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| B. F. Skinner Tribute Event - Celebrating the B.F. Skinner Centennial: The Discovery, Invention, and Construction of Behavior Analysis |
| Monday, May 31, 2004 |
| 1:30 PM–2:50 PM |
| Republic B |
| Area: TPC/EAB; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Edward K. Morris (University of Kansas) |
| Discussant: Alexandra Rutherford (York University) |
| Abstract: . |
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| Contingencies Over the Discovery of the Operant |
| JULIE S. VARGAS (West Virginia University) |
| Abstract: An analysis of the rat records from 1929 to 1932 from the Harvard Archives reveals details about the discovery of the operant that Skinner did not include in his "Case History" or in his autobiography. This talk analyses the specific contingencies over Skinner's research activities during those years. |
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| Inventing Applied Behavior Analysis |
| EDWARD K. MORRIS (University of Kansas), Deborah E. Altus (Washburn University), Nathaniel G. Smith (University of Kansas) |
| Abstract: Although applied behavior analysis was founded in the mid-1960s, it was fathered much earlier, most notably in B. F. Skinner’s pioneering research of the 1930s. That research was essential to the founding of applied behavior analysis because of its style, its focus, and its outcome. Its style was to work hands-on with behavior as a subject matter in its own right (cf. Bacon, Bernard); its focus was on functional relations between behavior and the environment (cf. Mach); its outcome was principles of behavior, in particular, of the behavior that operates on the environment – “operant” behavior (cf. Thorndike). These features of Skinner’s research allowed him to imagine, early on, the application of his science to problems of individual, social, and cultural importance and then, in 1945, to describe these and other applications in his utopian novel, Walden Two. Applied behavior analysis was arguably invented in the course of Skinner’s writing the book. In this paper, we describe (a) the genesis of applied behavior analysis in Skinner’s research program, (b) applications that he imagined up to the point of his writing Walden Two, (c) those he described in the book, and (d) his post-Walden Two contributions through myriad suggestions in Science and Human Behavior, his own applications (e.g., to education), and his encouragement of others to apply his science (e.g., Dews, Holland, Lindsley). |
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| The Discovery of Radical Behaviorism as Philosophy |
| JAY MOORE (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) |
| Abstract: Radical behaviorism is a comprehensive philosophy of science, concernedwith the subject matter and methods of a science of behavior. Itentails particular views of verbal behavior and epistemology thatevolved over 25 years in the middle of the 20th century. Thepresentation will outline some of the principal features of radicalbehaviorism, as well as the events during those 25 years that influencedits development. |
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