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| Society for the Quantitative Analyses of Behavior |
| Saturday, May 24, 2008 |
| 7:00 AM–11:20 AM |
| Stevens 5 |
| Chair: Allison E. Reid (Wofford College) |
| ABAI thanks the Society for Quantitative Analysis of Behavior (SQAB) for sponsoring tutorials focusing on quantitative analysis. ABAI encourages its members to take advantage of the SQAB presentations on quantitative applications in behavior science. A separate registration fee and badge are required to attend the SQAB meeting. |
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| International Development Brunch |
| Saturday, May 24, 2008 |
| 10:00 AM–11:20 AM |
| International North |
| Chair: Simon Dymond (University of Wales, Swansea) |
| The international development brunch is scheduled for the first day of the convention to welcome international members and review the international development of behavior analysis being conducted at ABAI. All members are welcome. We expect conference attendees from 30 countries to join us for food and conversation. |
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| Opening Event: Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis Awards |
| Saturday, May 24, 2008 |
| 11:30 AM–12:50 PM |
| Grand Ballroom |
| Chair: Thomas S. Critchfield (Illinois State University) |
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| Award for Distinguished Service to Behavior Analysis: Edmund J. Fantino, Ph.D. (University of California, San Diego) |
| Abstract: In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy denied the possibility of altruistic behavior. His argument might be echoed by some behavior analysts today: behavior has its causes and if we understand what is motivating the altruist we can see that the altruist’s behavior is maintained by reinforcement and is therefore not altruistic. As a first step to understanding the contingencies maintaining altruism it would be desirable to develop a behavioral model of altruism. In our laboratory we have developed the Sharing Game in which a participant decides between two outcomes, for example $7 for himself and $9 for another unknown participant OR $5 for himself and $3 for the other participant. Depending on various contingencies participants choose equitably, or competitively, or optimally (in terms of maximizing their own earnings). The following choice gives participants the possibility of demonstrating altruism: $10 for the chooser and $10 for the anonymous other OR $0 for the chooser and $100 for the anonymous other. About 20% of our subjects select the altruistic option. We are currently investigating the conditions (including gender of the chooser) that foster altruism. |
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| EDMUND J. FANTINO (University of California, San Diego) |
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 Dr. Edmund J. Fantino received his B.A. in mathematics at Cornell in 1961 and his doctorate in Experimental Psychology at Harvard in 1964. He is Distinguished Professor of Psychology and of the Neurosciences Group at the University of California, San Diego. He is former Editor of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior and former President of the Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. His research interests lie in the field of learning and motivation, especially choice, conditioned reinforcement, self-control, temporal discounting, and sources of multiple stimulus control in humans and in pigeons. Currently he is interested in human reasoning, especially illogical thinking, problem solving, and in human observing, including the conditions under which information reinforces human behavior. He has recently developed an economic distribution game that he hopes will permit an experimental analysis of altruism. Another major interest concerns problem solving and the ease with which problem-solving behavior transfers to new situations as a function of the nature of the original learning (rule-governed or contingency-shaped). He continues his interest in operant analogues to foraging behavior, including assessment of behavioral ecology theories with operant choice technology and optimal choice in humans and pigeons. |
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| Award for Impact of Science on Application: Murray Sidman, Ph.D |
| Abstract: The relation between basic research and application is not a one-way street. As in every science, basic behavioral research is concerned with phenomena that are available to everyday observation. Everybody knows that people learn, that they remember, that symbols play important roles in our lives, that rewards and punishments influence what we do, that we interact socially, that we communicate through spoken and written words, and so on. These phenomena are as obvious to everybody as the rising and setting of the sun, the relation between clouds and rain, the dependence of life upon food, the fall of unsupported objects, and so on. Science does not accept the everyday descriptive language or the everyday techniques of observation that such phenomena have generated, but no science that ignores the phenomena and language of everyday life will keep on receiving public support. A science of behavior analysis must continue to derive its inspiration for basic research from phenomena that we observe outside the laboratory. |
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| MURRAY SIDMAN (N/a) |
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 Dr. Murray Sidman lived a happy but otherwise unremarkable boyhood in Boston from 1923 until 1940, when he started at Columbia University. After World War II military service, he returned in 1946 to complete his AB, and went on to a Ph.D in 1952. His principal advisors, Fred S. Keller and W. N. Schoenfeld, had strong assists from Ralph Hefferline, Clarence Graham, and a small group of fellow graduate students. After that, he spent nine years in the exciting and productive interdisciplinary environment of the Neuropsychiatry Division at Walter Reed. He then joined the Neurology Service of the Massachusetts General Hospital for another nine years. His human and nonhuman behavioral research laboratories moved eventually to the E. K. Shriver Center and Northeastern University, where he remained as Professor of Psychology until he retired from Academe, continuing his research at the New England Center for Children. Although retired from there in 2001, he continues research and writing. One outcome of his lifetime of research is his conviction that extending experimental results out of the laboratory not only adds an intrinsically valuable dimension to basic research, but is essential to its survival in a world of increasing competition for ever more limited resources. |
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| Award for Effective Presentation of Behavior Analysis in the Mass Media: Amy Sutherland |
| Abstract: As I describe a problem I'm having with a student in my class who consistently turns in papers late, Scott responds, "Is there a way you can Shamu it?"
