Problem Animal Behavior: Funtional Assessment & Constructional Contingency Management

Problem Animal Behavior

James O’Heare

BehaveTech Publishing

Ottawa Canada

Copyright © 2016 by James O’Heare. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

Title: Problem Animal Behavior

Publisher: BehaveTech Publishing, Ottawa, Canada, www.BehaveTech.com

Author: James O’Heare

Cover art and book design: James O’Heare

Limits of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty:

The author shall not be liable in the event of incidental or consequential damages or loss in connection with, or arising out of, the furnishing, performance, or use of the instructions or suggestions contained in this book. This book provides information of a general nature. Working with nonhuman animals IS risky.

ISBN 9781-927744-11-6

PREFACE

Problem Animal Behavior is an advanced level textbook on all fundamental aspects of assessing problem animal behaviors, and constructing and implementing contingency management plans to resolve them.

The material is condensed and concise and should be read as any other textbook, not as a novel or other light reading. It must be read slowly and carefully, and in many cases, reread, to ensure that the appropriate expansion of one’s repertoire is achieved. It should also be read actively, that is the reader should reframe concepts in different terms and devise one’s own examples. If the reader is stuck, they should avoid skipping over the challenging content; they should reread the section and find the solution before proceeding. Readers should question themselves on how to apply what they are reading and not proceed until they are proficient with the material they have read. In other words, this material is intended to be studied, not just read.

Readers will find that some terms will be used in context before they are covered in depth. The terms used and the context they are used in will provide adequate familiarity for their use at that point and to make their elaboration later on easier. Furthermore, many of the topics intertwine to such an extent that discussing one requires reference to other principles or processes, perhaps not yet introduced. This will also require the elaboration of some points in more than one section. The repetition in elaborating these complex topics will provide more effective conditioning. By the time the reader gets to the major section elaborating a particular topic, they may find they already have a basic familiarity with that topic. Readers may also refer to the glossary at the back of the book for added clarity.

The material is applicable to any species of animal, though the emphasis in on common species of companion animals such as dogs, cats, parrots, and horses. Most of the examples relate to dogs, but the concepts can be equally applied to other species, including humans. The same fundamental laws, principles, strategies, and procedures related to analyzing, assessing and changing behavior apply to all of these species.

There are broadly two kinds of contingency management categories. One relates to resolving a behavioral deficit and the other to resolving behavioral excess. With behavioral deficits, the subject either does not exhibit a target behavior at all or does not exhibit the behavior in response to the designated cue. With behavioral excesses, the so deemed problematic behavior is exhibited, but the owner seeks to reduce or eliminate its occurrence. This distinction is somewhat arbitrary in some ways, but not in others. Those who deal exclusively with resolving behavioral deficits are usually referred to as trainers, while those who also deal with resolving behavioral excesses are usually referred to generically as behavior consultants, or from a behaviorological orientation, behavior technologists. The companion animal behavior field tends to recognize this distinction, since there is an increase in the scope of repertoire proficiencies required for also resolving behavioral excess.¹ The distinction is useful in other ways as well, since there are different objectives, strategies, and procedures associated with each, despite the significant overlap. In this book, I will place the emphasis on resolving behavioral excesses, although this usually involves replacing the problematic behavior with another behavior, which then also involves addressing a behavioral deficit. For an in-depth treatment of the topic of training, see O’Heare (2014).

