The experimental analysis of behavior: what it is and what it proposes

We are active and dynamic beings. We are continuously carrying out some type of behavior or conduct, usually with some type of objective or intention. Realizing this is relatively easy. But it is not so much to determine how and why we behave as we do, the bases behind the behavior.

In this sense, and from within the branch of psychology, different proposals, models and techniques have emerged throughout history to try to determine it. One of them is the experimental analysis of behavior, which we are going to talk about in this article.

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Experimental analysis of behavior: what is it?

Experimental analysis of conduct or behavior is understood to be that system or paradigm, both theoretical and methodological, that aims to study and analyze the processes through which behavior ends up being generated through an experimental, operational and qualitative methodology.

This system considers the conduct or behavior as a product of the interaction between natural selection, the reinforcement of previous behaviors and the interaction with the social environment.

The experimental analysis of behavior appears as such from the works of b. F. skinner, and is based to a large extent on the radical behaviorism that it advocates: behavior is the only object of study proper to psychology as it is the only thing that is directly observable. This author especially highlights the importance of consequences when explaining behavior and its modification (also being the origin of operant conditioning). It is intended to explain human and/or animal behavior based on observable and measurable relationships between stimuli and responses.

Technically, the experimental analysis of behavior would be one of the three disciplines that would be included within behavioral analysis, being in this case the one that is focused on investigating the processes basic. In addition to it we could also find the conceptual analysis (for theoretical aspects) and the analysis applied behavioral (which considers the way to reflect and use the knowledge obtained in the practice).

It is important to take into account that this model would be initiated by Skinner, but many other authors would later modify and incorporate it. Notable among them are the investigations carried out with children by Bijou or Wolf, which were focused on observing the sensitivity to the consequences of the behaviors of minors in different with different conditions.

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Behavior in this conceptual system

As regards the consideration of behavior by experimental behavior analysis, according to this model it is the result of the interaction of biological and environmental variables that allow the generation of associations between stimuli, responses and consequences. The human being or animal in question would be an entity classified as a black box, something inexplorable and whose internal elements need not be the mechanisms that initiate behavior.

One of the main characteristics of the experimental analysis of behavior is that it considers that behavior as a whole is not arbitrary but is subject to scientific natural laws, in which a dependent variable (behavior) is related to a independent (its causes), in such a way that said laws allow behavior to be predicted and modified based on they.

The basis of our behavior are, according to the model from which the experimental analysis of behavior starts, the consequences and effects that these have on the organism that emits them. Behaviors that generate pleasant consequences are considered to be reinforced in such a way that they are maintained and perpetuated, while the aversive consequences will cause maladaptive behaviors in principle to tend to disappear.

Also, with regard to the participation of the environment, it should be noted that it is possible to find the existence of contingencies of a phylogenetic, ontogenetic and cultural type that affect the initiation and commission of the conduct. The environment affects participating based on how we have evolved and the context in which we are, the reinforcement that our behavior has received throughout our lives and the situation in which we are immersed at a sociocultural level.

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private events

The experimental analysis of behavior starts from a model that does not include the mind or cognition in the explanation of behavior. the behavior, but despite this, it accepts the existence of private behaviors or only observable by the subject that performs them. lives.

In this sense the existence of private verbal behavior is accepted, biased perceptions based on conditioning and the presence of situations in which the organism itself is the origin of the stimulation that generates the behavior.

Criticism of the model

The experimental analysis of behavior is a system that has had great influence and repercussion in the field of psychology, but although it continues to be useful in different fields, it has also received various critics.

Bearing in mind that the experimental analysis of behavior proposes that behavior is governed by a series of unalterable laws and that it rules out or does not value the implication of non-evaluable aspects such as motivation, goals and desires, this model offers a mechanistic vision of behavior, being one of the reasons why that at the time it was controversial and for which it has been receiving different criticisms.

Another possible criticism to take into account is that many of the investigations carried out in the experimental analysis of the behavior have been carried out with different animal species, in such a way that the conclusions drawn are not always generalizable. However, the model takes this fact into account and is cautious when generalizing its conclusions among different species (although many of its basic principles have been reflected in both humans and other beings).

Likewise, the existence of internal factors and the subject's own as possible factors is not taken into account. causal factors of behavior, being this mainly passive under the paradigm of which part. However This does not imply that the existence of private events is not taken into account., something that little by little would end up leading to the emergence of cognitivism.

Bibliographic references:

• Ardilla, R. (1999). The Experimental Analysis of Behavior: Basic concepts and perspectives. Bogota: Foundation for the Advancement of Psychology
• Gomez, J. (s.f.) What is the experimental analysis of behavior? Available in: http://psicoteca.blogspot.com/2008/02/qu-es-el-anlisis-experimental-del.html
• Polished, M.A. and Calzada, J.L. (2010). The Experimental Analysis of Behavior: Some experimental models of interest for neurosciences. Mexican Journal of Neuroscience: 11(4).