The 1980s witnessed an increased interest among behavior analysts regarding a paradigm in cultural anthropology known as cultural materialism. This perspective suggests that all behavior ultimately rests on the relationship between the natural environment and the methods used to obtain resources needed to maintain survival and a high standard of living, known as the mode of production. While useful, scientists in this area have overlooked one valuable resource-the laboratory. We manipulated the amount of resources dyads could harvest within blocks of five trials and across six conditions. Behavior consisted of harvesting and allocating resources. Token retention and a survival analogue were made contingent on resource sharing. Five of the seven dyads shared resources and no sharing occurred when participants could harvest sufficient resources to survive independently. Opportunities to integrate this research with optimal foraging research are discussed along with potential applications to realworld social issues. KEYWORDS: cultural materialism, mode of production, resources, cooperation, token economy, analogueThe prediction and control of behavior drives behavior analytic theory (Skinner, 1953). As such, behavior analysts should consider ways to enhance the prediction and control of real-world behavior. One source of such enhancements could come from behavior analysts' increased interest in cultural anthropology
In a previous study, sex differences were noted in the correlation of 215 undergraduates' ratings on Lee's love styles and their ratings on their satisfaction with life, work, and personal relationships. For example, game-playing love was positively related to life satisfaction for the 42 undergraduate men but was negatively related to life satisfaction for the 98 undergraduate women. In the current study, 215 adults over the age of 29 years were surveyed to examine whether the previous differences between the sexes held up in an older sample. Values for the older sample of 215 were similar to those for the 98 undergraduate women but not for the 42 undergraduate men. For example, game-playing love was negatively related to life satisfaction for both the 130 older women and the 85 older men.
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