The Science of Consequences: How They Affect Genes,Change the Brain, and Impact Our World

Stuart Vyse

# Association for Behavior Analysis International 2014

Scientists who venture into nonfiction bookwriting withthe hope of appealing to a general audience haveadopted a variety of strategies with varying degrees ofsuccess. Some authors’ research careers are long, suc-cessful, and entertaining enough that simply summariz-ing their scientific programs can produce a successfulbook. Kahneman (2011) wrote a bestselling general-audience account of his lengthy collaboration withAmos Tversky. Similarly, Daniel Ariely’s research pro-gram is so varied and interesting that he has managed toachieve great success simply by producing entertainingdescriptions of his laboratory work (Ariely 2009, 2010).Other researchers have focused on a particular phenom-enon, such as the experience of pleasure (Bloom 2010),implicit biases (Banaji and Greenwald 2013), or thecommission of evil acts (Zimbardo 2007).

Within behavior analysis, the most successful bookshave been about the applications of the science to spe-cific problems. The how-to book Toilet Training in LessThan A Day (Azrin and Foxx 1974) is arguably the mostsuccessful behavior analytic book ever written, andDon’t Shoot the Dog, first published by Pryor (1984),still sells briskly. Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family’sTriumph Over Autism (Maurice 1993) is a memoir writ-ten by a nonprofessional whose children benefited great-

ly from behavior analytic therapy. Skinner’s most suc-cessful forays into general-audience publishing rode tosuccess on waves of controversy. The utopian novelWalden Two (Skinner 1948) envisioned a highly uncon-ventional society and introduced readers to what manyfound to be a distasteful deterministic philosophy.Nonetheless, as interest in countercultural lifestylesgrew in the late 1960s and early 1970s, sales of theWalden Two soared (Altus and Morris 2009). Thebestselling Beyond Freedom and Dignity (Skinner1971) provided a more direct assault on conventionalviews of free will and responsibility, and by the time, hepublished About Behaviorism (Skinner 1974). Skinnerwas on the defensive, hoping to correct the misrepre-sentations with which his earlier introductions to thepublic sphere were met.

Against this backdrop, Susan M. Schneider takes ona rare and difficult task. Rather than focusing on anarrow topic or attempting to stir up a new firestorm,she strives to present the full depth and range of ascience that is now far moremature than the one Skinnerfirst described. In its scope, The Science of Conse-quences draws comparisons to Science and HumanBehavior (Skinner 1953), the book that introducedmany of us to a behavior analytic view of human socialinstitutions and behavior. But Skinner wrote Scienceand Human Behavior as a strange kind of textbook,making remarkably little effort to imbed his subject inpsychology, biology, or any other allied discipline.About Behaviorism (Skinner 1974) was similarly broadin scope, written in a very accessible manner, and quite

BEHAVANALYSTDOI 10.1007/s40614-013-0001-y

S. Vyse (*)Connecticut College,New London, CT, USAe-mail: stuart.vyse@conncoll.edu

successful, but it was a defensive effort born out of earlycontroversy.

In contrast, The Science of Consequences comes in atime of relative peace, and it is a work of optimism andinclusion. Schneider brings Science and Human Behav-ior into the present, drawing upon recent findings inbehavioral neuroscience, genetics, and biology.1 All thewhile, she maintains an unswervingly positive attitude,never stooping to bolster behavior analysis by tramplingon competing views. That she is largely successful inthis project is testament to the remarkable achievementof this book.

The core idea is simple enough. Give behavior anal-ysis a clearer, more transparent label, The Science ofConsequences, and follow it wherever it goes. Make thebook accessible to a general audience by breaking thestory up into short, digestible pieces, keeping the lan-guage nontechnical, and filling the book with as manyanecdotes and interesting science facts as possible. Daz-zle your readers with the wonders of nature and thepervasive influence of contingencies on the lives ofhumans and nonhumans alike. If successful, the effortwill have a number of positive effects. First and fore-most, it will introduce behavior analysis to a new audi-ence of general science readers and present it not as anold approach overshadowed by cognitive psychologyand neuroscience but as a vibrant up-to-date venture.Second, the book will invigorate the troops. As behavioranalysts—particularly in the experimental wing—havewatched other approaches and other researchers ascendto prominence, it is quite gratifying to be reminded thatthe behavioral principles we hold dear are still enor-mously influential in the world around us.

In the first section of the book, “Consequences andHow Nature-Nurture Really Works,” Schneider beginswith a wide lens, showing the effects of consequences inevolution, genetics, and neuroscience before honing inon more specific topics. She ably demonstrates thatconsequent effects can be seen in places far afield ofthe kinds of environmental effects typically studied bybehavior analysts, and she makes full use of her unifyingtheme, pointing to the influence of consequences inDNA methylation, the creation of new synapses, themyelination of axons, and the expansion of brain vol-ume. Schneider has clearly spent considerable effort

finding the effects of consequences in the literatures ofbiology and neuroscience, and, in the process, she hasexpanded our discipline beyond its conventionalboundaries.

