ADVANCING BACKWARDS

The proposal of Friman, Hayes, and Wilson (1998) that the concept of emotion be incorporated into behavior analysis is questioned. Their proposal is undermined by the problem of the verification of private events by others. A focus on private events, as exemplified by the proposal of Friman et al., can lead to a reversion to notions of agency and the autonomous individual. Also, the anchoring of hypothetical constructs to the behavioral data language is ill advised.     

The Impact of Behaviorism on Our Culture: Some Evidence and Conjectures

Current interest among behaviorists in public policy is contrasted with the minimal impact of behaviorism on contemporary American culture, in order to provide baseline information against which future developments might be compared.

     

Contingency management in the people's republic of China

The behavioral contingencies that have been implemented in the attempt by the People's Republic of China to achieve two of its national goals are described. The goals are the modernization and increased productivity of industry and a significant decrease in the birth rate. Changes from past practices in the industrial sphere involving a shift from noncontingent to contingent consequences are outlined. The use of a variety of consequences as a means of reducing the birth rate is described.     

Pavlov's view of the inheritance of acquired characteristics as it relates to theses concerning scientific change

Pavlov's position on the inheritance of acquired characteristics was used to test selected theses of Laudan et al. (1986) concerning scientific change. It was determined that, despite negative experimental findings, Pavlov continued to accept the possibility of the inheritance of acquired habits. This confirms the main thesis I that, once accepted, theories persist despite negative experimental evidence. Pavolv's adherence to the concept of inheritance of acquired characteristics might possibly be explained by his early experiences. Adolescent readings of a popularized version of Darwin's theory, which included the concept of inheritance of acquired characteristics, profoundly influenced Pavlov's subsequent intellectual life. Overwhelmed by the theory, as originally presented, Pavlov was unable to alter his views in light of contrary findings.     

Collegiate contingencies

We discuss contemporary trends and developments that affect colleges and universities and describe several central contingencies that have given rise to, maintain, and operate in response to these trends and developments. We identify the differential impacts of these contingencies on faculty, students, and administrators in various types of higher education institutions. These contingencies are sources of conflict between and among these three groups within the academy that, we argue, cause significant instability in contemporary academe. We discuss prominent domains of this dis-equilibrium and propose several general interventions to address the sources of the instability.     

Pavlov and the concept of association

I. P. Pavlov was profoundly influenced during his youth by the writings of D. I. Pisarev and I. M. Sechenov. Sechenov explained the voluntary act in terms of the formation of associations among sensory impressions and motor responses. Apparently under Pisarev’s influence, Pavlov studied the physiology of the circulatory and digestive systems. In explaining the formation of the conditional reflex (CR), Pavlov rejected the Wundtian, anthropomorphic conceptualization of CR as suggested by A. T. Snarskii. However, using the objective CR method, the Pavlovians experimentally investigated the formation in the cortex of neural connections, which were equated with associations.