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Updated: May 23, 2026
08:30
Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats
Published on: February 15, 2015
Summary
This review details the four seldom-mentioned freedoms of early free-operant conditioning, crucial for operanda design in the 1950s. Understanding these foundational principles is vital for contemporary behavior analysts.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Psychology
- Experimental Analysis of Behavior
Background:
- Early laboratory research in free-operant conditioning laid the groundwork for modern behavioral science.
- The concept of 'free operant' was deeply understood, making explicit discussion of its freedoms seem redundant to 1950s researchers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review early free-operant conditioning research and applications.
- To describe in detail the four seldom-mentioned freedoms inherent in free-operant behavior.
- To reintroduce these foundational concepts to contemporary behavior analysts.
Main Methods:
- Historical review of early free-operant conditioning laboratory research.
- Analysis of foundational texts and concepts from the 1950s, including Sidman's 'Tactics of Scientific Research'.
- Detailed description of the four dimensions of freedom in operant behavior.
Main Results:
- Identifies and details four crucial 'freedoms' of the free operant: the freedom to form responses and the freedom to speed responses were key to operanda design.
- Highlights that these freedoms were implicitly understood and accepted by 1950s researchers.
- Reveals that the explicit term 'free operant' was often deemed redundant due to the self-evident nature of these freedoms.
Conclusions:
- The four freedoms of the operant were integral to early experimental design and operanda development.
- A lack of explicit discussion in historical texts has led to younger behavior analysts being unaware of these fundamental principles.
- Revisiting these early concepts is essential for a comprehensive understanding of the experimental analysis of behavior.
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