As with all books that I write, they remain an approximation to be improved with subsequent editions. I hope that you find the material useful.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

BEHAVIORAL ENGINEERING

CHAPTER 1. BEHAVIOROLOGY

BEHAVIOROLOGY

Definition and History

Philosophy of Natural Science

Natural Science

Radical Behaviorism

Modes of Causation

Evolutions via Selection by Consequences

Selection by Consequences

Biological Evolution

Repertoire Evolution

Cultural Evolution

Selection and Causation: Summary and Conclusion

PSYCHOLOGY

BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

ETHOLOGY

MEDICAL MODEL

ORIENTATION OF THIS BOOK

THE VERBAL BEHAVIOR OF NATURAL SCIENTISTS OF BEHAVIOR

BEHAVIOROLOGY IS COMPREHENSIVE

CHAPTER 2. BEHAVIOR–ENVIRONMENT RELATIONS

BEHAVIOR, STIMULATION, AND FUNCTIONAL RELATIONS

Behavior

Categories of Behavior

Operant versus Respondent Behavior

Unconditioned versus Conditioned Behavior

Stimulation

Functional Relations and Contingencies

Structure of Operant Contingencies

Causation in Operant Contingencies

Respondent Contingencies

Conditioning

Definition

The Physics of Behavior

Effects of Conditioning on Behavior

Why Do Consequences Function as Such?

Contingency Analyses

Depicting Contingencies

Analyzing Episodes of Behavior

Component Contingencies in the Three-Term Contingency

Externalizing Contingencies

Increasing Complexity in Accounting for Behavior

CHAPTER 3. OPERANT CONDITIONING

POSTCEDENT PRINCIPLES, PROCESSES, AND PROCEDURES

Law of Effect

Basic Terms and Categories

Reinforcement

Added Reinforcement

Subtracted Reinforcement

The Premack Principle and Activity Reinforcers

Some Potentially Confusing Distinctions

Punishment

Added Punishment

Subtracted Punishment

Extinction

Variables Influencing Effectiveness of Reinforcement

Contiguity

Contingency

Motivating Operations

Reinforcer Characteristics

Task Characteristics

Concurrent Contingencies

Variables Influencing the Effectiveness of Punishment

Contiguity

Contingency

Intense

Management of Reinforcement

Alternative

ANTECEDENT PRINCIPLES, PROCESSES, AND PROCEDURES

Stimulus Control

Terms and Relations

Generalization and Discrimination Training

Generalization

Discrimination

Transferring Stimulus Control

Prompting

Function-Altering Stimuli

Motivating Operations

Terms, Processes, and Distinctions

Differentiating Between Motivating Operations and Evocative Stimuli

Differentiating Between Motivating Operations and Other Function-Altering Stimuli

Emotional Arousal as Motivating Operations

Other Function-altering Stimuli

Depicting Function-altering Stimuli in Contingency Analyses

FADING AND ESTABLISHING FUNCTION-ALTERING STIMULI

N-TERM CONTINGENCIES

Added Consequating Terms

Added Behavior Terms

BEHAVIORAL COMPLEXITIES

Concurrent Contingencies

Law of Cumulative Complexity

CHAPTER 4. RESPONDENT CONDITIONING

TERMS, PRINCIPLES, AND PROCESSES

OTHER RESPONDENT PROCESSES

THE IMPORTANCE OF RESPONDENT CONDITIONING

CHAPTER 5. SCHEDULES OF ADDED REINFORCEMENT

SIMPLE SCHEDULES OF ADDED REINFORCEMENT

Continuous Reinforcement

Extinction

INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT

Fixed Ratio Schedule of Added Reinforcement

Variable Ratio Schedule of Added Reinforcement

Fixed Interval Schedule of Added Reinforcement

Variable Interval Schedule of Added Reinforcement

Fixed Duration Schedule of Added Reinforcement

Variable Duration Schedule of Added Reinforcement

Variations on Interval Schedules

Differential Reinforcement of Low Rate of Responding

Differential Reinforcement of High Rate of Responding

Differential Reinforcement of Diminishing Rates

Schedule Extensions

Limited Hold

Jackpotting

COMPOUND SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT

Differential Reinforcement

Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior

Differential Reinforcement of Successive Approximations of a Terminal Behavior (Shaping)

MANAGING SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT

CHAPTER 6. AVERSIVE STIMULATION AND ITS PROBLEMATIC SIDE EFFECTS

INTRODUCTION

WHY IS THE OCCURRENCE OF AVERSIVE STIMULATION SO PERVASIVE?

