ABSTRACT: Applied behavior analysis is increasing in popularity within the culture at
large, the result of which has involved several socio-political developments in the field.
This paper provides an overview of J. R. Kantor’s description of applied subsystems, as
described in his text Interbehavioral Psychology (1958). In particular, the verification
and exploitation aspects of applied subsystems are highlighted. The implications of this
perspective for the discipline of behavior analysis are reviewed, and specifically, the
dangers associated with an over-emphasis on application within the discipline are
described. It is argued that adopting a systemic perspective highlights possible problems
that may emerge within applied subsystems, whereby the development of such problems
might be prevented or their impact made less sever