
Sigrid S. GlennUniversity of North Texas | UNT · Department of Behavior Analysis
Sigrid S. Glenn
PhD
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84
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4,243
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Introduction
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September 1977 - present
Publications
Publications (84)
In Engineering the Upswing, H. S. Pennypacker and F. I. Perez begin by placing the cultural malaise currently afflicting the United States (U.S.) in the context of longitudinal data showing progressive change over a 60 year period in the U.S. Pennypacker and Perez then use the findings of social scientists to identify some dimensions of current cul...
Este artigo representa uma tentativa de buscar consenso a respeito de termos frequentemente utilizados pelos autores do artigo, pesquisadores que compartilham o interesse de estender a visão de mundo behaviorista para fenômenos culturais. Definições de metacontingência, macrocomportamento, macrocontingência, linhagem cultural-comportamental e cúspi...
This essay is dedicated to João Claudio Todorov (1941-2021). It focuses on the history of the Think Tanks on cultural studies from a culturo-behavioral science perspective. Todorov first conceived the idea of creating a Think Tank on Cultural Studies (TTCS). He organized the first one with Maria Malott in 2005 in Campinas, São Paulo. Occurring simu...
The concept of metacontingency describes a contingent relation between the coordination of two or more individual’s behavior and a selecting consequence. The concept provides several insightful avenues for experimental investigation of social behavior and behavior of people in groups. The present study explores the question of whether operant behav...
The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB®) created a third level of certification, the Registered Behavior Technician™ (RBT®) in 2014. The RBT® was created based upon the requests of stakeholders who wanted to credential those individuals who make direct contact with clients under the supervision of a Board Certified Behavior Analyst®. There...
One challenge faced by students of behavior analysis is finding a graduate training program that provides opportunities to study how cultural phenomena develop within a selectionist perspective. Research labs in culturo-behavior science provide opportunities for students to consume and conduct research that contributes to the understanding of how c...
This chapter represents an attempt to reach consensus on terms frequently used by its authors, who share an interest in extending a behaviorist worldview to cultural phenomena. Definitions of metacontingency, macrobehavior, macrocontingency, culturo-behavioral lineage, and cultural cusp were agreed on and are reported in this chapter. In addition,...
The “tragedy of the commons” describes the depletion of resources when appropriated by a group of people acting individually. Since the phenomenon was described by Hardin (1968, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” Science, 162, 1243–1248), scholars have agreed that the only ways to avoid depletion of resources are private ownership and external governmen...
Institutions of higher education have been increasingly encouragedto employ evidence-based practices in the classroom.Many faculty members continue to rely on more tradi- tional instructional methods, even those who arewell versed in evidence-based teaching techniques. We describe the evolutionand current status of a system that uses behavior analy...
A particular type of self-control occurs when the conflict between immediate and delayed consequences is associated with consequences that are more favorable to either the individual or the group. In such cases, responding under the control of delayed consequences more favorable to the group can be considered an instance of ethical self-control. Th...
O princípio da seleção operante é examinado como um modelo para a seleção cultural e o papel do ambiente social é sugerido como o elemento crítico na emergência de fenômenos culturais. Contingências operantes são comparadas com contingências de seleção cultural, denominadas metacontingências. Esses dois tipos de relações de contingência resultam em...
This article represents an attempt to reach consensus on terms frequently used by its authors, who share an interest in extending a behaviorist worldview to cultural phenomena. Definitions of metacontingency, macrobehavior, macrocontingency, culturo-behavioral lineage , and cultural cusp were agreed on and are reported in this paper. In addition, t...
A particular type of self-control is exercised when the conflict between immediate and
delayed consequences is associated with consequences that are more favorable either for the individual or
for the group. In such cases, responding under the control of delayed consequences that are favorable for
the group is characteristic of ethical self-control...
Three points discussed in Glenn (1993) are reviewed in the context of current events: the discipline of behavior analysis as a cultural system, the importance of that discipline in the training and regulation of behavior analytic practitioners, and Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) as a cultural subsystem that links to all the...
