Neither dark age nor renaissance: Research and authorship trends in the experimental analysis of human behavior (1980-1999)

The anniversary of several milestones in the experimental analysis of human behavior (EAHB) provides a prompt for updating previous surveys of EAHB publication trends, which portrayed the field's overall health as good but raised questions about its breadth and trajectory. For the years 1980 through 1999, we examined trends in annual frequency of data-based EAHB articles published in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB); in the topical emphasis of those EAHB articles; in the geographic region of origin of EAHB articles; and in the relative contributions of new and veteran authors. Our findings show continued productivity in the field, but contradict an earlier report by showing little sustained growth in EAHB over roughly the past 15 years. In terms of authorship, an increasing proportion of EAHB articles are authored by veteran investigators, although the field also benefits from a steady infusion of new authors. International participation in EAHB is limited, with most EAHB research originating in North America. In terms of content, our findings replicate those of previous reports in showing stimulus control and reinforcement and punishment to be the field's most commonly addressed research topics, although content emphases apparently differ across regions of origin. Overall, the data depict EAHB at the close of the 20th century as a multifaceted enterprise, one that is neither bankrupt nor at its full potential for contributing to the overall analysis of behavior. We close with some observations on the value of this type of archival research and some suggestions for improving the archival characterization of the field.     

The renaissance of the experimental analysis of human behavior

Ten years ago, a number of authors commented on the dismal state of the basic research area known as the experimental analysis of human behavior (EAHB). At that time, data on the number of research articles using human subjects published in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB) indicated little progress since the early 1960s. However, updated publication data through 1991 reveal that EAHB research has accelerated in the last decade, reaching a peak of nearly half of all research articles published in JEAB, with an increasing trend evident. The increase in this percentage is not due solely to a long-term declining trend in the total number of experimental articles in JEAB using either human or nonhuman subjects, a trend that appears to have slowed or stabilized in the last 6 years. These data indicate that the EAHB has made dramatic progress in a decade and is healthy and growing.     

The analysis of human operant behavior: A brief census of the literature: 1958-1981

A census involving several major journals was conducted to survey the content and scope of the experimental analysis of human behavior. While the percentage of reports involving human subjects published each year in JEAB has lacked consistency, it was shown that JEAB has been the primary outlet for human work among the journals surveyed. Few areas of interest within the study of human behavior have received extensive scrutiny. The normal adult (typically undergraduate students) has been the preferred subject for human research. The results of a citation analysis of JEAB reports featuring human research are also presented.     

Forgetting the lessons of history

While a great deal of behavior analytic research has focussed on studying current contingencies, the amount of work done in the area of conditioning history is spotty, at best. Weiner (1964, 1969) conducted history research with human subjects, but little has followed in either the human or the nonhuman literature. Some direction can also be found in the literature studying the effects of conditioning on drug effects (e.g., Barrett, 1977; Urbain, Poling, Millam, & Thompson, 1978). However, "behavioral history" or "conditioning history" has not been a fully-developed area within behavior analysis. It is suggested that empirical work on history effects might have implications for (a) better understanding human-nonhuman behavioral differences and similarities, (b) clinical applications, especially where clients are resistant to behavioral change, and (c) theoretical assumptions in behavior analysis in relation to both basic and applied concerns.     

The basic importance of applied behavior analysis

We argue that applied behavior analysis is relevant to basic research. Modification studies, and a broad range of investigations that focus on the precipitating and maintaining conditions of socially significant human behavior, have basic importance. Applied behavior analysis may aid basic researchers in the design of externally valid experiments and thereby enhance the theoretical significance of basic research for understanding human behavior. Applied research with humans, directed at culturally-important problems, will help to propagate the science of human behavior. Such a science will also be furthered by analogue experiments that model socially important behavior. Analytical-applied studies and analogue experiments are forms of applied behavior analysis that could suggest new environment-behavior relationships. These relationships could lead to basic research and principles that further the prediction, control, and understanding of behavior.     

Skinner boxes for psychotics: operant conditioning at Metropolitan State Hospital

Between 1953 and 1965, Ogden Lindsley and his associates conducted free-operant research with psychiatric inpatients and normal volunteers at Metropolitan State Hospital in Waltham, Massachusetts. Their project, originally named "Studies in Behavior Therapy," was renamed "Harvard Medical School Behavior Research Laboratory" in 1955. This name change and its implications were significant. The role of the laboratory in the history of the relationship between the experimental analysis of behavior and applied behavior analysis is discussed. A case is made for viewing Lindsley's early work as foundational for the subfield of the experimental analysis of human behavior that formally coalesced in the early 1980s. The laboratory's work is also contextualized with reference to the psychopharmacological revolution of the 1950s. Finally, a four-stage framework for studying the historical and conceptual development of behavior analysis is proposed.     