PROBLEMATIC EFFECTS OF AVERSIVE STIMULATION

Respondent Side Effects: Aversive Emotional Arousal and Conditioning

Operant Side Effects: Escape Behavior

CLARIFYING PUNISHMENT AND ITS ROLE IN CHANGING BEHAVIOR

Punishment is Less Efficient than Extinction

Some Problems with Effective Punishment

Does Punishment Work?

ALTERNATIVES TO AVERSIVE CONTROL OF BEHAVIOR

CHAPTER 7. MINIMALLY AVERSIVE CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT PLANNING

INTRODUCTION

AVOIDING EXTREMISM AND DOGMATISM

AVERSIVENESS-RATCHETING STRATEGIES

EMPHASIZING CONSTRUCTIONAL ADDED REINFORCEMENT-BASED METHODS

WHY IMPLEMENT THE CONSTRUCTIONAL ADDED REINFORCEMENT-EMPHASIZED BEHAVIOR CHANGE STRATEGY?

STRATEGY FOR AVOIDING VERSUS BANNING AVERSIVE METHODS AND TOOLS

The Strategy

Box 1. Functional Assessment and Behavior Objectives

Box 2. Construct and Implement a Constructional Minimally Aversive +R-emphasized Contingency Management Plan

Box 3. Analysis of Failure: Identify and Resolve the Cause of Inadequate Progress

Box 4. Escalate Efforts to Identify and Resolve Cause of Inadequate Progress

Does Failure Constitute an Unmanageable and Unacceptable Safety Risk?

Box 5. Complete Review and Consider Supplements/Medications

Box 6. Emergency: Consider more Aversive Procedure

Box 7. Euthanasia

CHAPTER 8. TRAINING HUMANS

INTRODUCTION TO VERBAL BEHAVIOR

ENCOURAGING PRODUCTIVE VERBAL BEHAVIOR

GENERAL STRATEGY FOR TRAINING HUMANS

Establish Objective

Describe, Explain, and Demonstrate

Assess Proficiency

Follow-up

CHAPTER 9. FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT

INTRODUCTION

EXPLANATORY FICTIONS

FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT

Screening

Functional Assessment Interview

Contingency Analysis

Defining the Target Behavior

Direct Observation

Introduction

Observe the Behavior

Measuring Behavior

Measures of Behavior

Choosing Among Measures of Behavior

Measurement Systems

Selecting a Measurement System

Tracking the Target Behavior Quantitatively

Clarifying Contingency Analyses with ABC Analyses

Establishing a Baseline

Functional Analysis

AB Design

Reversal Design

Guidelines for Engaging in Functional Analyses

FINAL NOTE ON FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

DIAGRAMMING THE CONTINGENCY ANALYSIS

FUNCTIONAL DIAGNOSIS

1.0 Direct Access (DA)

1.1 DA: Immediate Sensory Stimuli

1.2 DA: Tangible Reinforcers

2.0 Socially Mediated Access (SMA)

2.1 SMA: Human Attention

2.2 SMA: Conspecific Attention

2.3 SMA: Tangible Reinforcers

3.0 Direct Escape (DE)

3.1 DE: Aversive Social Situation

3.2 DE: Task Challenge (Duration)

3.3 DE: Task Challenge (Difficulty)

3.4 DE: Aversive Physical Stimuli

4.0 Socially Mediated Escape (SME)

4.1 SME: Aversive Social Stimuli

4.2 SME: Task Challenge (Duration)

4.3 SME: Task Challenge (Difficulty)

4.4 SME: Aversive Physical Stimuli

Multifunctional Behavior

CHAPTER 10. STRAGETGIES IN CONSTRUCTIONAL CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT PLANNING

INTRODUCTION TO CONSTRUCTIONAL CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT PLANNING

What is a Contingency Management Plan

Contingency Management Plan as Test of Contingency Analysis

Contingency Management Planning as a Comprehensive and Systematic, yet Practical, Scientific Process

