Kenneth Jacobs


Professional Details

Title Assistant Professor
Department Psychology
Office Meier Hall 224G
Email kenneth.jacobs@salemstate.edu

Recent and Upcoming Courses

PSY 210 Introduction to Learning
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. Dr. Jacobs was trained in the theory, philosophy, and 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 behavior-change in real time. 

Selected Publications

Barcelos Nomicos, L., Jacobs, K.W., Locey, M. (2020). The effects of obligatory and preferential frames on delay discounting. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 36, 74-86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-020-00127-0 

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  

Dowdy, A., & Jacobs, K. W. (2019). An empirical evaluation of the disequilibrium model to increase independent seatwork for an individual diagnosed with autism. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12(3), 617-621. http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40617-018-00307-4  

Jacobs, K. W., Morford, Z. H., King, J. E., & Hayes, L. J. (2017). Predicting the effects of interventions: A tutorial on the disequilibrium model. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 10(2), 195-208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-017-0176-x   

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

Killeen, P. R., & Jacobs, K. W. (2017). The modulated contingency. The Behavior Analyst, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-017-0101-1