The following article by Barba (2012a) addresses Neuringer's proposal that variability is an operant dimension of behavior, that is, that variability can be reinforced, extinguished, and brought under stimulus control, just like any other response property. Barba confines his argument to methodological considerations: He points out that the…

In his scholarly and thoughtful article, "Interesting Times: Practice, Science, and Professional Associations in Behavior Analysis," Critchfield (2011) discussed the science-practice frictions to be expected in any professional organization that attempts to combine these interests. He suggested that the Association for Behavior Analysis…

A series of experiments on operant variability by Neuringer and colleagues (e.g., Neuringer, 1986, 2002; Page & Neuringer, 1985) have been repeatedly cited as showing that behavioral variability can be reinforced by making reinforcement contingent on it. They showed that the degree of variability in pigeons' eight-peck sequences, as measured by U…

Barba's (2012) article deftly weaves three main themes in one argument about operant variability. From general theoretical considerations on operant behavior (Catania, 1973), Barba derives methodological guidelines about response differentiation and applies them to the study of operant variability. In the process, he uncovers unnoticed features of…

Several recent studies have explored what Michael (e.g., 1982) termed the "value-altering" effect and the "behavior-altering" effect of motivating operations. One aspect of the behavior-altering effect that has garnered no recent attention involves changes in stimulus control produced by motivating operations. To call attention to this aspect of…

Zen's challenge for behavior analysis is to explain a repertoire that renders analysis itself meaningless--a result following not from scientific or philosophical arguments but rather from a unique verbal history generated by Zen's methods. Untying Zen's verbal knots suggests how meditation's and koans' effects on verbal behavior contribute to…

In his article, the author claimed that studies of operant variability that use a lag-"n" or threshold procedure and measure the obtained variability through the change in U value fail to provide direct evidence that variability is an operant dimension of behavior. To do so, he adopted Catania's (1973) concept of the operant, which takes the…

The four commentaries all make excellent points; they are all fair and serve to complement the target article. Because they are also quite diverse, it makes more sense to respond to them individually rather than topically. This article presents the author's response to the comments by McDowell (2012), Schlinger (2012), Hutchison (2012), and Wojcik…

Evolution and reinforcement shape adaptive forms and adaptive behavior through many cycles of blind variation and selection, and therein lie their parsimony and power. Human behavior is distinctive in that this shaping process is commonly "short circuited": Critical variations are induced in a single trial. The processes by which this economy is…

Barba's (2012) paper is a serious and thoughtful analysis of a vexing problem in behavior analysis: Just what should count as an operant class and how do people know? The slippery issue of a "generalized operant" or functional response class illustrates one aspect of this problem, and "variation" or "novelty" as an operant appears to fall into…

The crux of Critchfield's (2011) article is that there have not been enough translational contributions, and as a result societal support for basic research in behavior analysis is waning. Critchfield suggests, therefore, that to remain viable as a research enterprise, more attention needs to be paid to the translational (read "immediate…

Several published reports have now documented the clinical effectiveness of motivational interviewing (MI). Despite its effectiveness, there are no generally accepted or empirically supported theoretical accounts of its effects. The theoretical accounts that do exist are mentalistic, descriptive, and not based on empirically derived behavioral…

This essay uses the recent victory of an IBM computer (Watson) in the TV game, "Jeopardy," to speculate on the abilities Watson would need, in addition to those it has, to be human. The essay's basic premise is that to be human is to behave as humans behave and to function in society as humans function. Alternatives to this premise are considered…

Several different arrangements have been described for increasing the response requirements for reinforcement using the label "progressive-ratio schedule." Under the original progressive-ratio schedule, the response requirement is increased after each reinforcer. Subsequently, arrangements have been used in which the number of required responses…

This paper describes and analyzes B. F. Skinner's coauthoring practices. After identifying his 35 coauthored publications and 27 coauthors, we analyze his coauthored works by their form (e.g., journal articles) and kind (e.g., empirical); identify the journals in which he published and their type (e.g., data-type); describe his overall and local…