Association for Behavior Analysis International

The Experimental Analysis of Human Behavior Special Interest Group invites you to formally recognize the contributions of Dr. Timothy Hackenberg, whose extensive research career has shed much light on the complexities of human behavior. A colleague of Dr. Hackenberg will reflect on his many contributions toward advancing our understanding of complex human behavior and Dr. Hackenberg will subsequently deliver an address on a topic of his choosing. Please join us to celebrate the contributions of Dr. Timothy Hackenberg.

Graduate students and professionals

A starting point for the experimental analysis of human behavior is that of species continuity, of core principles that apply broadly across the animal kingdom, including humans. This continuity assumption has paid off handsomely, revealing impressive generalities across species. But important differences between humans and other animals have been reported as well. What to make of such differences? Are they best regarded as qualitative (differences in kind) or quantitative (differences in degree)? Unfortunately, due to procedural differences, it has proven difficult to compare humans and other animals on a level playing field. A level playing field requires some means of functional calibration, evaluating the procedures against known behavioral yardsticks (e.g., reinforcer immediacy, probability, amount, and so on). I will illustrate this approach with some research from my lab on cross-species analysis of choice in pigeons and humans. We have found that reducing procedural differences brings the choice patterns of the two species into greater accord, suggesting that at least some of the human-animal differences reported in the literature may reflect procedural differences rather than more fundamental differences in behavioral process. With procedures matched on important functional characteristics, genuine species differences can be separated from procedural differences.