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Values and the scientific culture of behavior analysis

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Abstract

As scientists and practitioners, behavior analysts must make frequent decisions that affect many lives. Scientific principles have been our guide as we work to promote effective action across a broad spectrum of cultural practices. Yet scientific principles alone may not be sufficient to guide our decision making in cases with potentially conflicting outcomes. In such cases, values function as guides to work through ethical conflicts. We will examine two ethical systems, radical behaviorism and functional contextualism, from which to consider the role of values in behavior analysis, and discuss potential concerns. Finally, we propose philosophical pragmatism, focusing on John Dewey’s notions of community and dialogue, as a tradition that can help behavior analysts to integrate talk about values and scientific practices in ethical decision making.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Rollins College, 1000 Holt Ave., Winter Park, Florida, 32789, USA

    Maria R. Ruiz

  2. National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland

    Bryan Roche

Authors
  1. Maria R. Ruiz
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  2. Bryan Roche
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Additional information

This is an expanded version of a paper presented in a symposium entitledScience and Human Values (M. R. Ruiz, chair) at the annual meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis, in Boston, 2004. The first author thanks Margaret McLaren of the philosophy department at Rollins College for insights and engaging conversation on John Dewey.

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Ruiz, M.R., Roche, B. Values and the scientific culture of behavior analysis. BEHAV ANALYST 30, 1–16 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392139

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