The Behavior Analyst, 2010, 33, No.2 (Fall)

Yesterday (01/11/2011) The Behavior Analyst arrived by airmail.
I was excited to see a special issue with 10 papers on ideas from behavior analysts concerning
'the human response to climate change'.

That is printed on the cover, and I thought: " This is my lucky day (1/11/11!). Behaviorists will collaborate with other environmentalists and I shall retire into the background where I belong."
But no.

Nothing on re-conceptualisation: survival versus extinction; punishment versus reinforcement.
Nothing on how persons and their insides are sustained by lights and tones in the environment;
Nor on reviving cumulative measurements - B. F. Skinner's 'cumulative records' - to investigate what makes experimental subjects decide to go in a specific direction or move on from one place to the next
... and the next ... and the next ... and then come back again.

My paper Why I am A Radical Behaviorist where I tried putting my thoughts together, starts with an introduction; and now I think it may be a good thing to "blog" the entire document.  Perhaps this will become a suitable forum for a lively discussion as well.  The sad thing is, for years nothing marvelous
has been observed in the animal lab. My introduction to Why I am A Radical Behaviorist begins:

" The special 1984 Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior  was my professional eye-opener.
In an editorial PRESENT TRENDS AND DIRECTIONS FOR THE FUTURE Lattal & Harzem wrote: 'The science of behavior is important not only for its own sake, but for the sake of its implications for social survival. ' "

28 years have elapsed and still behavior scientists remain unconvinced vis-a-vis my arguments for spacious laboratories, expanded conditioning experiments with an additional 'dependent variable':
free locomotion, the movement of healthy, fully conscious, whole and nonvivisected organisms.
Keeping animals stationary was essential in 1938 ... and for years more ...
Now it is necessary to extend the environment, let animals move where they will and be able to answer important questions such as What keeps us in one location ? What attracts us from a distance?  Which common purpose accounts for co-operation in groups, nations, families?  

July 5, 2012