New Approaches Toward Aging: A Case for the Operant Model

On the basis of research findings, both of the operant and nonoperant kind, an argument is made for the operant model yielding a most useful and adequate framework for theory, research, and intervention in aging. It is outlined that the basic operant principles, behavioral plasticity and functional interdependence of behavioral and environmental events, best describe the increasing body of data on reversibility of decline and optimizability of functioning in old age. Operant research with the elderly as target population on diverse target behaviors such as intellectual, motor, and social performances are summarized. The issue is raised that more programmatic operant research of both an observational and an experimental nature is needed to deduct taxonomies of environmental conditions either conducive or destructive to the optimal functioning of the elderly. Only then can large‐scale educational endeavors be designed and implemented.