Effects of imposed postfeedback delays in programmed instruction

Statistical inference in behavior analysis: Useful friend

Single-subject and statistical inference are virtually identical. With both techniques change is inferred when variability across conditions is sufficiently large to accommodate variability within conditions, replication is the final arbiter of whether change is likely to occur by chance, a large effect size is preferred to a small consistent difference, there are similar threats to internal validity, and generalizability of results is valued. Knowing how to use statistical inferential procedures would make behavior analysts more methodologically sophisticated. It would also help them to critically evaluate research in other areas of psychology, obtain research grants, and publish their research in diverse outlets, which would help others to see behavior-analytic work.

B. F. Skinner's Utopian Vision: Behind and Beyond Walden Two

This paper addresses B. F. Skinner's utopian vision for enhancing social justice and human well-being in his 1948 novel, Walden Two. In the first part, we situate the book in its historical, intellectual, and social context of the utopian genre, address critiques of the book's premises and practices, and discuss the fate of intentional communities patterned on the book. The central point here is that Skinner's utopian vision was not any of Walden Two's practices, except one: the use of empirical methods to search for and discover practices that worked. In the second part, we describe practices in Skinner's book that advance social justice and human well-being under the themes of health, wealth, and wisdom, and then show how the subsequent literature in applied behavior analysis supports Skinner's prescience. Applied behavior analysis is a measure of the success of Skinner's utopian vision: to experiment.