Association for Behavior Analysis International

Selection by consequences (phylogeny, ontogeny, and culture)

Identify each level of selection.

Describe the relation between each level.

Identify the subject of matter of behavior analysis in each level.

Relate levels of selection to the analysis of psychological phenomena

Skinner, B. F. (1981). Selection by consequences. Science, 213, 501-504.

Killeen, P. R. (2001). The Four Causes of Behavior. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10(4), 136–140

Moore, J. (2011). Behaviorism. The Psychological Record, 61, 449-464.

Morris, E.K., Todd, J.T., Midgley, B.D., Schneider, S.M., & Johnson, L.M. (1990). The history of behavior analysis: Some historiography and a bibliography. Behavior Analyst, 13, 131-158.

Neuringer, A. (1991). Humble behaviorism. The Behavior Analyst, 14(1), 1–13.

Baum, W. M. (2011). Behaviorism, private events, and the molar view of behavior. The Behavior Analyst, 34(2), 185-200.

Kileen, P. R. (2019, ahead of print). The non-darwinian evolution of behavers and behaviors. Behavioral Processes. Retrieved from: https://www.academia.edu/38626715/The_non-Darwinian_evolution_of_behavers_and_behaviors?auto=download

Reflexes and Respondent Behavior

Recognize the main characteristics of respondent learning;

Define the main topics related to respondent behavior (eliciting stimulus, unconditioned response, habituation, etc.)

Describe experimental work related to these concepts;

Describe the importance of these concepts to applied settings;

Catania, A. C. (2013). Learning (5th Edition). Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY: Sloan Publishing. (Chapter 4, emitted and elicited behavior)

Mazur, J. E. (2006). Learning and Behavior (6th Edition). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. (Chapters 2, 3 and 4)

Pear, J. J., & Eldridge, G. D. (1984). The operant-respondent distinction: future directions. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 42(3), 453-467.

Domjan, M. (2016). Elicited versus emitted behavior: Time to abandon the distinction. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 105(2), 231-245.

Lattal, K. M. (2012). Pavlovian conditioning. APA handbook of behavior analysis, 1, 283-306.

Rescorla, R. A. (1988). Pavlovian Conditioning: It’s Not What You Think It Is. American Psychologist, 43(3), 151–160. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.43.3.151

Consequences of Behavior: Reinforcement (positive and negative)

Recognize the main characteristics of operant learning;

Define the main topics related to operant behavior and its control by reinforcement (Positive Reinforcer, Negative reinforcer, extinction, etc.)

Differentiate between operant and respondent behavior;

Discuss critically the benefits and problems of control by reinforcement contingencies;

Describe experimental work related to these concepts;

Describe the importance of these concepts to applied settings;

Mazur, J. E. (2006). Learning and Behavior (6th Edition). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. (Chapters 5, 7 and 8)

Hineline, P.N. & Rosales-Ruiz, J. (2013). Behavior in relation to aversive events: Punishment and negative reinforcement. In G.J. Madden (Ed.), APA Handbook of Behavior Analysis: Vol. 1 Methods and Principles (pp. 33-64). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Iwata, B. A. (2006). On the distinction between positive and negative reinforcement. The Behavior Analyst, 29(1), 121-123.

Killeen, P. R., & Jacobs, K. W. (2017). Coal is not black, snow is not white, food is not a reinforcer: the roles of affordances and dispositions in the analysis of behavior. The Behavior Analyst, 40(1), 17-38.

Shahan T. A. (2010). Conditioned reinforcement and response strength. Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 93(2), 269-89.

Shahan, T. A. (2017). Moving beyond reinforcement and response strength. The Behavior Analyst, 40, 107-121.

Baron, A. & Galizio, M. (2005). Positive and negative reinforcement: Should the distinction be preserved? The Behavior Analyst, 28, 85 – 98.

Glenn, S. S., Ellis, J., & Greenspoon, J. (1992). On the revolutionary nature of the operant as a unit of behavioral selection. American Psychologist, 47(11), 1329–1336. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.47.11.1329

Consequences of Behavior: Punishment (positive and negative)

Define the main topics related to operant behavior and its control by punishment (Positive Punishment, Negative Punishment, etc.)

Differentiate between control by reinforcement and punishment, especially relating it to negative reinforcement;

Discuss critically the benefits and problems of control by punishment contingencies;

Describe experimental work related to these concepts;

Describe the importance of these concepts to applied settings;

Catania, A. C. (2013). Learning (5th Edition). Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY: Sloan Publishing. (Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8)

Critchfield, T. S. (2014). Skeptic’s corner: Punishment—destructive force or valuable social "adhesive"?. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 7, 36-44.

