Association for Behavior Analysis International

Ever since Skinner (1938), early on after presenting an extensive study of the rat, invoked his Let him extrapolate who will, we have been hesitant to do so. It is, nevertheless, also true that just a few sentences before that fateful one, in the very same book, Skinner had said: The importance of a science of behavior derives largely from the possibility of an eventual extension to human affairs. In that sense, John Stoddard (2001) should not have been so surprised that Skinner engaged in what the former called premature extrapolation. As we well know, Skinner went on to engage in much-attacked extensive, not to say excessive, extrapolation and for that reason I will try for some more modest, but not too limited, extrapolation, examining how one could apply the basic reinforcement contingency paradigm to complex human behavior and thus (eventually) shed light on how to improve it. Beginning immodestly with some of my early work with conditioning of speech deficient children and flat-affect schizophrenic patients, I will try to elucidate human error, communication (all the while not ignoring the overlap of the latter two), and other human vagaries by means of behavior analysis most basic concepts.

Many college courses have fairly clear goals related to a specific verbal content, and are taught by assigning text material, giving lectures, and assessing student repertoires with in-class exams. Some learning occurs during class attendance, but most results from out-of-class study. This tutorial will describe the evolution, rationale, and current status of the use of detailed study objectives and frequent exams as a way to produce highly effective out-of-class study, excellent student performance, and very good course evaluations. The approach does not require any resources other than those ordinarily available to an instructor, nor any special class-scheduling arrangements, and over time can result in a course that approaches programmed self-instruction in appearance and effectiveness.

Although a common mechanism for disseminating research findings is the conference presentation, the standard for determining quality in scientific communication is publication in a peer-reviewed journal. However, traditional thesis and dissertation requirements, and the way in which these requirements are met, typically fail to produce research competence that survives the peer-review process. My presentation will focus on strategies for acquiring general research skills, formulating research questions, generating publishable data, and learning the ins and outs of the peer-review process.

This tutorial will discuss some of the principles of pharmacology that are most relevant to behavioral scientists. Using specific examples from published experiments, the following questions may be posed: Are dose-response curves really important? How do you know that drug is really a selective serotonin, dopamine, opioid, GABA, or (fill in the blank) receptor agonist (or antagonist) and does it matter? What is receptor theory and how does it explain the actions of agonists, antagonists, partial agonists, and inverse agonists? How do these various drug actions impact different behavioral assays and vice versa? What has the experimental analysis of behavior contributed to the experimental analysis of drug action? What do behavioral pharmacologists know about the stimulus properties of drugs and are these different from non-drug stimuli?

The concepts of behavioral economics have proven useful for understanding the environmental control of overall levels of behavior for a variety of commodities, including, for example, reinforcement by food, water, drugs, and cigarettes. The general concepts will be summarized for application to the analysis of factors controlling overall consumption, overall response expenditure, and choice among different commodities. There has emerged a reliable mathematical expression that describes demand for various commodities and this basic demand law applies equally well to rats, monkeys, and human subjects. Behavioral economics provides a conceptual framework for understanding key factors that can contribute to reductions in consumption of illicit drugs and excessive consumption of other commodities and changes in choice behavior. When combined with an appreciation of the social and verbal dimensions of economic behavior, they provide a basis for generalization from laboratory and clinical studies to the development of novel behavioral therapies to reduce behaviors in excess and government policies to limit the illegal consumption of controlled substances.