Controversies about Behavioral History: The Identification of History Effects and their Duration

Although behavior analysts agree that current behavior is affected by history, researches on behavior history have raised several controversial questions. The present article addresses two of these questions: (a) the classification of history effects as "latent", and (b) the possibility that history effects are permanent. It is argued that the product of history is a changed organism, not a stored history. It is suggested that history effects are transitory, short-lived or long-lasting, regarding the specific variables of the procedure. The present article also suggests implications of these analyses for future research on this area.