The Constructional Approach

The Graded Approach (aka Errorless Conditioning)

CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT PLAN

Changing the Environment to Change Behavior

Contingency Management Plans are Derived from the Functional Assessment Data

Contingency Management Plans Must be Realistic and Flexible

Contingency Management Procedures are Consistent with the Principles of Behavior and Empirically Supported Intervention Strategies and Procedures

Contingency Management Plans Make the Target Problem Behavior Irrelevant, Inefficient, and Ineffective

Contingency Management Plan Makes Target Behavior Irrelevant

Contingency Management Plan Makes Target Behavior Inefficient

Contingency Management Plan Makes Target Behavior Ineffective

THE BEHAVIOR REPLACEMENT STRATEGY

MINIMALLY AVERSIVE INTERVENTION STRATEGIES

CHAPTER 11. ESTABLISHING FORMAL BEHAVIOR OBJECTIVES

DETERMINING FORMAL BEHAVIOR OBJECTIVES

STATING THE FORMAL BEHAVIOR OBJECTIVE

Evocative Stimulus

Target Behavior and Replacement Behavior

Level

TRACKING TARGET AND REPLACEMENT BEHAVIORS

ESTABLISHING BEHAVIOR OBJECTIVES

Example 1. Jumping Up

Example 2. Separation Related Behaviors

Example 3. Biting

Example 4. Cowering

Example 5. Coprophagia

Example 6. Scratching Furniture

CHAPTER 12. CONSTRUCTIONAL CONTINGENCE MANAGEMENT PLANNING AND PROCEDURES

COMPREHENSIVE CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT PLANNING

ANTECEDENT CONTROL PROCEDURES

Evocative Stimulus Control

Preclusion

The Graded (Errorless) Approach

Function-Altering Stimulus Control

Environment Enrichment

Noncontingent Functional Reinforcement (NCR)

Eliminating Establishing Operations

Changing Emotional Behavior and Arousal

Respondent Conditioning Procedures and Externalizing Contingencies

Noncontingent Functional Reinforcement

Medication and Supplementation

Other Function-Altering Influences

Rehabilitating Conditioned Helplessness and/or Response Depression

POSTCEDENT CONTROL PROCEDURES

Tolerance versus Replacement Escape

Postcedent Contingency Management Procedures

Response Effort Control

Managing the Target Behavior: Preclusion vs. Extinction vs. Chain Interruption

Differential Reinforcement

Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible or Alternative Behavior

DRI/DRA for Access-Functional Behaviors

DRI/DRA-like Procedure for Escape Functional Behaviors

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior

DRO for Access Functional Behaviors

DRO-like Procedure for Escape Functional Behaviors

Differential Reinforcement of Low Rate of Responding

Graded Differential Subtracted Reinforcement of Other Behaviors (Tolerance Training)—Transitioning to Added Reinforcement

Added Punishment

Steps for Applying Differential Reinforcement Procedures

GENERAL CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES BY FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION CODE

Direct Access

Direct Access: Immediate Sensory Stimuli

Antecedent Control Tactics:

Postcedent Control Tactics:

Direct Access: Tangible Reinforcers

Antecedent Control Tactics

Postcedent Control Tactics

Socially Mediated Access

Socially Mediated Access: Human Attention

Antecedent Control Tactics

Postcedent Control Tactics

Socially Mediated Access: Nonhuman Attention

Antecedent Control Tactics

Postcedent Control Tactics

Socially Mediated Access: Tangible Reinforcer / Activity Reinforcer

Antecedent Control Tactics

Postcedent Control Tactics

Direct Escape

Direct Escape: Aversive Social Situation

Antecedent Control Tactics

Postcedent Control Tactics

Direct Escape: Task Challenge (Duration)

