Causation and complexity: old lessons, new crusades

Engineering discovery learning: The contingency adduction of some precursors of textual responding in a beginning program

A learning situation in which the principal content of what is to be learned is not given but is independently discovered by the learner is often considered "discovery learning." Recently, learning scientists have been able to make explicit some of the conditions under which such independent discovery is likely to occur (Andronis, 1983; Epstein, 1996; Johnson & Layng, 1992). One form of "discovery" can often be observed when skills learned under one set of conditions are recruited under new conditions to serve a new or different function-a process of "contingency adduction" (Andronis, Layng, & Goldiamond, 1997). The research reported here investigated the application of contingency adduction in a discovery learning context to establish sound-to-letter correspondence as part of an online reading/decoding program, Headsprout Early Reading. Beginning readers acquired novel letters/sounds correspondence with minimal presentations and few errors-often requiring only one presentation. This research suggests that instructional sequences may be designed to provide effective discovery learning activities to teach some phonics skills.

Dialogue on private events

In the fall of 2003, the authors corresponded on the topic of private events on the listserv of the Verbal Behavior Special Interest Group. Extracts from that correspondence raised questions about the role of response amplitude in determining units of analysis, whether private events can be investigated directly, and whether covert behavior differs from other behavior except in amplitude. Most participants took a cautious stance, noting not only conceptual pitfalls and empirical difficulties in the study of private events, but doubting the value of interpretive exercises about them. Others argued that despite such obstacles, in domains where experimental analyses cannot be done, interpretation of private events in the light of laboratory principles is the best that science can offer. One participant suggested that the notion that private events can be behavioral in nature be abandoned entirely; as an alternative, the phenomena should be reinterpreted only as physiological events.

The search for an effective clinical behavior analysis: the nonlinear thinking of Israel goldiamond

This paper has two purposes; the first is to reintroduce Goldiamond's constructional approach to clinical behavior analysis and to the field of behavior analysis as a whole, which, unfortunately, remains largely unaware of his nonlinear functional analysis and its implications. The approach is not simply a set of clinical techniques; instead it describes how basic, applied, and formal analyses may intersect to provide behavior-analytic solutions where the emphasis is on consequential selection. The paper takes the reader through a cumulative series of explorations, discoveries, and insights that hopefully brings the reader into contact with the power and comprehensiveness of Goldiamond's approach, and leads to an investigation of the original works cited. The second purpose is to provide the context of a life of scientific discovery that attempts to elucidate the variables and events that informed one of the most extraordinary scientific journeys in the history of behavior analysis, and expose the reader (especially young ones) to the exciting process of discovery followed by one of the field's most brilliant thinkers. One may perhaps consider this article a tribute to Goldiamond and his work, but the tribute is really to the process of scientific discovery over a professional lifetime.

What are the benefits from a debate about cognition, behavior, and causality?

Some authors have argued that the debate about whether or not self-efficacy can be legitimately viewed as a cause of behavior is futile due to incommensurability between underlying philosophies. Nevertheless, the debate provides a valuable case study of comparative paradigms in psychology for teaching purposes. It also stimulates a secondary debate about whether clinical utility is a sufficient criterion in clinical decision making. Another consequence of the debate has been a reminder of the negative consequences of the focus on the individual in contemporary psychology.

Science, philosophy and man's mind

This paper argues, in disagreement with most of the writers in the special issue [see Reyna (1995) Cognition, behavior and causality: A broad exchange of views stemming from the debate on the causal efficacy of human thought, Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 20(3)], that: (1) science cannot be separated from philosophy even for the purpose of trying to see which set of assumptions is more "pragmatically useful;" (2) a true understanding of causality eliminates skepticism and reveals why private, conscious events are causes of action; (3) consciousness is directly observable; and (4) the belief in cognition, far from divorcing man from the real world of action, points to the actual cause of action and of political change.

Frequency measures of behavior for assistive technology and rehabilitation

Documenting assistive technology outcomes has grown in importance, but outcome measurement remains problematic. A new approach uses natural science measures and a model (selectionism) from the field of Behavior Analysis. Selectionism defines behaviors by their effects (functional performance) and the environment (including technology) within which they occur, and explicitly treats variation in patterns of behavior over time for individuals (intervention effects). Its basic metric is frequency of behaviors (count per unit time) which is similar to robust engineering measures like centimeters, grams, and seconds. This approach eliminates many of the problems inherent to more traditional psychometrics. Selectionism based on frequencies also provides an empirical structure or taxonomy to organize efforts and outcomes, unified by the notion of fluency. Composite behaviors are combinations of smaller component behaviors that are required for performance of the composite. A frequency above which a component behavior is readily retained, generalized, and recruited into the more complex composite behavior is called fluency; thus individuals fluent on the critical components easily and efficiently demonstrate the composite. This model suggests that when assistive technology interventions raise component behavior frequencies to fluent levels, they will be integrated usefully into an individual's life. This selectionistic approach has been used successfully in the field of education. It has the added benefit of not only empirically defining measurable outcomes, but also of providing useful ongoing measurement of change during treatment. This paper briefly describes this "Precision Measurement" strategy and its data-driven feedback process and makes suggestions for further research and development efforts. The method provides a basis for better documentation, control, and outcomes of assistive technology and related interventions.