behavioranalysishistory / Palmer, David
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Palmer, David

David C. Palmer

(Nov. 10, 1947 - death)

 

Primary Areas of Study

Extending Skinner's analyses of complex behavior

 

Links

Faculty Page

 

Selected Papers 

Palmer, D. C. (2014). Verbal behavior. In F. K. McSweeney and E. S. Murphy (Eds.) Handbook of operant and classical conditioning (369-391). Chichester, UK: Wiley.

Palmer, D. C. (1991). A behavioral interpretation of memory. In L. J. Hayes & P. N. Chase    (Eds.) Dialogues on verbal behavior, (pp. 261-279). Reno, NV: Context Press.

Palmer, D. C. (2006). On Chomsky’s appraisal of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior: A half-century of misrepresentation. The Behavior Analyst, 29, 253-267.

Palmer, D. C. (2007). Verbal behavior: What is the function of structure? European Journal of Behavior Analysis, 8, 161-175.

Palmer, D. C. (2009). The role of private events in the interpretation of complex behavior.  Behavior and Philosophy, 37, 3-19.

Palmer, D. C. (2009). Response strength and the concept of the repertoire. European Journal of Behavior Analysis, 10, 49-60.

Palmer, D. C. (2012).  The role of atomic repertoires in the interpretation of complex behavior. The Behavior Analyst, 35, 59-73.

 

 

Selected Books

Donahoe, J.W., and Palmer, D.C. (1994). Learning and Complex Behavior. Allyn & Bacon, Boston. - (associated website)

 

Media

An interview with David C. Palmer

 

Students

 

Intellectual Ancestry

Graduate advisor: John W. Donahoe, University of Massachusetts.

 

Additional Information

 

1) Palmer, D. C. (2003). Cognition.  In K. A. Lattal & P. N. Chase (Eds.), Behavior theory and philosophy. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
  This paper summarizes the conceptual foundations of the behaviorist’s approach to cognition. It is relatively easy to read.
2) Palmer D. C. & Donahoe, J. W. (1992). Selectionism and essentialism in cognitive science and behavior analysis. American Psychologist, 47, 1344-1358.
  In our attempts to understand complexity in nature, selectionism is good, essentialism bad.  Selection processes merely set the boundaries of natural categories; they do not provide blueprints. This paper argues that the practice of defining natural phenomena empirically rather than imposing definitions in advance is consistent with selectionism.  Implications for psychology are far-reaching.  A difficult paper, I’m told, but I think it is important.
3) Palmer, D. C. (1991). A behavioral interpretation of memory. In L. J. Hayes & P. N. Chase (Eds.), Dialogues on verbal behavior (pp. 261-279). Reno, NV: Context Press.
  Memory as the radical behaviorist views it.  Memory is not a unitary construct; rather, there are two entirely different sets of phenomena commonly lumped together.  A relatively easy paper.
4) Palmer, D. C. (1998). The speaker as listener: The interpretation of structural regularities in verbal behavior. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 15, 3-16.
  An attempt to extend Skinner’s interpretation of verbal behavior by emphasizing the role of some variables that I believe have been given insufficient emphasis in the behavioral literature.  Difficult and narrow.
5) Palmer, D. C. (2000). Chomsky’s nativism reconsidered. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 17,  39-56.
  Behaviorist bites back.  Chomsky’s nativism offers an illusion, not an explanation.  Polemical and narrow.
6) Palmer, D. C. (1997). Selectionist constraints on neural networks. In  J. W. Donahoe & V. Packard Dorsel (Eds.), Neural network models of cognition: Biobehavioral foundations, (pp. 263-292).  Netherlands: Elsevier Science Press.