Antecedent Control Tactics

Postcedent Control Tactics

Direct Escape: Task Challenge (Difficulty)

Postcedent Control Tactics

Direct Escape: Aversive Physical Stimulation

Antecedent Control Tactics

Postcedent Control Tactics

Socially Mediated Escape

Socially Mediated Escape: Aversive Social Situation

Antecedent Control Tactics

Postcedent Control Tactics

Socially Mediated Escape: Task Challenge (Duration)

Antecedent Control Tactics

Postcedent Control Tactics

Socially Mediated Escape: Task Challenge (Difficulty)

Postcedent Control Tactics

Socially Mediated Escape: Aversive Physical Stimulation

Antecedent Control Tactics

Postcedent Control Tactics

CHAPTER 13. MAINTENANCE

WORKING TOWARD MAINTENANCE

Generalization Training

Thinning the Schedule of Reinforcement and Introducing Non-Trainer–Mediated Reinforcers

Monitoring and Re-intervening When Necessary

APPENDIX 1. CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT PROJECT: STEPS

GLOSSARY

INDEX

RESOURCES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

Behavioral Engineering

This book will introduce the reader to the fundamental laws and principles of the natural science of behavior, behaviorology, and to the technology of behavior it informs. A technology is the application of basic natural science to addressing practical problems and engineering encompasses the practices involved in achieving the necessary changes. In the case of behavior, the behaviorologist or behavior technologist identifies the components of the environment causing the behavior of concern and makes changes to those functionally related environmental events to effect changes in the behavior. This engineering of changes in behavior is more proximally the engineering of those components of the environment that cause the behavior in a way that changes the behavior. The book is designed to be practical and after an introduction to the fundamental laws and principles of behavior, will cover the three phases common to all contingency management plans:

•  Functional Assessment

•  Contingency management intervention Contingency management intervention Contingency management intervention

•  Maintenance

We begin our coverage with a discussion of behaviorology as a discipline. Readers disinterested in this should skip ahead to Chapter 2.

CHAPTER 1. BEHAVIOROLOGY

Behaviorology

Definition and History

Put simply, Behaviorology is the natural science and technology of behavior. More accurately, behaviorology is the natural science and technology of environment–behavior functional relations. More elaborately:

Behaviorology, a comprehensive discipline with philosophical, experimental, technological, analytical, conceptual, and theoretical components, is the natural science among the life sciences, emphasizing the causal mechanism of selection, that discovers, interprets, and applies the single and multiple variables that are in functional relations with the simple and complex, overt and covert behaviors of individual organisms… during their lifetime (and beyond, with respect to cultural practices), and that takes into account the socio–cultural and physical variables from the internal and external environments as well as variables from the biological history of the species (Ledoux, 2014, p. 67).

Behaviorologists are interested in all behavior, from the simplest forms of reflexes exhibited by very simply structured organisms all the way to the most complex of human behaviors, including the most complex of verbal behavior and even how we behave (some might say perceive) reality itself.

Behaviorology stretches back to the early 1930s, when Burrhus F. Skinner introduced radical behaviorism, the philosophical foundation of the natural science of behavior discussed in this book. At that time, Skinner was working within a psychology department even though the paradigm he was proposing was incommensurable with psychology, and as a result, it was unfortunately called operant psychology at that time.

