Behavior Analysis and Learning A Biobehavioral Approach 6th Edition Ebook

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Contents
Foreword by Henry D. Schlinger, Jr.xi

Prefacexv
â•‡ 1 A Science of Behavior: Perspective, History, and Assumptions 1

Science of Behavior 2
Focus On: Behavior Analysis and Neuroscience 7
Focus On: Burrhus Frederic Skinner 13
A Brief History of Behavior Analysis 16
Science and Behavior: Some Assumptions 24
Focus On: Thinking Aloud About Chess Moves 28
Chapter Summary 29
â•‡ 2 The Experimental Analysis of Behavior 33

Functional Analysis of Behavior 33
Functional Analysis of the Environment 36
Tactics of Behavioral Research 43
Single-Subject Research 50
Advanced Section: Perceiving as Behavior 54
Focus On: Perception, Signal Detection, and the Payoff Matrix 57
Chapter Summary 60
â•‡ 3 Reflexive Behavior and Respondent Conditioning 63

Phylogenetic Behavior 63
Ontogenetic Behavior 69
Temporal Relations and Conditioning 79
Second-Order Respondent Conditioning 81
Aspects of Complex Conditioning 86
Advanced Section: Rescorla–Wagner Model of Conditioning 89
Chapter Summary 92
â•‡ 4 Reinforcement and Extinction of Operant Behavior 97

Operant Behavior 97
Focus On: Reward and Intrinsic Motivation 103
Operant Conditioning 107
Focus On: Behavioral Neuroscience and Operant Conditioning of the Neuron 108
Focus On: Reinforcement and Problem Solving 119
Extinction121
Chapter Summary 130
â•‡ 5 Schedules of Reinforcement 135

Importance of Schedules of Reinforcement 135
Focus On: C.â•›B. Ferster and Schedules of Reinforcement 136
vii
viiiâ•‡â•‡Contents
Behavior Analysis: AÂ€Progressive Science 137

Focus On: AÂ€System of Notation 141
Schedules of Positive Reinforcement 143
Ratio and Interval Schedules of Reinforcement 145
Focus On: Generality of Schedule Effects 150
Progressive-Ratio Schedules 156
Schedule Performance in Transition 160
Advanced Section: Schedule Performance 164
Chapter Summary 171
â•‡ 6 Aversive Control of Behavior 175

Aversive Control in Everyday Life 175
Contingencies of Punishment 178
Use of Punishment in Treatment 188
Punishment: Permanence and Paradox 190
Focus On: Physical Punishment and Psychiatric Disorders 192
Contingencies of Negative Reinforcement 193
Focus On: Escape and Infant Caregiving 196
Determinants and Analysis of Avoidance Behavior 200
Side Effects of Aversive Procedures 203
Chapter Summary 216
â•‡ 7 Operant–Respondent Interrelationships: The Biological Context

of Conditioning 221
Analysis of Operant–Respondent Contingencies 222
The Biological Context of Conditioning 233
Focus On: Taste Aversion, Neural Activity, and Drug Cravings 237
Experimental Analysis of Adjunctive Behavior 240
Advanced Section: Autoshaping as Operant–Respondent Interrelationships 248
Chapter Summary 250
â•‡ 8 Stimulus Control 255

Differential Reinforcement and Discrimination 256
Stimulus Control and Multiple Schedules 261
Focus On: Discrimination and the “Bird-Brained” Pigeon 264
Multiple Schedules and Behavioral Contrast 265
Generalization268
Errorless Discrimination and Fading 272
Complex Stimulus Control 276
Behavior Analysis of Remembering and Forgetting 278
Focus On: Concept Formation in Pigeons 282
Conditional Discrimination 284
Chapter Summary 287
â•‡ 9 Choice and Preference 291

Experimental Analysis of Choice and Preference 291
The Matching Relation 296
Extensions of the Matching Relation 300
Matching on Single-Operant Schedules 302
Contentsâ•‡â•‡ix
Choice, Foraging, and Behavioral Economics 306

Behavioral Economics, Choice, and Addiction 310
Focus On: Activity Anorexia and Substitutability of Food and Physical Activity 312
Advanced Section: Quantification of Choice and the Generalized
Matching Law 318
Chapter Summary 328
10 Conditioned Reinforcement 333

Chain Schedules and Conditioned Reinforcement 335
Focus On: Backward Chaining 337
Conditioned Reinforcement: Determinants and Analysis 338
Information and Conditioned Reinforcement 343
Delay Reduction and Conditioned Reinforcement 348
Generalized Conditioned Reinforcement 351
Advanced Section: Quantification and Delay Reduction 357
Chapter Summary 360
11 Correspondence Relations: Imitation and Rule-Governed Behavior 365

Correspondence and Human Behavior 365
Correspondence and Spontaneous Imitation 368
Imitation in the Laboratory 369
Infant Imitation Research 371
Correspondence, Generalized Imitation, and Observational Learning 377
Focus On: Rules, Observational Learning, and Self-Efficacy 385
Rule-Governed Behavior 386
Focus On: Instructions and Contingencies 389
Chapter Summary 392
12 Verbal Behavior 397

Language and Verbal Behavior 397
Focus On: Speaking and Evolution of the Vocal Apparatus 398
Verbal Behavior: Some Basic Distinctions 400
Operant Functions of Verbal Behavior 404
Research on Verbal Behavior: Manding and Tacting 406
Additional Verbal Relations: Intraverbals, Echoics, Textuals, and Autoclitics 411
Focus On: Higher-Order Verbal Classes and the Naming Relation 416
Symbolic Behavior and Stimulus Equivalence 418
Advanced Section: AÂ€Formal Analysis of Mand and Tact Relations 428
Chapter Summary 430
13 Applied Behavior Analysis 435

Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis 436
Research Strategies in Applied Behavior Analysis 441
Contingency Management and Substance Abuse 446
Behavior Analysis in Education 451
Applications of Behavior Principles: Self-Control and Autism 455
Behavioral Treatment and Prevention: The Problem of Obesity 462
Focus On: Conditioned Overeating and Childhood Obesity 466
Chapter Summary 467
xâ•‡â•‡Contents
14 Three Levels of Selection: Biology, Behavior, and Culture 471

Level 1: Evolution and Natural Selection 472
Genetic Regulation of Behavior 474
Focus On: Genetic Control of a Fixed-Action Pattern 474
Level 2: Behavioral Selection by Reinforcement 481
Focus On: Operant Regulation in the Marine Snail, Aplysia483
Evolution, Reinforcement, and Verbal Behavior 486
Level 3: Selection and Evolution of Culture 490
Focus On: Macrocontingency, Depleting Resources, and Costly Use of Punishment 492
Origin, Transmission, and Evolution of Cultural Practices 495
Chapter Summary 498
Glossary501
References537
Author Index593
Subject Index613
Foreword
In my Foreword to the fifth edition of Behavior Analysis and Learning by David Pierce and Carl
Cheney, IÂ€suggested that five editions of the book reflected the vitality and longevity of behavior
analysis. The publication of the sixth edition goes even further to reflect the current breadth and
depth of the discipline and its evolution as a member of the family of biological sciences by includ-
ing research and concepts from the related sciences of neurophysiology and epigenetics, all in the
context of an evolutionary framework. Because of this increased emphasis on how these other bio-
logical sciences intersect with the science of behavior analysis, Pierce and Cheney have added the
subtitle, A Biobehavioral Approach. Throughout all of its incarnations, however, Behavior Analysis
and Learning has dealt fundamentally with learning and behavior. To understand how Pierce and
Cheney arrived at the sixth edition of Behavior Analysis and Learning, it is important to understand
a few of the basic concepts of behavior analysis—behavior, environment, and learning—that the
book has elucidated since it was first published.
Behavior—anything an organism does in response to a particular situation or stimulus—is
defined by its reciprocal interaction with the environment, which itself is defined in terms of all of
the stimuli that affect an organism’s behavior at a given moment. Behavior is the means by which
animals find food and shelter and escape predation. Evolutionarily, it is largely an organism’s behav-
ior that determines whether it will survive, that is, live long enough to pass on its genes. Physiolog-
ically, these environment–behavior interactions are mediated by a nervous system that has evolved
two broad and basic functions—sensory and motor—that are supported by different and specialized
areas in the brain and their corresponding nerves.
Learning refers to relatively permanent changes in environment–behavior relationships as a
result of certain types of experiences. Thus, what changes when learning is said to occur is not
simply behavior, but rather relationships between environmental events (stimuli) and behavior. The
“certain types of experiences” that produce learning are Pavlovian and operant conditioning. Just as
behavior and stimuli are mediated by the nervous system, so too is learning. What we might refer
to as behavioral plasticity, that is, behavior’s capacity to be modified, is mediated by what neuro-
scientists refer to as neural plasticity, that is, the capacity of neuronal connections to be modified.
Learning and behavior as it relates to any particular species is a function of that species’ evolu-
tionary history. If human beings represent the pinnacle of anything evolutionarily, it is their evolved
capacity for seemingly infinite behavioral and neural plasticity, that is, their capacity to learn.
Although it is possible to scientifically study and understand the environment’s role in selecting and
maintaining behavior (i.e., learning) without any knowledge of genes and physiology—and, indeed,
such a science, behavior analysis, already exists—a complete understanding of learning requires
scientific inquiry at three levels: environment, genes, and neurophysiology.
There are textbooks on learning and behavior that do a fine job of explicating the laws of
environment–behavior relations and their accompanying theories, but to date, only one textbook,
Behavior Analysis and Learning by David Pierce and Carl Cheney, broadens the perspective. Since
it was first published in 1995 (with W. Frank Epling), Pierce and Cheney’s textbook has changed
to reflect the evolution of the field of behavior analysis into a science that incorporates both neu-
rophysiological and epigenetic concepts all within a selectionist framework. In so doing, Pierce
and Cheney present behavior analysis as a member of the family of biological sciences, which, as
xi
xiiâ•‡â•‡Foreword
a selectionist science, emphasizes Skinner’s concept of selection by consequences at three levels:

