Contemporary Behaviour Analysis: Pure and Applied

Abstract

The origins and development of the experimental analysis of behaviour (EAB) are outlined and certain early characteristics described such as the emergence of the principles, the basic datum, and the atheoretical approach. Contemporary EAB is viewed as having departed from these characteristics through, for example, the adoption of other and remote dependent variables, the interest in response-response relations, the growth in technicality, the development of mathematical theories, the use of statistical methods, and the interest in cognitive/mentalistic constructs. Applied behaviour analysis (ABA) is seen as the inevitable continuing of the early application of EAB’s findings. The widespread adoption of ABA in the contemporary scene and its concern with cognitive events is described as a force which ameliorates the undeserved reputation of behaviourist psychology as cold and inhuman. Finally, the attraction of behaviour analysis for present-day students, the likelihood of the continuation of traditional training of behaviour analysts in laboratories, and prospects for jobs are considered.

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