The place of the human subject in the operant laboratory

Although laboratory study of human behavior seems an obvious vehicle for strengthening the scientific base of behavior analysis, the place of the human subject within the operant laboratory remains problematic. The prevailing research strategy has been to link principles developed with animals to human affairs, either through interpretation of naturally occurring human behaviors or through application of the principles to the solution of human problems. The paucity of laboratory research on human operant behavior derives from several misconceptions: the possibility that experimental demand characteristics and pre-experimental behavioral dispositions of human subjects contaminate the results; that ethical considerations place undue constraint on research topics and experimental designs; and that uncontrollable variation in subjects' histories and other relevant personal characteristics prevents observation of reliable functional relations. We argue that these problems do not pose insurmountable obstacles to the experimental analysis of human behavior; that adequate methods of control and analysis are available; and that operant techniques, by emphasizing experimentally imposed contingencies, are well suited for the laboratory study of human behavior.     

Basic research needed for stimulating the development of behavioral technologies

The costs of disconnection between the basic and applied sectors of behavior analysis are reviewed, and some solutions to these problems are proposed. Central to these solutions are collaborations between basic and applied behavioral scientists in programmatic research that addresses the behavioral basis and solution of human behavior problems. This kind of collaboration parallels the deliberate interactions between basic and applied researchers that have proven to be so profitable in other scientific fields, such as medicine. Basic research questions of particular relevance to the development of behavioral technologies are posed in the following areas: response allocation, resistance to change, countercontrol, formation and differentiation/discrimination of stimulus and response classes, analysis of low-rate behavior, and rule-governed behavior. Three interrelated strategies to build connections between the basic and applied analysis of behavior are identified: (a) the development of nonhuman animal models of human behavior problems using operations that parallel plausible human circumstances, (b) replication of the modeled relations with human subjects in the operant laboratory, and (c) tests of the generality of the model with actual human problems in natural settings.     

Translational behavior analysis: from laboratory science in stimulus control to intervention with persons with neurodevelopmental disabilities

Throughout its history, laboratory research in the experimental analysis of behavior has been successful in elucidating and clarifying basic learning principles and processes in both humans and nonhumans. In parallel, applied behavior analysis has shown how fundamental behavior-analytic principles and procedures can be employed to promote desirable forms of behavior and to prevent or ameliorate undesirable forms in clinical, educational, and other settings. Less obviously, there has also emerged a small but identifiable bridging field that can potentially connect and inform both basic and applied behavior analysis. Although such translational behavior analysis uses laboratory methodologies, research targets are selected largely for their value in ultimate application to improve the human condition. I will discuss the distinction of translational behavior analysis from basic and applied behavior analysis and consider the potential contribution that translational research can make in the development of the science of behavior.     

Following rules in the intermontane west: 19th-century mormon settlement

The academic discipline of human geography is concerned with human activities, especially as these relate to physical landscapes and contribute to the modification of those landscapes. Although little attention has been paid to objectivist philosophies to inform human geography, behavior analysis might offer a useful explanatory model. As an example, a behavior analysis of selected aspects of 19th-century Mormon movement and settlement in the intermontane West is conducted. Mormons are a society of believers who practice cooperative effort and support for other members, and the Mormon church is governed by priesthood authority with members being called to perform tasks. This analysis employs the concepts of metacontingency, rule-governed behavior, and delayed reinforcement to analyze how Mormons settled the intermontane West.     

A review of research methods in IO/OB work-family research

A methodological review was conducted of work-family (WF) research published in industrial-organizational psychology and organizational behavior journals over a period of 24 years (1980-2003). Content analysis was conducted on 225 individual studies published in 210 articles to categorize methodological features, including the research design, sources of data used, data analysis techniques, reliability and validity of measures used, and sociodemographic characteristics of the samples. Results support many of the criticisms of WF research and suggest that scholars publishing WF research in industrial-organizational psychology and organizational behavior journals could make greater use of longitudinal and experimental research designs, gather more multisource data, and move beyond the individual level of analysis. Adopting more diverse conceptualizations of family, including a greater proportion of racial and ethnic minorities, and studying workers in occupations other than managerial or professional positions also appear warranted. Finally, methodological trends varied across specific WF content areas, which suggests that distinct methodologies might be useful to advance knowledge of specific WF topics.     

