Selection by scientific consequences.
Selection by scientific consequences (Kyonka, 2018)
| kyonka_sqab_tutorial.pdf |
In Selection by scientific consequences in the ecology of behavior analysis (Kyonka, May 2018), I argued that behavior analysts can and should apply ideas from other behavioral sciences, using behavioral ecology as an example, to our own work and our own professional behavior. For instance, the ease with which the audience discriminated at a glance figures published in JEAB from those published in JABA demonstrates the speciation of the experimental analysis of behavior forecast almost 30 years ago. Models of population dynamics generate predictions about the fate of each (sub)species of behavior analyst. A new taxonomy of behavior analysis research provides guidelines regarding where to publish. The ideal free distribution is a version of the matching law that could be used in strategic decision making about what to study.
Behavior analysts don’t have a monopoly on behavior principles. Ideas from ecology and other behavioral sciences can be applied our work and to our behavior in productive ways. If you are an educator, consider the population dynamics of your students. If you are a researcher wondering where to publish your work, consider the research subjects, setting, stimuli and target behavior. If you are trying to decide what your next experiment will be, go where the reinforcers are and your competition isn’t. But no matter what kind of behavior analyst you are, for the time being at least, we’re all in this together.
Behavior analysts don’t have a monopoly on behavior principles. Ideas from ecology and other behavioral sciences can be applied our work and to our behavior in productive ways. If you are an educator, consider the population dynamics of your students. If you are a researcher wondering where to publish your work, consider the research subjects, setting, stimuli and target behavior. If you are trying to decide what your next experiment will be, go where the reinforcers are and your competition isn’t. But no matter what kind of behavior analyst you are, for the time being at least, we’re all in this together.
