Mace, F. C. (1996).
In pursuit of general behavioral relations.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
29, 557-563.
Efforts to develop behavioral technologies from advances in basic
research assume that results from studies with nonhuman subjects
can, in some instances, be applied to human behavior. The
behavioral principles likely to be most useful for application
are those that represent robust general behavioral relations.
Basic and applied research on behavioral momentum suggests that
there is a general behavioral relation between the persistence of
behavior and the rate of reinforcement obtained in a given
situation. Understanding the factors that affect behavioral
persistence may have important implications for applied behavior
analysts that justify studies aimed at establishing the
generality and limits of the functional relation between
reinforcement rate and behavioral persistence. Strategies for
establishing the generality of behavioral relations are reviewed,
followed by a brief summary of the evidence for the generality of
behavioral momentum.
DESCRIPTORS: behavioral momentum, high-probability treatment,
resistance to change, general behavioral relations