Behavior Analysis
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Sample Conceptual Prelim Topics
1. It seems that many behaviorists, as well as many other scientists, assume similarity of principles across different levels of analysis (e.g., that principles derived from an experimental analysis of individual behavior can be applied to the functioning of groups of individuals). Discuss this issue in the context of the following: (a) What distinguished one science from another? (b) Do principles derived from one science apply to other sciences? (c) What is the primary level of inquiry for behaviorists within organizations or groups?
2. Discuss the relation between the sciences of biology and psychology with respect to the issues of subject matter, the possibility of reducing the subject matter of one science to that of the other, and the role of biological factors in the determination of psychological conduct.
3. Discuss the role of metaphors in science in general and behavior analysis in particular.
4. Critics of behavior analysis often have stated that its principles cannot be applied directly to complex behavior because they have been discovered with one type of simple behavior: highly atomistic, repeatable behavior (see for example the review of Gardner's text by Shimp in JEAB, 1989, 51, 163-171). Present a behavior analytic perspective on this criticism.
5. Describe and critically evaluate the role of hypothetical constructs and intervening variables in behavior analysis.
6. What is selectionism and why has it occupied a central place in behavior analytic theory.
7. The concept of sensitivity to reinforcement arises frequently in laboratory comparisons of human and nonhuman behavior, but there appears to be no consensus about the definition of sensitivity and the way to measure it. Discuss the status of “sensitivity” in the experimental analysis of behavior. Your essay should consider whether sensitivity is a hypothetical construct or an intervening variable and the resulting implications for the definition, measurement, and theoretical status of sensitivity.
8. Corporations and like institutions make much of what sometimes is called the “corporate culture,” which in part reflects the “values” of the organization. Discuss the role of the behavior analyst, including but not limited to the ethical role, in shaping the values of organizations