Download I Have a Dream: My Hopeful Future for Behavior Analysis

30.04.2013
I Have a Dream:
My Hopeful Future for
Behavior Analysis
I Have a Dream:
My Hopeful Future for Behavior Analysis
Historical Trends in Behavior Analysis
The 100th anniversary of Watson’s “Psychology as
the Behaviorist Views It”
Watson’s (in)famous quotation, “Give me a dozen
healthy infants . . .
Skinner’s Experimental Analysis of Behavior
Henry D. Schlinger, Jr.
California State University, Los Angeles
Norwegian Association for Behavior Analysis
April 2013
Part I: Historical Trends in
Behaivor Analysis
Applications and Extensions of Operant Psychology
Current Trends in Behavior Analysis
Future Trends in Behavior Analysis
Watson 1913
Psychology as the behaviorist
views it is a purely objective
experimental branch of natural
science. Its theoretical goal is the
prediction and control of
behavior. Introspection forms no
essential part of its methods,
nor is the scientific value of its
data dependent upon the
readiness with which they lend
themselves to interpretation in
terms of consciousness.
Watson 1913
The behaviorist, in his efforts
to get a unitary scheme of
animal response, recognizes
no dividing line between
man and brute. The
behavior of man, with all of
its refinement and
complexity, forms only a
part of the behaviorist's total
scheme of investigation (p.
158).
Watson 1913
In just 99 words, Watson had:
introduced and defined the term behaviorist,
declared a new subject matter for psychology,
aligned psychology within the objectivist tradition,
combined the truth criterion of pragmatism with the
technological ideal of prediction and control,
rejected introspection as the exclusive method of
psychology,
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Watson 1913
opposed the requirement that psychology be explained in
terms of consciousness,
proclaimed that the scope of psychology was the
behavior of all organisms, not just humans,
asserted the continuity of species and the possibility of
broadly applicable principles of behavior, and
reaffirmed the conceptual unity of human and
nonhuman psychology (Morris & Todd, 1999).
Watson 1913
S-R psychology and the issue of mechanism
secondly, that certain stimuli lead the
organisms to make the responses. In a system
of psychology completely worked out, given
the response the stimuli can be predicted;
given the stimuli the response can be
predicted.
Watson 1913
A reaction against the prevailing psychology
Such a set of statements is crass and raw in the
extreme, as all such generalizations must be. Yet
they are hardly more raw and less realizable than
the ones which appear in the psychology texts of
the day.
Watson 1913
Role of heredity
The psychology which I should attempt to build up
would take as a starting point, first, the observable
fact that organisms, man and animal alike, do adjust
themselves to their environment by means of
hereditary and habit equipments. These adjustments
may be very adequate or they may be so inadequate
that the organism barely maintains its existence;
Watson 1913
“ . . . implying a fundamental lawfulness or order in
the behavior of organisms . . . not in the sense of
reducing the phenomena of behavior ultimately
to the movement of particles . . . it is assumed
that behavior is predictable from a knowledge of
relevant variables and is free from the
intervention of any capricious agent. (Skinner,
1938, p. 433)
Watson 1913
The psychology which I should attempt to build up would take
as a starting point, first, the observable fact that organisms,
man and animal alike, do adjust themselves to their
environment by means of hereditary and habit equipments.
These adjustments may be very adequate or they may be so
inadequate that the organism barely maintains its existence;
secondly, that certain stimuli lead the organisms to make the
responses. In a system of psychology completely worked out,
given the response the stimuli can be predicted; given the
stimuli the response can be predicted. Such a set of statements
is crass and raw in the extreme, as all such generalizations must
be. Yet they are hardly more raw and less realizable than the
ones which appear in the psychology texts of the day.
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Watson 1924/1930
Watson 1924/1930
Chapter V: Are There Any Human
Instincts? (Part 1)
Differences in Structure and Differences in
Early Training Will Account for All
Differences in Later Behavior
Human Beings Differ in the Way They Are Put
Together
Differences in Early Training Make Man Still
More Different
Watson 1924/1930
Our conclusion, then, is that we have no real
evidence of the inheritance of traits. I would feel
perfectly confident in the ultimately favorable
outcome of careful upbringing of a healthy, wellformed baby born of a long line of crooks,
murderers and thieves, and prostitutes. Who has
any evidence to the contrary? (p. 103)
I should like to go one step further now and say,
Watson 1924/1930
I am going beyond my
facts and I admit it, but
so have the advocates of
the contrary and they
have been doing it for
many thousands of
years.”
