Effects of Exposure to Macrocontingencies in Isolation and social Situations in the Production of Ethical Self-Control

Abstract

Ethical self-control is conceived of as self-controlled responding under concurrent contingencies involving (conflicts of) consequences for the individual, and consequences for the group. The study assessed the production of ethical self-control repertoires in laboratory microcultures under four different macrocontingency arrangements. The experiment was held with eleven groups of four college students each. They were exposed to a task that required a choice of odd or even rows in an 8x8 matrix. Odd rows produced higher individual reinforcements and delayed aversive consequences for the group, thus being labeled impulsive selfish choices; even rows produced lower reinforcements for the individual participant, but positive delayed consequences for the group, thus labeled ethical selfcontrolled choices. Each group was exposed to only one condition. In the first condition, each participant was exposed alone to the task, producing high rates of impulsive selfish choices. In the second condition, the four participants were exposed to the task together, with access to one another's choices and being allowed to talk. The result was a high rate of ethical self-controlled choices. In the third condition, participants were exposed to the task together, could talk, but had no direct access to each other´s choices, which also resulted in a high rate of ethical self-controlled choices. In the fourth condition, participants were exposed to the task together, but could not talk, and had no access to each other´s choices. Results from this experiment show a higher rate of impulsive selfish choices. The data on the four conditions suggest that the possibility of verbal interaction has more effect on the emergence of ethical selfcontrolled responses than access to each other´s responses.

O Estudo Da Cultura Pela Análise Do Comportamento E a Obra De Sigrid Glenn

“…O artigo intitulado Individual behavior, culture, and social change (Glenn, 2004) pode ser entendido como um momento de síntese de muitas das discussões anteriores sobre o tema e como marco do estabelecimento de muitos conceitos que continuam a ser empregados pelos interessados no tema. Sua tradução, 10 anos após sua publicação, faz jus às suas repercussões internacionais e, em especial, no Brasil -inclusive no estabelecimento de linhas de pesquisa voltadas para a análise experimental de metacontingências e macrocontingências (e.g., Borba et al, 2014;Costa, Nogueira & Vasconcelos, 2012;Saconatto & Andery, 2013). Essa tradução se soma a e complementa outros artigos de Glenn já traduzidos para o português (Glenn, 1986Glenn & Malott, 2004 (Skinner, 1948), Glenn (1986) buscou esclarecer "a distinção traçada por Skinner entre a seleção do comportamento operante em indivíduos e a seleção de práticas culturais em sociedades" (p. 2).…”

“…Com base nesse conceito, linhas de pesquisa em diversas universidades brasileiras e no exterior têm produzido continuamente resultados experimentais sobre fenômenos culturais (e.g., Borba et al, 2014;Costa, Nogueira & Vasconcelos, 2012;Ortu, Becker, Woelz & Glenn, 2012;Saconatto & Andery, 2013 Muitas questões metodológicas permanecem em aberto, mas o acúmulo de evidências parece ter facilitado a própria discussão conceitual e gerado questões antes não imaginadas.…”

“…Enquanto a experimentação sobre metacontingência ocorreu após quase duas décadas, o primeiro experimento sobre macrocontingências (Borba et al, 2014) foi publicado 10 anos após a introdução do conceito. Se, por um lado, o intervalo diminuiu, por outro, ele ainda parece deveras grande.…”

Toward Consistent Terminology in a Behaviorist Approach to Cultural Analysis

“…In IBCs that continue recurring as their participants change over time, culturo-behavioral lineages are like individual threads extending continuously through the larger pattern of a fabric. The culturo-behavioral threads embedded in recurring IBCs are seen in experiments where participants who replace others in recurring IBCs learn to behave like those they replaced (Borba, Silva, Cabral, Souza, Leite, & Tourinho, 2014;Marques & Tourinho, 2015;Pavanelli, Leite, & Tourinho, 2014;Soares, Cabral, Leite, & Tourinho, 2012).…”

Establishing the Macrobehavior of Ethical Self-Control in an Arrangement of Macrocontingencies in Two Microcultures

“…Many of the problems noted by Skinner (1971Skinner ( /2002Skinner ( , 1982Skinner ( /1987 can be described as problems of ethical self-control (see Borba, Silva, Cabral, Souza, Leite & Tourinho, 2014;Tourinho, Borba, Vichi, & Leite, 2011;Tourinho & Vichi, 2012). Ethical self-control is a particular type of self-control.…”