As researchers continue to study creativity, a behavior analytic perspective may provide new vistas by offering an additional perspective. Contemporary behavior analysis began with B. F. Skinner and offers a selectionist approach to the scientific investigation of creativity. Behavior analysis contributes to the study of creativity by…

Based on a doctoral dissertation presented by the first-named author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree under the supervision of the second-named author

Forty-eight preschool children were run under a classical conditioning paradigm in which some neutral stimuli were repeatedly associated with an adult matching the behavior of the subject, and other neutral stimuli were associated with the same adult mismatching the behavior of the subject. Preference for the stimuli associated with being matched…

The successful application of functional analysis to problem behavior suggests the need to examine: additional functional properties of behavior involving social avoidance, biological reinforcement, and respondent conditioning; the role of context (including social factors and biological factors); and the multidimensional character of assessment…

Studied males initially angered or not angered by an experimental accomplice. Later shocks were administered to the same accomplice. Subjects were told the shocks would interfere with learning and cause pain or were given no information. Results show angered men receiving hurt instructions and high-victim-pain feedback were most aggressive.…

We manipulated two parameters of response blocking to reduce pica: (a) the criteria for initiating the procedure (either earlier or later in the response chain) and (b) the distance from which the procedure was initiated. Results suggested that response blocking may be effective only when implemented early in the chain and with near-perfect…