Misplaced Pages

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Allen Neuringer" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article is an autobiography or has been extensively edited by the subject or by someone connected to the subject. It may need editing to conform to Misplaced Pages's neutral point of view policy. There may be relevant discussion on the talk page. (April 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Allen Neuringer is an American psychologist. He is a highly published and well regarded scientist in the field of the experimental analysis of behavior, as pioneered by B.F. Skinner. His areas of research include human volition studies, the generation of randomness in organisms, self-experimentation, and many other areas. He received his B.A. at Columbia College in 1962, and his PhD from Harvard University in 1967. He served on National Institute of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) committees, received numerous awards and grants for his research, and has published widely. As of June 2008, Neuringer retired as a professor of psychology at Reed College.

Early life and education

Neuringer was born ca. 1940. He received his B.A. at Columbia College. He did his PhD at Harvard University.

Career

This section needs expansion with: sourced statements giving his list of postdoctoral/fellowship through university, and other employers, and any other major career related appointment of note (including the timeline of his advancement at Reed, his visiting faculty positions, sabbatical appointments etc.). You can help by adding to it. (April 2016)

As of June 2008, Neuringer retired as a professor of psychology at Reed College.

He has also been an editor or assistant editor on four journals, and currently is an editor for the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB). He has been a reviewer on 23 journals, including Science and the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis.

He served on National Institute of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) committees.

Research interests

Neuringer is a social scientist in the field of the experimental analysis of behavior, as pioneered by B.F. Skinner. His areas of research include human volition studies, the generation of randomness in organisms, self-experimentation, and many other areas.

Randomness and behavior

Neuringer's work focused on the production of "pure randomness" in human and other organismic behavior, something that was widely considered impossible. Matching and reinforcing human and animal responses to a random number generator he was able to have humans and other organisms behave "randomly".

Melioration and self-experimentation

Neuringer has suggested that behavior analysis as a field might benefit from using experimental designs that explicitly and directly attempted to meliorate the condition of an experimental subject. He envisaged placing practical everyday goals as the objective of experiments and, especially, self-experiments.

Awards and recognition

This section needs expansion with: sourced statements giving standard elements of faculty recognition (special fellowships, teaching and research awards, society recognitions, article recognitions, etc.), and further information on the grant statement, including independent sourcing. You can help by adding to it. (April 2016)

Neuringer's work has received numerous NSF/NIMH grants.

Personal life

Neuringer, with his wife, live in a house they built in a forested area in the State of Oregon.

This section needs expansion with: sourced statements on the usual elements of personal life and interests. You can help by adding to it. (April 2016)

Representative publications

• Neuringer A (December 2004). "Reinforced variability in animals and people: implications for adaptive action". Am Psychol. 59 (9): 891–906. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.334.1772. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.59.9.891. PMID 15584823.
• Neuringer A (December 2002). "Operant variability: evidence, functions, and theory". Psychon Bull Rev. 9 (4): 672–705. doi:10.3758/bf03196324. PMID 12613672.
• Grunow A, Neuringer A (June 2002). "Learning to vary and varying to learn". Psychon Bull Rev. 9 (2): 250–8. doi:10.3758/bf03196279. PMID 12120786.
• Vickrey C, Neuringer A (June 2000). "Pigeon reaction time, Hick's law, and intelligence". Psychon Bull Rev. 7 (2): 284–91. doi:10.3758/bf03212983. PMID 10909135.
• Neuringer A (November 1984). "Melioration and self-experimentation". J Exp Anal Behav. 42 (3): 397–406. doi:10.1901/jeab.1984.42-397. PMC 1348111. PMID 16812398.

References

1. CV
2. CV
3. CV
4. CV
5. "Reed College | Dean of the Faculty | Faculty Profiles | Allen Neuringer". Archived from the original on 2018-01-12. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
6. Behavior Analysis History. "Interview with Dr. Neuringer". Youtube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.

Further reading

Articles from published sources that may be of interest, in the expansion of this article, or for further exploration by readers, include the following.

Research related to behavioural response structures

• Reid, Alliston K.; Dixon, Rebecca & Gray, Stephen (2008). "Variarion and Selection in Response Structures [Ch. 3]". In Innis, Nancy K. (ed.). Reflections on Adaptive Behavior: Essays in Honor of J.E.R. Staddon. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. pp. 51–86. ISBN 978-0262590266. Retrieved 17 April 2016.

Research related to musical recognition

Scholarly accounts

The following secondary source accounts appear about his animal research related to musical recognition, in 1984:

• Watanabe, Shigeru (2012). "Animal Aesthetics form the Perspective of Comparative Cognition". In Watanabe, Shigeru; Kuczaj, Stan A. (eds.). Emotions of Animals and Humans: Comparative Perspectives. The Science of the Mind. Tokyo, JPN: Springer Science & Business. pp. 129–164, esp. 139. ISBN 978-4431541233. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
• Snowdon, Charles T.; Zimmerman, Elke & Altenmüller, Eckart (2015). "Music evolution and neuroscience [Ch. 2]". In Altenmüller, Eckart; Finger, Stanley & Boller, Francois (eds.). Music, Neurology, and Neuroscience: Evolution, the Musical Brain, Medical Conditions, and Therapies. Progress in Brain Research, Volume 217. Amsterdam, NLD: Elsevier. pp. 17–36, esp. 22. ISBN 978-0444635525. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
• North, Adrian C. & Hargreaves, David J. (2008). "Music preference and taste [Ch. 3]". The Social and Applied Psychology of Music. Oxford, ENG: Oxford University Press. pp. 75–142, esp. 121. ISBN 978-0191005008. Retrieved 17 April 2016.

Popular accounts

The following popular accounts appear about this same 1984 work:

• Brody, Jane E. (1991-04-09). "Not Just Music, Bird Song Is a Means of Courtship and Defense". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
• New Scientist Staff (1984-05-31). "Musical pigeons". New Scientist. 102 (1412): 20. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
• Yanes, Javier (2015-04-24). "¿Llevamos la música en los genes?". El Huffington Post (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 April 2016.

Other matters

• Manning, Rob (2009-12-07). "Federal Officials Listen To Landowners' Pipeline Concerns". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Retrieved 17 April 2016.

External links

• Neuringer's faculty web page at Reed College
• Neuringer's CV

• 21st-century American psychologists
• Living people
• 1940s births
• Columbia College (New York) alumni
• Harvard University alumni
• Reed College faculty
• 20th-century American psychologists