Within‐subject analysis of a prevention strategy for problem behavior

Although decades of research on functional analysis methodology have identified common contingencies that maintain problem behavior and effective interventions, relatively little research has been conducted on strategies to prevent the initial development of problem behavior. We conducted a 2‐part case study, the purposes of which were to illustrate the use of sensitivity tests as the bases for intervention (Study 1) and subsequently to assess the efficacy of a prevention strategy using a single‐subject design (Study 2). Results showed that the sensitivity tests identified establishing operations that may set the occasion for the development of problem behavior and that interventions based on differential reinforcement prevented increases in the severity of problem behavior relative to untreated and control baselines. Benefits and limitations to this individualized approach to prevention are discussed.     

Logical learning theory: A teleological alternative in the field of personality

Logical learning theory (LLT) is presented as a teleological alternative to most current explanations of human behavior An organism construed as intentional is more suitable to many personality/personological accounts than is an organism construed as mechanical It is first established that LLT is a predicational rather than a mechanical explanation of behavior The concept of telosponsivity is then presented as an alternative to the predominant view of behavior as a supposed response to antecedent stimulation Telosponsivity rests on the assumption of dialectical human cognition A review of the early work on affective assessments in human cognition follows Affection is a special case of telosponsivity, and not a physical feeling or emotion per se Evidence drawn from empirical research outside of the strict LLT literature is also adduced in support of its tenets The presentation closes with a survey of current research being conducted on LLT It IS concluded that human agency is a viable theoretical outlook, and that a view resting on such assumptions can be shown to have empirical validity     

What happened to analysis in applied behavior analysis?

This paper addresses the current help-oriented focus of researchers in applied behavior analysis. Evidence from a recent volume of JABA suggests that analytic behavior is at low levels in applied analysis while cure-help behavior is at high strength. This low proportion of scientific behavior is apparantly related to cure-help contingencies set by institutions and agencies of help and the editorial policies of JABA itself. These contingencies have favored the flight to real people and a concern with client gains, evaluation and outcome strategies rather than the analysis of contingencies of reinforcement controlling human behavior. In this regard, the paper documents the current separation of applied behavior analysis from the experimental analysis of behavior. There is limited use of basic principles in applied analysis today and almost no reference to the current research in the experimental analysis of behavior involving concurrent operants and adjunctive behavior. This divorce of applied behavior research and the experimental analysis of behavior will mitigate against progress toward a powerful technology of behavior. In order to encourage a return to analysis in applied research, there is a need to consider the objectives of applied behavior analysis. The original purpose of behavioral technology is examined and a re-definition of the concept of "social importance" is presented which can direct applied researchers toward an analytic focus. At the same time a change in the publication policies of applied journals such as JABA toward analytic research and the design of new educational contingencies for students will insure the survival of analysis in applied behavior analysis.     

Relational frame theory and the experimental analysis of human sexuality

Behavior analysts have not been particularly active in the experimental analysis of human sexual behavior. This may be because the complexity of human sexuality suggests that it defies a molecular empirical analysis. Recent developments in the experimental analysis of complex behavior and language, however, have opened the way for a modern behavior-analytic research program into human sexual conduct. The present article outlines the most important of these recent developments and illustrates how, at the Cork laboratory, advances in the study of arbitrarily applicable relational responding have been harnessed to form the basis of a modern behavior-analytic treatment of human sexuality.     

Temporal discounting: basic research and the analysis of socially important behavior

Recent basic research on human temporal discounting is reviewed to illustrate procedures, summarize key findings, and draw parallels with both nonhuman animal research and conceptual writings on self-control. Lessons derived from this research are then applied to the challenge of analyzing socially important behaviors such as drug abuse, eating and exercise, and impulsiveness associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Attending to the broader temporal context in which behavior occurs may aid in the analysis of socially important behavior. Applying this perspective to the study of behavior in natural environments also highlights the importance of combining methodological flexibility with conceptual rigor to promote the extension of applied behavior analysis to a broader array of socially important behaviors.     

不诚实行为的认知神经机制

说谎,作为人性的一方面,已经成为心理学、生物进化学、实验经济学等多学科的关注点。说谎会受到多种文化的谴责,说谎行为也是人们所不支持的。但是国外的研究发现,在普通人群中,不诚实行为也是普遍存在的,而且这种不诚实行为并没有影响被试诚实的自我概念。因此了解这种不诚实行为的发生、发展过程,对人们认识和识别不诚实行为,提高人际互动质量至关重要。本文从不诚实行为的发生、发展过程出发,重点介绍了不诚实行为的研究范式、认知神经机制和影响因素。并针对已有研究的不足:(1)实验结果的解释水平低;(2)变量操纵不严谨;(3)研究方法局限; 提出了可能的解决方案。