ABSTRACT
The present volume has the word behaviour in its title, as had also the international scientific meeting at which the papers that make its content were originally delivered. As can be seen from the table of contents, the word is taken here in a very broad sense, that is intended to attract readers of genuine intellectual curiosity who are open to the ideas of those working in other domains or with other theoretical approaches. It is unusual, indeed, that topics as diversified as chronobiology and chronopsychology, language, rational thinking, and behavioural medicine are treated together, as in this volume. Such variety reflects deliberate choices: to maintain links between our knowledge of animal behaviour and of human behaviour; to give basic research and applications the place they deserve in a fruitful interaction; to appeal to various traditions that throw light on current issues; and to encourage contact between behavioural analysis and other fields of science, while addressing crucial debates in contemporary psychology concerning the subject matter of our science, the methods appropriate to its study, and the significance of the epistemological crisis it is often said to undergo.
