The futures of experimental analysis of behavior.

Abstract

For 50 years experimental analysts of behavior have been riding the crests of waves raised by B. F. Skinner. His technical innovations and conceptual simplifications were a powerful breath of fresh air, and the large effect sizes engineered with contingencies of reinforcement gave its practitioners confidence in their methods. The goals of experimental analysis of behavior (EAB) meanwhile went unexamined, its antimentalistic philosophy untested, and the gap between laboratory and life inevitably widened. This gap can only be bridged by renewed conversations on the fundamentals of our field, and new technologies to examine behavior that we have largely ignored. Interpretative accounts—showing that reinforcement may have played an important role in some complex or exceptional behavior—is no longer enough. To ensure a future for EAB several things must happen. We must learn that data have little value until embedded in a coherent narrative; and the best of those are called theories. The biological EAB must reach levels up to biology/ethology/ecology; and levels down to physiology/neuroscience. The psychological EAB must recognize the value of bringing into our tool-box treatments of states such as affects and dispositions; operations such as attention, rumination, goal-setting, and reframing; and craft a better understanding of belief systems in general. The social EAB must strive to generalize basic laws formulated in open-loop controlled laboratory settings to dynamic interactive closed-loop processes with 2 or more interacting systems. To be successful these endeavors require respect for other approaches to these phenomena, and collaborations with scientists who know more about them than we yet do.

The nervous system as a solution for implementing closed negative feedback control loops

“…There has recently been a call for new ideas towards broader and more consistent theoretical accounts of behavior beyond the powerful, yet limited, simplifications and technical developments of Skinner and his students (Killeen, 2018). This paper aims to be a step toward such a goal, which represents an opportunity for illuminating the purely behavioral research that behavior analysis has traditionally pursued.…”

Controle Aversivo em Arranjos Experimentais de Metacontingência: Uma Revisão

“…É relevante mencionar ainda a necessidade da inserção da Análise do Comportamento, expondo os dados produzidos para a comunidade científica, além de considerar os dados produzidos por outras áreas. Segundo Killeen (2018) o próprio futuro da Análise Experimental do Comportamento dependerá da capacidade da área se ajustar às novas metodologias científicas e demandas da sociedade que são colocadas com o avanço da humanidade e consequente complexidade de seu objeto de estudo, o comportamento.…”

Las relaciones entre cerebro y conducta: ¿hay posibilidades de comunicación?

“…Tampoco hemos sido muy activos en la difusión de los resultados de la investigación conductual aplicada que sin duda tienen un impacto social. Killeen (2018) con un acento autocrítico ha publicado un interesante artículo llamando la atención sobre algunos temas que parecen reducir la velocidad de los avances en del análisis experimental de la conducta, expresando su versión de los futuros del análisis experimental de la conducta. Sí, escribe sobre futuros en plural para identificar los diferentes campos de acción que podrían ofrecer posibles avances de la disciplina.…”