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Efeitos de instruções e história experimental sobre a transmissão de práticas de escolha em microculturas de laboratório

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The selection of cultural practices has been a subject matter of increasing object of interest in Behavior Analysis, majorly after the formulation of the concept of metacontingency by S. S. Glenn. One of the themes approached has been the relation between rule-governed behavior and the transmission of cultural practices. The present study had the objective of evaluating the effects of verbal instructions on the transmission of a choice practice in small groups. Forty-three undergraduate students participated in the study, divided into four groups. The participants, in groups of three, had to collectively solve a problem in a condition which could lead to two possible gains: one more advantageous in the long term (choice of black lines) and another one less advantageous (choice of white lines). At each 12 minutes one participant would leave the group and a new one would be introduced in it, being the responsibility of the older participants to teach the new one on how to proceed in the task. In some groups, participants called confederates were instructed to teach the task wrongly, inducing the group to choose white lines, leading to less a advantageous result. The confederates instructed the participants with two categories of instructions: false descriptive and prescriptive. With the participant change cycle, the confederates gave place to naïve or experienced participants. The results indicate that when confederates took part in groups constituted by naïve participants, the choices less advantageous for the group were predominant, in which Group 2 maintained the choice pattern instructed by the confederates for one additional generation and Group 4 maintained it for two additional generations. When the confederates took part in groups with participants previously exposed to the task (Groups 1 and 3), both groups returned to choices according to the pattern established in a baseline session (approximately 80% of black choices for Group 1 and 60% for Group 3). As for the type of instruction employed by the confederates, when participants were instructed with false descriptive instructions the choice pattern instructed by the confederates was maintained for fewer generations than when they were instructed with prescriptive instructions. It is concluded that a previous experience to a task can enable the group to suffer less effects of verbal manipulation which lead to a less advantageous choice practice and that instructions which do not describe contingency relations between events are less effective to verbally control choice practices.
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... A tarefa da matriz elaborada nesse estudo, com algumas variações vem sendo a base para diversos estudos experimentais (e.g,. Cavalcanti, Leite & Tourinho, 2014;Leite, 2009;Lopes, 2010;Marques, 2012;Tadaiesky & Tourinho, 2012). ...
... al., neste estudo demonstrou-se que isso é possível inclusive em uma condição de sucessão de gerações, com os membros mais antigos da microcultura ensinando os novos membros, de modo a manter a produção da CC quando há substituições. Esse dado, portanto, está em acordo com outros estudos que atestaram a seleção cultural com procedimentos que incluíam a mudança de gerações (e.g., Bullerjhan, 2009;Leite, 2009;Pereira, 2008). ...
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... Finally, many metacontingency experiments measured verbal components of IBCs, but less frequently directly manipulated them (e.g., Ardila-Sánchez et al., 2020;Leite, 2009;Sampaio, 2020). The manipulations, furthermore, have been limited to the permission or prohibition for the participants to chat (for a review, see Fonseca et al., 2022). ...
... The possibilities for future research in this area are ripe. Confederates could be used to present previously determined instructions (e.g., Leite, 2009), different communication media (e.g., presential, videoconferencing, audio only) could be compared, and the employment of only predetermined verbal stimuli (e.g., emoji, short sentences) could be evaluated. ...
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... A tarefa da matriz elaborada nesse estudo, com algumas variações vem sendo a base para diversos estudos experimentais (e.g,. Cavalcanti, Leite & Tourinho, 2014;Leite, 2009;Lopes, 2010;Marques, 2012;Tadaiesky & Tourinho, 2012). ...
... al., neste estudo demonstrou-se que isso é possível inclusive em uma condição de sucessão de gerações, com os membros mais antigos da microcultura ensinando os novos membros, de modo a manter a produção da CC quando há substituições. Esse dado, portanto, está em acordo com outros estudos que atestaram a seleção cultural com procedimentos que incluíam a mudança de gerações (e.g., Bullerjhan, 2009;Leite, 2009;Pereira, 2008). ...