genes (i.e., natural selection), the behavior of individual organisms (i.e., operant conditioning), and
cultural practices (i.e., cultural selection). In fact, the authors acknowledge that the capacity for
learning itself is an evolved trait and that the behavior of scientists who study it is, in part, a function
of cultural contingencies.
For each new edition, Pierce and Cheney have not only met the minimal requirements for a
revision, they have updated the content (and references) to reflect changes in research and scholar-
ship in the field. But Pierce and Cheney have also pushed the envelope in each new edition and have
expanded the scope of learning and behavior to include the broader context of evolution, genes, and
physiology. In the fifth edition, the authors added a section called “New Directions” that related
the topic of each chapter to recent developments in behavioral neuroscience. The sixth edition goes
even further with an increased focus on behavior analysis and neuroscience, neurophysiology, neu-
robiology, and epigenetics, creating what Pierce and Cheney refer to as a “grand synthesis” of
behavioral science.
The phrase “grand synthesis” is derived from the Modern Synthesis in biology in which ideas
and concepts from several separate fields of biology (e.g., natural selection theory, genetics, ecol-
ogy, paleontology, etc.) were synthesized to form a stronger and more unified account of evolution.
The term “grand synthesis” implies an even broader account of evolution to include nothing short of
the universe itself. Thus, a grand synthesis of behavior science, while still perhaps a somewhat lofty
goal, brings together ideas from three general areas of inquiry—behavior analysis, neuroscience,
and epigenetics—all in the context of selectionism (i.e., natural selection and operant learning), to
create a more complete picture of behavior. Thus, to fully understand behavior, scientists must now
take a biobehavioral approach. As the authors write, “Our goal in this textbook also is to further
the integration of applied and basic areas of behavior analysis and to encourage closer ties to other
biological sciences.”
As with the previous editions, the sixth covers not just learning and behavior, but behavior
analysis as “a comprehensive, natural-science approach to the study of the behavior of organisms.”
To wit, Pierce and Cheney address not only the experimental foundations of the science, but its con-
ceptual framework, philosophical implications, and applications to real-world behavioral problems.
As with the fifth edition, each chapter still includes a section—“On the Applied Side”—in which
the authors illustrate how the basic concepts or principles presented in the chapter have been used
to ameliorate some socially significant behavior. Many chapters in the sixth edition include a “New
Directions” section, which, consistent with the new emphasis and title, highlight some research
topic in neuroscience that relates to the topic of the chapter. Other special sections include “Focus
On,” “Note On,” and “Advanced Section,” which cover a range of experimental, theoretical, and
applied issues related to the content of each chapter.
Finally, a feature of Behavior Analysis and Learning that makes it stand out as a superior text-
book is that, in addition to presenting the experimental foundations of behavior analysis in a broad
biological context and showing how they can be used to improve socially significant behaviors,
Pierce and Cheney demonstrate how the basic principles of behavior detailed in the book can be
used to interpret behavior that is either novel, too complex to be studied in the lab, or seemingly
mentalistic or cognitive. Interpretation is fundamental to all of the experimental sciences, and
behavior analysis is no different. By demonstrating how laboratory-derived principles of behavior
can be used to understand behaviors that go by such names as language, memory, consciousness,
and perception, Pierce and Cheney broaden the reach of behavior-analytic theory and provide a
parsimonious account of behaviors that have tempted dualistic thinking among psychologists and
philosophers for centuries.
Forewordâ•‡â•‡xiii
Beginning with the first edition, Behavior Analysis and Learning has been dedicated to B.â•›F.
Skinner, and IÂ€can think of no better tribute to him than a book which not only details the basic
principles of the science he helped to establish, but also does so in the context of the selectionist
principles he championed, and which demonstrates how, to paraphrase Skinner, we may be able to
use those principles to act to save the world.
Henry D. Schlinger, Jr.

California State University, Los Angeles
16 SeptemberÂ€2016
Preface
Behavior Analysis and Learning has come a long way since 1995. The experimental analysis of
behavior has also come a long way. Many things have changed and some have not—behavior is
still a function of its consequences; reinforcement still works; resurgence still happens in extinction;
differential reinforcement of successive approximations still shapes new responses; and the Skinner
Box is still a major component for exploring environment–behavior interactions. As things change
they also remain the same. Students still have to be taught by skilled, attentive teachers; labeling
and inferences about behavior are still just that and the behavior of the organism itself remains an
important subject for scientific investigation; people still act as if non-physical, invented cognitive
constructs such as mental maps, mindlessness, or other explanatory fictions provide a scientific
account of human behavior.
In this sixth edition of our textbook, we have continued to expand the presentation of neuro-
physiological mechanisms as context for the experimental analysis of behavior, believing that the
contributions of neuroscience and neurobiology will substantially improve our ultimate explanation
of where behavior comes from and how it can be controlled. The “grand synthesis” is growing expo-
nentially. One might say that the scientific study of behavior is working its way back into biology
from whence it should never have left.
We maintain the world view or paradigm of selection by consequences at the biological, behav-
ioral, and cultural levels and are impressed by the growing number of evidenced-based studies that
support this position. We continue to promote the broad practice of applied behavior analysis and
the growing literature illustrating diverse applications of behavior science. Several professional
organizations have come into existence whose members express, either in research or application,
Skinner’s philosophy of radical behaviorism in the analysis of behavior. The discovery of the way
behavior works upon the world is illuminated by the experimental analysis of behavior in learning
and genetics laboratories, free-ranging animal environments, programmed instruction for class-
rooms, training centers for explosive sniffing dogs, care and treatment of zoo animals, early inten-
sive behavioral intervention for children with autism and developmental disabilities, computer labs
and human learning environments, applications to business and organizations, and university behav-
ior laboratories investigating control by contingencies of reinforcement with a variety of organisms.
To ensure we stay current with the scientific analysis of behavior–environment relationships,
we have added approximately 300 new references to the sixth edition, some from traditional sources
like the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior and other citations from generalist and
biological journals, including Science and Nature. Refinements of technology, research design, and
data treatment together with an increased number of active investigators has vastly expanded the
field of behavior analysis and therefore the topics and sources to present to students and readers. We
have been driven by the breadth of related and contributing findings that appear from a huge scien-
tific literature and media coverage to peruse and select only some of the relevant, emerging material.
We suggest teachers recommend their students access original sources to more fully appreciate the
new lines of research and evolution of specific topics.
Chapter titles and their order have remained virtually the same as the fifth edition. The addition
of more recent citations, however, has necessitated the removal of a substantial number of refer-
ences, in many cases older papers. However, we consider many early papers in the experimental
analysis of behavior to remain as relevant today as ever. It may be that we assume most readers or
xv
xviâ•‡â•‡Preface
instructors to be somewhat familiar with older terms and findings when they are not. In which case,
we recommend perusing the references of cited papers in the sixth edition to locate original sources.
The appropriate application of behavior principles in society at large is progressing. The basic
behavior principles such as reinforcement, discrimination, and generalization have always been in
operation, but many times these principles are used poorly, inaccurately, or under a different name.
Committed students of behavior science are growing in number and even President Obama ordered
agencies of the US government to be informed by the findings of behavior science. Nonetheless,
as epigenetic transmission of the knowledge of behavior science does not seem viable in the fore-
seeable future, more traditional forms of education appear necessary. Enter Edition 6 of Behavior
Analysis and Learning.
For this edition we began with the desire to include aspects of neuroscience as it contributes
to a more comprehensive understanding of the behavior of organisms. Epigenetic research, optical
excitement of neurons, computer/neural interfacing, and gut bacteria influences may seem a far cry
from schedules of reinforcement or errorless learning, but as a biological organism all such elements
contribute to the whole. We might recall that B.â•›F. Skinner did his major research work in the physio-
logical labs at Harvard. The point is, however, that BFS could see that behavior in and of itself was a
separate field of biology and it deserved a special level of analysis. So, no matter how thoroughly we
understand the neurobiological operations of the organism, principles of selection by consequences
remain at work at the level of behavior. We may become more sophisticated about the overlap of
frontal lobe circuitry and the nuanced action of synaptic neurotransmitters, but it will remain func-
tional to distinguish between behavior under the influence of fixed-ratio or variable-interval sched-
ules when accounting for specific instances of behavior on a given occasion. Recently, Skinner’s
functional approach for the analysis of language as verbal behavior has received empirical support
by the wider scientific community, findings at odds with Chomsky’s nativist, linguistic perspective.
A final issue that has not changed is our deep appreciation to the memory of W. Frank Epling,
PhD, an original author. Our friend and colleague was instrumental in generating what we con-
sider the best available source for behavior analysis and learning based on a consistent philosophy,
research program, principles and examples of application. It should also go without saying that we
acknowledge the origination of a science of behavior to B.â•›F. Skinner. He discovered and articulated
the basic principles of how the world works through selection by consequences as the operating
process.
W. David Pierce
Carl D. Cheney
A Science of
Behavior: Perspective,
History, and
1
Assumptions
1. Inquire about learning, a science of behavior and behavior analysis.
2. Discover how selection by consequences extends to evolution and behavior.
3. Explore new directions in behavior analysis and behavioral neuroscience.
4. See how early learning is retained by epigenetic mechanisms.
5. Investigate the early beginnings of behavior analysis and learning.
6. Analyze feeling and thinking as complex behavior.
Learning refers to the acquisition, maintenance, and change of an organism’s behavior as a result
of lifetime events. The behavior of an organism is everything it does, including private and covert
actions like thinking and feeling (see “Science and Behavior: Some Assumptions” section of this
chapter). Learning also involves neuroplasticity—alterations in the brain that accompany behavior
change and participate in the regulation of behavior. While our focus in this book is centered on
the study of behavior for its own sake, the links to the brain and neural processes are increasingly
important to the field of learning and behavior analysis as we discuss throughout the book.
An important aspect of human learning concerns the experiences arranged by other people.
From earliest history, people have acted to influence the behavior of other individuals. Rational
argument, rewards, bribes, threats, and force are used in attempts to promote learning or change the
behavior of people. In civilized societies, people are required to learn socially appropriate behaviors.
As long as a person conforms, no one pays much attention. As soon as conduct substantially departs
from cultural norms, people get upset and socially reject the non-conformist—ensuring that most of
us comply (WilliamsÂ€& Nida, 2011). All societies have codes of conduct and laws that their people
have to learn; people who break moral codes or civil laws face penalties ranging from minor fines
to capital punishment. Clearly, all cultures are concerned with human learning and the regulation
of human conduct. Without regulation, anarchy and confusion eventually destroy the civil order of
society.
Theories of learning and behavior have ranged from philosophy to natural science. When Soc-
rates was told that new discoveries in anatomy proved that bodily movement was caused by the
arrangement of muscles, bones, and joints, he replied, “That hardly explains why IÂ€am sitting here in
a curved position talking to you” (Millenson, 1967, p. 3). About 2300Â€years later, in 1934, the great
philosopher Alfred North Whitehead and the famous behaviorist B.â•›F. Skinner were seated together
at dinner involved in a discussion about the behaviorist approach to psychology. After listening
1
2â•‡â•‡ A Science of Behavior
to Skinner’s interpretations of human behavior based on principles discovered in the laboratory,

