Behavior Analysis and Cultural Geography

Abstract

Cultural geography lacks a conceptually rigorous and empirically meaningful understanding of human behavior to facilitate analyses of human landscape creation. A possible solution is employment of the concepts and principles of behavior analysis, as developed in psychology, and as applied in sociology, anthropology, and economics. For cultural geographers, this suggestion is at variance with most other recent conceptual contributions that emphasize alternative social theorizations, such as those associated with Marxism, humanism, or critical science. Much of the behavior involved in the creation of human landscapes involves delayed outcomes, a situation that can be accommodated in the behavior-analytic concept of rule-governed behavior. A preliminary application of behavior analysis to the understanding of nineteenth century landscape change in southeastern Australia, using the concepts of operant conditioning, rule-governed behavior, and metacontingency, indicates the value of the approach.