Skinner believed he could transform psychology into a natural science. He likely believed, naively as it turned out, all psychology needed was for someone to demonstrate a natural science of behavior was possible. He was, however, unsuccessful despite an incredibly productive career in natural science. In the 1970s, as it became clear mainstream psychology could not be transformed into a natural science, psychologists of a natural science bent that sought to distance themselves from the rest of psychology, founded behavior analysis. However, organized psychology claimed behavior analysis as a formal division of psychology. Within behavior analysis, philosophical integrity and clarity, and hence credibility, were traded for the political influence that comes with high membership numbers and working within legally protected organized psychology. Behavior analysis allowed a wide range of members with an eclectic set of orientations and perspectives rather than reinforcing a strong dedication to natural science as a membership criterion. As a result of this eclectic distribution of orientations among members, behavior analysis, as a community, put forth little to no objection to psychology’s claim on it and indeed embraced the relation with organized psychology. Attributable to this history and the ongoing association with psychology, many natural scientists believed the behavior analysis label could not now credibly represent a natural science position. As well, they believed that behavior analysis could not justify its separate certification credentials so long as it remained a branch of psychology. It was argued that behavior analysts would always be at risk of needing to be supervised by licensed psychologists, engaging in low level subordinate activities, or trading one half to two thirds of their natural science and behaviorological engineering training with training in mainstream psychology so they may be licensed as psychologists as well (Ledoux, 2014).

Some natural scientists of behavior supported remaining as a branch of psychology. Under psychology, with its vast resources, career and grant opportunities, and power, not to mention its legally protected right to help the public with behavior issues, one can expect a much easier time of it, career wise. Many of these scientists held the position that the only viable option would be to influence the course of psychology from the inside and/or simply work within organized psychology, but incommensurably with the rest of psychology’s disciplines. It might be argued by some that psychology is merely a banner name for any discipline involving behavior and/or the mind and it is therefore possible, and indeed appropriate, to work within psychology as a natural scientist.

However, many natural scientists of behavior were dissatisfied with the arrangement of being a division of a decidedly unscientific discipline, because of the credibility problems it poses and being controlled in various ways by an incommensurable disciplinary managing organization. It had become clear to them, in the previous 50 years that: (a) psychology would not, and likely could not, be transformed into a natural science; (b) a natural science of behavior would be more effective and productive than a nonscientific discipline of behavior in solving the many gravely important issues it is tasked with addressing in an acceptable time frame; (c) behavior analysis was now owned by psychology and therefore could not be credible as a full and independent natural science discipline; and (d) the sacrifices and compromises required to work within organized psychology were ethically intolerable and indeed detrimental to the society it served.

After much debate on the merits of these opposing arguments through the late 1970s and early 1980s, many natural scientists of behavior, recognizing the intolerable and detrimental nature of operating within the organized psychology discipline, agreed that remaining associated with the discipline of psychology would compromise their integrity as natural scientists and preclude their rightful position at the natural science roundtable, as well as hamper their efforts to help resolve immensely important problems. They recognized complete independence was necessary to maintain scientific integrity and behavior analysis was no longer a credible label under which to organize given the previous compromises to its integrity.

In the 1980s, the entirely independent discipline of behaviorology was founded, with a professional association, educational institution, and peer reviewed journal. Behaviorology is the only comprehensive natural science discipline of behavior that is completely independent of psychology. The professional association managing the discipline of behaviorology and providing educational opportunities is The International Behaviorology Institute (TIBI). Only those with a strong dedication to the assumptions of natural science and who are educated completely in the natural science of behavior may operate as behaviorologists. This requirement means smaller membership numbers, but the maintenance of natural science integrity is always more important than numbers. Credibility does not come from numbers but rather from integrity to natural science and high standards. The TIBI web site is at www.behaviorology.org. The discipline’s fully peer reviewed journal is called the Journal of Behaviorology and is published by TIBI. TIBI members hold positions as professors of behaviorology, work in applied settings and conduct basic research. Within the nonhuman animal field, the Companion Animal Sciences Institute (www.CASInstitute.com) provides technologist level education in behaviorology and the Association of Animal Behavior Professionals (www.AssociationofAnimalBehaviorProfessionals.com) provides certification at the technologist level to animal behavior technologists and publishes a fully peer reviewed journal, the Journal of Animal Behavior Technology. For an excellent and concise description of the development of behaviorology, see Ledoux (2014) and for a more in-depth explanation, see Ledoux (2015).

