The renaissance of the experimental analysis of human behavior

JEAB Research Over Time: Species Used, Experimental Designs, Statistical Analyses, and Sex of Subjects

We examined the species used as subjects in every article published in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB) from 1958 through 2013. We also determined the sex of subjects in every article with human subjects (N = 524) and in an equal number of randomly selected articles with nonhuman subjects, as well as the general type of experimental designs used. Finally, the percentage of articles reporting an inferential statistic was determined at 5-year intervals. In all, 35,317 subjects were studied in 3,084 articles; pigeons ranked first and humans second in number used. Within-subject experimental designs were more popular than between-subjects designs regardless of whether human or nonhuman subjects were studied but were used in a higher percentage of articles with nonhumans (75.4 %) than in articles with humans (68.2 %). The percentage of articles reporting an inferential statistic has increased over time, and more than half of the articles published in 2005 and 2010 reported one. Researchers who publish in JEAB frequently depart from Skinner's preferred research strategy, but it is not clear whether such departures are harmful. Finally, the sex of subjects was not reported in a sizable percentage of articles with both human and nonhuman subjects. This is an unfortunate oversight.

Selected publication trends in JEAB: Implications for the vitality of the experimental analysis of behavior

To provide some insight into the current vitality of the experimental analysis of behavior, we updated and extended an analysis by R. A. Williams and Buskist (1983) of selected trends in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Specifically, the number of articles published and the percentage of those articles that were empirical, the number of different affiliations of authors and number of articles per affiliation, the types of subjects used in empirical articles, and the topics investigated were analyzed for the years 1958 through 1999. Although several trends may point to a decline in the overall well-being of the experimental analysis of behavior, they may also be interpreted as signs of progress for the field.

Quantitative integration of single-subject studies: Methods and misinterpretations

Derenne and Baron (1999) criticized a quantitative literature review by Kollins, Newland, and Critchfield (1997) and raised several important issues with respect to the integration of single-subject data. In their criticism they argued that the quantitative integration of data across experiments conducted by Kollins et al. is a meta-analysis and, as such, is inappropriate. We reply that Kollins et al. offered behavior analysts a technique for integrating quantitative information in a way that draws from the strengths of behavior analysis. Although the quantitative technique is true to the original spirit of meta-analysis, it bears little resemblance to meta-analyses as currently conducted or defined and offers behavior analysts a potentially useful tool for comparing data from multiple sources. We also argue that other criticisms raised by Derenne and Baron were inaccurate or irrelevant to the original article. Our response highlights two main points: (a) There are meaningful quantitative techniques for examining single-subject data across studies without compromising the integrity of behavior analysis; and (b) the healthiest way to refute or question findings in any viable field of scientific inquiry is through empirical investigation.

The trouble with babies and the value of bathwater: Complexities in the use of verbal reports as data

Recent interest among behavior analysts in protocol analysis techniques prompts a consideration of some general measurement issues and some special issues relevant to protocol analysis. The development of behavior- analytic method and theory specific to verbal report research is a good thing, and Ericsson and Simon's (1984) book, Protocol Analysis, provides a useful model of integrating psychological theory and the craft of research. But protocol analysis techniques do not provide a magic window to the "world within the skin," and individual researchers should adopt these techniques only after confronting thorny issues such as how to determine the operating characteristics of verbal reports about private events, how to identify public performances to which protocol analysis can be applied productively, and how to maintain theoretical integrity in the empirical search for private events. We also caution against letting enthusiasm (and controversy) regarding protocol analysis distract behavior analysts from the benefits of using verbal report methods to study interesting events that are public in principle but difficult to measure in practice.

Distinguishing between applied research and practice

Behavior-analytic research is often viewed along a basic-applied continuum of research goals and methods. The applied portion of this continuum has evolved in ways that combine applied research and service delivery. Although these two facets of applied behavior analysis should be closely related, more clearly distinguishing between them, particularly in how we conceptualize and conduct applied research, may enhance the continuing development of each. This differentiation may improve the recruitment and training of graduate students.

International publication trends in the experimental analysis of behavior

The present paper assessed international publication trends in the experimental analysis of behavior by recording the geographical origin of the first authors of articles in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB), the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA), and The Behavior Analyst (TBA). Five international categories were identified: Australasia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America. A cooperative category was also employed to assess the number of publications with authors from different international categories. First, the percentage and number of international articles published in JEAB, JABA, and TBA are presented. Second, a more detailed analysis of the publication rates within the international categories is presented. The number and rate at which new authors from the categories appeared and the percentage of articles published by different authors are also presented. Some limitations of the review and suggestions for increasing international participation in behavior analysis are outlined.