Watson 1924/1930
“Give me a dozen healthy infants,
well-formed, and my own specified
world to bring them up in and I'll
guarantee to take any one at
random and train him to become
any type of specialist I might select-doctor, lawyer, artist, merchantchief, and, yes, even beggarman and
thief, regardless of his talents,
penchants, tendencies, abilities,
vocations, and race of his ancestors.
Give me a dozen healthy infants . . .
Portrayal of Watson’s quote in textbooks
Radical or extreme environmental
determinism
Blank slate (tabula rasa)
Pinker (2002), The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial
of Human Nature
Schlinger (2004), “The Almost Blank Slate:
Making A Case for Human Nurture”
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Give me a dozen healthy infants . . .
Give me a dozen healthy infants . . .
Portrayal of Watson’s quote in textbooks
Sample of textbook portrayals
55 text books in Psychology surveyed
21 included the quote
Six included the last sentence
15 omitted the last sentence
11 mentioned or implied extreme
environmentalism
Give me a dozen healthy infants . . .
“Skinner & Watson argued that human nature is
completely malleable” (Atkinson et al., 2000)
Watson “famously claimed that if he had enough control
over the environment, he could create learning
experiences that would turn any infant into a doctor, a
lawyer, or even a criminal” (Bernstein, 2011)
"Echoed the ‘blank state’ approach” (Cacioppo & Freberg,
2013)
“The behaviorists believed that all responses are
determined by stimuli” (Coon & Mitterer, 2011)
Give me a dozen healthy infants . . .
Sample of textbook portrayals
"An infant is a tabula rasa.” "Acquires all of its knowledge
through sensory experience.” "Environment and its
associated effects on animals were the sole determinants of
learning" (Gazzaniga et al., 2011)
“Watson . . . clearly exaggerated the role of environment to
make his point.” (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2012)
“Watson admitted that his statement was an exaggeration”
(Kalat, 1999)
“The most extreme statement of environmental determinism
came from John B. Watson . . .” (Kalat, 2011)
“insisted that experience could write virtually any message
on the blank slate of human nature” (Wade & Tavris, 2000)
“ If Watson heard the ground rumble
beneath his feet as he wrote that
passage, it was perhaps the ghost of
Francis Galton rolling over in his
grave” (Fancher & Rutherford, 2012,
p. 373).
Give me a dozen healthy infants . . .
Give me a dozen healthy infants . . .
In his Obituary of Watson, Skinner (1959)
stated:
What was Watson really saying?
“The same taste for polemics led him into an extreme
environmentalistic position.”
“Like all those who want to do something about
behavior, he had emphasized the possibility of
environmental modification, and this was widely
misunderstood”
That one’s chosen profession was primarily due to their
upbringing and experiences . . . not that everything we do
is determined by learning.
That for the most part, the genes one inherits are
unimportant in determining one’s profession . . . not that
they are unimportant in our overall behavior.
That he was exaggerating his claims because advocates of
the contrary had been doing the same thing for a long
time . . . claiming that genes or inheritance determined
everything . . . not that he actually believed that he could
do what he claimed.
Galtonian eugenicists
Confuse heritability with inheritability
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Give me a dozen healthy infants . . .
Give me a dozen healthy infants . . .
Implications of Watson’s statement
In stating that he could take normal, healthy children
and teach them to become any kind of professional
his audience might select, Watson was calling for
critical science. He was criticizing conclusions made
about heredity and environment based largely on
rational argument and correlational analyses. The
former lacked empirical evidence; the latter lacked
experimental control.
That one’s chosen profession, and maybe much
of their behavior, is strongly influenced by
experience.
That much of our behavior—good and bad—
isn’t inevitable.
That the more control we have over an
individual’s environment, the more we can alter
his or her behavior.
Applied psychology and social engineering
Give me a dozen healthy infants . . .
