Confluence of Science and History in the Experimental Analysis of Behavior Course
Turn EAB history into a six-chapter story where every chapter ends with a classic experiment students can run themselves.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Lattal (2022) built a six-part timeline for teaching the history of the experimental analysis of behavior. The paper links each era to one landmark experiment students can re-run in lab. It is a narrative review, not a new experiment. The goal is to make an EAB course feel like a story, not a list of names and dates.
What they found
The six elements are: (1) origins before 1930, (2) early data curves, (3) steady-state methods, (4) schedules of reinforcement, (5) choice and matching, and (6) modern extensions. Pairing each era with a classic experiment (e.g., Ferster & Skinner 1957 pigeon sessions) gives students a concrete demo of that period's big idea. The paper supplies starter references and tips for running the demos cheaply.
How this fits with other research
Zuriff (2005) blazed the same trail by listing 'golden oldie' articles for an undergrad lab. Lattal keeps the old articles but wraps them in a clear timeline so the course has a plot. Horton (1987) tells the 1957 birth story of JEAB; Lattal slots that event into Element 3 to show how steady-state thinking got its own journal. Laties (2008) gives a 50-year JEAB overview; Lattal uses it as a fast resource for Element 6 readings on modern growth. Farrant et al. (1998) warned that learning courses feel lifeless when they drift from experimental logic; Lattal answers that warning by anchoring every era to an actual experiment students run and graph themselves.
Why it matters
If your EAB class feels like a dusty history lecture, steal this six-era spine. Start the term with a simple rat or pigeon lever demo from Element 2. Each week move one step along the timeline and have students replicate the key experiment. They leave knowing not just who did what, but how the data looked and why the next question followed. The story sticks, and your course evaluations rise.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This is a review of content and method for incorporating the history of the experimental analysis of behavior (EAB) into the EAB course, although the material also could be adapted for any course related to the topics of learning and behavior change, or the history of psychology. Six elements associated with establishing a new discipline are considered as a framework for introducing the history of EAB: the intellectual leader/founding scientist(s), early proponents of the new area who advance and elaborate on the founder’s ideas, the cultural context in which the discipline develops, a set of methods, a textbook, and means of communicating with other, similarly inclined scientists. The historical ebb and flow of research and some of the reasons for these shifts are discussed next, with examples of EAB research themes that have shifted over time. Illustrating the history of EAB with specific milestone experiments seems a useful way to both introduce substantive research and its history. To that end, milestone experiments in EAB are discussed. The review ends with considerations about locating historical material within the EAB course.
Perspectives on Behavior Science, 2022 · doi:10.1007/s40614-022-00348-9