Shamu the noun has become a verb in our house. It's become shorthand for using the principles of progressive animal training, a.k.a. behavior analysis, to solve a behavioral riddle. We Shamu friends, family and neighbors. We Shamu each other. "Did you just Shamu me?" my husband or I will ask the other. Even a couple of our friends have begun to Shamu, as they say. In fact, it was a friend, a high school teacher, who first conjugated the word. She Shamued us into using it.
“But why Shamu?” I'm asked over and over. Isn't it demeaning, manipulative, to use the principles of animal training on humans, especially the noblest of beasts, husbands? Why not just tell someone—spouse, friend, co-worker or sibling—what you want? Not at all and I will explain why. |
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| AMY SUTHERLAND (Journalist) |
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 Amy Sutherland New England-based freelancer Amy Sutherland’s June 25 column entitled What Shamu Taught Me about a Happy Marriage has had a remarkable run at the top of the New York Times' most e-mailed list and enjoyed wide circulation among behavior analysts. In it, Sutherland wrote about using the techniques exotic animal trainers use on dolphins and other animals to improve her husband’s domestic behavior. Ignore the bad behavior and praise the ones you want, she wrote, and just like you can teach an aquatic mammal to jump through hoops, you can teach a hubby to put his laundry in the hamper. Sutherland came upon the applicability of behavioral methods while researching her new book, Kicked, Bitten and Scratched: Life and Lessons at the World's Premier School for Exotic Animal Trainers (Viking, June 2006). Both the book and the column have raised public awareness of animal training and the behavioral principles used at the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program at California's Moorpark College – where she spent a year following new students as they learned to work with the exotic (baboons and cougars) and not-so-exotic animals (snakes and rats) in the teaching zoo. Ms. Sutherland spent most of her childhood in suburban Cincinnati and earned her Master’s in journalism at Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism. She has held staff positions at the Portland Press Herald, Maine Sunday Telegram, and the Burlington Free Press. Her articles have appeared in the Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Disney Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times, among other notable publications. She has received numerous awards, including the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writer Award and the John D. Donoghue Award for Arts Criticism. |
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| Award for International Dissemination of Behavior Analysis: Linda J. Hayes, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: Adopting a wholly naturalistic interpretation of human behavior has profound implications for individual and societal well-being, as well as facilitates more productive relations among scholarly enterprises than is possible in its absence. This approach to the understanding of human behavior has yet to flourish in many parts the world however, whereby its benefits have yet to be realized. External support for the spread of this approach is thereby needed. A number of strategies aimed at enhancing the growth and development of behavior science in areas where this approach is lacking have been implemented by well-meaning individuals and organizations over the years, some more effective than others. This address will identify those strategies with the greatest potential of achieving these aims, and is intended to promote further efforts along these lines. |
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| LINDA J. PARROTT HAYES (University of Nevada, Reno) |
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 Dr. Linda J. Hayes received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Manitoba, and her master’s and doctoral degrees from Western Michigan University. Dr. Hayes was a member of the Behavior Analysis faculty at West Virginia University while completing her doctorate, after which she took a position at Saint Mary’s University in Canada. She founded the campus-based and satellite Programs in Behavior Analysis at the University of Nevada, Reno on a self-capitalization model. Dr. Hayes has participated in the governance of ABA throughout her career, serving as Coordinator of the Education Board, founder and Director of the Council of Graduate Programs in Behavior Analysis, and multiple terms as a member of the Executive Council, including its Presidency. She is actively involved in efforts to promote the development of behavior analysis around the world. Linda is best known for her work in behavior theory and philosophy. |
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| Award for Public Service to Behavior Analysis: Michael Keenan, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: In this presentation I outline some of the challenges in bringing a science of behaviour to a community. Of particular interest are the difficulties in dealing with the legacy of misrepresentation that plagues our discipline and which, in the case of autism, leads to the impression that our science is for sale. This perception is not helped by the commercialisation of ABA. Despite the obstacles, progress has been made in Ireland over the last 10 years. I argue that things might have been easier if appropriate multimedia resources had existed to bridge the gap between theory and practice. |
