THE NATURAL SELECTION: BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS AMONG THE NATURAL SCIENCES

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THE NATURAL SELECTIONBEHAVIOR ANALYSIS AMONG
THE NATURAL SCIENCES

• M. Jackson Marr
• School of Psychology
• Georgia Tech
• Atlanta, GA 30332-0170
• mm27_at_prism.gatech.edu

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SOME ISSUES TO CONSIDER

• 1. Conceptual considerations How do we talk
  about behavior?
• 2. Behavior Analysis as a Biological Science
• 3. Contingency-The Fundamental Explanatory
  Concept
• 4. The Problem of Behavioral Units
• 5. The Role of Symmetry
• 6. Others Dynamical Systems, Mathematical
  Models, Reductionism, Scientific Behavior.

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SOME CONCEPTUAL CONSIDERATIONS

• 1. realism vs. pragmatism
• 2. mechanism vs. contextualism
• 3. The role of terminology in behavior analysis
• 4. The role of unobservables in a science of
  behavior
• 5. What does explanation mean in behavior
  analysis?
• 6. molecular vs. molar The problem of functional
  units.
• 7. Models, mediations, and states Theory in
  behavior analysis.
• 8. Independence and reductionism.
• 9. What are the relations between basic and
  applied behavior analysis?
• 10. How does behavior analysis apply to other
  sciences?
• 11. Science as verbal behavior boot-strapping

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Three-term Contingency

• SD
• SR
• Ro

• SD discriminative stimulus
• Ro operant class
• SR reinforcer

F force m mass dv/dt acceleration
Newtons Second Law of Motion
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O-rules, functional relations B f (r)
r feedback
B output
E-rules, feedback functions r g (B)
Figure 1. The behavior-environment feedback
system
Operant Conditioning
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Ratio-Like Feedback Functions
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OTHER POSSIBILITIES
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SOME ISSUES TO CONSIDER

• 1. Ontology/epistemology Metaphysics
• 2. Behavior Analysis as a Biological Science
• 3. Contingency-The Fundamental Explanatory
  Concept
• 4. The Problem of Behavioral Units
• 5. The Role of Symmetry
• 6. Others Dynamical Systems, Mathematical
  Models, Reductionism, Scientific Behavior.

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FI 10 (FR 20 Sp)
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SOME ISSUES TO CONSIDER

• 1. Ontology/epistemology Metaphysics
• 2. Behavior Analysis as a Biological Science
• 3. Contingency-The Fundamental Explanatory
  Concept
• 4. The Problem of Behavioral Units
• 5. The Role of Symmetry
• 6. Others Dynamical Systems, Mathematical
  Models, Reductionism, Scientific Behavior.

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Maxwells Equations
             

• Symmetry between electricity and magnetism
  Explained the nature of light as electromagnetic
  waves moving at speed c.

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Einsteins Principles of Relativity

• (1) Laws of physics independent of states of
  motion.
• (2) Constancy of the speed of light, independent
  of states of motion.
• One implication Equivalence of mass and energy.
• E mc2

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SYMMETRIES IN BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

• Positive and negative reinforcement
• Positive and negative punishment
• Reinforcement and punishment
• Discrimination and generalization
• Shaping dynamics
• Three-term contingency
• Equivalence and n-term contingency
• Schedule performance
• Generally, invariances in behavior-analytic
  principles (contingencies, species, intra- and
  inter-individual, and socio-cultural behaviors)

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Scale Invariance in FI Schedules with ? 1
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