Reflections on historical and future aspects of behavior analysis

Abstract

The Norwegian Association of Behavior Analysis celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2013. At the annual meeting, we arranged a symposium on the historical and future trends in behavior analysis. Ten people agreed to be part of a panel in this symposium. The panel included national and international behavior analysts, both senior and younger behavior analysts and students within the field. The panel members were given 13 questions beforehand so they could prepare their answers. Two of the questions were mandatory, but they could choose three additional questions to answer. The panel members presented a variety of important areas to which behavior analysis has contributed and addressed some of the future impacts behavior analysis may have on society. The panelists’ presentations are written as arguments we found to be the most interesting and is not meant to be a direct reproduction of their statements. In the discussion section, we highlight two important areas based on the statements raised by the panelists. Hence, we argue that behavior analysis has great potential and that it is important to improve the interdisciplinary perspective. In conclusion, we suggest some further actions that can be done in time to come.