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Resumo O presente estudo buscou investigar os efeitos de um procedimento de aproximação sucessiva na seleção e transmissão de práticas culturais complexas. Estudantes de graduação compuseram duas microculturas, expostas a arranjos de metacontingências, em que a consequência cultural era contingente a tarefas pro-gressivamente mais complexas de escolhas de linhas de uma matriz 10x10. A cada 20 ciclos de tentativas um novo participante substituía um mais antigo no estudo, caracterizando uma mudança de geração. Para as duas microculturas os dados encontrados sugerem a eficácia do procedimento de aumento gradual da complexidade ambiental na produção de contingências comportamentais entrelaçadas (CCEs) complexas e conferem maior generalidade a resultados previamente relatados. Ainda são necessárias, porém, com-parações de microculturas expostas ao aumento gradual da complexidade com o desempenho de micro-culturas expostas continuadamente ao ambiente mais complexo. Também merece discussão o fato de que a "modelagem" de CCEs complexas no presente estudo diferiu de algumas instâncias de modelagem de respostas operantes, no sentido de que, nas primeiras, o processo consistiu de aumentar a probabilidade de entrelaçamentos previamente existentes, enquanto, para as últimas, em alguns casos, trata-se, inicialmente, de produzir a topografia alvo. Palavras-chave: seleção cultural, metacontingências, aproximação sucessiva, práticas culturais com-plexas, transmissão cultural. AbstRAct The aim of the study was to assess the effects of a successive approximation procedure on the selection and transmission of complex cultural practices. Undergraduate students were assigned to two microcultures, exposed to metacontingencies arrangements, in which the cultural consequence was contingent to progressively more complex tasks of choosing rows in a 10x10 matrix. A new participant substituted the older one in the group after each twenty-trial cycle, providing a generation change. For both microcultures, data 1) O texto reproduz parcialmente a dissertação de mestrado do primeiro autor, sob co-orientação do segundo autor e orientação do terceiro autor. Trabalho parcialmente financiado pelo CNPq (Processo 480071/2011-0). Endereço para correspon
... The UFPA research group focused on two themes: (1) effects of the concurrence between individual and cultural consequences on individual behavior and culturants (e.g., Borba et al., 2017;Guimarães, Picanço, & Tourinho, 2019), and the selection and (2) the role of verbal behavior on the selection and transmission of culturants (e.g., Hosoya & Tourinho, 2016;Leite, 2009). The presence of Vichi was crucial for establishing the "matrix task," first used in his master's thesis at PUC-SP, as the standard experimental task at UFPA (e.g., Almeida et al., 2020;Borba et al., 2014Borba et al., , 2017Guimarães, Leite, et al., 2019;Soares et al., 2014). ...
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... Estudos futuros com o presente arranjo experimental poderão avaliar os efeitos das metacontingências programadas com substituição de participantes, ou seja, com mudança de gerações nas microculturas, para avaliação da transmissão cultural. Tal procedimento tem sido comum em estudos que avaliam fenômenos culturais com arranjos de metacontingência em análogos de reforçamento positivo (Amorim, 2010;Borba et al., 2017;Brocal, 2010;Caldas, 2009;Guimarães et al., 2019a;Leite, 2009;Vichi, 2012). ...
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Resumo O presente estudo investigou os efeitos de um análogo de reforçamento negativo sobre a seleção de culturantes e, diferentemente de estudos anteriores, buscou eliminar a interferência da punição negativa de outros culturantes. Três microculturas de laboratório, com três participantes cada, foram expostas a um delineamento ABAB. Os participantes escolhiam entre linhas coloridas e numeradas de 1 a 10. Na condição de Reforçamento Positivo (A), os culturantes-alvo produziam consequências culturais. Na condição de Reforçamento Negativo (B), as consequências culturais eram subtraídas a cada 30s, mas os culturantes-alvo podiam adiar a perda dessas consequências. O análogo de reforçamento negativo, assim como o de reforçamento positivo, selecionou os culturantes-alvo sem a interferência de contingências punitivas acidentais.
... Outros modelos existem para a investigação de metacontingências (Baia, 2008, Vichi, Andery & Glenn, 2009Leite, 2009;Tadayesky, L. T., & Toutinho, E. Z. 2012). Nesse artigo iremos nos ater apenas ao modelo Meta e aos dados de apenas um experimento, que como adiantado foram achados acidentalmente. ...
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A investigação de dinâmicas sociais, mais especificamente os estudos experimentais sobre metacontingências tem se deparado algumas vezes com padrões supersticiosos. Esse estudo foi baseado no modelo Meta, criado para um conjunto de pesquisas e acidentalmente produziu um padrão supersticioso. Não houve a seleção do padrão de contingências entrelaçadas desejado. A consequência cultural produziu um padrão supersticioso nos comportamentos dos participantes; um dado que pode sugerir que os padrões supersticiosos descritos, podem ter dificultado a seleção por metacontingências. A investigação de comportamentos supersticiosos, de regras supersticiosas, bem como os efeitos desses operantes em dinâmicas sociais, pode ser feita, em procedimentos como esse, de forma conjunta, compondo um fenômeno de maior complexidade.