Two experiments were conducted in a college where students in dyads participated in a simulation of hunters who were required to share prey in order to maintain dyadic (group) fitness. The sharing was an interlocking behavioral contingency contributing to survival of the dyad, conceptualized as a hunting nomoclone (Harris, 1964). The simulation com...
In these series of experiments we used an iterated
prisoners’ dilemma game (IPDG) to examine the effect of
metacontingencies on aggregate products of the interrelated
behavior of four players. Results of the first experiment
showed that cultural level consequences (“market feedback”
in the form of points delivered to all players) contingent
o...
College students were assigned to 2 groups of 4 participants each in a reversal design. On each trial participants chose individually how many tokens to bet, and then collectively chose a row on an 8x8 matrix with a plus or minus sign in each cell. After that the experimenter announced a column that determined whether the group won or lost the bets...
Experience-dependent change in blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal is increasingly being employed in neuroimaging research to examine questions about function and plasticity. In this investigation, plasticity was examined during consecutive visual cue presentations that preceded correct button presses and subsequent reinforcer deliveries. Us...
Children with autism may display unusual or fearful responses to common stimuli, such as skin care products. Parents of children with autism have often reported that their children will not allow the application of these types of substances to their skin and if the parent persists, the children become extremely upset and anxious. Such responding ca...
of this article may copy it without the copyright owner's permission, if the author and publisher are acknowledged in the copy and the copy is used for educational, not-for-profit purposes. ABSTRACT: Behavior analysts implement different type of interventions in their efforts to bring about cultural change. In this article, we identify basic elemen...
If selection is interpreted as involving repeated cycles of replication, variation, and environmental interaction so structured that environmental interaction causes replication to be differential, then selection in gene-based biological evolution and the reaction of the immune system to antigens are relatively unproblematic examples of selection p...
In this paper, we argue that numerous dynamic entities make up organizations and that their complexity can be described systematically. We identify three types of organizational complexity: environmental, component and hierarchical. We define the elements of the contingencies of cultural selection as they apply to organizations and propose that org...
Hobbs (2004) argued that there are two possible barriers to successful extrapolation of our analysis to the study of organizational phenomena; and successful application of our framework requires overcoming these barriers. As he sees it, one problem of our analysis is its generality to nonprofit organizations. The other limitation is the absence of...
We share Ulman's (2004) interest in large scale social phenomena and the inequities that characterize modern societies concern us. But we are not convinced that an adequate scientific formulation exists for dealing with large scale social change. This should not stop any of us from doing what we can do to improve social conditions and using any con...
The principle of operant selection is examined as a prototype of cultural selection, and the role of the social environment is suggested as the critical element in the emergence of cultural phenomena. Operant contingencies are compared to cultural selection contingencies, designated as metacontingencies. Both of these types of contingency relations...
The case for the value of self-experimentation in advancing science is convincing. Important features of the method include (1) repeated measures of individual behavior, over extended time, to discover cause/effect relations, and (2) vivid graphical presentations. Large-scale research on Pavlovian conditioning and weight control is needed because v...
Writers from a variety of disciplines recognize that culture is composed of or depends on behavior, but is also somehow more than an unorganized collection of behavioral events. Biologist Bonner (1980) defined culture as "behavior transmitted from one individual to another by teaching and learning" (p. 17). Cultural anthropologist Harris (1964) sta...
'ABSTRACT Scientific activi.tiesareembeddéd 'ihsel~~tion proceS~'occli1tiIlg·attwo leVels.iTbéIearned ~behavior'of'caclíiíldiVidUalbuman.~.Sci~~tist·()r not, iS.~e~tfJrÓf·~vi()l'áJ 'Sél~tioopfocesses, whichoccur atthe level.of individualorganiims. H()we."!;tI1e-featuresoftb~envlroni'Óenttbatenter into these behavioral proeesses include thel>chavlot...
