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REDUCTIONISM AND BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

REDUCTIONISM AND BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS. M. JACKSON MARR SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY GEORGIA TECH ATLANTA, GA 30332-0170 USA mm27@prism.gatech.edu.

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REDUCTIONISM AND BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

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  1. REDUCTIONISM AND BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS M. JACKSON MARR SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY GEORGIA TECH ATLANTA, GA 30332-0170 USA mm27@prism.gatech.edu

  2. The goal of any science is to reduce the apparent complexity of nature to relatively simple accounts, principles, or mechanisms all of which manifest a causal structure.

  3. NAGEL’S CATEGORIES • HOMOGENEOUS REDUCTION • 2. HETEROGENOUS REDUCTION

  4. NAGEL’S CATEGORIES HOMOGENEOUS: Newton’s Laws, Classical Thermodynamics, Behavior Analysis—any science. HETEROGENEOUS: “…any explanation of an observed fact which appeals to events taking place somewhere else, at some other level of observation, described in different terms, and measured, if at all, in different dimensions.” B.F. Skinner

  5. HETEROGENEOUS REDUCTION Classical thermodynamics: statistical mechanics Chemical bonding: quantum mechanics Newton’s gravity: general relativity Mendel’s proportions: genes and chromosomes Drug action: receptor function Diseases: bacteria and viruses Behavioral history: neural change

  6. HOMOGENEOUS REDUCTION

  7. Issues of Homogeneous Reduction in Behavior Analysis 1. Definition of behavior and functional classifications 2. Role of behavior in the natural sciences 3. Patterns of explanation 4. Contingency—the fundamental explanatory concept in behavior analysis

  8. DEFINITIONS OF BEHAVIOR

  9. ROLE OF BEHAVIOR IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES

  10. PATTERNS OF EXPLANATION: WHAT CONSTITUES AN ACCOUNT?

  11. Operant Conditioning

  12. MATCHING-TO-SAMPLE comparison sample comparison

  13. Maxwell’s Equations Symmetry between electricity and magnetism: Explained the nature of light as electromagnetic waves moving at speed c.

  14. CONTINGENCY: THE FUNDAMENTAL EXPLANATORY CONCEPT

  15. SD SR Ro SD: discriminative stimulus Ro: operant class SR: reinforcer Three-term Contingency F: force m: mass dv/dt: acceleration Newton’s Second Law of Motion

  16. ISSUES OF BEHAVIOR PATTERNS • FUNCTIONAL UNITS OF BEHAVIOR • 2. MOLAR-MOLECULAR DISTINCTION

  17. HETEROGENEOUS REDUCTION

  18. SKINNER’S “HETEROGENEOUS” REDUCTION “…any explanation of an observed fact which appeals to events taking place somewhere else, at some other level of observation, described in different terms, and measured, if at all, in different dimensions.”

  19. WHAT IS GOING ON IN OUR BODIES WHEN WE BEHAVE?

  20. SOME PHILOSOHICAL POSITIONS • ONTOLOGICAL REDUCTION • 2.EXPLANATORY REDUCTIONISM • 3.METAPHYSICAL MATERIALISM

  21. MEREOLOGICAL FALLACY: ATTRIBUTING A PROPERTY OF A WHOLE TO A PART OF THE WHOLE.

  22. STRATEGIES FOR REDUCTION

  23. ARE WE MACHINES?!

  24. GENERAL FUND OF BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION • 1. Molecular Processes (biochemical, biophysical) • 2. Cellular functions • 3. Tissue/organ functions • 4. Morphogenic-developmental • 5. Behavioral-environmental • 6. Species adaptation-evolution

  25. NOTHING IN NEUROBIOLOGY MAKES SENSE EXCEPT IN THE LIGHT OF BEHAVIOR GORDON SHEPHERD (Neurobiology, 1994, p. 9)

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