In this statement, Watson was also making a case for
the role of the environment in human development.
as well as for the practical implications of
behaviorism. Indeed, throughout this period, he took
an increasing interest in social problems, such as
education (Watson, 1917) and the prevention of
venereal disease (Watson & Lashley, 1920), in which
prediction-and-control was both a conceptual tool for
analyzing these problems and a practical means for
solving them. (Morris &Todd, 1999)
The Experimental Analysis of
Behavior
The Behavior of
Organisms (1938)
Operant conditioning
chamber
Watson 1930
. . . the belief in the inheritance of
tendencies and traits saves us from blame
in the training of our young (p.105).
The Experimental Analysis of
Behavior
The Behavior of
Organisms (1938)
Cumulative recorder
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The Experimental Analysis of
Behavior
The Experimental Analysis of
Behavior
The Behavior of Organisms
(1938)
“Let him extrapolate
who will” (Skinner,
1938, p. 442)
Rate of response as a measure
of probability
Operant reinforcement,
punishment, extinction,
discrimination
Stimulus and response defined
empirically and functionally
Operant vs. respondent
conditioning
Response differentiation
The Behavior of Organisms
The Behavior of Organisms at 50
Skinner’s
extrapolations . . .
The reader will have noticed that almost no extension
to human behavior is made or suggested. This does
not mean that he is expected to be interested in the
behavior of the rat for its own sake. The importance of
a science of behavior derives largely from the
possibility of an eventual extension to human affairs .
. . The book represents nothing more than an
experimental analysis of a representative sample of
behavior. Let him extrapolate who will (pp.441-442)
Skinner’s Extrapolations
Project Pigeon
Skinner’s Extrapolations
Verbal Behavior
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Skinner’s Extrapolations
Walden Two
Skinner’s Extrapolations
Beyond Freedom
and Dignity
Skinner’s Extrapolations
Teaching Animals
Skinner’s Extrapolations
Science and
Human Behavior
Skinner’s Extrapolations
Education, Teaching
Machines, and
Programmed Instruction
Skinner’s Extrapolations
Child Rearing
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The Behavior of Organisms at 50
The insularity of
behavior analysis
History
Applications and Extensions of
Operant Psychology in the 1950s
Behavioral Pharmacology (e.g., Dews)
Animal Training (Breland & Breland)
Journals
The Space Program (Brady, Rohles)
Meetings
Psychotics (Skinner & Lindsley; Allyon and
Michael)
The cost of insularity
Autism (Ferster)
The Goals of A Science of
Behavior
Part II: Current Trends in
Behavior Analysis
Watson and Skinner
Prediction and Control of Behavior
What about explanation?
Relationship between prediction and control, and
explanation and understanding.
Basic datum of a science of behavior
The probability that a given response will occur
at a given time.
The Current Status of Behavior
Analysis
Autism and ABA
The BACB
Scientists and Practitioners
Basic Science
Autism and ABA
“Does ABA Stand for Autism and Behavior
Analysis?”
What if a cure for autism were discovered, or
what . . .
”if in the near future a drug company or
biotechnology firm develops a truly
effective intervention for treating ASD . .
.”? (Poling, 2010)
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Autism and ABA
Or . . . what if the definition of
autism were modified such that it
excluded many if not most of those
currently diagnosed?
Does ABA Stand For
Autism and Behavior Analysis?
Why I think ABA is beginning to
stand for Autism and Behavior
Analysis
CalABA as a case study
Membership in CalABA
Does ABA Stand For
Autism and Behavior Analysis?
Does ABA Stand For
Autism and Behavior Analysis?
Does ABA Stand For
Autism and Behavior Analysis?
Does ABA Stand For
Autism and Behavior Analysis?
Why I think ABA is beginning to
stand for Autism and Behavior
Analysis
CalABA as a case study
CalABA conference registration and
CEUs purchased
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Does ABA Stand For
Autism and Behavior Analysis?
Does ABA Stand For
Autism and Behavior Analysis?
Why I think ABA is beginning to
stand for Autism and Behavior
Analysis
CalABA as a case study
Presentations at the annual CalABA
conference by content area
Does ABA Stand For
Autism and Behavior Analysis?
Autism and ABA
What explains the current state of
affairs?
Success of ABA in autism treatment
Combined with money for treatment
And the increase in diagnosis
And the BACB
Autism and ABA
The bottom line:
Most of our eggs are in the autism basket
Double-edged sword
A blessing and a curse
Good news and bad news
Autism and ABA
The Good News
Academic programs
BA Organizations
The Bad News
Academic programs
BA Organizations
No widespread knowledge or recognition of BA.