Whitehead challenged the behaviorist to account for the generative nature of human language. He
said, “Let me see you account for my behavior as IÂ€sit here saying, ‘No black scorpion is falling
upon this table’â•›” (Skinner, 1957, p. 457). Whitehead’s point was that no theoretical or empirical
system existed to account for the spontaneous and generative nature of human language. Although
there was no satisfactory behavioral account of complex human behavior and language in the 1930s,
the science of behavior is currently addressing such puzzling questions.
Human behavior has been attributed to a great variety of causes. The causes of behavior have
been located both within and outside of people. Internal causes have ranged from metaphysical
entities like the soul to hypothetical structures of the nervous system. Suggested external causes of
behavior have included the effect of the moon and tides, the arrangement of stars, and the whims of
gods. Unfortunately, some of these bizarre, prescientific attempts to explain human behavior remain
popular today. For example, the use of astrological forecasts is even found in modern corporations,
as demonstrated in the following passage taken from The Economist:
Is astrology the ultimate key to competitive advantage? That is what Divinitel, a French company
specializing in celestial consulting, claims. For FFr350 ($70) a session, the firm’s astrologers offer
advice on anything from the timing of takeovers to exorcisms.Â€.Â€.Â€. So who is daft enough to pay for
such mystical mumbo-jumbo? About 10% of French businesses are, according to a study by HEC, a
French business school.
(“Twinkle, Twinkle,” The Economist, 22 DecemberÂ€1990, p. 95)
In an interview with Ashley Lutz for Business Insider (2012), Susan Miller, a successful astrol-
oger with a business degree from NYU, said, “What IÂ€do is scientific. Astrology involves careful
methods learned over the years and years of training and experience.” Her website has six million
visitors every month and she has built an empire based on her “scarily accurate” predictions, said
the Insider. Miller states “one unlikely group of customersÂ€.Â€.Â€. are professional men from 25 to
45-years-old. In these uncertain economic times, astrology is more important than ever!” Many
people faced with the unpredictability of daily existence turn to the theory of celestial alignment
(astrology) to inform and guide their actions in business, life, and personal relationships.
The trouble with astrology and other primitive accounts of human behavior is that they are not
scientifically valid. These theories do not hold up to objective testing, replication, and close scruti-
nizing by researchers who follow the scientific method. Over the last century, a science-based model
of learning and behavior has developed. Behavior theory states that all behavior is due to a complex
interaction between genetic influence and environmental experience. The theory is based on obser-
vation and controlled experimentation, and it provides a natural-science account of the learning and
behavior of organisms, including humans. This book is concerned with such an account.
SCIENCE OF BEHAVIOR
The experimental analysis of behavior is a natural-science approach to understanding behavior
regulation. Experimental analysis is concerned with controlling and changing the factors that affect
the behavior of humans and other animals. For example, a behavioral researcher in a classroom
may use a computer to arrange corrective feedback for a student’s mathematical performance. The
relevant condition manipulated or changed by the experimenter may involve presenting corrective
feedback on some days and withholding it on others. In this case, the researcher would probably
A Science of Behaviorâ•‡â•‡ 3
observe more accurate mathematical performance on days with programmed feedback. This simple
experiment illustrates one of the most basic principles of behavior—the principle of reinforcement.
The principle of reinforcement (and other behavior principles) provides a scientific account of
how people and animals learn complex actions. When a researcher identifies a basic principle that
governs behavior, this is called an analysis of behavior. Thus, the experimental analysis of behav-
ior involves specifying the basic processes and principles that regulate the behavior of organisms.
Experiments are then used to test the adequacy of the analysis.
NOTE ON: Experimental Analysis of Behavior

Experimental analysis occurs when, for example, a researcher notices that more
seagulls fly and congregate along a shoreline when people are on the beach than
when the beach is deserted. After checking that changes in climate, temperature,
time of day, and other conditions do not affect the behavior of the seagulls, the
researcher offers the following analysis: People feed the birds and this reinforces
flocking to the beach. When the beach is abandoned, the seagulls are no longer
fed for congregating on the shoreline. This is a reasonable guess, but it can only be
tested by an experiment. Pretend that the behavior analyst owns the beach and has
complete control over it. The experiment involves changing the usual relationship
between the presence of people and food. Simply stated, people are not allowed to
feed the birds, and food is placed on the beach when people are not around. Over
time and repeated days of food with no people, and no food plus people days, the
behavior analyst notes that there are fewer and fewer seagulls on the beach when
people are present, and more and more gulls when the shoreline is deserted. The
behaviorist concludes that people regulated coming to the beach because the birds
were fed, or reinforced, for this behavior only when people were present. This is one
example of an experimental analysis of behavior.
Behavior Analysis: AÂ€Science of Behavior

Experimental analysis is the fundamental method used to establish the principles for a science of
behavior. Contemporary researchers no longer refer to their science as behavioral psychology, rec-
ognizing that psychology is focused on mental or cognitive events rather than on the behavior of
organisms. Today, a science of behavior informed by a philosophy of naturalism is called behavior
analysis. This term implies a more general scientific approach that includes assumptions about how
to study behavior, techniques for carrying out the analysis, a systematic body of knowledge, and
practical implications for society and culture.
Behavior analysis is a comprehensive, natural-science approach to the study of the behavior
of organisms. Primary objectives are the discovery of principles and laws that govern behavior,
the extension of these principles across species, and the development of an applied technology for
the management of behavior. One behavior principle is called discrimination. The principle of dis-
crimination states that an organism will respond differently to two situations (e.g., predator vs. no
predator) if its behavior has been reinforced in one setting but not in the other (differential reinforce-
ment). Two assumptions should be noted here. First, behavior is a product of the organism’s past and
current interactions with the environment, as well as its biological or evolutionary history (primarily
coded by the genes). Secondly, the principles (e.g., discrimination) discovered by an experimental
analysis have wide generality, applying to all animal life.
The principle of discrimination may be extended to human behavior and social reinforcement.
You may discuss dating with Carmen, but not Tracey, because Carmen has shown interest in such
conversation while Tracey has not (differential reinforcement). In a classroom, the principle of dis-
crimination can be used to improve teaching and learning. AÂ€child is given a series of multiplication
problems from the 2-times table such as 2 × 4 =_?_. Correct answers result in the next question,
while incorrect responses lead to corrective feedback from the teacher, and repetition of the question.
In this way, most children learn their 2-times table. The use of behavior principles to solve practical
problems is called applied behavior analysis and is discussed at some length in ChapterÂ€13.
As you can see, behavior analysis has a strong focus on behavior–environment relationships. The
focus is on how organisms alter their behavior to meet the ever-changing demands of the environment.
When an organism learns new ways of behaving in reaction to the changes in its environment, this is
called conditioning. The two basic kinds of conditioning are called respondent and operant.
Two Types of Conditioning