Neither dark age nor renaissance: Research and authorship trends in the experimental analysis of human behavior (1980-1999)

The anniversary of several milestones in the experimental analysis of human behavior (EAHB) provides a prompt for updating previous surveys of EAHB publication trends, which portrayed the field's overall health as good but raised questions about its breadth and trajectory. For the years 1980 through 1999, we examined trends in annual frequency of data-based EAHB articles published in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB); in the topical emphasis of those EAHB articles; in the geographic region of origin of EAHB articles; and in the relative contributions of new and veteran authors. Our findings show continued productivity in the field, but contradict an earlier report by showing little sustained growth in EAHB over roughly the past 15 years. In terms of authorship, an increasing proportion of EAHB articles are authored by veteran investigators, although the field also benefits from a steady infusion of new authors. International participation in EAHB is limited, with most EAHB research originating in North America. In terms of content, our findings replicate those of previous reports in showing stimulus control and reinforcement and punishment to be the field's most commonly addressed research topics, although content emphases apparently differ across regions of origin. Overall, the data depict EAHB at the close of the 20th century as a multifaceted enterprise, one that is neither bankrupt nor at its full potential for contributing to the overall analysis of behavior. We close with some observations on the value of this type of archival research and some suggestions for improving the archival characterization of the field.

Whither the muse: What influences empirical research on verbal behavior?

To identify some of the published works that have helped to inspire empirical verbal behavior research, we searched for patterns in the sources cited in empirical studies published in The Analysis of Verbal Behavior between 1990 and 1999. Not unexpectedly, Skinner's (1957) Verbal Behavior was the most cited source, although a variety of more recent sources explicating verbal relations as conceptualized by Skinner also were frequently cited. About one third of the most frequently cited sources were fairly recent primary empirical papers. These outcomes suggest that scholars who are interested in a behavior-analytic approach to studying verbal behavior are beginning to generate a critical mass of work that renders Verbal Behavior no longer monolithic in its influence. Nevertheless, some aspects of the citation data could be interpreted as evidence of insularity, and we argue for the importance of a broad-based analysis of verbal behavior that can have substantial impact outside of behavior analysis.

Sources cited most frequently in the experimental analysis of human behavior

We conducted an analysis of the sources cited most frequently in primary empirical reports in the experimental analysis of human behavior (EAHB) published in four journals between 1990 and 1999. Citation patterns suggest that modern EAHB is topically focused and relatively independent of both animal operant research and human research conducted outside of behavior analysis.

Skinner boxes for psychotics: operant conditioning at Metropolitan State Hospital

Between 1953 and 1965, Ogden Lindsley and his associates conducted free-operant research with psychiatric inpatients and normal volunteers at Metropolitan State Hospital in Waltham, Massachusetts. Their project, originally named "Studies in Behavior Therapy," was renamed "Harvard Medical School Behavior Research Laboratory" in 1955. This name change and its implications were significant. The role of the laboratory in the history of the relationship between the experimental analysis of behavior and applied behavior analysis is discussed. A case is made for viewing Lindsley's early work as foundational for the subfield of the experimental analysis of human behavior that formally coalesced in the early 1980s. The laboratory's work is also contextualized with reference to the psychopharmacological revolution of the 1950s. Finally, a four-stage framework for studying the historical and conceptual development of behavior analysis is proposed.

Recent reinforcement-schedule research and applied behavior analysis

Reinforcement schedules are considered in relation to applied behavior analysis by examining several recent laboratory experiments with humans and other animals. The experiments are drawn from three areas of contemporary schedule research: behavioral history effects on schedule performance, the role of instructions in schedule performance of humans, and dynamic schedules of reinforcement. All of the experiments are discussed in relation to the role of behavioral history in current schedule performance. The paper concludes by extracting from the experiments some more general issues concerning reinforcement schedules in applied research and practice.

Translational research in behavior analysis: historical traditions and imperative for the future

"Pure basic" science can become detached from the natural world that it is supposed to explain. "Pure applied" work can become detached from fundamental processes that shape the world it is supposed to improve. Neither demands the intellectual support of a broad scholarly community or the material support of society. Translational research can do better by seeking innovation in theory or practice through the synthesis of basic and applied questions, literatures, and methods. Although translational thinking has always occurred in behavior analysis, progress often has been constrained by a functional separation of basic and applied communities. A review of translational traditions in behavior analysis suggests that innovation is most likely when individuals with basic and applied expertise collaborate. Such innovation may have to accelerate for behavior analysis to be taken seriously as a general-purpose science of behavior. We discuss the need for better coordination between the basic and applied sectors, and argue that such coordination compromises neither while benefiting both.

The selective renaissance of the experimental analysis of human behavior

Two recent articles (Dougherty, Nedelmann, & Alfred, 1993; Hyten & Reilly, 1992) have favorably appraised the growth and health of the experimental analysis of human behavior as a whole. Within the last decade alone, there has been a more than threefold increase in the percentage of human operant papers appearing in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. In the present paper, a more molecular analysis is used, and some concerns are raised about the overall health of the field. The analysis included a determination of the rate at which new authors have appeared, how several areas of research have grown, and a contrast between the proportion of papers appearing in each of several areas of research during the last two decades. Two primary concerns are raised in this paper: (a) The recent growth within the field has been in only three select research areas (general schedule control, reinforcement, and stimulus control), and (b) there is an increasing disparity between the number of papers published in the few areas of research receiving the most attention and the number of papers published in the other areas of research receiving the least attention. Although the experimental analysis of human behavior has made considerable progress in the mere number of publications, these publications have been somewhat limited in scope.