Lerman, D. C. & Vorndran, (2002). On the status of knowledge for using punishment: Implications for treating behavior disorders. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 35 (4), 431–464.

Rasmussen, E. B. & Newland, M. C. (2008). Asymmetry of reinforcement and punishment in human choice. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 89 (2), 157–167.

Schedules of Reinforcement and Choice

Identify different schedules of reinforcement;

Describe complex schedules of reinforcement;

Describe experimental work related to these concepts;

Describe the importance of these concepts to applied settings;

Mazur, J. E. (2006). Learning and Behavior (6th Edition). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. (Chapters 6, and 9)

McDowell, J. J. (1988). Matching theory in natural human environments. The Behavior Analyst, 11(2), 95–109. Retrieved from

Reed, D. D., & Kaplan, B. A. (2011). The matching law: A tutorial for practitioners. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 4(2), 15-24.

Roscoe, E. M., Iwata, B. A., & Kahng, S. (1999). Relative versus absolute reinforcement effects: Implications for preference assessments. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 32, 479-493.

Borrero, J. C., Crisolo, S. S., Tu, Q., Rieland, W. A., Ross, N. A., Francisco, M. T., & Yamamoto, K. Y. (2007). An application of the matching law to social dynamics. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (Lawrence, KS), 40(4), 589-601.

Davison, M., & Baum, W. M. (2000). Choice in a variable environment: every reinforcer counts.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (Bloomington, IN), 74(1), 1-24.

Basic Principles of Stimulus Control: Discrimination and Generalization

Define Stimulus Control and its relation to operant behavior;

Identify discrimination processes in operant behavior;

Identify generalization processes in operant behavior;

Describe experimental work related to these concepts;

Describe the importance of these concepts to applied settings;

Terrace, H. S. (1966). Stimulus Control. Em W. K. Honig (Org.). Operant Behavior: Areas of Research and Application. New York: Appleton­Century­Kroft.

Catania, A. C. (2013). Learning (5th Edition). Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY: Sloan Publishing. (Chapter 7, 11, 12)

Edelstien, B.A. (1989). Generalization: Terminological, methodological, and conceptual issues. Behavior Therapy, 20, 311-324.

Sidman, M. (2008). Reflections on stimulus control. The Behavior Analyst, 31, 127-135.

Dube, W. V., MacDonald, R. F., Mansfield, R. C., Holcomb, W. L., & Ahearn, W. H. (2004). Toward a Behavioral Analysis of Joint Attention. The Behavior Analyst, 27, 197-207.

Equivalence Stimuli Classes and Relational Learning

Identify different cases of stimulus control: Equivalence Stimuli and Relational Learning;

Describe differences between the different operations or processes in Stimulus Control;

Describe experimental work related to these concepts;

Discuss the main theoretical debate involving: naming hypothesis, relational frame theory and equivalent relations based on direct act contingency;

Describe the importance of these concepts to applied settings;

Cumming, W. W. e Berryman, R. (1965). The complex discriminated operant: Studies of matching­to­sample and related problems. Em D. I. Mostofsky (Org.). Stimulus Generalization. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Sidman, M. (2009). Equivalence relations and Behavior: A Tutorial. In The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 25, 5-17.

Barnes-Holmes, D., Finn, M., McEnteggart, C., & Barnes-Holmes, Y. (2017, November 9). Derived stimulus relations and their role in a behavior-analytic account of human language and cognition. The Behavior Analyst. doi:10.1007/s40614-017-0124-7

Horne, P.J., Lowe C.F. (1996). On the origins of naming and other symbolic behavior. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 65(1),185–241

Törneke, N. (2010). Derived relational responding as the fundamental element in human language. In Learning RFT: An introduction to relational frame theory and its clinical application (pp. 59 – 890. Oakland, CA: Context Press.

Gross, A. C., & Fox, E. J. (2009). Relational frame theory: An overview of the controversy. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 25, 87–98.

McIlvane WJ, Dube WV. Naming as a facilitator of discrimination. J Exp Anal Behav. 1996 Jan;65(1):267–272

Sidman M., Tailby, W. (1982). Conditional discrimination vs. matching to sample: an expansion of the testing paradigm. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 37(1), 5–22.

