Kort om
Professor Per Holth received his license to practice psychology in 1983, and his Ph.D. in 2000, with a dissertation on the generality of stimulus equivalence. His clinical work has been in services for people with autism and developmental disabilities, in psychiatric units, and in the military services. His research activities span basic research, on stimulus equivalence and joint attention, as well as applied work and management of large research projects. Per Holth has taught classes in behavior analysis and learning principles at the University of Oslo and Oslo and at OsloMet—Oslo Metropolitan University since 1982 and joined the faculty of OsloMet and the Program for learning in complex systems, as an associate professor in 2004 and as full professor in 2006. He teaches classes in all behavior-analytic education programs at OsloMet. He has written for peer-reviewed publications on basic research, applied work, and philosophy of science, served on several editorial boards, and he was one of the founding Editors and a member of the editorial troika of the European Journal of Behavior Analysis for 15 years, and he was on the board of directors of the B.F. Skinner Foundation from 2012 to 2019. He has been a program co-coordinator of the TPC area and for the Development area of ABAI, and he has been the international representative at the ABAI Council from 2017 to 2020. His current research interests have drifted in the direction of basic experimental work with animals and humans, specifically concerning (1) sources of behavioral variability, (2) blocking and the establishment of conditioned reinforcers, (3) delay of reinforcement, (4) continuous repertoires, (5) the establishment of naming, and (6) variables affecting confirmation bias. However, he also maintains an interest in theoretical, conceptual, and philosophical issues, including verbal behavior, radical behaviorism, and different types of explanations.
Forskningsgrupper
Forskningsprosjekter
Aktive forskningsprosjekter
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Blokkering av stimuluskontroll og betinginga av nye forsterkarar
Korleis kan sosiale konsekvensar etablerast som betinga forsterkarar hos barn med autisme og kva hindringar kan me rekna med?
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Subjektiv devaluering av utsette påskjønningar
Prosjektet ønskjer å avdekkja underliggjande mekanismar som kontrollerer val av påskjønningar ein får med ein gong framfor framtidige, større påskjønningar.
Avsluttede forskningsprosjekter
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Effekten av forsterkning på åtferdsvariabilitet
Effekten forsterkning og ekstinksjon har på åtferdsvariabilitet og effekten forsterkning og straff har på regelstyrt åtferd.
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Pro-sosial åtferd hos rotter
Prosjektet studerte prososial og empatisk åtferd hos rotter ved å ha éi rotte fanga i eit plastrøyr og ei fri rotte som kunne frigjera den fanga rotta.
Publikasjoner og forskningsresultater
Vitenskapelige publikasjoner
Olaff, Heidi Skorge;
Holth, Per
(2025).
Acquisition of incidental bidirectional naming: Isolating the effects of probing and mixed-operant instruction.
The Analysis of Verbal Behavior.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-025-00221-1
Olaff, Heidi Skorge
;
Vandbakk, Monica
;
Holth, Per
(2021).
Blocking of Stimulus Control in Children with Autism.
The Psychological Record.
Vol. 72.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-020-00454-7
Holth, Per
(2021).
A retrospective 60-year review of Murray Sidman’s Tactics of Scientific Research and some of its influence on behavior analysis.
Journal of The Experimental Analysis of Behavior.
Vol. 115.
https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.645
Johnson, Cammarie; Iversen, Iver H.; Kenyon, Paula;
Holth, Per
; Souza, Deisy das Graças de
(2020).
Murray Sidman: A Life of Giving.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis.
https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.718
Olaff, Heidi Skorge
;
Holth, Per
(2020).
The Emergence of Bidirectional Naming Through Sequential Operant Instruction Following the Establishment of Conditioned Social Reinforcers.
The Analysis of Verbal Behavior.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-019-00122-0
Vandbakk, Monica
;
Olaff, Heidi Skorge
;
Holth, Per
(2020).
Blocking of Stimulus Control and Conditioned Reinforcement.
The Psychological Record.
Vol. 70.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-020-00393-3
Nergaard, Siv Kristin;
Holth, Per
(2020).
A Critical Review of the Support for Variability as an Operant Dimension.
Perspectives on Behavior Science.
Vol. 43.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-020-00262-y
Holth, Per (2020). Operational Definitions of Psychological Terms. Operants.
Furrebøe, Elise Frølich
;
Holth, Per
; Sandaker, Ingunn
(2019).
An exploratory study of a real-time choice procedure.
European Journal of Behavior Analysis (EJOBA).
Vol. 20.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15021149.2019.1575033
Vandbakk, Monica
;
Olaff, Heidi Skorge
;
Holth, Per
(2019).
Conditioned Reinforcement: the Effectiveness of Stimulus—Stimulus Pairing and Operant Discrimination Procedures.
The Psychological Record.
Vol. 69.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-018-0318-8
