Here is a brief list of our accomplishments in 2024-2025:
PUBLICATIONS
In 2024, The B. F. Skinner Foundation prepared for publication two titles in the Skinner for the 21st Century Series. Reflections on Behaviorism and Society: Extended Edition was printed in July, and Science and Human Behavior: Extended Edition (hard cover) in November. In 2025, The Foundation’s publication committee is working to bring you a new title: B. F. Skinner’s Upon Further Reflection: Extended Edition.
Originally published in 1987, Upon Further Reflection contains articles and talks from the early 1980s, including such classics as Why We Are Not Acting to Save the World?, The Evolution of Behavior, The Shame of American Education,Intellectual Self-Management in Old Age, and Some Thoughts about the Future. The additional material for this edition includes a carefully selected collection of Skinner’s personal notes, as well as lesser-known but important articles from the same time period, and a selection of photographs, including the ones from the family archive. The foreword for the new edition is written by Dr. Hank Schlinger. The book was printed in December, 2025. Available in paperback and in PDF format.
Reflections was originally published in 1978 with a collection of articles and talks by Skinner in 1970s. It was a decade of social unrest, intergenerational conflict, political division, and worry about environmental degradation and nuclear war. These themes of human behavior and society remain with us today, perhaps in even more acute form, and Skinner’s analyses remain as fresh and cogent as when they were written. This edition is an extended version of the original and includes five additional articles, photographs, and some of Skinner’s autobiographical notes and comments. A foreword by David Roth describes the relevance of this book for the 21st century. Available in paperback and in PDF format.
Science and Human Behavior is a true classic. The Extended Edition features a foreword by Dr. Vincent J. Carbone, which is both a retrospective appreciation and a contemporary evaluation of the book. Also added is a never before published introduction by Skinner’s closest friend and colleague, Dr. Fred S. Keller. The students of behavior analysis will appreciate a functionally improved and expanded index created by Dr. David C. Palmer. Available in hard cover and in PDF format.
A complimentary Study Guide, written by W. Scott Wood, PhD and revised and prepared for publication in 2024 by Vincent J. Carbone, EdD, BCBA-D, is available with any purchase of Science and Human Behavior: Extended Edition.
OPERANTS
The readers’ base of Operants, our quarterly magazine, keeps growing, and the next issue will be delivered to 28,000 addresses! Operants is complementary to all subscribers and has no advertising. It is written in an informal way to be accessible and interesting to all readers. The newest issue of the Operants is sent electronically to all subscribers. Both new and previous issues of Operants can be found on the B. F. Skinner community website.
ARCHIVES
The work continues on our archival project. In 2024, we digitized thousands of pages of Skinner’s letters, notes, and drafts. Along with photographs and audio/video footage, these materials are now centralized on a cloud-based DAM (digital assets management) system. The next goal is to prepare archival materials to be available not just to researchers but to the general public as well.
SKINNER SESSIONS
The theme of the fifth Skinner Session (coming up on October 11, 2025) is Science in the Real World: From Theory to Application. The event will be hosted by Sidney Berkman and David Roth, and include appearances by Carl Binder, Charlie Catania, Francesca degli Espinosa, Tim Hackenburg, Emily Kerwin, Allen Neuringer, and Dave Palmer.
Skinner Session is designed for BCaBAs, BCBAs, and BCBA-Ds as well as students of, and all people interested in behavior analysis. This is a continued education event where behavior analysts can earn up to 4 BCBA CEUs. All proceeds benefit the B. F. Skinner Foundation and donations are welcome. “Early bird” registration is open now at behaviorlive.com.
With more than 1,100 registered participants, the fourth live online Skinner Session (October 25, 2024) shaped up to be the most attended conference produced by the B. F. Skinner Foundation. Sponsored by Association of Professional Behavior Analysts (APBA) and Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB), this Skinner Session celebrated the upcoming release of B. F. Skinner’s classic, Science and Human Behavior: Extended Edition. The event was chaired by Anika Costa (M.S.Ed, BCBA) and Paulie Gavoni (Ed.D., BCBA-D) and featured Dr. Susan Schneider, who spoke on human behavior and climate change, and Dr. Judah Axe, who spoke on the science of the design of cultures. The session ended with Q&A by Drs. Julie Vargas and John Keller, as they shared stories and answered questions about their fathers, B. F. Skinner and Fred Keller.
If you were unable to attend the live presentations, the recordings will be available on BehaviorLive as on-demand CEU courses for a $10 per session fee.