Miguel, C. F. (2018, July 5). Problem-Solving, Bidirectional Naming, and the Development of Verbal Repertoires. Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice. Advance online publication. .

Motivating operations (EOs, AOs)

Differentiate stimulus control from motivating function;

Define and identify different types of abolish and establishing operations;

Identify effects of motivation operations over reinforcement and discriminative stimuli;

Identify motivational operations related to conditioned or unconditional reinforcement;

Describe experimental work related to these concepts;

Describe the importance of these concepts to applied settings;

Michael J. (1982). Distinguishing between discriminative and motivating functions of stimuli. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 37, 149–155.

Miguel, C. F. (2013). Jack Michael's Motivation. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 29, 3-11.

Poling, A., Lotfizadeh, A., & Edwards, T. L. (2017). Predicting reinforcement: Utility of the motivating operations concept. The Behavior Analyst, 40, 49-56.

Social Behavior

Differentiate social behavior from non-social behavior;

Define social stimuli and social reinforcement;

Identify social behavior as an interlocking behavior contingency;

Identify procedures to study social behavior;

Describe experimental work related to these concepts;

Describe the importance of these concepts to applied settings;

Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and Human Behavior (Cap 19, 20, 21). Cambridge, MA: B. F. Skinner Foundation.

Schmitt, D. R. (1998). Social behavior. In K. Lattal & M. Perone (Eds.), Handbook of research method in human operant behavior. (pp. 471-505). New York: Plenum Press.

Guerin, B. (2001). Individuals as social relationships: 18 ways that acting alone can be thought of as social behavior. Review of General Psychology, 5(4), 406–428. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.5.4.406

Verbal Behavior

Differentiate verbal behavior from non-verbal behavior;

Categorize verbal behavior based on functional categories and identify different contingencies in verbal operants (tact, mand, autoclitics, etc.);

Identify procedures to study verbal behavior

Debate verbal behavior as social behavior;

Describe experimental work related to these concepts;

Describe the importance of these concepts to applied settings;

Vargas, E. A. (2007). B. F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior: An Introduction. Brazilian Journal of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, 9, 1-20.

Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. Acton: Copley Publishing Group. (selected chapters)

Plavnick, J. B., & Normand, M. P. (2013). Functional analysis of verbal behavior: A brief review. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 46, 349–353.

Sautter, R. A., & LeBlanc, L.A. (2006). Empirical applications of Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior with humans. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 22, 35–48.

Fryling, M. (2017). The functional independence of Skinner’s verbal operants: Conceptual and applied implications. Behavioral Interventions 32, 70-78.

Grow, L.L, & Kodak, T. (2010). Recent research on emergent verbal behavior: Clinical applications and future directions. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 43(4), 775-778. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1901/jaba.2010.43-775

Rule Governed Behavior

Identify rule-governed behavior in the context of operant analysis;

Differentiate rule-governed behavior and behavior shaped directly by contact with non-verbal contingency;

Identify procedures to study rule-governed behavior

Be able to identify divergences in the analysis of rule-governed behavior and how they are related to simple or conditional stimulus control and motivational operations.

Describe experimental work related to these concepts;

Describe the importance of these concepts to applied settings;

Catania, A. C. (2013). Learning (5th Edition). Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY: Sloan Publishing. (Chapter 23)

Glenn, S. S. (1987). Rules as environmental events. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 5, 29-32.

Skinner, B. F. (1969). Contingencies of reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis (An Operant Analysis of Problem Solving). Cambridge, MA: B. F. Skinner Foundation.

Wulfert, E. (2018). Rule-governed behavior. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.libauth.purdueglobal.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=93872212&site=eds-live

Palaez, M., Moreno, R. (1999). Four dimensions of rules and their correspondence to rule-governed behavior: A taxonomy. Behavioral Development 6(1), 21-27

Rosenfarb, I. S., Newland, M. C., Brannon, S. E., & Howey, D. S. (1992). Effects of self- generated rules on the development of schedule-controlled behavior. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (Bloomington, IN), 58, 107-121.

Schlinger, H., & Blakely, E. (1987). Function-altering effects of contingency-specifying stimuli. The Behavior Analyst, 10(1), 41-45.

Zettle, R. D., & Young, M. J. (1987). Rule-following and human operant responding: Conceptual and methodological considerations. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 5(1), 33-39.

Hayes, S. C. (1993). Rule governance: basic behavioral research and applied implications. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2, 193-197. doi: 10.1111/1467-8721.ep10769746