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CONTROL, PREDICTION, ORDER, AND THE JOYS OF RESEARCH
Author(s) -
Nevin John A.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1901/jeab.2008.89-119
Subject(s) - control (management) , psychology , operant conditioning , term (time) , extension (predicate logic) , subject (documents) , reinforcement , parametric statistics , order (exchange) , computer science , cognitive psychology , social psychology , artificial intelligence , statistics , mathematics , world wide web , physics , finance , quantum mechanics , economics , programming language
JEAB's first decade featured control of individual behavior by operant contingencies, where the experimenter could interact with a subject in real time and obtain fairly immediate evidence of control, with the possibility of direct extension to applied settings. In subsequent decades, emphasis shifted toward long‐term parametric studies with quantitative analyses of individual and group data. As a result, the reinforcers for the experimenter shifted from controlling behavior to uncovering and describing order, of ten using mathematical expressions. The same sorts of reinforcers are available for quantitative descriptions of aggregate behavioral data that may inform public policy.