A reflex involves respondent behavior elicited by a biologically relevant stimulus. When a stimulus
(S) automatically elicits (→) a stereotypical response (R) or respondent, the S → R relationship
is called a reflex. The reflex is inherited in the sense that those animals that quickly and reliably
responded to particular stimuli were more likely than other organisms to survive and reproduce. For
instance, animals that startle and run in response to a sudden noise may escape a predator, hence the
startle reflex may have provided an adaptive advantage over organisms that did not run, or that ran
less quickly in response to the noise. Thus, reflexes are selected across the history of the species. Of
course, different species of organisms exhibit different sets of reflexes.
Respondent Conditioning
Respondent conditioning occurs when a feature (or event) of the environment without a known
effect on behavior is correlated with an unconditioned stimulus (US). The US is a stimulus that
elicits a response based on an organism’s biological history—thus, a puff of air (US) in the eyes
elicits blinking (UR or unconditioned response) as an inherited response without apparent learning
on the part of the organism. Presentation of a light does not elicit eye blinking, and has no stimulus
function with respect to the eye-blinking response before conditioning (a non-functional stimulus).
However, if the light comes to predict the air puff (US) and control the blink response, we say the
light has acquired a conditioned-stimulus (CS) function. One method to ensure that a feature of
the environment predicts the US is called pairing or temporal contiguity; the US closely follows the
feature in time. For example, respondent conditioning occurs when the buzz of bees is paired with
painful stings (US), but other insect sounds are not. After this conditioning, a buzzing bee (CS) usu-
ally causes people to behave so as to escape it; this is the conditioned response (CR) or respondent.
The Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov made explicit this form of conditioning at the turn
of the 20th century. He observed that dogs salivated when food was placed in their mouths. This
relation between the food stimulus and salivation is an unconditioned reflex, and it occurs because
of the animals’ biological history. However, when Pavlov rang a bell just before feeding the dogs
and not on other occasions (discrimination), the animals began to salivate at the sound of the bell.
In this way, a new feature (the sound of the bell) that predicted the presentation of food came to
control the respondent behavior of salivation. As shown in

FigureÂ€1.1, the respondent (CR) is now elicited by the new
conditioned stimulus (CS).
Respondent (classical or Pavlovian) conditioning is
one way in which organisms meet the challenge of change
in their environments. AÂ€grazing animal that conditions to
the sound of rustling grass before a predator’s attack, but FIG. 1.1â•‡ Simple respondent
not to grass blowing in the wind, gains a survival advan- conditioning: In a reflex for a dog, food
tage. The animal is able to efficiently consume food, run- in the mouth produces salivation as
respondent behavior. Next, a bell rings
ning away only when its life is threatened. All species that (new stimulus) just before feeding the
have been tested, including humans, show this kind of dog; after several pairings of bell and
conditioning. In terms of human behavior, many of what food the dog begins to salivate at the
we call our likes and dislikes are based on evaluative con- sound of the bell.
ditioning. Evaluative conditioning of humans replicates
many of the respondent-conditioning effects found in ani-
mals, although some differences have been noted (De Houwer, Thomas,Â€& Baeyens, 2001). Gener-
ally, when good or bad things happen to us we usually have an emotional reaction. These emo-
tional responses can be conditioned to other people who are present when the positive or negative
events occur. Thus, respondent conditioning plays an important role in our social relationships—Â�
determining, to a great extent, how we evaluate and come to “feel” about our friends as well as our
enemies. Respondent conditioning is covered in more detail in ChapterÂ€3.
Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning involves the regulation of behavior by its consequences. B.â•›F. Skinner called
this kind of behavior regulation operant conditioning because, in a given situation or setting (SD),
behavior (R) operates on the environment to produce effects or consequences (Sr). An operant
is any behavior that operates on the envi-
ronment to produce an effect. The effect
or consequence in turn changes the like-
lihood that the operant will occur again
in a similar situation. During operant
conditioning, an organism emits operant
behavior based upon its genetic endow-
ment; the operant produces an effect that
increases (or decreases) the frequency of
the response in a given situation (Skinner,
1938, p. 20). In the laboratory, a hungry rat
in a chamber may receive food if it presses
a lever when a light is on. If lever pressing
increases in the presence of the light, then
operant conditioning has occurred and FIG. 1.2â•‡ Simple operant conditioning: In an operant
food functions as reinforcement (Sr) for chamber, lever pressing produces food for a hungry rat.
this operant response (FigureÂ€1.2). The consequences of lever pressing (presentation of
In this example, the light (SD) even- food) increase its frequency in that setting. In another
example, a baby smiles to a human face and is picked
tually sets the occasion for lever pressing up. The consequence of smiling (social attention)
in the sense that the operant is likely to increases the frequency of this behavior in the presence
occur when the light is on and is unlikely of human faces.
to occur when it is off. Basically, the frequency of lever pressing increases in the presence of the
light (SD). Turning the light on, however, does not force or elicit lever pressing as with a respondent
conditioned stimulus; it simply increases the probability of the lever-pressing response when the
light is on. The control by the light stimulus is based on the past history of reinforcement for lever
pressing in the presence of the light and no reinforcement when it is off.
Most of what we commonly call voluntary, willful, or purposive action is analyzed as operant
behavior. Operant conditioning occurs, for example, when a baby smiles to a human face and is then
picked up. If smiling to faces increases in frequency because of such social attention, then smiling
is an operant and the effect is a result of conditioning. The presentation of a human face (SD) sets
the occasion for infant smiling only after a history of operant conditioning. When a face appears,
the frequency of smiling increases; also, smiling has a low frequency of occurrence when no one is
around. In a more complex example using video games, the presence of targets on the screen (SD)
sets the occasion for pressing a sequence of buttons (operant) that result in hitting a target (Sr) and
increasing the probability of the response sequence. Other examples of operant behavior include
driving a car to work to get paid, talking on the phone for fun, taking lecture notes to pass a test,
walking to the store to buy groceries, reading a book for pleasure, writing a term paper for grades,
or conducting an experiment to resolve a scientific question. In each case, we say the operant is
selected by its consequences.
Selection as a Causal Process

B.â•›F. Skinner (1938) viewed psychology as the study of the behavior of organisms. From this point
of view, psychology is a subfield of biology. The main organizing principle of contemporary biol-
ogy is evolution through natural selection. Skinner generalized this concept to a broader principle
of selection by consequences. Selection by consequences applies at three levels: (1) the selection
over generations for genes related to survival and reproduction (natural or Darwinian selection);
(2) the selection for behavior within the lifetime of an individual organism (selection by operant
conditioning); and (3) the selection for behavior patterns (practices, traditions, or rituals) of groups
of human beings that endure beyond the lifetime of a single individual (cultural selection). In all
three cases, it is the consequences arranged by the environment that select for (or against) the fre-
quency of genetic, behavioral, and cultural forms (see ChapterÂ€14).
Selection by consequences is a form of causal explanation. In science we talk about two kinds
of causation: immediate and remote. Immediate causation is the kind of mechanism studied by
physics and chemistry—the “billiard ball” type of process where we try to isolate a chain of events
that directly result in some effect. For example, chemical reactions are explained by describing
molecular interactions. In the study of behavior, an immediate causal explanation might refer to the
physiology, biochemistry, and genetics of the organism. For example, the bar pressing of a rat for
food or a gambler playing roulette could each involve the release of endogenous opiates and dopa-
mine in the hypothalamus (ShizgalÂ€& Arvanitogiannis, 2003).
In contrast, remote causation is typical of sciences like evolutionary biology, geology, and
astronomy. In this case, we explain some phenomenon by pointing to remote events that made it
likely. Thus, the causal explanation of a species characteristic (e.g., size, coloration, or exceptional
vision) involves the working of natural selection on the gene pool of the parent population. An evo-
lutionary account of species coloration, for example, would involve showing how this characteristic
improved the reproductive success of organisms in a given ecological environment. Thus, natural
selection for coloration explains the current frequency of the characteristic in the population.
On the behavioral level, the principle of selection by consequences is a form of explanation by
remote causation called functional analysis. When a rat learns to press a lever for food, we explain
the rat’s behavior by pointing to its past consequences (the function of behavior). Thus, the current
frequency of bar pressing is explained by the contingency between bar pressing and food in the past.
The rat’s behavior has been selected by its history of reinforcement. Thus, the history of reinforce-
ment is what explains why the rat presses the lever.
Both immediate and remote causal explanations are acceptable in science. Behavior analysts
have emphasized functional analysis and selection by consequences (remote causation), but are also
interested in direct analysis of physiological and neurochemical processes (immediate causation). Ulti-
mately, both types of causal explanation will provide a more complete account of learning and behavior.
FOCUS ON: Behavior Analysis

