Kenneth Jacobs


Professional Details

Title Assistant Professor
Department Psychology
Office Meier Hall 224G
Phone 978.542.4725
Email kenneth.jacobs@salemstate.edu
Photo of Kenneth Jacobs

Recent and Upcoming Courses

PSY 210 Introduction to Learning
PSY 299 Internship Preparation
PSY 519 Internship Preparation
PSY 540 Seminar: Topics in Psychology
PSY 545 Seminar in Learning Theory
PSY 715 Behavioral Principles of Learning
PSY 830 Small N Research Design & Analysis
PSY 875 Directed Study
PSY 899 Psychology Masters Thesis I
PSY 997 Special Topics in Behavior Analysis
PSY 999 Psychology Masters Thesis II

Professional Biography

Kenneth W. Jacobs, Ph.D., BCBA-D earned his doctorate in psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno. He was trained in behavioral theory, philosophy, and the experimental analysis of human behavior.

Professional Interests

Behaviorism as a philosophy of science, pragmatism as a way of life, and single-case experimental design as a way of understanding socially significant behavior-change in real time. 

Selected Publications

Jacobs, K. W., Klapak, B., Morford, Z. H., & Snyder, R. (2024). The effects of response disequilibrium on social media use: A laboratory analogue. Behavioural Processes. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.BEPROC.2024.104995 

Jacobs, K. W., King, J. E., & Dowdy, A. (2023). Disequilibrium as determinant of reinforcement and punishment effects: A replication. Psychological Record, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-023-00576-8

Jacobs, K. W. (2020). A pragmatic sign theory of truth for the behavioral sciences. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 16, 172-177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2020.04.010  

Jacobs, K.W., Morford, Z. H., & King, J. E. (2019). Disequilibrium in behavior analysis: A disequilibrium theory redux. Behavioural Processes, 162, 197-204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2019.02.006  

Jacobs, K.W. (2019). Replicability and randomization test logic in behavior analysis. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 111(2), 329-341. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.501  

Killeen, P. R., & Jacobs, K. W. (2017). Coal is not black, snow is not white, food is not a reinforcer: the roles of affordances and dispositions in the analysis of behavior. The Behavior Analyst, 40(1) 17-38. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-016-0080-7