The International Society for Behaviorology
The 2008 Convention
March 18-20
Go to the following alternative
Behaviorology web site
for conference information:
http://www.societyforbehaviorology.org/home.html
____________________________
Questions should be emailed to E. A. Vargas, mailto:eavargas@mac.com
About the
Society
Behaviorology is the science of contingent relations between behavior and other events. No label can, of course, capture the complexity of a science. It has its roots in two seminal works by B.F. Skinner: The Behavior of Organisms (1938), and Verbal Behavior (1957). In the first, Skinner established the analysis of behavior in its own right, defined the basic unit of analysis--the operant, and provided the experimental foundation for the science. In the second, Skinner advanced a theory for the behavioral interaction that is variously known as language or symbolic communication. Verbal behavior is characterized by the fact that the effects of an organism's behavior can occur only when mediated through other behavior specifically shaped for that purpose.
The origins of behaviorology, though, lie further back in biology: First, in the biological tradition provided by Jacques Loeb, with its emphasis on the study of the organism as a whole and on an epistemology based on experimental control and demonstration; and second, in the evolutionary framework provided by Charles Darwin with its emphasis on the analysis of life forms and functions in their natural setting and on changes in these forms and functions driven by the consequences of selection.
A behaviorological analysis thus experimentally addresses the reciprocal interaction of an organism and an immediate internal or external milieu, and explains the dynamic properties of this interaction as the effects over time of selective contingencies.
The term "behaviorology" emphasizes the exclusion of a personal or reified agency as responsible for behavior. It affirms that natural and cultural selection processes functionally relate to maintenance and change in the properties of behavior. The name, "behaviorology," thus designates a distinct subject matter and denotes a natural science discipline within the behavioral sciences.
The International Behaviorology Association (ISB) is dedicated to forwarding the science of contingent behavior relations as developed and championed by B.F. Skinner. The Association publishes three periodicals: Behaviorology, which is the data-based publication of ISB, The International Behaviorologist, which serves as ISB's conceptual and discussion magazine, and Selections, which serves as the newsletter for the Association. These three publications review and present manuscripts describing behavior-environment research, discuss professional and scientific matters, and promote the science while educating the reader.
All behaviorologists look forward to what their natural and social environments will select as functional and relevant scientific behaviors.
· Click here for
membership information
·
Go to the B.F. Skinner Foundation Home Page
Previous Programs:
· Program of the 2007 ISB Convention, March 18-20, 2007
· Program of the 2006 ISB Convention, March 18-20, 2006
· Program of the Eleventh Annual ISB Convention, March 18-20, 1999
· Program of the Tenth Annual ISB Convention, March 18-20, 1998
· Program of the Ninth Annual TIBA Convention, March 20-22, 1997
Photographs
From the March, 2004 Meeting:
The
photograph below depicts most of the participants
in
front of B.F. Skinner’s Home on
http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~allanr/At-Old-Dee.jpg
From
left-to-right, they are, Joe Morrow, Henry Slucki, Reuben Ardila, Bill Palya,
Jerry Ulman, Francis Mechner,
Andy
Bondy, David Palmer, Joyce Tu, Terry Knapp and Alexandra Rutherford. Ernie and
Julie Vargas were
inside
preparing for our arrival, and I (Bob Allan), took the pictures.
We arrived for a
wonderful time at
delightful
conversation…
http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~allanr/At-Old-Dee2.jpg
Above: Alexandra
Rutherford, David Palmer, and Joe Morrow converse…
http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~allanr/At-Old-Dee3.jpg
Above: Henry
Slucki, Terry Knapp, Jerry Ulman and Ernie Vargas behavior likewise…
The snowy roads did
not deter us from driving to-and-from
http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~allanr/Driving.jpg
And, Julie Vargas was
our most gracious host…
http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~allanr/The-Joy-of-Julie.jpg
Above: Julie holds
a putatively original printing of The Joy of Cooking!
Thanks to everyone for
a fun, intimate environment for sharing our ideas and experiments!
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