Carsta Simon
Professor
in Behavior Analysis
- Office:
- C5028 ( Jon Lilletuns vei 9, Grimstad )
- Office hours:
- On agreement
Dr. Simon holds a Ph.D. degree in Behavior Analysis from Oslo Metropolitan University (Norway) and a master's degree with distinction in Psychology from studies at Stockholm's University (Sweden), University of California, Davis (USA), and TU Braunschweig (Germany). She is alumna av the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (studienstiftung.de/en/leitbild/) and speaks English, Norwegian, Swedish and German.
Dr. Simon's empirical research explores procedures for answering queries such as what environmental events (primarily a conversational partner’s verbal behavior) affect how long we speak, who we speak to, what we talk about, how often we change the topic and so on. In previous studies, she controlled for a conversational partner’s frequency of agreement utterances or utterances of “uhu” and “mhm”. Her concepual research is concerned with the relation between learning and Darwinian evolution.
Research interests
My research interest lies in the empirical examination of feedback relations between the behavior of organisms and their environment, as well as in the theoretical, philosophical and conceptual basis of the natural science of behavior.
Both my basic experimental and my conceptual studies center around the question what constitutes meaningful behavioral and environmental units of analysis. My empirical work explores the question how we ought to divide the continuous stream of verbal behavior into units of analysis. I develop research procedures aiming at an effective examination of adults’ interactions in conversations. I analyze verbal behavior at different degrees of complexity from a natural scientific perspective. My conceptual inquiries explore the relation of Darwinian selection and selection of behavior during ontogeny. My work is situated in a molar-multiscale framework treating behavioral events as natural events with differing temporal extensions. I am arguing for a choice of analytical units in line with ontological and epistemological reasoning.
Other research interest: Relationship between ontogenetic and phylogenetic selection, evolution of cooperation, the Nordic Model, other aspects of behavior analytic basic scientific research
Courses and teaching
Philosophy of Science and Behavior Analysis
Selected publications
General outreach
Publications, non-peer reviewed/ research dissemination (oral and written)
Simon, C., Mobekk, H. Wilson, D. S. (2020). Podcast This View of Life: Dugnad as part of Norway's Culture of Cooperation. https://podlink.to/thisviewoflife
Simon, Carsta (2019). Taking Darwinism seriously. Animal Sentience. ISSN: 2377-7478. 23 (47).
Simon, C. (2018). Podcast Atferdsvitenskap og hva «mmmm» gjør med samtalen vår. https://blogg.hioa.no/vitenogsnakkis/2018/02/23/atferdsvitenskap-mmmm-gjor-samtalen/
Simon, C. (2017). Snakker vi virkelig mest med dem som er enige med oss? Forskning.no: nettavis med nyheter fra norsk og internasjonal forskning. http://forskning.no/psykologi/2017 /07/snakker-vi-virkelig-mest-med-dem-som-er-enige-med-oss (popular scientific research magazine)
Simon, C. (2017). Atferdsevolusjon under livstiden vår. http://www.fgposlo.no/deltagere-2017-2/carsta-simon-hioa/ (web article)
Simon, C. (2017). UngForsk Workshop: Hva påvirker oss når vi snakker? https://ungforsk.com/arrangement/workshops/ (workshop on my research for high school students)
Simon, C. (2017). Stand på Forskningstorget 2017 - Samtaler. Forskningstorget på Karl Johan. http://www.forskningstorget.net/utstillere-2017/endrer-du-verdiene-dine-under-samtalens-gang. (Science fair stand)
Simon, C. (2017). Hvorfor sier vi det vi sier?. Aftenposten Viten. 2 http://www.aftenposten.no/viten/- Hvorfor-sier-vi-det-vi-sier-619060b.html (2-page popular scientific article in Norway’s largest newspaper)
Simon, C. (2017). Hva skjer når vi snakker sammen? viten + praksis.
https:www.hioa.no/vitenogpraksis/Helse/Hva-skjer-naar-vi-snakker-sammen (article in popular scientific research magazine)
Simon, C. (2017). Hvorfor gjør vi det vi gjør?. Forsker Grand Prix 2017 (participation in NRK TV- show similar to TED-talks)
Simon, C. (2016). Hva påvirker deg når du snakker? Stand på forskningstorget på Karl-Johan 2016. (Science fair stand)
Simon, C. (2013). Was ist ein Weltbürger? Deutscher Akademischer, Austauschdienst (DAAD) (Red.), go out! Studieren weltweit. Was ist ein Weltbürger? 92 (Short chapter discussing typical behavior of a “Weltbürger”)
Simon, C. (2013). “You can be a behaviorist and still talk about the mind - as long as you don’t put it in the head” An interview with Howard Rachlin. Norsk tidskrift for Atferdsanalyse (Interview with researcher for a scientific journal)
Scientific publications
- Simon, Carsta (2024). A Multiscale View of Verbal Behavior. The Psychological Record. ISSN: 0033-2933. doi:10.1007/s40732-023-00577-7.
