In the present essay, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the publication of B. F. Skinner's "Verbal Behavior", I stand by and defend the judgment I expressed in my article "The Long Goodbye: Why B. F. Skinner's 'Verbal Behavior' Is Alive and Well on the 50th Anniversary of Its Publication" (2008c)--that Skinner's…

Jack Michael offered a course on verbal behavior almost every year throughout his teaching career. Jack was also interested in the application of Skinner's work and in 1976 began to offer a graduate course at Western Michigan University titled Verbal Behavior Applications. Jack and his students pursued the application of Skinner's work on verbal…

The target paper by Barba (2012) raises issues that were the focus of the author's first two publications on operant variability. The author will describe the main findings in those papers and then discuss Barba's specific arguments. Barba has argued against the operant nature of variability. (Contains 2 figures.)

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…

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…

Historically, researchers have never quite been able to agree as to the role of emotions, if any, when behavior is selected by its consequences. A brief review of findings from several fields suggests that in contingency-shaped behavior, motivating events, often unconscious, seem needed for reinforcement to select behavior. In rule-governed…

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…

The experimental analysis of behavior (EAB) is in trouble. Financial support for basic operant-conditioning research is difficult to obtain; teaching and research positions in colleges and universities are few; and bright undergraduates join other fields for graduate study. One reason for the difficulty is that EAB basic research does not focus…

In this article, the author describes some of Fred Keller's characteristics that might help people to appreciate him even more than they already do, and in addition, might help them understand him not only as a scientist and teacher, but as a man. People often tend to forget that the most valued scientists, teachers, and career models are also men…

William H. Morse has played a major role in the experimental analysis of behavior. His view of operant behavior as the outcome of differential reinforcement provides an invaluable lesson in scientific research and theory. He studied schedules of reinforcement to generate an in-depth analysis of the complex interactions existing when contingencies…

The notion of differentially reinforcing low rates of undesirable behavior (DRL) is examined. Further, the status of the full session DRL strategy as alternative to punishment is questioned in context of a strictly operant definition of punishment. A reexamination of the data from some studies reveals the possibility that Ss respond to said DRL…

Belke and Spetch's (1994) work with pigeons on choice between reliable and unreliable reinforcement is discussed. Hypothetical applied examples address variables that influence preference for unreliable reinforcement, including signaling and its context, conditioned reinforcement, and duration of reinforcement schedules. Implications regarding…

This report reviews current literature on feedback and suggests practical implications of feedback research for educators. A definition of feedback is offered, and past definitions in prior research are noted. An analysis of the current state of knowledge of feedback discusses the historical development of feedback theory and suggests that…

The French language article is the second in a series and describes the principles of classic conditioning which underlie attitude formation and change. The article also notes the many functions of self-concept attitudes in order to guide the choices of intervention in attitude learning. (Author/SB)

The philosophies underlying the learning and structural theories used in psychology are described in this article. It is argued that a dialectical view provides some ways to breach the chasm between learning theory and the study of human development. (Author/DB)