The analysis of individual behavior is a problem in scientific demonstration, reason- ably well understood (Skinner,...

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The analysis of individual behavior is a problem in scientific demonstration, reason- ably well understood (Skinner, 1953, Sec. 1), comprehensively described (Sidman, 1960), and quite thoroughly practised (Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1957 -). That analysis has been pursued in many settings over many years. Despite variable precision, elegance, and power, it has resulted in general descriptive statements of mecha- nisms that can produce many of the forms that individual behavior may take. The statement of these mechanisms estab- lishes the possibility of their application to problem behavior. A society willing to con- sider a technology of its own behavior appar- ently is likely to support that application when it deals with socially important behav- iors, such as retardation, crime, mental illness, or education. Such applications have ap- peared in recent years. Their current num- ber and the interest which they create appar- ently suffice to generate a journal for their display. That display may well lead to the widespread examination of these applica- tions, their refinement, and eventually their replacement by better applications. Better applications, it is hoped, will lead to a better state of society, to whatever extent the behav- ior of its members can contribute to the good- ness of a society. Since the evaluation of what is a "good" society is in itself a behavior of its members, this hope turns on itself in a philosophically interesting manner. However, it is at least a fair presumption that behav- ioral applications, when effective, can some- times lead to social approval and adoption. Behavioral applications are hardly a new phenomenon. Analytic behavioral applica- 'Reprints may be obtained from Donald M. Baer, Dept. of Human Development, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66044. The analysis of individual behavior is a problem in scientific demonstration, reason- ably well understood (Skinner, 1953, Sec. 1), comprehensively described (Sidman, 1960), and quite thoroughly practised (Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1957 -). That analysis has been pursued in many settings over many years. Despite variable precision, elegance, and power, it has resulted in general descriptive statements of mecha- nisms that can produce many of the forms that individual behavior may take. The statement of these mechanisms estab- lishes the possibility of their application to problem behavior. A society willing to con- sider a technology of its own behavior appar- ently is likely to support that application when it deals with socially important behav- iors, such as retardation, crime, mental illness, or education. Such applications have ap- peared in recent years. Their current num- ber and the interest which they create appar- ently suffice to generate a journal for their display. That display may well lead to the widespread examination of these applica- tions, their refinement, and eventually their replacement by better applications. Better applications, it is hoped, will lead to a better state of society, to whatever extent the behav- ior of its members can contribute to the good- ness of a society. Since the evaluation of what is a "good" society is in itself a behavior of its members, this hope turns on itself in a philosophically interesting manner. However, it is at least a fair presumption that behav- ioral applications, when effective, can some- times lead to social approval and adoption. Behavioral applications are hardly a new phenomenon. Analytic behavioral applica- 'Reprints may be obtained from Donald M. Baer, Dept. of Human Development, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66044.