Our third Skinner Session (May 4, 2024) celebrated the release of B. F. Skinner’s Reflections on Behaviorism and Society: Extended Edition. The event featured Dr. T. V. Joe Layng, who spoke on reflections on teaching, and Dr. Thom Ratkos who spoke on reflections on government. A panel discussion was held immediately after the presentations. The speakers joined other panelists: David Palmer, David Roth, Carl Sundberg, and Julie Vargas.
Skinner Session is designed for BCaBAs, BCBAs, and BCBA-Ds as well as students of, and all people interested in behavior analysis. This is a continued education event where behavior analysts can earn up to 3 BCBA CEUs. The price for each session is $10 ($30 for all three sessions). All proceeds benefit the B. F. Skinner Foundation and donations are welcome. The recordings are available as on-demand CEU courses at behaviorlive.com.
MULTIMEDIA
In 2024, we continued to branch out into various multimedia projects. In addition to constantly growing collection of videos available on the community website, the Foundation launched a podcast, Dialogues on Verbal Behavior, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Dr. David C. Palmer and David Roth provide and in-depth chapter-by-chapter analysis of Skinner’s masterpiece, Verbal Behavior. As one listener commented, “This is wonderful!!! Learning about Verbal Behavior from Dr. Dave Palmer was an all-time academic highlight. Now everyone can experience the same magic!” The first season is now available in its entirety, and second season is coming in 2025!
AWARDS
Erna Dögg Pálsdóttir is the recipient of the European Association for Behaviour Analysis (EABA) 2024 B. F. Skinner Foundation Research Award. Erna is an ICE-ABA Certified Clinical Behavioral Analyst with a Master’s degree in Applied Behavior Analysis and is currently pursuing a PhD in the field. Erna graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Reykjavík University in 2018, a Master’s degree in Applied Behavior Analysis in 2021, and became an ICE-ABA Certified Clinical Behavior Analyst in 2024. Erna is currently working as a Behavior Analyst at a special education school for children with high support needs. She received the B. F. Skinner Foundation Research Award for Analyzing Variables Affecting Response to Name in Children Within Special Education Setting: Training, Generalization, and Maintenance. Abstract: Response to name (RTN) is an important developmental milestone in early childhood which usually emerges around the first year of life. Children with high support needs often require individually tailored training to establish the response. This study evaluated an assessment and treatment model for RTN from Conine et al. (2020), for three children with high support needs. By analyzing variables affecting response to name with each participant we were able to establish stable responses, generalize across trainers and settings, and maintain over time. All participants went through a series of training conditions in phase I. Adjustments were made depending on what variables were affecting the establishment of response to name in Phase II, and at last, a generalization and maintenance was established in Phase III.
In 2024, The B. F. Skinner Foundation sponsored Division 25 of the American Psychological Association Awards Young Research Awards for innovative and important research in behavior analysis conducted within the first five years of receiving a doctorate:
2024 Basic Researcher: Dr. Forrest Toegel is an Assistant Professor of Psychological Science and the Director of the Northern Center for Learning and Health at Northern Michigan University. He completed his undergraduate training at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and graduate training at West Virginia University. After earning his Ph.D., he completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Human Behavioral Pharmacology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Although still early in his career, Dr. Toegel has established a record of scientific contributions, service, and extramural funding. He has authored 4 book chapters and published 28 scientific articles in 18 peer-reviewed journals focused on behavior analysis, psychology, medicine, and public health. He is on the board of editors for the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior and has served as a guest associate editor and reviewer for several other behavior-analytic journals. Dr. Toegel is currently a PI or Co-I on projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and the National Science Foundation that total over $7 million in funding. His research aims to understand basic principles involved in establishing and maintaining behavior that is commonly labeled as “problematic” or “maladaptive” and to combat substance abuse, promote employment and medication adherence, and reduce poverty among adults in populations at a high risk of harm.
2024 Applied Researcher: Dr. Falligant is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Auburn University. His clinical work focuses on the functional assessment and treatment of challenging behavior among children, adolescents, and young adults with neurodevelopmental disorders. His research emphasizes concepts and methods grounded in translational behavior science, aiming to bridge the gap between basic behavioral research and applied practice. This involves the fine-grained analysis of behavioral events, including the microstructure of behavior and its dynamics, and coalesces around neurobehavioral variables underlying dysfunction, persistence, and change. Dr. Falligant’s research is supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.