Some historical relationships between science and technology with implications for behavior analysis.
Science and technology should trade favors, not orders, and behavior analysts can speed progress by testing any tool that helps clients.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Moxley (1989) looked at how science and technology talk to each other. The paper says they help each other like friends, not boss and worker.
It uses stories from history to show the back-and-forth. The goal is to get behavior analysts to stop seeing tech as just a product of lab work.
What they found
The main point: new gadgets can push science forward, not just the other way around. Better tools let us ask better questions.
When science and tech shake hands, both grow faster. Behavior analysis should welcome that dance.
How this fits with other research
Israel (1978) set the stage. It said most fights inside ABA are really fights about how tight theory should grip technology. Moxley (1989) keeps that idea but widens the lens to all of behavior science.
Dallery et al. (2015) gives a modern example. Apps and wearables now let us run antecedent-beeps and consequence-points for health habits. The phone is the tech; the principle is still reinforcement. The pair lift each other, just as Moxley (1989) predicted.
Foti et al. (2015) shows the loop in real life. Telehealth tools let BCBAs coach parents through full FAs miles away. Each tech glitch fixed feeds better FA data back to the science. Science and tech keep trading favors, not orders.
Why it matters
Stop waiting for the lab to hand you the next tool. If a tablet, smartwatch, or chatbot helps your client, grab it, measure it, and share the data. Your field test today could become tomorrow’s research question. Treat every gadget as a two-way street: it serves the science, and the science polishes the gadget.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Pick one client goal, add a simple tech aid (timer app, step counter, or online data sheet), collect baseline and intervention data, and note if the tool or the principle needs tweaking.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The relationship between science and technology is examined in terms of some implications for behavior analysis. Problems result when this relationship is seen as one in which science generally begets technology in a one-way, or hierarchical, relationship. These problems are not found when the relationship between science and technology is seen as two-way, or symmetrical, within a larger context of relationships. Some historical examples are presented. Collectively, these and other examples in the references weaken the case for a prevailing one-way, hierarchical relationship and strengthen the case for a two-way, symmetrical relationship. In addition to being more accurate historically, the symmetrical relationship is also more consistent with the principles of behavior analysis.
The Behavior analyst, 1989 · doi:10.1007/BF03392476