Science and Human Behavior at fifty.
Skinner’s 1953 book still works as a first text for training behavior analysts.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Pilgrim (2003) looked back at Skinner’s 1953 book Science and Human Behavior.
The paper is a story-style review, not an experiment.
It asks one question: does this old book still help new behavior analysts?
What they found
The answer is yes.
Carol says the book gives clear, plain talk about reinforcement, punishment, and culture.
It still works as a first text for students and for trainers who want to grow more BCBAs.
How this fits with other research
Watson et al. (2007) extends this idea. They tested students who learned ABA terms with programmed lessons instead of plain reading. The lesson group wrote essays with better behavioral vocabulary.
Virues-Ortega et al. (2021) also extends the story. They show Azrin moving lab ideas into real shelters and workplaces, proving the book’s call to "go apply" can be done.
Lyons (1995) is method kin: both papers judge teaching tools. A likes computer rat labs; Carol likes a classic book. Pick either, just don’t skip hands-on ways to teach principles.
Why it matters
If you teach RBTs, supervise students, or run staff trainings, put Science and Human Behavior on the shelf. Read a chapter aloud, then run a quick quiz or role-play. The old words still build new behavior analysts.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Open Chapter 3, read the page on positive reinforcement with your team, and ask each learner to give one real-world example.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The golden anniversary of Science and Human Behavior is cause for celebration. Toward that end, the present paper is largely an historical consideration of the book, its inception and reception, both at the time of its publication and in subsequent years. The range and intensity of reactions to S&HB mark its impact and show it to be among Skinner's most important works, if not the most important. S&HB was written as an introductory psychology text--a vigorous use of the book in our teaching could do much to benefit the dissemination of behavior analysis.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 2003 · doi:10.1901/jeab.2003.80-329