and Neuroscience
Behavior analysis is becoming more involved with the scientific analysis of the brain and
nervous system or neuroscience (Schlinger, 2015). Researchers who primarily study the be-
havior of organisms and learning are often interested in the brain processes that partic-
ipate in the regulation of behavior (Schaal, 2013; see also special issue on “Relation of
Behavior and Neuroscience” (2005) in Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
84, pp. 305–667). The word participate is used because the brain shows neuroplasticity,
or changes in the interconnections of neurons or nerve cells (Kandel, 2006) and glia or
non-neuronal cells (Fields, 2009) as an organism interacts with the world in which it lives—
altering gene transmission, gene expression, and neural pathways related to learning and
memory (McClungÂ€& Nestler, 2008; also see “New Directions: Epigenetics and Retention of
Early Learning” in this chapter). The brain is not a static structure that determines behav-
ior, but a malleable organ constantly adjusting to the behavioral requirements of everyday
life or the laboratory (Draganski et al., 2004; Schlinger, 2004). For example, brain mecha-
nisms (neurons or groups of neurons) obviously participate in the regulation of behavior
(bar pressing) by its consequences (food). Describing how neurons assemble, code for, and
respond to stimulation and reinforcement is an important and exciting addition to a be-
havior analysis (Fiorillo, Tobler,Â€& Schultz, 2003).
Currently, neuroscientists are mapping neurons to behavior in simple organisms like
the fruit fly, Drosophila (Vogelstein et al., 2014). Flies are genetically engineered to selec-
tively express a light-sensitive protein in defined sets of neurons (1054 neuron lines), which
researchers activate with the presentation of light (optogenetic stimulation). Larvae are
placed in plastic dishes and light stimulation is applied to the genetically engineered neu-
rons, allowing observation and control of defined behavioral sequences (e.g., “wiggle
escape” or “turn-turn-turn”). One finding is that the relation between a specific line of neu-
rons and evoked behavior is probabilistic—repeatedly activating the same neurons did not
always produce the identical behavioral sequence; thus, the topography of response varies
even though the identical brain pathway is activated. The researchers note that optogenetic
mapping of neurons to behavior would allow for an atlas of connectivity–activity maps to
further investigate how neurons participate in the regulation of complex behavior.
At the practical level, knowing the reinforcement contingencies for lever pressing is
sufficient by itself to allow us to predict and control the rat’s behavior. We can get the rat
to increase or decrease its lever pressing by providing or denying food reinforcement for
this behavior—there is no need to look at neural systems. However, we gain a more com-
plete account of how a rat’s behavior increases when the action of neurons (and neural
systems) is combined with the analysis of behavior. For example, in some cases it may be
possible to “sensitize” or “desensitize” a rat to the behavioral contingencies by drugs that
activate or block the action of specialized neurons (e.g., Bratcher, Farmer-Dougan, Dou-
gan, Heidenreich,Â€& Garris, 2005). Research at the neural level could, in this way, add to the
practical control or regulation of behavior by its consequences.
Neural processes also may participate as immediate consequences (local contingencies)
for behavior that had long-range benefits for organisms—remote contingencies, as in evo-
lution and natural selection (Tobler, Fiorillo,Â€& Schultz, 2005). The so-called neural basis of
reward involves the interrelationship of the endogenous opiate and dopamine systems (as
well as other neural processes) in the regulation of behavior and learning (Fiorillo, Tobler,Â€&
Schultz, 2003; Puig, Rose, Schmidt,Â€& Freund, 2014). For example, rats that are food restricted
and allowed to run in activity wheels increase running over days—up to 20,000 wheel turns.
Wheel running leads to the release of neural opiates that reinforce this behavior (Pierce,
2001; SmithÂ€& Rasmussen, 2010). If wheel running is viewed as food-related travel, one func-
tion of neural reinforcement is to promote locomotion under conditions of food scarcity.
The long-range or remote contingency (travel produces food: travel → food) is supported
proximally by the release of endogenous opiates (physical activity → release of endogenous
opiates) that “keep the rat going” under conditions of food scarcity (e.g., famine or drought).
The integration of the science of behavior with neuroscience (behavioral neurosci-
ence) is a growing field of inquiry. Areas of interest include the effects of drugs on behav-
ior (behavioral pharmacology), neural imaging and complex stimulus relations, choice and
neural activity, and the brain circuitry of learning and addiction. We shall examine some
of this research in subsequent chapters in sections that focus on behavior analysis and
neuroscience (“Focus On” sections) or in sections that emphasize applications (“On the
Applied Side” sections).
The Evolution of Learning

When organisms were faced with unpredictable and changing environments in their evolutionary past,
natural selection favored those individuals whose behavior could be conditioned. Organisms that condi-
tion are more flexible, in the sense that they can learn new requirements and relationships in the environ-
ment (see section on “Behavioral Flexibility” in ChapterÂ€14 for evidence by Mery and Kawecki (2002)
on the link between learning ability and improved fitness in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster).
Such behavioral flexibility must reflect underlying structural changes of the organism. During embry-
onic development, genes are sequenced to form the anatomical and physiological characteristics of the
individual, allowing for different degrees of functional flexibility (Mukherjee, 2016, pp. 185–199). Thus,
differences in the structure of organisms based on genetic control give rise to differences in the regulation
of behavior. Processes of learning, like operant and respondent conditioning, lead to greater (or lesser)
reproductive success. Presumably, those organisms that changed their behavior as a result of experiences
during their lifetimes survived and had offspring (passing on the genome), while those that were less
flexible did not. Simply stated, this means that the capacity for learning is inherited.
The evolution of learning processes had an important consequence. Behavior that was closely
tied to survival and reproduction could be influenced by experience. Specific physiological processes,
orchestrated by genes and proteins at the cellular level, typically regulate behavior related to sur-
vival and reproduction. However, for behaviorally flexible organisms, this control by physiology
may be modified by experiences during the lifetime of the individual. The extent of such modification
depends on the amount and scope of behavioral flexibility. For example, sexual behavior is closely
tied to reproductive success and is regulated by distinct physiological processes. For many species,
sexual behavior is rigidly controlled by genetically driven mechanisms. In humans, however, sexual
behavior is also influenced by socially mediated experiences. It is these experiences, not genes, which
come to dictate when sexual intercourse occurs, how it is performed, and who can be a sexual partner.
Powerful religious or social controls can make people abstain from sex. This example demonstrates
that even the biologically relevant behavior of humans is partly determined by life experience.
The Biological Context of Behavior

As we have emphasized, behavior analysts recognize and promote the importance of biology, genes,
and evolution, but focus more on the interplay of behavior and environment. To maintain this focus,
the evolutionary history and biological status of an organism are examined as part of the context of
behavior (see Morris, 1988). This contextualist view is seen in B.â•›F. Skinner’s analysis of imprinting
in a duckling:
Operant conditioning and natural selection are combined in the so-called imprinting of a newly hatched
duckling. In its natural environment the young duckling moves towards its mother and follows her
as she moves about. The behavior has obvious survival value. When no duck is present, the duckling
behaves in much the same way with respect to other objects. Recently it has been shown that a young
duckling will come to approach and follow any moving object, particularly if it is the same size as a
duck—for example, a shoebox. Evidently survival is sufficiently well served even if the behavior is not
under the control of the specific visual features of a duck. Merely approaching and following is enough.
Even so, that is not a correct statement of what happens. What the duckling inherits is the
capacity to be reinforced by maintaining or reducing the distance between itself and a moving object.
In the natural environment, and in the laboratory in which imprinting is studied, approaching and
following have these consequences, but the contingencies can be changed. AÂ€mechanical system can
be constructed in which movement toward an object causes the object to move rapidly away, while
movement away from the object causes it to come closer. Under these conditions, the duckling will
move away from the object rather than approach or follow it. AÂ€duckling will learn to peck a spot
on the wall if pecking brings the object closer. Only by knowing what and how the duckling learns
during its lifetime can we be sure of what it is equipped to do at birth.
(Skinner, 1974, pp. 40–41)
The duckling’s biological history, in terms of providing the capacity for reinforcement by prox-
imity to a duck-sized object, is the context for the regulation of its behavior. Of course, the anatomy
and neurophysiology of the duckling allow for this capacity. The way the environment is arranged
during its lifetime, however, determines the behavior of the individual organism on a specific occa-
sion. Laboratory experiments in behavior analysis identify the general principles that govern the
behavior of organisms, the specific events that regulate the behavior of different species, and the
arrangement of these events during the lifetime of an individual.
NEW DIRECTIONS: Epigenetics and

Retention of Early Learning
One discovery that has rocked the scientific world in recent years is that learning
experiences (and other environmental factors) can affect gene expression (transcrip-
tion and translation), resulting in structural and functional changes to the brain and
behavior, which may be long lasting (RothÂ€& Sweatt, 2011).
Epigenetics is a branch of biology concerned with heritable, functional changes

to the genome that do not involve alterations of the gene itself (sequence of deoxy-
ribonucleic acid, or DNA code). All cells in the body have a nucleus which includes
chromatin, a combination of DNA and histone protein in a spool-like structure (see
illustration at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics#/media/File:Epigenetic_Â�
mechanisms.jpg). Biochemical markings of the chromatin control accessibility to genes and
gene expression, allowing cells to adapt to an ever-changing environment, beginning
with cell differentiation and fetal development in utero and continuing through-
out the organism’s lifetime. The molecular biology of epigenetic (outside of genetic)
processes is beyond the scope of this textbook (see Tammen, Friso,Â€& Choi, 2013 for
overview), but the basics can be outlined briefly. There are two primary epigene-
tic mechanisms called DNA methylation (adding mythyl groups to DNA) and histone
modification (e.g., acetylation, adding acetyl groups to histone tails), both of which
determine whether “packaged” cellular DNA is available for gene transcription by
messenger RNA (mRNA) and subsequent translation by mRNA into proteins. DNA
methylation increases the affinity between DNA and histone (alkaline proteins of
eukaryotic cell nuclei) “spools,” limiting accessibility to the genetic code and silencing
the gene transcription machinery; therefore, DNA methylation provides an epigene-
tic mark (signal) for gene silencing. Histone acetylation, in contrast, usually decreases
the affinity between histone and DNA, allowing for mRNA transcription and subse-
quent translation into proteins; thus, histone acetylation is an epigenetic mark for
gene activation. Thus, an active chromatin structure (“packaged” genes available for
activation) allows mRNA access to the genetic material for transcription and subse-
quent translation into proteins, which in turn control the cell structure and function
of the organism—including the cells or neurons in its brain (DayÂ€& Sweatt, 2011).
Evidence in rats indicates that epigenetic changes underlie the effects of maternal
caretaking of pups on the adult behavior of these offspring (see Roth, 2012). Rodent
mothers (dames) differ in the amount of grooming and licking they provide to pups
within the first 10 days after birth. Compared to low nurturing mothers, dames that
provided high levels of grooming and licking produced adult offspring with lower
indicators of physiological stress and less fear responses to a novel environment.
Subsequent research showed that maternal care influenced DNA transcription of
the glucocorticoid receptor gene (GR) in the hippocampus (see Roth, 2012). Notably,
increased GR gene transcription helps to moderate the animal’s neural and behav-
ioral responses to stressful (aversive) situations with higher GR expression linked
to less severe stress responses. Thus, adult male rats from high-caregiving dames
were shown to have less DNA-methlylation markers (lower silencing of GR gene) and
greater histone-acetylation markers (higher transcription of GR gene) in the hippo-
campus than dames providing lower amounts of grooming and licking of pups after
birth. Further research subsequently established causal connections among postnatal
maternal caretaking, epigenetic alterations of gene expression, and differences in
adult offspring responses to stressful situations.
Non-genetic factors including learning experiences (e.g., conditioning) can result
in epigenetic changes by histone acetylation and DNA methylation, which in turn
affect brain and behavior via mRNA transcription and mRNA translation to proteins;
although still controversial (Francis, 2014), it appears that cell division passes on epi-
genetic markings over one’s lifetime and even from one generation to the next via
noncoding mRNAs of sex cells or gametes (DiasÂ€& Ressler, 2014; Gapp et al., 2014;
see JablonkaÂ€& Raz, 2009 for a complete discussion of transgenerational epigen-
etic inheritance). One implication is that learning sometimes can be transmitted
epigenetically from one generation to the next with no change in the genes them-
selves. Also, in the future, it may be possible to produce lasting reversal of epigenetic
changes by targeted early behavioral interventions (as in autism; see ChapterÂ€13) or
reverse epigenetic effects in later life by arranging new (re)programmed learning
experiences (Tammen et al., 2013). Generally, evolution has provided animals with
epigenetic mechanisms that allow for retention of learning experiences (changes
in behavior due to the prevailing environmental contingencies) over an organism’s
lifetime and perhaps beyond.
The Selection of Operant Behavior