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| MICHAEL KEENAN (University of Ulster) |
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 Dr. Michael Keenan is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Senior Lecturer and Distinguished Community Fellow at the School of Psychology at the University of Ulster in Coleraine, Northen Ireland. He is the Founder of the charity PEAT (Parents Education as Autism Therapists; www.peatni.org ) and he received the Award for Promoting Equality of Opportunity from the British Psychological Society and the Personal Achievement Award from the New York State Association for Behaviour Analysis for his work of bringing ABA to children with ASD in Ireland. He is the father of four young children. |
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| Award for Programmatic Contributions to Behavior Analysis: The Kennedy Krieger Institute |
| Abstract: The principles and basic research findings of operant learning offer considerable potential benefits to society, which can be hindered by a variety of factors, such as organizational structures and professional biases. Over a thirty-year period, a behavior analytic approach was applied to various structural, clinical, and academic variables at two institutions, one specializing in pediatric disorders of the central nervous system (The Kennedy Krieger Institute) and the other involved in the entire spectrum of medicine (The Johns Hopkins Hospital and School of Medicine). Systemic “reinforcers” and “aversive conditions” affecting these variables were identified and systematically influenced. The outcomes included high rates of scientific productivity, professional development, programmatic growth, and financial success. A systemic approach to the use and promotion of behavior analysis should have generality to other institutions, organizational structures, and approaches to solving societal problems. |
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| MICHAEL F. CATALDO (Kennedy Krieger Institute) |
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| Dr. Michael F. Cataldo will accept the award on behalf of the Kennedy Krieger Institute. |
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| 2007 International Grant Awards |
| Abstract: The Board of the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis is very pleased to announce the winner of the 2007 International Development Grant.
A project in South Africa, developed by Dr. Joanne K. Robbins (Morningside Academy) |
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| JOANNE K. ROBBINS (Morningside Academy) |
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| SQAB Tutorial: Behavior Analysis Since 1960 |
| Saturday, May 24, 2008 |
| 1:00 PM–1:50 PM |
| Stevens 5 |
| Area: EAB; Domain: Basic Research |
| Chair: C. R. Gallistel (Rutgers University) |
| Presenting Author: JOHN E. R. STADDON (Duke University) |
| Abstract: How did quantitative behavior analysis begin? What is its relation to the rest of psychobiology? What has it accomplished and where has it failed? I describe the scientific movements that influenced the development of the quantitative analysis of behavior, and a few that did not, but should have. |
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| JOHN E. R. STADDON (Duke University) |
 Prof. John E. R. Staddon is James B. Duke Professor of Psychology, and Professor of Biology and Neurobiology, Emeritus. He obtained his PhD in Experimental Psychology at Harvard University, did research at the MIT Systems Lab and taught at the University of Toronto. He has also done research at Oxford University (UK), the University of São Paulo at Riberão Preto, the University of Mexico, the Ruhr Universität, Universität Konstanz, the University of Western Australia and is an honorary professor at the University of York (UK). He is a fellow of several scientific organizations including the AAAS and the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and has a doctorate, Honoris Causa, from the Université Charles de Gaulle, Lille 3, France. He is a past editor of the journals Behavioural Processes and Behavior & Philosophy. His research is on the evolution and mechanisms of learning in humans and animals and the history and philosophy of psychology and biology. Recent theoretical work includes papers on operant conditioning, memory, timing and psychobiological aspects of ethical philosophy. He has written and lectured on public-policy issues such as education and the effects of social and biological processes on the political process. He is the author of approximately 200 research papers and five books. |
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| SQAB Tutorial: The Hierarchical Organization of Behavior |
| Saturday, May 24, 2008 |
| 2:00 PM–2:50 PM |
| Stevens 5 |
| Area: EAB; Domain: Basic Research |
| Chair: Alex Kacelnik (Oxford University) |
| Presenting Author: C. R. GALLISTEL (Rutgers University) |
