Welcome to the Cambridge Center's section about Behavior Analysis!

Behavior Analysis is the scientific study of behavior. It emphasizes careful measurement of observed behavior, along with an appreciation of the role of environment just before and just after the response. Prediction and control of behavior are of vital interest to mankind, and behavior analysis offers the tools to accomplish this. We have learned through careful experimentation that behavior is governed by its consequences, and we have found that this seemingly simple principle is applicable in a variety of practical situations. This Cambridge Center web site is full of examples, as a journey through its sections will reveal. We sincerely hope you take that journey! But even this web site does not yet do justice to the wide range of research and applied settings in which behavior analysts are working. A partial list would include, but not be limited to:

• education
• clinical
• autism
• self-injurious behavior
• developmental disabilities
• infant assessment
• gerontology
• organizational performance management
• training and instructional design
• behavioral safety
• the experimental analysis of behavior (basic research)
• brain injuries
• human operant research
• animal and pet training
• verbal behavior
• behavior pharmacology, drug self-administration and drug discrimination
• behavior toxicology
• behavioral medicine
• computer modeling of behavior and artificially intelligent agents
• decision support systems
• human factors and user interface design

The list continues to expand as the basic science is applied to new challenges.

To find out more about Behavior Analysis:

What is Behavior Analysis? by Howard Sloane

Operant Conditioning and Behaviorism: An Historical Outline

Adaptive Behavior and Learning is an advanced textbook on learning and adaptive behavior, mostly in animals. The emphasis is on operant behavior and behavioral ecology. The original edition was published by Cambridge University Press in 1983. This is a new, Internet edition, published in 2003. Freely available on the Internet.

The Cambridge Center Science of Behavior Tutorial

Cambridge Center publications about Behavior Analysis

Cambridge Center publications about Behavior Therapy

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