The second large section, “There’s a Science of Con-sequences?,” is a refreshing approach to a wide range offamiliar behavioral processes, including schedules ofreinforcement, choice, aversive control, Pavlovian inter-actions, attention, and thinking and communicating.These chapters of the book are remarkable forSchneider’s ability to introduce technical topics (e.g.,schedules of reinforcement, the matching law) usingclear, nontechnical language. She will often describe astudy from the Journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior or some other scholarly source, but her sum-maries are succinct and transparent, providing just thekey bits of methodology needed to make her point. Inaddition, the book is filled with many other examplesdrawn from everyday life or from the application of thescience of consequences to various social problems.There are a number of topics that might naturally leadto a discussion of current or old theoretical controversies(e.g., language or intrinsic reinforcement), but Schneiderwisely avoids these academic conflicts and stays on thehigh road of science advocacy.

The third section of the book, “Shaping Destinies,”contains a series of chapters showing how the principlesSchneider has introduced in the previous sections can beapplied to marital therapy, problems of self-control,animal training, education, and the treatment of variouspsychological problems. Once again, the author man-ages to use a diverse array of lively examples thatdistinguish this book from a textbook introduction toapplied behavior analysis. In addition to her career as abehavior analyst, Schneider is a naturalist in the classicsense—a bird enthusiast, an insect expert, and a garden-er—and she frequently draws upon this background toprovide interesting and very effective illustrations of herpoints.

If there is a weakness in The Science of Conse-quences, it is a weakness in the science itself. As thebook heads into the final chapter, “Consequences on aGrand Scale: Society, the Long Term, and the Planet,” itbecomes evident that behavior analysts have added littleto these topics. Although an operant analysis is hugelyrelevant to all of the societal problems addressed at theend of the book, few behavior analysts have venturedinto these waters. As a result, most of Schneider’s treat-ment of prejudice, obedience to authority, and the other

1 Disclosure: The world of behavior analysis is small. I knowSusan M. Schneider and have had a number of conversations withher about this book, both before and since its publication.

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topics of this chapter is drawn from traditional socialpsychological sources. This transition may not be no-ticed by general readers, but behavior analysts who haveenjoyed the remarkable display of their science in theearlier chapters of the book may find these last fewpages anticlimactic. It is perfectly appropriate that thebook end with this broader view; it is unfortunate that bythe time she arrives at this point, behavior analysis hasrun out of steam.

The Science of Consequences succeeds on a numberof important levels. First, the sheer scope is dazzling.Schneider has taken the broadest possible view, and herindustriousness in finding sources is quite admirable.This larger vision has the great benefit of strengtheningthe science of consequences as a unifying principle. Inaddition—and most importantly—The Science of Con-sequences works as a science book for a general audi-ence. It reads easily, and because all the supportingdocumentation is tucked away in notes at the end ofthe book, the great majority of readers are free to ignorethe notes and stop when they reach the end of the mainbody of text. To further enliven the story Schneider hasfilled the book with illustrations drawn by René C.Reyes. Finally, for those who have a deeper interest,there are extensive notes at the end of the book—35pages of them—a glossary, a 50-page bibliography, andan excellent index. So, although its primary audience isthe educated general reader, The Science of Conse-quences is also constructed with sufficient scholarlyrigor to serve as a text in a college course.

This book is a multifaceted gift to behavior analysts,and a large portion of that gift is derived from the book’sextensive documentation and consistent focus on thewonder of discovery. Susan Schneider has provided us

with a very readable volume that can also serve as atextbook, and by finding the role of consequences in somany corners of the natural world, she has also expand-ed and enlivened our enterprise. For all of this, we oweher a debt of gratitude.

References

Altus, D., & Morris, E. (2009). B. F. Skinner’s utopian vision:behind and beyond Walden Two. The Behavior Analyst, 32,319–335.

Ariely, D. (2009). Predictably irrational: the hidden forces thatshape our decisions. New York: Harper.

Ariely, D. (2010). The upside of irrationality: the unexpectedbenefits of defying logic at work and at home. New York:Harper.

Azrin, N. H., & Foxx, R. M. (1974). Toilet training in less than aday. New York: Pocket Books.

Banaji, M. R., & Greenwald, A. G. (2013). Blindspot: hiddenbiases of good people. New York: Delacorte.

Bloom, P. (2010).How pleasure works: the new science of why welike what we like. New York: W. W. Norton.

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking fast and slow. New York: Farrar,Strauss & Giroux.

Maurice, C. (1993). Let me hear your voice: a family’s triumphover autism. New York: Knopf.

Pryor, K. (1984). Don’t shoot the dog: how to improve yourselfand others through behavioral training. New York: Simon &Schuster.

Skinner, B. F. (1948). Walden two. New York: Macmillan.Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York:

Macmillan.Skinner, B. F. (1971). Beyond freedom and dignity. New York:

Knopf.Skinner, B. F. (1974). About behaviorism. New York: Knopf.Zimbardo, P. (2007). The Lucifer effect: understanding how good

people turn evil. New York: Random House.

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