Early behaviorists like John B. Watson (1903) used the terminology of stimulus–response (S–R)
psychology. From this perspective, stimuli force responses much like meat in a dog’s mouth elicits
(or forces) salivation. In fact, Watson based his stimulus–response theory of behavior on Pavlov’s
conditioning experiments. Stimulus–response theories are mechanistic in the sense that an organism
is compelled to respond when a stimulus is presented. This is similar to a physical account of the
motion of billiard balls. The impact of the cue ball (stimulus) determines the motion and trajec-
tory (response) of the target ball. Although stimulus–response conceptions are useful for analyzing
reflexive behavior and other rigid response patterns, the push–pull model is not as useful when
applied to voluntary actions or operants. To be fair, Watson talked about “habits” in a way that
sounds like operant behavior, but he lacked the experimental evidence and vocabulary to distinguish
between respondent and operant conditioning.
It was B.â•›F. Skinner (1935) who made the distinction between two types of conditioned reflex,
corresponding to the difference between operant and respondent behavior. In 1938, he introduced
the term “operant” in his classic book, The Behavior of Organisms. Eventually, Skinner rejected
the mechanistic (S–R) model of Watson and based operant conditioning on Darwin’s principle of
selection. The basic idea is that an individual emits behavior that produces effects or consequences.
Based on these consequences, those performances that are appropriate to the environmental require-
ments increase, becoming more frequent in the population or class of responses for the situation;
at the same time, less appropriate forms of response decline or become extinct. Julie Vargas is the
daughter of B.â•›F. Skinner and was a professor of behavior analysis at West Virginia University. She
has commented on her father’s model of causation:
Skinner’s paradigm is a selectionist paradigm not unlike Darwin’s selectionist theory of the evolution
of species. Where Darwin found an explanation for the evolution of species, Skinner looked for vari-
ables functionally related to changes in behavior over the lifetime of an individual. Both explanations
assumed variation; Darwin in inherited characteristics, Skinner in individual acts. Skinner, in other
words, does not concern himself with why behavior varies, only with how patterns of behavior are
drawn out from the variations that already exist. In looking at the functional relationships between
acts and their effects on the world, Skinner broke with the S–R, input–output transformation model.
(Vargas, 1990, p. 9)
Skinner recognized that operants are selected by their consequences (behavioral selection). He
also noted that operant behavior naturally varies in form and frequency. Even the simple movement
of opening the door to your house is not done exactly the same way each time, an observation con-
sistent with recent optogenetic studies of variation of neuron firing in fruit flies (Vogelstein et al.,
2014). Pressure on the doorknob, strength of pull, and the hand used change from one occasion to
the next. If the door sticks and becomes difficult to open, a more forceful response may eventually
occur. This energetic response may succeed in opening the door and become the most likely perfor-
mance for the situation. Other forms of response may occur at different frequencies depending on
how often they succeed in opening the door (reinforcement). Thus, operants are selected by their
consequences.
Similarly, it is well known that babies produce a variety of sounds called “babbling.” These
natural variations in sound production are important for language learning. When sounds occur,
parents usually react to them. If the infant produces a familiar sound, parents often repeat it more
precisely. Unfamiliar sounds are usually ignored. Eventually, the baby begins to produce sounds
(we say talk) like other people in their culture or verbal community. Selection of verbal behavior
by its social consequences is an important process underlying human communication and lan-
guage (Skinner, 1957).
Culture and Behavior Analysis

Although much of the basic research in the experimental analysis of behavior is based on labora-
tory animals, contemporary behavior analysts are increasingly concerned with human behavior.
The behavior of people occurs in a social environment. Society and culture refer to aspects of the
social environment, the social context, which regulates human conduct. One of the primary tasks of
behavior analysis is to show how individual behavior is acquired, maintained, and changed through
interaction with others. An additional task is to account for the practices of the group, community,
or society that affect an individual’s behavior (Lamal, 1997).
Culture is usually defined in terms of the ideas and values of a society. However, behavior ana-
lysts define culture as all the conditions, events, and stimuli arranged by other people that regulate
human action (Glenn, 2004; Skinner, 1953). The principles and laws of behavior analysis provide
an account of how culture regulates an individual’s behavior. AÂ€person in an English-speaking cul-
ture learns to speak in accord with the verbal practices of that community. People in the community
provide reinforcement for a certain way of speaking. In this manner, a person comes to talk like and
share the language of other members of the public and, in doing so, contributes to the perpetuation
of the culture. The customs or practices of a culture are therefore maintained through the social
conditioning of individual behavior.
Another objective is to account for the evolution of cultural practices. Behavior analysts sug-
gest that the principles of variation and selection by consequences occur at the biological, behavioral
and cultural levels (Wilson, Hayes, Biglan,Â€& Embry, 2014). Thus, cultural practices increase (or
decrease) based on consequences produced in the past. AÂ€ cultural practice of making containers
to hold water is an advantage to the group because it allows for the transportation and storage of
water. This practice may include using shells or hollow leaves, or making fired-clay containers. The
cultural form selected (e.g., clay jars) is the one that proves most efficient and least costly. In other
words, the community values and uses those containers that last the longest, hold the most, and
are easily stored. People manufacture and use clay pots, while production and use of less efficient
containers declines.
Behavior analysts are interested in cultural evolution because cultural changes alter the social
conditioning of individual behavior. Analysis of cultural evolution suggests how the social environ-
ment is arranged and rearranged to support specific forms of human behavior. On a more practical
level, behavior analysts suggest that the solution to many social problems requires a technology of
cultural design. B.â•›F. Skinner addressed this possibility in his utopian book, Walden Two (Skinner,
1948a). Although this idealistic novel was written more than six decades ago, contemporary behav-
ior analysts have conducted small-scale social experiments based on Skinner’s ideas (Komar, 1983).
Behavioral technology also has been used to manage environmental pollution, encourage energy
conservation, and regulate overpopulation (Bostow, 2011; LehmanÂ€& Geller, 2004; Wilson, Hayes,
Biglan,Â€& Embry, 2014).
FOCUS ON: Burrhus Frederic Skinner

B.â•›F. Skinner (1904–1990) was the intellectual force behind behavior analysis. He was born
and named Burrhus Frederic Skinner on 20 MarchÂ€1904 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania.
When he was a boy, Skinner spent much of his time exploring the countryside with his
younger brother. He had a passion for English literature and mechanical inventions. His
hobbies included writing stories and designing perpetual-motion machines. He wanted to
be a novelist, and went to Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, where he graduated
with a degree in English. After graduation in 1926, Skinner reported that he was not a
great writer because he had nothing to say. He began reading about behaviorism, a new
intellectual movement at that time, and as a result went to Harvard in 1928 to learn more
about a science of behavior. He earned his master’s degree in 1930 and his PhD the fol-
lowing year.
Skinner (FigureÂ€1.3) began writing about the behavior of organisms in the 1930s, when
the discipline was in its infancy, and he continued to publish papers until his death in 1990.
During his long career, he wrote about and researched topics ranging from utopian societ-
ies to the philosophy of science, teaching machines, pigeons that controlled the direction
of missiles, air cribs for infants, and techniques for improving education. Some people
considered him a genius, while others were critical of his theory of behavior.
Skinner was always a controversial figure. He proposed a natural-science approach
to human behavior. According to Skinner, the behavior of organisms, including humans,
was determined by observable and measurable processes. Although common sense sug-
gests that we do things because of our feelings, thoughts, and intentions, Skinner stated
that behavior resulted from genetic endowment and environment. This position both-
ered many people who believed that humans have some degree of self-determination
and free will. Even though he was constantly confronted
with arguments against his position, Skinner maintained
that the scientific facts required the rejection of feelings,
thoughts, and intentions as causes of behavior. He said
that these internal (private) events were not explana-
tions of behavior; rather these events were additional
activities of people that needed to be explained:
The practice of looking inside the organism for an explana-