Writers from a variety of disciplines recognize that culture is composed of or depends on behavior, but is also somehow more than an unorganized collection of behavioral events. Biologist Bonner (1980) defined culture as “behavior transmitted from one individual to another by teaching and learning” (p. 17). Cultural anthropologist Harris (1964) sta...
Proper professional certification and training of behavior analysts who work with individuals with autism is critical in ensuring that those individuals receive the highest quality behavior analytic services. This article discusses the current issues surrounding certification of behavior analysts and describes the important features of the Behavior...
This paper offers some reflections on the discipline and profession of behavior analysis, as well as on the Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA), on the occasion of the association's 25th anniversary. It is based on a panel session conducted at the 1999 convention that included six past presidents of ABA (Donald M. Baer, Judith E. Favell, Sigrid...
Authors frequently refer to gene-based selection in biological evolution, the reaction of the immune system to antigens, and operant learning as exemplifying selection processes in the same sense of this term. However, as obvious as this claim may seem on the surface, setting out an account of "selection" that is general enough to incorporate all t...
For a long time, several natural phenomena have been considered unproblematically selection processes in the same sense of “selection.” In our target article we dealt with three of these phenomena: gene-based selection in biological evolution, the reaction of the immune system to antigens, and operant learning. We characterize selection in terms of...
In 1989, the University of North Texas was authorized by the Texas Coordinating Board of Higher Education to offer a master of science degree in behavior analysis. In 1990, the degree program appeared for the first time in the UNT Graduate Catalog. Due to the wide variety of career applications within behavior analysis, the program was designed to...
Organic and behavioral evolution both involve variation, selection, and replication with retention; but the individuals involved in these processes differ in the two kinds of evolution. In this paper, biological units of evolution, selection, and retention are compared with analogous units at the behavioral level. In organic evolution, natural sele...
The field of behavior analysis faces a number of issues concerning its existence as a discipline and as a profession, including (a) identification of the knowledge and skills comprising the repertoire of competent behavior analysts, (b) the nature of the curricula that will produce the scientists and practitioners needed by the discipline, (c) iden...
This paper explores some of the ways in which the environment functions with respect to behavior within an explanatory framework analogous to that of evolutionary biology. In both the behavioral and organic domains, the environment functions differently with respect to individual occurrences and evolutionary units. Within the behavioral domain, the...
This paper explores some of the ways in which the environment functions with respect to behavior within an explanatory framework analogous to that of evolutionary biology. In both the behavioral and organic domains, the environment functions differently with respect to individual occurrences and evolutionary units. Within the behavioral domain, the...
Behavior analysis is a cultural system of which the Association for Behavior Analysis is a component cultural system. As cultural systems, they are composed of interlocking behavioral contingencies that constitute their cultural practices. Critical to the survival of both cultural systems is the frequency of interaction with and the nature of the c...
Diverging paths of applied behavior analysis and behavioral services for the developmentally disabled (DD) clients are examined empirically. While 75% of research articles on DD in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (1968-1993, Summer issue) focus on behavior acquisition, professionals designated as “behavior specialists� report focusing...
The term operant is used in many different but related ways. Implicit in most uses is the concept of the operant as a behavioral unit. Historical origins of the operant unit are traced in Skinner's early work on the relational character of behavior as a subject matter in its own right. An operant unit in an individual's repertoire is compared with...
The term operant is used in many different but related ways. Implicit in most uses is the concept of the operant as a behavioral unit. Historical origins of the operant unit are traced in Skinner's early work on the relational character of behavior as a subject matter in its own right. An operant unit in an individual's repertoire is compared with...
This study examined the effects of various forms of contingency-specifying stimuli (CSSs) on the compliance of 4-year-old children, and attempted to separate the evocative vs. function-altering functions of the CSSs. Each child was presented with a series of CSSs (one per day) that differed with respect to the deadline specified (immediate or delay...
