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| International Paper Session - Behavior Analysis: Historical Perspectives |
| Saturday, May 24, 2008 |
| 1:00 PM–2:20 PM |
| PDR 3 |
| Area: TPC |
| Chair: James T. Todd (Eastern Michigan University) |
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| A Brief History of Psychology: A Behaviorist Perspective. |
| Domain: Theory |
| JOSEPH J. PEAR (University of Manitoba) |
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| Abstract: This paper traces the history of psychology with emphasis on the ascendance of and challenges to its dualistic base beginning with ancient Greek philosophy. |
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| B.F. Skinner and the Lone Scouts: An Early Article Rediscovered, and Some Corrections to the Historical Record. |
| Domain: Theory |
| JAMES T. TODD (Eastern Michigan University) |
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| Abstract: As an adolescent, B.F. Skinner was a member of a little-known branch of the Boy Scouts of America, the “Lone Scouts.” Lone Scouts were boys who lived in areas where there were insufficient numbers of boys to form a troop, or where leadership was lacking. The Lone Scouts provided boys with a variety of opportunities for civic and self-improvement activities, including the option to contribute items for publication in the Lone Scout Journal. One of these items is reasonably well known, a poem called “That Pessimistic Fellow,” reproduced by Skinner in the first volume of his autobiography. A search through the Lone Scout records at the “Lone Scout Memory Lodge” reveals a second published item by Skinner in the Lone Scout Journal, “On Putting Steel in Ink,” which may be his second publication. Further investigation reveals that Skinner erred in datin the appearance of “That Pessimistic Fellow” several years before its actual publication due to misinterpreting a numerical annotation on the poem as his age when it was actually part of a point system used by the Lone Scouts to motivate and reinforce contributions to the Lone Scout Journal. |
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| The B. F. Skinner Foundation Archival Committee: Recent Activity. |
| Domain: Theory |
| CRISS WILHITE (California State University, Fresno), Chelsea Wilhite (California State University, Fresno), Jeanne Lee (California State University, Fresno) |
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| Abstract: The B.F. Skinner Foundation Archival Committee has a number of ongoing projects undertaken to enhance our understanding of the contingencies under which Skinner discovered basic principles and developed the philosophy and theory of behavior analysis. These include material from the University of Minnesota, interviews with scholars at Indiana University and video-taping of key figures in the history of behavior analysis. |
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