tion of behavior has tended to obscure the variables which
are immediately available for a scientific analysis. These vari-
ables lie outside the organism in its immediate environment
and in its environmental history. They have a physical status FIG. 1.3â•‡ B. F. Skinner.
to which the usual techniques of science are adapted, and Source: Reprinted with permission
they make it possible to explain behavior as other subjects from the B.â•›F. Skinner Foundation.
are explained in science. These independent variables [causes] are of many sorts and their
relations to behavior are often subtle and complex, but we cannot hope to give an adequate
account of behavior without analyzing them.
(Skinner, 1953, p. 31)
One of Skinner’s most important achievements was his theory of operant behavior.
The implications of behavior theory were outlined in his book, Science and Human Behav-
ior (Skinner, 1953). In this book, Skinner discussed basic operant principles and their appli-
cation to human behavior. Topics include self-control, thinking, the self, social behavior,
government, religion, and culture. Skinner advocated the principle of positive reinforce-
ment and argued against the use of punishment. He noted how governments and other
social agencies often resort to punishment for behavior control. Although punishment
works in the short run, he noted that it has many negative side effects. Positive reinforce-
ment, Skinner believed, is a more effective means of behavior change—people act well
and are happy when behavior is maintained by positive reinforcement.
People have misunderstood many of the things that Skinner has said and done (Cata-
niaÂ€& Harnard, 1988). One popular misconception is that he raised his children in an exper-
imental chamber—the so-called “baby in a box.” Some critics claimed that Skinner used
his daughter as an experimental subject to test his theories. AÂ€popular myth was that this
experience drove his child crazy. His daughter, Julie, was confronted with this myth and
recalls the following:
I took a class called “Theories of Learning” taught by a nice elderly gentleman. He started
with Hull and Spence, and then reached Skinner. At that time IÂ€had read little of Skinner,
and IÂ€could not judge the accuracy of what was being said about Skinner’s theories. But
when a student asked whether Skinner had any children, the professor thought Skinner
had children. “Did he condition his children?” asked another student. “IÂ€heard that one
of the children was crazy.” “What happened to his children?” The questions came thick
and fast.
What was IÂ€to do? IÂ€had a friend in the class, and she looked over at me, clearly expect-
ing action. IÂ€did not want to demolish the professor’s confidence by telling who IÂ€was, but
IÂ€couldn’t just sit there. Finally, IÂ€raised my hand and stood up. “Dr. Skinner has two daugh-
ters and IÂ€believe they turned out relatively normal,” IÂ€said, and sat down.
(Vargas, 1990, pp. 8–9)
In truth, the “box” that Skinner designed for his children had nothing to do with an
experiment. The air crib is an enclosed bed that allows air temperature to be controlled.
Because of this feature no blankets are needed, so the baby is free to move and there is
no danger of suffocating. The air crib was designed to keep the child warm, dry, and safe.
Most importantly, the infant spent no more time in the air crib than other children do in
ordinary beds (Skinner, 1945).
Although Skinner did not experiment with his children, he was always interested in
the application of conditioning principles to human issues. His writings on applied behav-
ioral technology led to the field of applied behavior analysis, ABA (see Rutherford, 2009
who provides an historical account of the transition from Skinner’s work in the laboratory
to applications of behavior principles in everyday life). Applied behavior analysis is con-
cerned with the extension of behavior principles to socially important problems. In the
first issue of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968) out-
lined a program of research based on Skinner’s views:
The statement [of behavior principles] establishes the possibility of their application to problem
behavior. AÂ€society willing to consider a technology of its own behavior apparently is likely to
support that application when it deals with socially important behaviors, such as retardation,
crime, mental illness, or education. Better applications, it is hoped, will lead to a better state
of society, to whatever extent the behavior of its members can contribute to the goodness of a
society. The differences between applied and basic research are not differences between that
which “discovers” and that which merely “applies” what is already known. Both endeavors ask
what controls the behavior under study.Â€.Â€.Â€.Â€[Basic] research is likely to look at any behavior,
and at any variable which may conceivably relate to it. Applied research is constrained to look
at variables which can be effective in improving the behavior under study.
(Baer, Wolf,Â€& Risley, 1968, p. 91)
One area of application that Skinner wrote about extensively was teaching and learn-
ing. Although Skinner recognized the importance of behavior principles for teaching
people with learning disabilities, he claimed that the same technology could be used to
improve our general educational system. In his book The Technology of Teaching, Skinner
(1968) offered a personalized system of positive reinforcement for the academic perfor-
mance of students. In this system, teaching involves arranging materials, designing the
classroom, and programming lessons to shape and maintain the performance of students.
Learning is defined objectively in terms of answering questions, solving problems, using
grammatically correct forms of the language, and writing about the subject matter.
A less well-known aspect of Skinner’s history is his humor and rejection of formal titles.
He preferred to be called “Fred” rather than Burrhus, and the only person who called him
Burrhus was his close friend and colleague Fred Keller, who felt he had prior claims on the
name Fred from being a few years older than Skinner. One of Skinner’s earliest collabora-
tors, C.â•›B. Ferster, tells about a time early in his acquaintance when Skinner tried to get Fer-
ster to call him “Fred.” The story goes (Ferster, personal communication to Paul Brandon)
that one day Ferster walked into the living room of Skinner’s house to see Skinner seated
on the sofa with a large sign around his neck saying “FRED.”
In the later part of his life, Skinner worked with Margaret Vaughan (SkinnerÂ€& Vaughan,
1983) on positive approaches to the problems of old age. Their book Enjoy Old Age: AÂ€Pro-
gram of Self-Management is written for the elderly reader and provides practical advice
on how to deal with daily life. For example, the names of people are easy to forget, and
even more so in old age. Skinner and Vaughan suggest you can improve your chances of
recalling a name by reading a list of people you are likely to meet before going to an
important occasion. If all else fails “you can always appeal to your age. You can please the
friend whose name you have momentarily forgotten by saying that the names you forget
are always the names you most want to remember” (SkinnerÂ€& Vaughan, 1983, p. 52).
Skinner, who held the Edgar Pierce Chair in Psychology, officially retired from Harvard
University in 1974. Following his retirement, he continued an active program of research
and writing. Each day he walked two miles to William James Hall, where he lectured, su-
pervised graduate students, and conducted experiments. Eight days before his death on
AugustÂ€18, 1990, B.â•›F. Skinner received the first (and only) Citation for Outstanding Lifetime
Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association (Schlinger, 2011).
The citation for the award, published in the American Psychologist, read “Few individuals
have had such a dynamic and far-reaching impact on the discipline” (1990, p. 1205). In a
study of renowned psychologists by Haggbloom (2002), Skinner ranked as the most emi-
nent psychologist of the 20th century. Skinner’s contributions to psychology and a science
of behavior are documented in the film B.â•›F. Skinner: AÂ€Fresh Appraisal (1999). Murray
Sidman, a distinguished researcher in the experimental analysis of behavior, narrated the
film (available from the bookstore of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies, www.
behavior.org).
A BRIEF HISTORY OF BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

Contemporary behavior analysis is based on ideas and research that became prominent at the turn
of the 20th century. The Russian scientist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov discovered the conditional reflex
(aÂ€reflex that only occurs under a particular set of conditions, such as the pairing of stimuli), and
this was a significant step toward a scientific understanding of behavior.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849–1936)

Pavlov (FigureÂ€1.4) was born the son of a village priest in 1849. He attended seminary school to fol-
low his father into the priesthood. However, after studying physiology he decided on a career in the
biological sciences. Although his family protested, Pavlov entered the University of St. Petersburg
where he graduated in 1875 with a degree in physiology. After completing his studies in physiology,
Pavlov was accepted as an advanced student of medicine. He distinguished himself and obtained
a scholarship to continue his studies of physiology in Germany. In 1890, Pavlov was appointed to
two prominent research positions in Russia. He was Professor of Pharmacology at the St. Petersburg
Medical Academy and Director of the Physiology Department. For the next 20Â€years, Pavlov studied
the physiology of digestion, and in 1904 he won the Nobel
Prize for this work, the year that B.â•›F. Skinner was born.
Ivan Pavlov initially worked on the physiology of saliva-
tion and digestion; later he began investigations of “psychic
secretions” involving the salivary reflex and its role in diges-
tion. Pavlov had dogs surgically prepared to expose the sal-
ivary glands in the dogs’ mouths. The animals were brought
into the laboratory and put in restraining harnesses. As shown
in FigureÂ€1.5, food was then placed in the dogs’ mouths and
the action of the salivary glands was observed and measured.
The analysis of the salivary reflex was based on prevail-
ing notions of animal behavior. At this time, many people
thought that animals, with the exception of humans, were
complex biological machines. The idea was that a specific
stimulus elicited a particular response in much the same way
that turning a key starts an engine. In other words, animals
reacted to the environment in a simple cause–effect manner.
FIG. 1.4â•‡ Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. Humans, on the other hand, were seen as different from other
Source: Reprinted with permission animals in that their actions were purposive. Humans were
from the Archives of the History of said to anticipate future events. Pavlov noticed that his dogs
American Psychology, Center for the
History of Psychology, The University began to salivate at the sight of an experimenter’s lab coat
of Akron. before food was placed in the animal’s mouth. This suggested
that the dogs “anticipated” the delivery of

