UPON THE WORLD, AND CHANGE IT, AND ARE CHANGED IN TURN BY THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR ACTION.

B. F. Skinner, Verbal Behavior, 1957, p. 1

BASIC BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

A science of behavior

A SCIENCE OF BEHAVIOR

• Behavior Analysis is based on the proposition that there can be a science of behavior.

• Behavior Analysis is a natural science like biology, chemistry, physics, meteorology, and the like.

• Behavior is a biological feature of organisms.

CONTINGENCY

• A contingency describes a relation between a context, a behavior, and a consequence for that behavior.

• This concept is the fundamental explanatory device in behavior analysis.

• Changes in behavior are understood and arranged through changes in contingencies.

• “The outstanding characteristic of operant behavior is that it can be differentiated in form and in temporal patterning by consequent events.”

• Morse, 1966

CONTINGENCIES

PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR

• Behavior is very, very complex---but:

• Behavior is not chaotic or without causes.

• This means there can be a science of behavior.

• There are orderly patterns to behavior.

• These patterns are induced, in part, by contingencies.

BASIC BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS

• CONTINGENCES AND CONSEQUENCES

Examples: Shaping, schedules of reinforcement, models of choice and self control, functional analysis of reinforcement and punishment, mathematical models of behavioral dynamics.

BASIC BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS

• BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS

Examples: Experimental analysis of economic behavior, tests of microeconomic principles, applications to areas such as economic policy, gambling, drug abuse.

BASIC BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS

• BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY

Examples: Experimental analysis of foraging, choice models of prey or patch selection, optimality analysis, applications to conservation and animal care.

BASIC BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS

• STIMULUS CONTROL

Examples: Basic discrimination and generalization, psychophysics, conceptual and relational behavior, verbal behavior, remembering, applications to the physiology of perception, learning, and memory.

BASIC BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS

• BEHAVIORAL PHARMACOLOGY

Examples: Drug-contingency interactions, drug discrimination, drugs as reinforcers, applications to drug-abuse treatments and basic and clinical neuropharmacology.

BASIC BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS

• BEHAVIORAL TOXICOLOGY

Examples: developmental neurotoxicology, teratology, detection of toxicants, behavioral assessment methods, threshold measures.

BASIC BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS

• SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

Example: Experimental analysis of cooperation and competition. Conceptual and interpretive analysis of social, cultural and governmental systems.

APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

From the science to engineering: Putting behavior analysis to work.

APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

• BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION

Examples: Developing self-care and effective social behaviors in retarded and autistic patients, treatment of phobias, anxiety, drug abuse, compulsive gambling, weight control, behavioral safety, self injury, behavior management in schools, military, psychiatric, and prison settings.

APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

• EDUCATION

Examples: Instructional design, precision teaching, direct instruction, personalized systems of instruction, programmed and other computer-aided instruction.

APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

• CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT IN ORGANIZATIONS

Examples: systems analysis, performance assessment, compensation, management systems, safety, labor relations, marketing, production systems, quality control, animal care, handling and conservation in zoos, aquaria, and laboratory facilities.

APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

• CULTURAL DESIGN

Examples: Walden Two, Los Horcones.

CONCEPTUAL ISSUES

• HOW DO WE BEST TALK ABOUT BEHAVIOR?

• SELECTION BY CONSEQUENCES AND BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION

• PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

• PHILOSOPHY OF MIND AND PSYCHOLOGY

• SOCIAL SYSTEMS

PRINCIPAL JOURNALS

JOURNAL OF THE EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS THE BEHAVIOR ANALYST BEHAVIOR AND PHILOSOPHY BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL ISSUESTHE EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF VERBAL BEHAVIOR BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS LETTERS BEHAVIORAL PHARMACOLOGY

PRINCIPAL ORGANIZATIONS ASSOCIATION FOR BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS INTERNATIONALCAMBRIDGE CENTER FOR BEHAVIORAL STUDIESB.F. SKINNER FOUNDATIONBEHAVIORAL PHARMACOLOGY SOCIETYBEHAVIORAL TOXICOLOGY SOCIETYAMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR BEHAVIOR THERAPISTSDIVISIONS 25 (Behavior Analysis), 28 (Psychopharmacology)and 33 (Developmental Disabilities) of THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONAMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETYPSYCHONOMIC SOCIETYANIMAL BEHAVIOR SOCIETY