- Borgstede, Matthias; Simon, Carsta (2024). Lernen und Evolution: Die Selektion von Verhalten auf Individual- und Populationsebene. Evolutionäre Sozialwissenschaften. ISBN: 978-3-658-43623-0. Springer. Kapitel. s 175 - 189.
- Simon, Carsta (2024). On the Units of Analysis in Verbal Behavior. Experimental Analysis of Human Behavior Bulletin. ISSN: 1938-7237. 35doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/N2YBA.
- de Haan, Jan; Simon, Carsta (2024). Reconceptualizing the Interaction of Behavior and Environment. Perspectives on Behavior Science. ISSN: 2520-8969. doi:10.1007/s40614-024-00417-1.
- Simon, Carsta (2024). Selection of Words in Ontogeny. The Psychological Record. ISSN: 0033-2933. doi:10.1007/s40732-024-00592-2.
- Wood, Aleksandra; Simon, Carsta (2023). Control of Transition Time by the Likely Future as Signalled from the Past in Children with ASD. The Psychological Record. ISSN: 0033-2933. doi:10.1007/s40732-023-00553-1.
- Simon, Carsta; Bernardy, João Lucas; Cowie, Sarah (2020). On the "strength" of behavior. Perspectives on Behavior Science. ISSN: 2520-8969. 43s 677 - 696. doi:10.1007/s40614-020-00269-5.
- Simon, Carsta (2020). The ontogenetic evolution of verbal behavior. European Journal of Behavior Analysis (EJOBA). ISSN: 1502-1149. 21 (2). s 364 - 381. doi:10.1080/15021149.2019.1710034.
- Simon, Carsta; Mobekk, Hilde (2019). Dugnad – A Fact and a Narrative of Norwegian Prosocial Behavior. Perspectives on Behavior Science. ISSN: 2520-8969. 42 (4). s 815 - 834. doi:10.1007/s40614-019-00227-w.
- Simon, Carsta; Hessen, Dag Olav (2017). Selection as a domain-general evolutionary process. Behavioural Processes. ISSN: 0376-6357. s 1 - 14. doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2017.12.020.
- Simon, Carsta; Tagliabue, Marco (2018). Feeding the behavioral revolution: Contributions of behavior analysis to nudging and vice versa. Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy (JBEP). ISSN: 2572-8997.
- Simon, Carsta (2018). The Functions of Active Listening Responses. Behavioural Processes. ISSN: 0376-6357. 157s 47 - 53. doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2018.08.013.
- Simon, Carsta; Baum, William M. (2017). Allocation of Time in Conversation. Journal of The Experimental Analysis of Behavior. ISSN: 0022-5002. 107 (2). s 258 - 278. doi:10.1002/jeab.249.
- Simon, Carsta (2017). Why Norwegians Don’t Have Their Pigs in the Forest: Illuminating Nordic ‘Co-operation’. Behavior and Social Issues (BSI). ISSN: 1064-9506. 26doi:10.5210/bsi.v26i0.7317.
- Simon, Carsta (2016). Towards a Fully Rounded Selectionist Approach. Norsk Tidsskrift for Atferdsanalyse (NTA). ISSN: 0809-781X. 43 (1). s 71 - 76.
- Simon, Carsta; Baum, William M. (2012). EXPELLING THE MEME-GHOST FROM THE MACHINE: AN EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATION FOR THE SPREAD OF CULTURAL PRACTICES. Behavior and Philosophy. ISSN: 1053-8348. s 127 - 144.
- Simon, Carsta (2024). An Evolutionary Approach to Verbal Behavior: Unraveling (Ontogenetic) Selection Processes in Conversational Dynamics.
- Simon, Carsta (2023). SQAB Panel: Billy Baum: Contributions to the Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of Behavior.
- Simon, Carsta (2022). Billy Baum: Contributions to the Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of Behavior.
- Simon, Carsta (2022). Wer holt mich ab?.
Last changed: 24.10.2020 09:10