BEHAVIORISMAPPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS AND
EDUCATIONThe application of behavior principles to improve
performance and solve social problems is called
applied behavior analysis (Baer, Wolf, and Risley
1968). Principles of behavior change have been
used to improve the performance of university stu-
dents, increase academic skills in public and high
school students, teach self-care to developmentally
delayed children, reduce phobic reactions, get
people to wear seat belts, prevent industrial acci-
dents, and help individuals stop cocaine abuse,
among other things. Behavioral interventions have
had an impact on such things as clinical psycholo-
gy, medicine, education, business, counseling, job
effectiveness, sports training, the care and treat-
ment of animals, environmental protection, and
so on. Applied behavioral experiments have ranged
from investigating the behavior of psychotic indi-
viduals to designing contingencies of entire insti-
tutions (see Catania and Brigham 1978; Kazdin 1994).
One example of applied behavior analysis in
higher education is the method of personalized
instruction. Personalized instruction is a self-paced
learning system that contrasts with traditional lec-
ture methods that often are used to instruct col-
lege students. In a university lecture, a professor
stands in front of a number of students and talks
about his or her area of expertise. There are
variations on this theme (e.g., students are encour-
aged to be active rather than passive learners),
basically the lecture method of teaching is the
same as it has been for thousands of years.
Dr. Fred Keller (1968) recognized that the
lecture method of teaching was inefficient and in
many cases a failure. He reasoned that anyone who
had acquired the skills needed to attend college
was capable of successfully mastering most or all
college courses. Some students might take longer
than others to reach expertise in a course, but the
overwhelming majority of students would be able
to do so. If behavior principles were to be taken
seriously, there were no bad students, only ineffec-
tive teaching methods.
In a seminal article, titled ‘‘Good-bye, teach-
er... ,’’ Keller outlined a college teaching method
based on principles of operant conditioning (Keller
1968). Keller’s personalized system of instruction
(PSI) involves arranging the course material in a
sequence of graduated steps (units or modules).
Each student moves through the course material
at his or her own pace and the modules are set up
to ensure that most students have a high rate of
success learning the course content. Some stu-
dents may finish the course in a few weeks, others
require a semester or longer.
Course material is broken down into many
small units of reading and (if required) laboratory
assignments. Students earn points (conditioned
reinforcement) for completing unit tests and lab
assignments. Mastery of lab assignments and unit
tests is required. If test scores are not close to
perfect, the test (in different format) must be
taken again after a review of the material for that
unit. The assignments and tests build on one
another so they must be completed in a speci-
fied order.
Comparison studies have evaluated student
performance on PSI courses against the perform-
ance of students given computer-based instruc-
tion, audio-tutorial methods, traditional lectures,
visual-based instruction, and other programmed
instruction methods. College students instructed
by PSI outperform students taught by these other
methods when given a common final examination
(see Lloyd and Lloyd 1992 for a review). Despite
this positive outcome, logistical problems in or-
ganizing PSI courses such as teaching to mastery
level (most students get an A for the course), and
allowing students more time than the allotted
semester to complete the course, have worked
against widespread adoption of PSI in universities
and colleges.SUMMARYModern behaviorism emphasizes the context of
behavior and reinforcement. The biological histo-
ry of an organism favors or constrains specific
environment-behavior interactions. This interplay
of biology and behavior is a central focus of behav-
ioral research. Another aspect of context concerns
alternative sources of reinforcement. An individu-
al selects a specific option based on the relative
rate of reinforcement. This means that behavior is
regulated not only by its consequences but also by
the consequences arranged for alternative actions.
As we have seen, the matching law and the quanti-
tative law of effect are major areas of basic re-
search that suggest new intervention strategies for
behavior modification. Finally, applied behavior