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| SQAB 2004 Tutorial: What Good is Mathematics in Behavior Analysis? |
| Saturday, May 29, 2004 |
| 1:00 PM–1:50 PM |
| Commonwealth |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Peter Killeen (Arizona State University) |
| Presenting Authors: : M. JACKSON MARR (Georgia Tech) |
| Abstract: Behavior analysis is founded on the assumption that there can be a science of behavior. Indeed, our methods reveal an astonishing order to behavior virtually unique in the behavior sciences. We also assume that relatively few principles of behavioral control can account for very complex behavior. All these characteristics lead us to expect that the behavioral phenomena we see around us as well as those we engender and explore in the laboratory may be subject to mathematical description. Indeed, behavior analysis is one of the more quantitative of the behavioral sciences, but, unfortunately, many students are not introduced to the power and beauty of a quantitative account, Moreover, even if they were exposed to such an account, the curricula in typical undergraduate and graduate programs require little quantitative training, so the student is too often intellectually isolated from understanding. This is, of course, NOT the student's fault. My tutorial will address the question: "What good is mathematics?" and attempt to provide examples supporting the rationale for greater emphasis on mathematical modeling and other quantitative approaches to behavior in academic programs in behavior analysis. |
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| M. JACKSON MARR (Georgia Tech) |
 Dr. M. Jackson (Jack) Marr received the BS degree in 1961 from Georgia Tech where he majored in psychology and mathematical physics. He received a Ph.D. in experimental psychology with a minor in physiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1966. He is Professor of Psychology at Georgia Tech where he teaches courses in the experimental analysis of behavior, physiology and behavior, behavioral pharmacology, and probability/statistics. He is Past-President of the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis, Past-President of both the Association for Behavior Analysis and Division 25 (Behavior Analysis) of the American Psychological Association, and Review Editor of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. He has served as Associate Editor of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior and The Behavior Analyst, and was the Experimental Representative to the Executive Council of the Association for Behavior Analysis. He was a Research Fellow in Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School, a visiting professor at the Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico, and the first Eminent Scholar invited to Jacksonville State University. He served as a Navy contractor for Project Sanguine in a study of possible effects of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields on operant behavior. As an AIEE Senior Fellow at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, he conducted research on the effects of microwaves as reinforcers for operant behavior and the effects of drugs on sustained military flight performance. His recent research interests include the development of instructional systems for teaching engineering physics, dynamical systems theory, behavior analysis at Zoo Atlanta, assessment methods for engineering and science education, and conceptual issues in behavioral analysis. |
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