ybattles byencouraging anopenness tocriticism anddiversity ofapproach. Mostimportantly, asnoted byNeuringer, humility should increase theeffectiveness ofbehaviorists asscientists byemphasizing thatall knowledge isprovisional, andourfundamental assumptions should atleast occasionally bereconsidered. Itmaybeimportant toaddthat the encouragement ofhumility couldpay dividends forscience ingeneral. Inrecent history, bothCongress andspecial interestgroups havereacted strongly towhat they perceive asthearrogance ofscience. Greater appreciation oftheir concerns might goalongwaytoward improving someofthenegative attitudes toward science. Where LessHumility MightHelpSomeAdvantages toArrogance There are, though, obvious drawbacks tohumility andadvantages toarrogance (in thesense ofconfidence, assertiveness, anddetermination). First, totheextent thatNeuringer's encouragement ofhumility occasionally shades into anethical Preparation ofthis manuscript wassupported in part byNIMH grant 37892. absolute asopposed toaneffective social strategy foradvancing scientific knowledge, wehavesomedifficulty endorsing it. Anabsolute rulerequires belief that nomatter whattheapparent outcome, humility isthecorrect stance. Thehistory ofethical discourse reveals considerable ambivalence about absolute rules ofhumility, suchas"never criticize" or"alwaysturntheother cheek." AsNeuringer woulddoubtless agree, there arebothanalytic andcommonsense reasons that anabsolute rule ofhumility mightnotbethebestcourse of action. Inagametheory analysis ofconflict situations, theefficacy ofahumble approach depends ontherelative frequencies ofthealternative approaches present inthepopulation. Thus,inthe well-known hawkanddoveexample, a population comprised onlyofdoves can beinvaded successfully byhawks, butat thesametime anall hawkpopulation can beinvaded successfully bydoves. The relative effectiveness ofthehawkand dovestrategies interms ofsurvival should varywiththeir relative frequency inthe population. Therelative effectiveness of arrogance versus humility should varyin similar fashion. Thecommonsense reasonsagainst absolute humility weresummarized inHoosier humorist AbeMartin's observation, "Ifthemeekinherit the earth, theywon't keepitlong." Webelieve (asprobably doesNeuringer) that acertain lack ofhumility isfrequently critical inthedevelopment ofa newpoint ofview. Thus, theexperimental analysis ofbehavior prospered inpart because ofthegentle butinsistent arroganceofSkinner thathumanbehavior could beanalyzed mosteffectively asa product ofcontingent control byreinforcement. Theverysuccess ofSkinner's viewprovided thepossibility forNeuringertocall forhumility inits practice. In theabsence ofthis success, wewouldbe