This paper argues that behavior analysis is not technological to a fault, but rather has a faulty technology by being incomplete. The paper examines reinforcers and punishers that result from the outcomes of either (1) striving for better experimental control, or (2) inventing theories to explain why current control is imperfect. (JDD)

Assumptions of applied behavior analysis are presented: (1) good practice should be good research; (2) behavioral goals, procedures, and effects should be socially validated; and (3) a systems perspective should be adopted when focusing on behavior analysis and intervention. (Author/JAC)

Does the name of the special interest group, "The Experimental Analysis of Human Behavior," imply that those who analyze the behavior of human animals must organize themselves apart from those who analyze the behavior of nonhuman animals? Is the use of nonhumans in experiments really not relevant to the analysis of the behavior of humans? If so,…

To the extent that applied behavior analysis represents a scientific and practical approach to the study of behavior, its technological character is essential. The most serious problem evident in the field is not that the research being done is too technical but that more good research of all types is needed. (JDD)

The claim that applied behavior analysis is overly technological is refuted, arguing that instead there is a lack of understanding of how technologies proficiently evolve. The solution lies in integrating basic and applied research sectors and coordinating efforts toward specific goals that are defined and valued by the culture. (JDD)

Summarizes Karl Weick's Model of Organizing including its advantages and limitations and tests one of the claims fundamental to Weick's argument. (MH)

Psychological researchers should deal with the concrete stimulus-response principles of learning on which behavior is based, and study behaviors that are representative of real life behaviors. The present research strategy has come from two faulty ideas: first, a concern with underlying, inferred mental processes, rather than with actual tasks or…

This paper indicates underlying philosophic assumptions which are compatible with the behavior analysis approach to child development. Four issues taken into consideration are (a) biology and environment, (b) structure and function, (c) traits and situations, and (d) mechanistic and organismic approaches to development. The following ideas…

Robert M. W. Travers's 1980 essay is the focal point of this paper. He argues that evaluation research requires a scientific taxonomy of human behavior and learning. Such a taxonomy must be experimentally based, mathematically expressed, theoretically sound, and predictive. He bases such criteria on the development of scientifically successful…

Educational reform appears to be moving in two incompatible directions, exhibiting considerable interest in increasing freedom on one hand, but on the other emphasizing the control and management of the educational environment. The purpose of this research is to examine the conceptual impact of various psychological theories, particularly…

In this overview of his research in personality theory, Cattell describes the play of people, situations, and, ideas enacted over 30 years in his University of Illinois laboratory. Establishing meaningful empirical measurement methods was the foundation for further research into many aspects of personality development. (BS)