| Abstract: Elementary units of behavior are assemblages of neural, endocrine, and muscular components sufficient to explain naturally occurring actions. All such assemblages require an initiator component, where the neural signals that ultimately drive the action originate, conductor components that relay the signals from the initiators to the effectors, and effector components that translate the signals into movements and secretions. Some elementary units also contain computational elements, which perform basic computational operations like coordinate transformations, and some units contain memory elements, which hold the values of control variables, such as the angular velocity of a target. Neural circuits carrying timing signals and specifying the values of operating parameters, such as pacemaker periods, coordinate the operation of elementary units to form complex units, which are themselves coordinated to form still more complex units, yielding a hierarchical control structure. The behavioral expression of the units active high in the hierarchy exhibits many different forms, because different values for control parameters lead to different patterns from the same unit, and because much of the coordination is achieved by the selective potentiation and depotentiation of lower unit, so that the spectrum of potentiated lower units actived on a given occasion depends on occasion-specific trigger stimuli. |
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| C. R. GALLISTEL (Rutgers University) |
 Dr. C. R. Gallistel obtained his Ph. D. in physiological psychology at Yale in 1966 and went straight to an assistant professorship in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he rose through the ranks, and eventually served a term as chair. In 1989, he moved to UCLA. In 2000, he moved to Rutgers, where he is Co-Director of the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science. His two best known books, The Organization of Action and The Organization of Learning are classics. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 experimental papers in the areas of learning, memory, motivation and animal cognition. His work emphasizes the role of innate structure in shaping intelligent behavior. |
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| Honoring Beth Sulzer-Azaroff: Students, Colleagues, and Friends Bask in Her Glory |
| Saturday, May 24, 2008 |
| 2:30 PM–3:50 PM |
| Marquette |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Dwight Harshbarger (Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies) |
| Abstract: Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and President of the Browns Group of Naples, Dr. Beth Sulzer-Azaroff is an educator, research scientist and, writer in applied behavior analysis. Among numerous books and articles are "Behavior Analysis for Lasting Change" and "Achieving Educational Excellence"(with G. Roy Mayer), "Who Killed My Daddy: A Behavioral Safety Fable" and many behavior analytic research reports on behavior analyses in developmental disabilities, safety, organizational systems, and regular education. She has served as President of the Association for Behavior Analysis, the Berkshire Association for Behavior Analysis and Therapy, Division 25 of APA, and as Chair of APA's Boards of Scientific Affairs and Continuing Education. Among honors are the Fred Keller Award for contributions to education and the OBM Network Lifetime Achievement Award. Currently, Beth continues to be involved in the development of internet-based courses for personnel working in the area of autism. |
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| Achieving Educational Excellence: Contributions to Behavioral Instruction. |
| PHILIP N. CHASE (West Virginia University) |
| Abstract: Criticisms of behavior analysis have rarely acknowledged the range of replicable strategies and tactics that have been developed for the design of instruction. Dr. Beth Sulzer-Azaroff's contributions to these strategies and tactics were seminal, profound, and helped provide the impetus for the true technologies involved in programmed instruction, the Personalized System of Instruction, the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction, Headsprout, iLearn, and a range of other forms of behavioral instruction. The focus of this presentation will be the history of Beth’s contributions and the future of education that we, her students and colleagues, are working toward. |
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| From Mild Special Needs to Developmental Disabilities and Autism: The Procreation of Behavior Analysis with Children and Youth. |
| JULIE SCHWEITZER (University of California, Davis School of Medicine), Kent Johnson (Morningside Academy) |
| Abstract: Dr. Beth Sulzer-Azaroff was a queen among mothers, and her work in behavior analysis shows the extent of her interest and passion in children and youth. From her early work in token economies as an elementary school teacher in New York City, to her most recent training program for paraprofessionals who work with children with autism, Beth's sweeping influence in developing behavior analytic procedures with children and youth is profound. In this presentation, students and colleagues will acknowledge the many different facets of this work, and demonstrate the legacy she leaves behind. |
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| Behavior-Based Safety Takes Flight. |
| MARK P. ALAVOSIUS (University of Nevada, Reno) |