Philosophy of Natural Science

There are different fundamental approaches to studying nature—different methods of knowledge production. Natural science is one such approach, and in this section, this philosophy (i.e. its basic assumptions and tenets) will be elaborated upon.

Natural Science

Natural science is an empirical approach to studying the phenomena of nature based on certain philosophical assumptions that together go by the name naturalism. Naturalism is a philosophy of science, utilized by all natural sciences, which holds that only natural events exist, there are no non-real or non-natural events, and all natural events are theoretically measurable in terms of mass, time, distance, temperature, and/or charge. Natural scientists simply do not study proposed non-natural or supernatural events; nor may they postulate them as part of an explanation for natural events. If a supposed event is not at least theoretically measurable, it is not natural, and not an appropriate topic of study. It is only through careful adherence to these assumptions and constraints that natural science can generate such robust, reliable products (such as space shuttles, vaccines, massive skyscrapers and personal computers) when compared to other, less stringently constrained (mystical) methods of studying nature.² Clark (2007) put it eloquently: To be a thorough-going naturalist is to accept yourself as an entirely natural phenomenon. Just as science shows no evidence for a supernatural god up there, there’s no evidence for an immaterial soul or mental agent in here, supervising the body and brain.

A derivative assumption of naturalism is that of determinism, which states any detectable event represents the culmination of an unbroken and unbreakable natural history—that is, all things are part of a continuous sequence or network of causes and effects and there can be no intrusion into this sequence by non-natural events. In other words, nothing occurs spontaneously, initiatively, or proactively; all events are completely orderly and lawful—that is, caused/reactive. This orderly and lawful characteristic of nature allows us to study it and derive laws and principles that describe these causal relations that we refer to as functional relations.³

With respect to behavior, naturalism implies that behavior is a passive and completely caused natural reaction of a body to the environment. Behavior is not an exception to the laws of nature. From a natural science perspective, there cannot be a so-called free will, as this would imply a non-natural event, force, or agent within that could spontaneously and initiatively direct the body to act for which there is no scientific support. Natural science disallows mystical, untestable accounts such as the notion of free will. The natural science approach generates a more parsimonious explanation of behavior derived directly from the data, leading to more effective and efficient control over behavior. The naturalistic understanding and acceptance of our fully caused, interdependent nature is directly at odds with the widespread belief … that human beings have supernatural, contra-causal free will, and so are in but not fully of this world. (Clark, 2008)

Take note these are assumptions. They cannot be proven any more than any other basic or axiomatic assumptions, including mystical ones underlying religion and pseudoscience. The utility of a philosophy, including its basic assumptions, is determined by how effective and efficient it is at generating parsimonious, robust, and reliable products and how well it withstands efforts to refute it. Natural scientists are not required to believe these assumptions are the truth, but rather they are required to operate under the stated assumptions and within these constraints when they carry out scientific work. It happens the assumptions of naturalism result in the most parsimonious, robust, and reliable products (i.e., theories, technologies etc.).

Psychology, by contrast, does not require the constraints and assumptions required by the philosophy of natural science—naturalism—and that being the case, cannot be a natural science. Psychology emphasizes the explanation of behavior by the actions of a so-called mind, a non-natural thing or force from a mental (nonphysical) dimension that cannot be observed and directly measured, and supposedly directs the actions of the body. Indeed, psychology is the study of mind and behavior. Moreover, there are other disciplines that do not adhere to natural science constraints and assumptions (e.g., astrologists), and as such, they cannot claim the status of natural science either. Mystical assumptions and accounts preclude any discipline from the status of natural science, regardless of whether they also happen to use some scientific methods to study non-natural events as either dependent or independent variables. Non-natural science disciplines, such as theology (religious mysticism—supernatural thing up there), psychology (secular mysticism—supernatural thing in here) etc. are sometimes referred to as sciences to distinguish them from natural sciences, which adhere completely to the philosophical assumptions of natural science. They are referred to as sciences, because they utilize scientific methods. Whether such disciplines deserve the label science is dubious at best, particularly since the general public does not tend to differentiate between science and natural science. These disciplines are also often referred to as soft sciences, which is a soft way of saying the discipline allows for non-natural, or supernatural, events in their accounting for phenomena or they study non-natural phenomena. The most appropriate label for mainstream psychology, and indeed any discipline that uses scientific methods but fails to adhere to the assumptions of natural science, is pseudoscience. A pseudoscience is an activity that may resemble science in some way, including the use of some scientific methods, but which is based on fallacious assumptions (vocabulary.com, n.d.). The proffering of non-natural events is to engage in activities that are based on fallacious assumptions. Within the realm of behavior, theology and psychology fall into this category. The current comprehensive natural science disciplines include biology, geology, physics, chemistry, and behaviorology. Behaviorology is the only natural science of behavior.

