REDUCTIONISM AND BEHAVIOR
ANALYSIS
M. JACKSON MARR
SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY
GEORGIA TECH
ATLANTA, GA 30332-0170
USA
mm27@prism.gatech.edu
The goal of any science is to reduce
the apparent complexity of nature to
relatively simple accounts, principles,
or mechanisms all of which manifest
a causal structure.
NAGEL’S CATEGORIES
1. HOMOGENEOUS REDUCTION
2. HETEROGENOUS REDUCTION
HOMOGENEOUS
REDUCTION
Issues of Homogeneous Reduction in
Behavior Analysis
1. Definition of behavior and functional
classifications
2. Role of behavior in the natural sciences
3. Patterns of explanation
4. Contingency—the fundamental
explanatory concept in behavior analysis
DEFINITIONS
OF BEHAVIOR
ROLE OF BEHAVIOR
IN
THE NATURAL SCIENCES
PATTERNS
OF
EXPLANATION:
WHAT
CONSTITUES
AN
ACCOUNT?
Operant Conditioning
MATCHING-TO-SAMPLE
comparison
sample
comparison
Maxwell’s Equations
• Symmetry between electricity and magnetism: Explained the
nature of light as electromagnetic waves moving at speed c.
CONTINGENCY:
THE
FUNDAMENTAL
EXPLANATORY
CONCEPT
Three-term Contingency
SD
SD: discriminative
stimulus
SR
Ro
Ro: operant class
SR: reinforcer
Newton’s Second Law of
Motion
F m




dv 
dt 
F: force
m: mass
dv/dt: acceleration
ISSUES OF BEHAVIOR PATTERNS
1. FUNCTIONAL
UNITS OF
BEHAVIOR
2. MOLARMOLECULAR
DISTINCTION
HETEROGENEOUS
REDUCTION
SKINNER’S “HETEROGENEOUS” REDUCTION
“…any explanation of an observed fact
which appeals to events taking place
somewhere else, at some other level
of observation, described in different
terms, and measured, if at all, in
different dimensions.”
WHAT IS GOING ON
IN OUR BODIES
WHEN WE BEHAVE?
SOME PHILOSOHICAL POSITIONS
1.ONTOLOGICAL REDUCTION
2.EXPLANATORY REDUCTIONISM
3.METAPHYSICAL MATERIALISM
MEREOLOGICAL FALLACY:
ATTRIBUTING A PROPERTY
OF A WHOLE TO A PART OF
THE WHOLE.
ARE WE MACHINES?!
GENERAL FUND OF BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION
• 1. Molecular Processes (biochemical, biophysical)
• 2. Cellular functions
• 3. Tissue/organ functions
• 4. Morphogenic-developmental
• 5. Behavioral-environmental
• 6. Species adaptation-evolution