Jeab and the Skinnerian interpretation of behavior.
Frame every data set with Skinnerian, environment-first language to stay true to JEAB’s mission.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Wixted (2008) wrote a position paper. He told the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior to claim one clear job.
The job: always explain data with Skinner's environment-based view. No hidden mind stuff. Just observable causes.
What they found
The paper itself is the finding. It says JEAB should act like a loudspeaker for Skinnerian talk.
Every graph, every rat lever press, should end with: here is how the environment did it.
How this fits with other research
Michael (2003) already gave us the playbook. His tutorial said keep Skinner's 1953 book open. Use it to read any behavior. Wixted (2008) now asks JEAB to make that the house style.
Abbott (2013) picks up the same baton. He says stop fighting over what 'mand' means. Look at the verbal community that shaped the word. This is the exact Skinnerian lens John wants every JEAB article to wear.
Fryling (2017) shows the method in action. He digs into whether verbal operants are truly separate. He measures and re-measures. This is the fine-grained Skinnerian work John says JEAB should showcase.
Why it matters
When you write up your next study, add one paragraph. Name the environmental variables that made the behavior rise or fall. No extra stats needed. Just plain Skinnerian talk. Your readers will know exactly where you stand.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
At one time, JEAB editorial policy was perceived by some to consist mainly of dogmatically enforcing a Skinnerian interpretation of all findings reported in the journal. Partly in response to that undeserved reputation, the journal explicitly defined itself as the place to publish research on the behavior of individual organisms, and not as a place that encourages any particular theoretical orientation. My own view is that this should not be the journal's identity; instead, JEAB should be the one journal that seriously considers Skinnerian (and related environment based) interpretations of empirical results, whether or not the study involved an analysis of individual subject behavior and whether or not the Skinnerian analysis is ultimately endorsed by the author.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 2008 · doi:10.1901/jeab.2008.89-137