Basic research on derived stimulus relations reveals many effects that may be useful in understanding and resolving significant and complex societal problems. Applied research on derived stimulus relations has done little to fulfill this promise, focusing instead mainly on simple demonstrations of well-known phenomena. We trace the research tradition of derived stimulus relations from laboratory to wide-scale implementation, and put forward several suggestions for how to progress effective and impactful research on derived relational responding to issues of immense social importance. To advance a science of behavior from relative social obscurity to the developing world-saving technologies, we must evaluate our own behavior as scientists in the grander social context. Keywords Stimulusrelations. Relational frame theory. Verbal behavior. Social behavior Skinner (e.g., 1953), among his many contributions to the field of behavior science, put forward the position that those who engage in a science of behavior have not only the potential to save the world, but also an obligation to do so. With the publication of Science and Human Behavior (1953), Skinner espoused a technology for predicting and
The 21st century has seen rapid enrollment in online courses and environmental and biological determinates, such as COVID-19, that challenge how universities respond to education. However, this “new way of doing things” has empirical support from the past. Skinner (
1968
) laid out a science of teaching derived from operant conditioning principles and provided methods for adopting programmed instruction into what he termed a “teaching machine.” This series of investigations evaluated the validity of programmed instruction in online courses, as measured by quiz performance, the frequency of discussion posts, instructor time commitment, generalization, and student perceptions of the online modalities used. Results are discussed for the synthesis of programmed instruction and group learning towards a modern teaching machine.
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