| Abstract: Dr. Beth Sulzer-Azaroff was among the first behavior analysts to connect behavior analysis with occupational safety. Her research, publications, presentations, students, and colleagues have built upon her pioneering work and established behavior-based safety as standard operating practice in most comprehensive occupational safety initiatives. On a personal note, speakers in this session can say metaphorically, 'We flew with Orville'. Now used widely in business, industry, and service organizations, behavioral approaches to safety have prevented countless injuries, illnesses and fatalities from occupational exposures. From the work of a few innovators, safety behavior analysis has developed as a coherent, effective technology and stands as an exemplary demonstration of behavior analysis applied to the amelioration of widespread, socially significant phenomena. |
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| Beth Sulzer-Azaroff: Leadership and Mentoring for Lasting Change. |
| LAURA J. HALL (San Diego State University), Richard K. Fleming (University of Massachusetts Medical School, E.K. Shriver Center) |
| Abstract: The papers in this symposium celebrate Dr. Beth Sulzer-Azaroff’s contributions as a pioneer in diverse areas of behavior analysis. They honor her strengths as a leader, including her unwavering commitment to teaching and mentoring. In particular, Dr. Sulzer-Azaroff has been an outstanding mentor, and has worked successfully to break down barriers for women in science. The presenters here today are at once Dr. Sulzer-Azaroff’s students, colleagues and friends. Professionally, we have listened, learned, analyzed, problem-solved, challenged, debated, and grown in our interactions with Dr. Sulzer-Azaroff. Personally, we have received her compassionate support. Our relationships with her have been rich and generative, thus, preparing and motivating us to produce our best work…and, in turn, to teach and mentor others. What better exemplar of behavior analysis for lasting change! |
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| SQAB Tutorial: Facts and Theories in Decision Making: Sturnus vulgaris Vs. Benjamin Franklin |
| Saturday, May 24, 2008 |
| 3:00 PM–3:50 PM |
| Stevens 5 |
| Area: EAB; Domain: Basic Research |
| BACB CE Offered. CE Instructor: Alex Kacelnik, Ph.D. |
| Chair: John E. R. Staddon (Duke University) |
| Presenting Author: ALEX KACELNIK (Oxford University) |
| Abstract: Understanding decision-making involves many disciplines, including Evolutionary Biology, Economics, Psychology and Quantitative Behavioural Analysis. In this tutorial I review recent experiments on choice between different combinations of amount and delay to food that used starlings as experimental animals. The results are contrasted with predictions from theoretical models originating in these disciplines (including those advocated by B. Franklin). I show that while ome models are better at data fitting they can be weaker in other respects. My overall message is that the worth of theoretical models is not identical to their predictive performance (how well they fit the data): Theories and models are validated by the accuracy of their predictions but should be judged by many additional criteria, including their value to guide research, and to place observations within broader fields of knowledge. |
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| ALEX KACELNIK (Oxford University) |
 Dr. Alex Kacelnik was born and grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After graduating in Biological Sciences he moved to Oxford where he completed his doctorate studying optimality models of decision-making in birds. As is often the case, topics addressed during his doctorate continued to interest him to this day. In particular, his early research dealt with the trade-off between maximising immediate gains and acquiring information that could lead to greater longer-term benefits (the conflict between exploration and exploitation). In later work he addressed other decision systems, such as the conflict faced by parent birds between feeding their offspring or themselves, the preference for certainty versus risk, or preference between larger, more delayed rewards against smaller, more immediate ones. Alex also works on animal cognition, including research on interval timing, on the notion of rationality, on state-dependent learning, and on tool use by New Caledonian crows. He has published over 130 scientific papers, was co-editor of Volume VI (Foraging) of the Quantitative Analyses of Behavior series, and has supervised over 30 PhD dissertations and 15 postdoctoral researchers. Alex’s work typically treats biologically inspired problems combining behavioural analysis with evolutionary and economic theory, and blending theoretical with experimental research. |
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| SQAB Tutorial: Mining Wolframs A New Kind of Science |
| Saturday, May 24, 2008 |
| 4:00 PM–4:50 PM |
| Stevens 5 |
| Area: EAB; Domain: Basic Research |
| BACB CE Offered. CE Instructor: Jack J. McDowell, Ph.D. |
| Chair: M. Jackson Marr (Georgia Tech) |
| Presenting Author: JACK J. MCDOWELL (Emory University) |
