| 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. |
 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. |