Skinner on Measurement 2013 revision

Description

The long awaited, final manuscript of Ogden Lindsley’s “Skinner on Measurement.”

Full color. 100 pages, Hardcover.

From Andy Lattal, Centennial Professor of Psychology, West Virgina University:

From the earliest days of behavior analysis, Ogden Lindsley was at the forefront of instrumentation and measurement. During his long career he introduced what have become some of the standard tools of our trade: the “Lindsley operandum,” the wrist counter, the conjugate reinforcement schedule (along with a device for programming it), and several iterations of standard celeration charting, to name but a few. As the present work suggests, however, his contributions were far from merely technical. They not only reflected the essence of the burgeoning science of behavior, but they strongly contributed to the evolution of that science. Lindsley’s seminal work heavily influenced what was to become the experimental analysis of human behavior, applied behavior analysis, and, later, behavioral education. In this article, originally prepared in his inimitable style for a memorial issue of the American Psychologist following Skinner’s death, Lindsley repays at least some of his methodological debt to Skinner, and in so doing offers readers further insights into not only Skinner on measurement, but also Lindsley on measurement.

From H. S. Pennypacker, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of Florida:

As I read Skinner on Measurement, I was overcome by an image of the author gazing at a portrait of B.F. Skinner which slowly fades and becomes a mirror. Although its title suggests an ode to his mentor, B.F. Skinner, the book far exceeds that mission and instead gives us a unique glimpse of an important part of the history of our science as seen through the eyes of one of its most ingenious and productive contributors. In launching our science, Skinner was clearly aware of the importance of measurement., but it always remained implicit in his writing. In Skinner on Measurement , Ogden Lindsley makes it explicit. Those of us who are fortunate enough to have worked with Ogden knew him to be a meticulous scholar, a highly creative researcher, and a prolific inventor. Like Skinner, he devoted his life to realizing the promise for humanity inherent in a natural science of behavior. All of these qualities, together with Ogden’s infectious humor, are manifest in this work. This book is really an account of a portion of their time together and, as such, should be read and enjoyed by everyone who cares about our science, its history, and its future.

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