| Abstract: Stephen Wolframs massive self-published tome, A new kind of science, has been criticized by various reviewers as overwrought, repetitive, egocentric, insufficiently documented, megalomaniacal, too Mathematica-focused, nothing new, self-indulgent, the raving of a crackpot, and false. Whether or not one wishes to believe Wolframs occasional extravagant claims, such as that continuity and motion in the physical world are illusions, or that the universe is a simple computer program, his manic but endlessly fascinating 6 lb behemoth of a book is a treasure trove of mathematical and computational ideas and techniques that is well worth mining for its possible relevance to problems in quantitative behavior analysis. Wolframs point of departure is that complex behavior can be produced by the repeated application of simple rules (nothing new); the rest of the book is a rococo elaboration of this theme. From cellular automata and Turing machines to iterated function systems and prime number sequences, there is enough raw material in this volume to keep a scientific miner digging and happy for a long time. In this tutorial I will discuss some of the raw material I have mined from Wolframs book that might be of interest to quantitative behavior analysts, with a special focus on cellular automata. |
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| JACK J. MCDOWELL (Emory University) |
 Dr. Jack J. McDowell earned an A.B. in Psychology from Yale University in 1972 and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1979 under the mentorship of Dr. Howard Rachlin. He joined the faculty of Emory University in 1979 where he is currently Professor of Psychology. Dr. McDowell’s research has focused on mathematical and computational theories of behavior, including formal mathematical work, experimental work with rats, pigeons and humans, and computer experiments with virtual organisms. Much of Dr. McDowell’s experimental work has involved tests of matching theory, the results of which recently led him to argue that the traditional version of matching theory is false, and should be replaced by a revamped, modern, version. Most recently Dr. McDowell proposed a computational model of selection by consequences that instantiates the idea that behavior evolves in response to selection pressure from the environment in the form of reinforcement. Computer experiments show that this evolutionary dynamics produces steady-state behavior consistent with the modern version of matching theory. Dr. McDowell’s experience with and expertise in mathematical and computational techniques makes him uniquely qualified to evaluate Wolfram’s work. |
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| Presidential Scholar's Address: Marriage, Divorce and the Family |
| Saturday, May 24, 2008 |
| 5:00 PM–5:50 PM |
| Grand Ballroom |
| Chair: Janet S. Twyman (Headsprout) |
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| Presidential Scholar's Address: Marriage, Divorce and the Family |
| Abstract: Professor Becker's research program is founded on the idea that the behavior of an individual adheres to the same fundamental principles in a number of different areas. The same explanatory model should thus be applicable in analyzing highly diverse aspects of human behavior. His explanatory model is based on what he calls an economic approach, which he has applied to one area after another. This approach is characterized by the fact that individual agents—regardless of whether they are households, firms or other organizations—are assumed to behave rationally, i.e., purposefully, and that their behavior can be described as if they maximized a specific objective function, such as utility or wealth. Professor Becker has applied the principle of rational, optimizing behavior to areas where researchers formerly assumed that behavior is habitual and often downright irrational. His first book in 1957 explored The Economics of Discrimination. For his presentation at this year’s convention, Professor Becker will use economic analysis to explain marriage and divorce rates in the United States. Among the issues considered are the rise in divorce rates and the decline in marriage rates since the 1960's. |
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| GARY S. BECKER (University of Chicago) |
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 Dr. Gary S. Becker earned a BA at Princeton University and a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Chicago. Becker was a professor at Columbia University from 1957 to 1969. He now holds joint appointments with the department of economics and sociology and the graduate school of business at the University of Chicago.
Professor Becker has been applying economic analysis to understand consequential behavior of social significance for over fifty years. In addition, Becker was one of the founders of the principle that education is an investment in human capital.
In 1992, Professor Becker received the Nobel Prize in Economics "for having extended the domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of human behavior and interaction, including nonmarket behavior." He has received many other prestigious awards, including the John Bates Clark Medal of the American Economic Association, the National Medal of Science, and most recently, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. |
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| Behavioral Bash |
| Saturday, May 24, 2008 |
| 10:30 PM–12:30 AM |
| Grand Ballroom |
| Chair: Corina Jimenez-Gomez (Utah State University) |
| ABA welcomes all of its members to Chicago. Join us for a night of fun and entertainment, which will include videos submitted by student members, a skit competition, the Student-Committee mentor awards, and entertainment from local talent. We hope to see you all there! |
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