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Defining applied behavior analysis: an historical analogy.

¹Educatinal Foundations Department, Georgia State University,Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

The Behavior Analyst

|April 6, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

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This study explores two key criteria for applied behavior analysis (ABA), drawing from historical scientific methods. It discusses experimental determinism and philosophic doubt to advance behavior science.

Area of Science:

Behavioral Science
Philosophy of Science

Background:

Historical attempts to establish medicine as a scientific field.
The development of criteria for scientific practice.

Purpose of the Study:

To examine two criteria for defining applied behavior analysis.
To relate historical scientific principles to current behavior analysis practices.

Main Methods:

Analysis of historical scientific criteria (experimental determinism, philosophic doubt).
Application of these criteria to the field of applied behavior analysis.

Main Results:

Experimental determinism defines the methodological boundaries of experimental science.
Philosophic doubt highlights the tentative nature of scientific facts and theories.

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Conclusions:

Practices that advance the science of behavior are discussed within these criteria.
Potential issues with 19th-century empiricism in medicine are relevant to contemporary applied behavior analysis.