Radical Behaviorism

Behaviorology was founded on a philosophical framework called radical behaviorism, which was elucidated by Burrhus F. Skinner in the 1930s.⁴ Radical behaviorism is not to be confused with the behaviorisms of the early 1900s. Radical behaviorism is fundamentally different from those other movements commonly clumped together under the name behaviorism (Chiesa, 1994). Radical behaviorism recognizes both respondent and operant behavior and all kinds of behavior, be they public or private. Radical behaviorism simply extends the assumptions of naturalism to the study of behavior. Although Skinner was employed within an academic psychology department, his subject matter and approach were different from that which was (and is) utilized in psychology. Where psychology generally accepts a Cartesian mind-body dichotomy (i.e., dualism) and postulates an inner agent called the psyche or mind to study underlying mental processes, which they considered to be of primary interest, Skinner proposed the study of behavior itself, for its own sake, and from a strictly natural science perspective, without reference to hypothetical (i.e., non-natural) constructs. Taking his inspiration from the Ernst Mach critique of causation, Darwin’s selection causation paradigm in biology, and behavioral work of Ivan Pavlov, Skinner improved vastly upon the behaviorisms that existed at the time. Radical behaviorism is hence a philosophy of natural science and places behaviorology among the natural sciences, along with physics, chemistry, biology, and geology.

Radical behaviorism is characterized by three fundamental assumptions:

•  Behavior is an entirely natural phenomenon, respecting the continuity of events in space and time, which accumulates as a natural history of fully caused events.

•  The emphasis of inquiry is on analyzing environment–behavior functional relations, experimental control over dependent variables, and the application of that control in changing behavior.

•  Private events such as visualizing, thinking, or emoting are real behaviors occurring in accordance with the same set of laws and principles as more overt public behavior.

Modes of Causation

Natural science disciplines study the causal relations between real variables.⁵ The dependent variable refers to the phenomenon to be explained (in our case, behavior) and the independent variable refers to the event that is said to cause or explain it (in our case, environmental stimulation). This is explored further in Chapter 2. Different modes of causation make up the relations between these variables. Physics and chemistry rely heavily on mechanistic causation, which deals with what comes immediately before something else and reliably triggers its occurrence—the second thing depends on the first. For example, I might say sit and that would trigger/cause my dog to sit. Biology and behaviorology rely heavily on selection causation, which deals with selection by consequences—that which comes immediately after something influences the future likelihood of that thing occurring again. For example, because I deliver a treat to my dog every time he sits, upon my saying sit, he is more likely to sit in the future when I say sit, and the consequence that sitting generated causes an increase in the likelihood of future sitting behavior. As you can see, the mechanistic causation paradigm fails to account for this, while the selection causation paradigm does so eloquently. Whereas mechanistic causation deals with contiguous relations, selection causation considers more of the history of the event (the consequences for the behavior in question back through its history). Overcoming the limitations of mechanistic causation with the breakthrough of the idea of selection causation was a turning point in the study of behavior, just as it was in the study of the forms of species.

Evolutions via Selection by Consequences

Selection by Consequences