The phenomena to be explained in terms of scientific principles may be termed the “content� of a science. Behavioral content is organized at the level of individual organisms. Human behavioral repertoires are unique and complex organizations of activity/environment relations. The content of human behavior is accounted for in terms of evolutiona...
The instruction, maintenance, and transfer of training of social skills of 3 seriously emotionally disturbed adolescents were accomplished by a self-management training and reinforcement package. During baseline sessions these students, who were covertly filmed in their classroom, averaged over 90% off-task or socially inappropriate behavior while...
The phenomena to be erplained in terms of scientifrc principles may be termed the ,content' of a science. Behavioral cut€nt is organized at the level of individual organisms' Iluman behavioral repertoires are unique and complex organizations of activity/environment rel,ations. The content of human behavior is accounted for in terms of evolutionaqr...
Three kinds of selection are reviewed with primary focus on the relations between behavioral and cultural contingencies. Operant behavior is briefly examined with regard to cultural materialist theory. The functions of verbal behavior in infrastructural and superstructural practices are suggested. Discrepancies between rules promulgated in the supe...
A synthesis of cultural materialism and behavior analysis might increase the scientific and technological value of both fields. Conceptual and substantive relations between the two fields show important similarities, particularly with regard to the causal role of the environment in behavioral and cultural evolution. Key concepts in Marvin Harris's...
To extend R. E. Fancher's (see record
1987-31600-001) review of claims that photographs of the Kallikak family in H. H. Goddard's (1912) study had been retouched to make them look more menacing and retarded, 29 Ss (aged 18–69 yrs) were surveyed for their impressions of the photographs. Overall, Ss were strongly inclined to view the photographed in...
To extend R. E. Fancher's (see record 1987-31600-001 ) review of claims that photographs of the Kallikak family in H. H. Goddard's (1912) study had been retouched to make them look more menacing and retarded, 29 Ss (aged 18–69 yrs) were surveyed for their impressions of the photographs. Overall, Ss were strongly inclined to view the photographed in...
Argues that B. E. Rollin's (see record
1986-11050-001) article on the moral status of research animals in psychology appears to advance the agenda of linking morality with cognitive psychology and immorality with behaviorism and that Rollin's statement that moral questions can be approached and decided in a rational and dispassionate manner is not...
Argues that B. E. Rollin's (see record 1986-11050-001) article on the moral status of research animals in psychology appears to advance the agenda of linking morality with cognitive psychology and immorality with behaviorism and that Rollin's statement that moral questions can be approached and decided in a rational and dispassionate manner is not...
A distinction is made between contingencies of reinforcement (contingent relations between a class of responses and a common consequence) and metacontingencies (contingent relations between a class of operants and a long-term cultural outcome). The fictional utopia portrayed in Walden Two is examined in terms of the kinds of metacontingencies chara...
Behavior analysis and institutional economics are viewed as having common origins in the early 20th century effort to benefit from the conceptual revolution spurred by Darwin's synthesis. Institutional economics, initiated by Thorstein Veblen, appears to have failed to develop a progressive scientific technology, while behavior analysis has done so...
Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior is applied in this paper to several kinds of maladaptive behavior with which clinicians must deal. Lying, denial, and poor observing skills are discussed as defective tacting repertoires. Demanding and manipulative behaviors are mands that obtain immediate reinforcement at the expense of disrupting long-term in...
Four experiments examined response stereotyping as a form of stimulus overselectivity. Stimulus control was limited to response-produced feedback and maintained by intermittent reinforcement in a 2-choice simultaneous discrimination task. Three training techniques were examined to determine their role in establishing and disrupting position stereot...
The primary focus of systematic desensitization (SD) is physiological responsivity in the presence of a conditioned aversive stimulus. However, SD also effects changes in motorapproach behavior and self-report. This study explores the possibility that SD directly affects the motor response system by way of conditioning covert approach responses in...
Thesis--North Texas State University, December, 1977. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-64). Microfilm of typescript. Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International, 1978. -- 1 reel ; 35 mm.