The perception that ABA is only effective for treating
autism or other developmental disabilities.
E.g., texts in ABA (e.g., Cooper, Heron, & Heward,
2007; Miltenberger, 2008)
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Autism and ABA
The result:
We are implicitly relying almost
exclusively on autism to generate future
behavior analysts.
The Current Status of Behavior
Analysis
What, if anything, can or should we do about
this state of affairs?
Find a disease, that is, an area of research and
intervention that the taxpayers value and would
support (ODD, ADHD, obesity).
“Achieve mainstream relevance” (Friman, 2010)
“The poorly behaved, like the poor, are with us
always” (Poling, 2010).
The Current Status of Behavior
Analysis
The BACB
The Good
Recognized certification
Standards
Reimbursement
The Current Status of Behavior
Analysis
Science and Practice
Basic Science
The Bad
Who can become certified
Who can supervise
Requirements
Part III: Future Trends in
Behavior Analysis
The Future of Behavior Analysis
Why I am a behavior analyst
It satisfies my intellectual curiosity
Behavior analysis
Is objective . . . and experimental
• Unobserved events
Is parsimonious and elegant
Works
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The Future of Behavior Analysis
The Future of Behavior Analysis
Why I am bullish on behavior analysis
Why I am bearish on behavior analysis
Functional unit of analysis (4-term
contingency)
Overall impact on psychology and the
culture at large (insularity)
Enables us to
Possible reasons
Interpret behaviors
Possible solutions
• Memory
• Perception
• Consciousness
Change behaviors
The Future of Behavior Analysis
The survival of behavior analysis
depends on producing more behavior
analysts.
not BCBAs or licensed practitioners
The best places to do that are at colleges
and universities.
Design environments that will produce
good behavior analysts.
My Hopeful Future for
Behavior Analysis
I have a dream that one day . . .
Applied behavior analysis will once again be
used to ameliorate problems associated with
Mental health
Pain management
Aging
Addiction and gambling
Sustainable behaviors
Etc.
My Hopeful Future for
Behavior Analysis
I have a dream that one day . . .
Experimental behavior analysis will once again
flourish and be used to investigate topics
related to
Infant behavioral development
Remembering and forgetting
Addiction, gambling, obesity
Sustainable behaviors
Etc.
My Hopeful Future for
Behavior Analysis
I have a dream that one day . . .
behavior analysis will be the dominant
theoretical and philosophical viewpoint in
psychology.
behavior analysts will be sought after by the
media.
behavior analysis will be the go-to treatment
for all behavioral problems.
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The Future of Behavior Analysis
To ensure that behavior analysis survives, those of
us committed to the field must address a broad
range of significant problems. Of such, there is no
shortage. Obvious, and gargantuan, behavioral
problems include overpopulation, global warming,
obesity in affluent countries, famine and disease in
poor countries, and genocide. Solving these
problems will not be easy—the low-hanging fruit
was picked long ago—but substantial awards await
the people, and the disciplines, that develop the
solutions. (Poling, 2010)
The Future
Skinner’s pessimism
“I used to believe that a science of behavior
could show us how to solve the problems
confronting us—pollution, overpopulation,
poverty, the threat of nuclear war. But I am
forced to conclude that what the science of
behavior shows us is that we can't solve these
problems” (Chance & Harris, 1990, p. 10)
The Future
Skinner’s Optimism
From whence it sprung
About psychology
About human nature
The Future
How are we to stop exhausting our resources,
polluting the environment, and bearing too many
children, and how are we to prevent nuclear
holocaust? Hoe, in short, are we to take the future
of the world into account? Natural contingencies of
reinforcement will not do it, nor will contingencies
maintained by governments, religions, and
capitalistic systems. We need surrogate
contingencies of reinforcement under which people
will behave as if the future were acting now. Can we
design them and put them into effect?
My Hopeful Future for
Behavior Analysis
I remain quite sure that if we ever do, it will be with
the help of a psychology that is, as Watson put it, ‘a
purely objective experimental branch of natural
science’” (Skinner, 1989, p. 135).
Tusen
takk!
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