Experimental Analysis Of Behavior: What It Is And What It Proposes
We are active and dynamic beings. We are continually carrying out some type of behavior or conduct, usually with some type of goal or intention. Realizing this is relatively simple. But it is not so important to determine how and why we behave as we do, the bases behind the behavior.
In this sense and from within the branch of psychology, different proposals, models and techniques have emerged throughout history to try to determine it. One of them is the experimental analysis of behavior which we are going to talk about in this article.
Experimental analysis of conduct or behavior is understood as that system or paradigm, both theoretical and methodological, that aims to study and analyze the processes through which behavior ends up being generated through an experimental, operable and qualitative methodology.
This system considers conduct or behavior as a product of the interaction between natural selection, the reinforcement of previous behaviors and interaction with the social environment.
The experimental analysis of behavior appears as such from the works of BF Skinner, and is based largely on the radical behaviorism that he advocates: behavior is the only object of study proper to psychology as it is the only thing that is directly observable. This author especially highlights the importance of consequences when explaining behavior and its modification (also being the origin of operant conditioning). It aims to explain human and/or animal behavior based on the observable and measurable relationships between stimuli and responses.
Technically, the experimental analysis of behavior would be one of the three disciplines that would be included within behavioral analysis, in this case being the one that is focused on investigating basic processes. In addition to it, we could also find conceptual analysis (for theoretical aspects) and applied behavioral analysis (which considers how to reflect and use the knowledge obtained in practice).
It is important to keep in mind that this model would be initiated by Skinner, but many other authors would make subsequent modifications and incorporations. Among them, the research carried out with children by Bijou and Wolf stands out, which focused on observing sensitivity to the consequences of minors’ behaviors in different conditions.
Behavior in this conceptual system
Regarding the consideration of behavior by the experimental analysis of behavior, according to this model it is the result of the interaction of biological and environmental variables that allow the generation of associations between stimuli, responses and consequences. The human being or animal in question would be an entity classified as a black box, something unexplorable and whose internal elements do not have to be the mechanisms that initiate the behavior.
One of the main characteristics of the experimental analysis of behavior is that it considers that behavior as a whole is not arbitrary but is subject to scientific natural laws, in which it is related to a dependent variable (behavior) with an independent one (its causes), in such a way that these laws allow behavior to be predicted and modified based on them.
The basis of our behavior are, according to the model from which the experimental analysis of behavior is based, the consequences and effects that these have on the organism that issues them. It is considered that behaviors that generate pleasant consequences are reinforced in such a way that they are maintained and perpetuated, while aversive consequences will cause behaviors that are initially maladaptive to tend to disappear.
Likewise, with regard to the participation of the environment, it should be noted that it is possible to find the existence of phylogenetic, ontogenetic and cultural contingencies that affect the initiation and commission of behavior. The environment affects us by participating based on how we have evolved and the context in which we are, the reinforcement that our behavior has received throughout our lives and the situation in which we are immersed at a sociocultural level.
Private events
The experimental analysis of behavior is based on a model that does not include the mind or cognition in the explanation of behavior, but despite this it accepts the existence of private behaviors or only observable by the subject who experiences them.
In this sense the existence of private verbal conduct is accepted biased perceptions based on conditioning and the presence of situations in which the organism itself is the source of the stimulation that generates the behavior.
Criticisms of the model
The experimental analysis of behavior is a system that has had great influence and impact in the field of psychology, but although it continues to be useful in different areas, it has also received various criticisms.
Taking into account that the experimental analysis of behavior proposes that behavior is governed by a series of unalterable laws and that it discards or does not value the involvement of non-evaluable aspects such as motivation, goals and desires, this model offers a mechanistic vision of the behavior, being one of the reasons why It was controversial at the time and for which it has been receiving different criticisms.
Another possible criticism to take into account is that many of the investigations carried out in the experimental analysis of behavior have been carried out with different animal species, in such a way that the conclusions drawn are not always generalizable. However, the model takes this fact into account and is cautious when generalizing its conclusions between different species (although many of its basic principles have been reflected in both humans and other beings).
Likewise, the existence of internal factors specific to the subject as possible causal factors of the behavior is not taken into account, this being mainly passive under the paradigm from which it is based. However This does not mean that the existence of private events is not taken into account something that little by little would end up leading to the emergence of cognitivism.