food. Pavlov recognized that such a result
challenged conventional wisdom.
Pavlov made an important observa-
tion in terms of the study of behavior. He
reasoned that anticipatory reflexes were
learned or conditioned. Further, Pavlov
concluded that these conditioned reflexes
were an essential part of the behavior of
organisms. Although some behaviors were
described as innate reflexes, other actions FIG. 1.5â•‡ AÂ€dog in the experimental apparatus used by
were based on conditioning that occurred Pavlov.
during the animal’s life. These conditioned
reflexes (termed conditional reflexes in Pavlov, 1960) were present to some degree in all animals, but
were most prominent in humans.
The question was how to study conditioned reflexes systematically. Pavlov’s answer to this ques-
tion represents a major advance in the experimental analysis of behavior. If dogs reliably salivate at
the sight of a lab coat, Pavlov reasoned, then any arbitrary stimulus that preceded food might also be
conditioned and evoke salivation. Pavlov replaced the experimenter’s lab coat with a stimulus that he
could systematically manipulate and reliably control. In some experiments, a metronome (a device
used to keep the beat while playing the piano) was presented to a dog just before it was fed. This pro-
cedure resulted in the dog eventually salivating to the sound of the metronome. If a particular beat pre-
ceded feeding while other rhythms did not, the dog salivated most to the sound associated with food.
Although Pavlov was a physiologist and believed in mental associations and subjective experi-
ence (Specter, 2014), his research was directed at observable responses and stimuli and he foreshad-
owed the modern study of behavioral neuroscience, the
objective and direct study of brain and behavior empha-
sized in this book. He discovered many principles of the
conditioned reflex including spontaneous recovery, dis-
crimination, generalization, and extinction. The later part
of his career involved an experimental analysis of neuro-
sis in animals. He continued these investigations until his
death in 1936.
John Broadus Watson (1878–1958)

Pavlov’s research became prominent in North America,
and the conditioned reflex was incorporated into a more
general theory of behavior by the famous behaviorist
John B. Watson (FigureÂ€ 1.6). Watson argued that there
was no need to invent unobservable mental associations
to account for human and animal behavior. He proposed
that psychology should be a science based on observ-
able behavior. Thoughts, feelings, and intentions had
no place in a scientific account, and researchers should FIG. 1.6â•‡ John Watson.
Source: Reprinted with permission from
direct their attention to muscle movements and neural the Archives of the History of American
activity. Although this was an extreme position, Watson Psychology, Center for the History of
succeeded in directing the attention of psychologists to Psychology, The University of Akron.
behavior–environment relationships, although his status as the originator or “founder” of behavior-

ism is doubtful (Malone, 2014).
Watson was a rebellious young man who failed his last year at Furman University because he
handed in a final-exam paper written “backwards.”1He graduated in 1899, when he was 21Â€years
old. After spending a year as a public-school teacher, Watson was admitted to graduate studies at
the University of Chicago. There he studied philosophy with John Dewey, the famous educator.
He never really appreciated Dewey’s ideas, and later in his life commented, “IÂ€never knew what he
was talking about then, and, unfortunately for me, IÂ€still don’t know” (Watson, 1936, p. 274). While
a graduate student at the University of Chicago, he also studied psychology with James Angell
and biology and physiology with Henry Donaldson and Jacques Loeb (Pauley, 1987). In 1903, he
obtained his doctorate for research with laboratory rats. The experiments concerned learning and
correlated changes in the brains of these animals.
Watson (1903) published Animal Education: An Experimental Study on the Psychical Devel-
opment of the White Rat, Correlated with the Growth of Its Nervous System, which was based on
his doctoral research. The book demonstrated that Watson was a capable scientist who could clearly
present his ideas. Ten years later, he published his most influential work in Psychological Review,
“Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It.” This paper outlined Watson’s views on behaviorism as
the only way to build a science of psychology, avoiding the philosophical speculation of mind–
body dualism and focusing research on objective behavior (Watson, 1913; also see MaloneÂ€ &
Â�Garcia-Penagos, 2014 for Watson’s contributions to behaviorism).
In his 1913 paper, Watson rejected as scientific data what people said about their thoughts and
feelings. Further, he pointed to the unreliability of psychological inferences about another person’s
mind. He also noted that the psychology of mind had little practical value for behavior control and
public affairs. Modern behavior analysts, informed by the writings of Watson and B.â•›F. Skinner,
study what people say as verbal behavior regulated by the social environment (behavior of other
people), not reports on the mind or mental states. Behavior analysts study thinking and remembering
as private behavior often related to challenges or problems faced by the person. AÂ€person may “think
about the house key” and check her coat pocket just before leaving for work, especially if she has
been locked out in the past. Notice that thinking about the key is not treated as a cause of behavior
(as in cognitive psychology), but as more behavior to be explained by its interaction with the envi-
ronment (history of being locked out of the house).
In addition to his influence on modern behaviorism, Watson is best known for his early studies of
conditioning. Perhaps Watson’s most famous experiment was the study of fear conditioning with Little
Albert (WatsonÂ€& Rayner, 1920). Little Albert was a normal, healthy 9-month-old child who attended
a day-care center. Watson and his assistant used classical-conditioning procedures to condition Little
Albert to fear a white rat. When first exposed to the animal, the child looked at the rat and tried to touch
it. The unconditioned stimulus was the sound of a hammer hitting an iron rail. This sound made Little
Albert jump, cry, and fall over. After only six presentations of the noise (US) and the rat (CS), the furry
animal alone also produced the fear responses. The next phase of the experiment involved a series of
tests to see if the child’s fear reaction transferred or generalized to similar stimuli. Albert was also
afraid (showed fear behaviors) when presented with a white rabbit, a dog, and a fur coat.
At this point, Watson and Rayner discussed a number of techniques that could be used to elim-
inate the child’s fear. (If fear behavior was learned, the opposite behavior could also be learned.)
Unfortunately, Little Albert was removed from the day-care center before counterconditioning could
be carried out. In his characteristic manner, Watson later used the disappearance of Little Albert to
poke fun at Freud’s method of psychoanalysis. He suggested that as Albert got older, he might go to
an analyst because of his strange fears. The analyst would probably convince Albert that his prob-
lem was the result of an unresolved Oedipal complex. But, Watson remarked, we would know that
Albert’s fears were actually caused by conditioning—so much for Freudian analysis.
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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI
Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)
The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.
NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA
I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.
MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]
MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY
With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
“We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
BRAZIER
Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT
SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB
CUTTING THE EDGE

FINISHING THE BOTTOM
LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING
FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE
TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL
NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK
DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG
REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

BEATING THE BARK
WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT
MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN

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Behavior analysis and learning : a

biobehavioral approach 6th Edition

Foreword by Henry D. Schlinger, Jr.xi

â•‡ 1 A Science of Behavior: Perspective, History, and Assumptions 1

â•‡ 2 The Experimental Analysis of Behavior 33

â•‡ 3 Reflexive Behavior and Respondent Conditioning 63

â•‡ 4 Reinforcement and Extinction of Operant Behavior 97

â•‡ 5 Schedules of Reinforcement 135

Behavior Analysis: AÂ€Progressive Science 137

â•‡ 6 Aversive Control of Behavior 175

â•‡ 7 Operant–Respondent Interrelationships: The Biological Context

â•‡ 8 Stimulus Control 255

â•‡ 9 Choice and Preference 291

Choice, Foraging, and Behavioral Economics 306

10 Conditioned Reinforcement 333

11 Correspondence Relations: Imitation and Rule-Governed Behavior 365

12 Verbal Behavior 397

13 Applied Behavior Analysis 435

14 Three Levels of Selection: Biology, Behavior, and Culture 471

a selectionist science, emphasizes Skinner’s concept of selection by consequences at three levels:

Henry D. Schlinger, Jr.

to Skinner’s interpretations of human behavior based on principles discovered in the laboratory,

NOTE ON: Experimental Analysis of Behavior

Behavior Analysis: AÂ€Science of Behavior

Two Types of Conditioning

control the respondent behavior of salivation. As shown in

Selection as a Causal Process

FOCUS ON: Behavior Analysis

The Evolution of Learning

The Biological Context of Behavior

NEW DIRECTIONS: Epigenetics and

Epigenetics is a branch of biology concerned with heritable, functional changes

The Selection of Operant Behavior

Culture and Behavior Analysis

FOCUS ON: Burrhus Frederic Skinner

The practice of looking inside the organism for an explana-

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849–1936)

that the dogs “anticipated” the delivery of

John Broadus Watson (1878–1958)

behavior–environment relationships, although his status as the originator or “founder” of behavior-

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

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Foreword by Henry D. Schlinger, Jr.xi

â•‡ 1 A Science of Behavior: Perspective, History, and Assumptions 1

â•‡ 2 The Experimental Analysis of Behavior 33

â•‡ 3 Reflexive Behavior and Respondent Conditioning 63

â•‡ 4 Reinforcement and Extinction of Operant Behavior 97

â•‡ 5 Schedules of Reinforcement 135

Behavior Analysis: AÂ€Progressive Science 137

â•‡ 6 Aversive Control of Behavior 175

â•‡ 7 Operant–Respondent Interrelationships: The Biological Context

â•‡ 8 Stimulus Control 255

â•‡ 9 Choice and Preference 291

Choice, Foraging, and Behavioral Economics 306

10 Conditioned Reinforcement 333

11 Correspondence Relations: Imitation and Rule-Governed Behavior 365

12 Verbal Behavior 397

13 Applied Behavior Analysis 435

14 Three Levels of Selection: Biology, Behavior, and Culture 471