... Neste contexto, foram publicados inúmeros trabalhos cujo foco de interesse são fenômenos sociais humanos complexos e que reconhecem que tal foco envolve necessariamente buscar soluções para dificuldades conceituais e metodológicas enfrentadas pela análise do comportamento neste âmbito (ver, por exemplo, Dinsmoor, 1992;Glenn, 1985Glenn, , 1986Glenn, , 1988Glenn, , 1991Glenn & Malagodi, 1991;Guerin, 1992aGuerin, , 1992bKunkel, 1983Kunkel, , 1985Kunkel, , 1986Lamal, 1991Lamal, , 1997Lee, 1999;Lloyd, 1985;Malagodi;Malagodi & Jackson, 1989;Mattaini, 2004;Mattaini & Thyer, 2002). No Brasil, ocorreu movimento semelhante, na direção de um crescente número de trabalhos conceituais e empíricos orientados pela análise do comportamento com foco em questões sociais e na cultura (Abreu, 1990;Alves, 2006;Amorim, 2010;Andery, 1990Andery, , 1993aAndery, , 1993bAndery, , 1997aAndery, , 1997bAndery, , 2001aAndery, Micheletto & Sério, 2005;Andery & Sério, 1997a, 1997b, 1997cBrocal, 2010;Bullerjhann, 2009;Caldas, 2009;Costa, 2001;Dittrich & Abib, 2004;Echague, 2006;Faleiros, 2002;Gadelha, 2010;Holpert, 2004;Kurokawa, 2009;Leite, 2009;Lima, 2002;Macedo, 2004;Martone, 2003;Martone & Todorov, 2005;Otero, 2002;Pereira, 2008;Sampaio, 2008;Sampaio & Andery, 2010;Tadaiesky, 2010;Todorov, 1987Todorov, , 2005Todorov, , 2006Todorov & Moreira, 2004;Tourinho, 2009;Vichi, 2004;Vichi, Andery & Glenn, 2009;Vieira, 2010). ...
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O presente artigo visa a discutir a perspectiva da análise do comportamento para o estudo da cultura. Apresenta-se, inicialmente, o histórico de estudos que tiveram como objeto de estudo o comportamento humano em contextos sociais. Tais estudos foram fundamentais para a compreensão do comportamento social e verbal, demonstrando o potencial explanatório e tecnológico da análise do comportamento. No entanto, os esforços iniciais de investigação sobre comportamento social e sobre o ambiente social (ou a cultura) tomaram a cultura como o contexto no qual comportamento individual ocorre e como variável independente que participa de maneira um tanto vaga do controle do comportamento operante. Apenas tardiamente, discutiu-se na análise do comportamento a possibilidade de se tomar a cultura como foco central de análise, operando uma inversão em relação ao enfoque que tradicionalmente se assume no estudo do comportamento: a cultura passa a ser assumida como o terceiro nível de determinação do comportamento, passa a ser variável dependente. Quando a cultura, ou o ambiente social, passa a ser tomada como fenômeno que precisa ser compreendido para que se possa, de fato, incluí-lo – posteriormente – como determinante do comportamento, surgem novas possibilidades conceituais e de investigação empírica. O artigo termina apontando possibilidades de pesquisas que consideram a cultura como objeto de estudo legítimo da análise do comportamento.
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Há mais de uma década foi publicado o primeiro experimento analítico-comportamental que utilizou metacontingências como unidade de análise. Nesse período, pesquisas com macrocontingências tam-bém contribuíram para o entendimento de processos culturais e o desenvolvimento de pesquisa ex-perimental. O presente trabalho objetivou catalogar estudos experimentais brasileiros que utilizaram metacontingências e/ou macrocontingências, avaliar o desenvolvimento das principais manipulações experimentais e organizar as contribuições para a área conforme os objetivos de pesquisa declarados. Realizou-se levantamento e análise de artigos, teses de doutorado, dissertações de mestrado e traba-lhos de conclusão de curso, distribuídos em dois tipos de manipulações não excludentes: análogos de processos básicos e peculiaridades da seleção de práticas culturais. Foram listados 54 trabalhos, a maioria de dissertações de mestrado que utilizaram metacontingências. Três aperfeiçoamentos pro-cedimentais foram fundamentais para adequação dos procedimentos aos processos estudados: inde-pendência entre contingências individuais e culturais, diferenciação da natureza das consequências culturais e consequências individuais, e mudanças geracionais. Os trabalhos frequentemente aferiam os efeitos de mais de uma variável, considerando a complexidade da área e a busca por procedimentos mais adequados. Discute-se o desenvolvimento dos procedimentos, a distribuição dos interesses de pesquisa e possibilidades de análise com base nas revisões experimentais.
Thesis
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Metacontingências descrevem relações funcionais entre (a) contingências comportamentais entrelaçadas (CCEs), (b) seu produto agregado e (c) uma mudança ambiental contingente à relação entre CCE e produto agregado – consequência cultural (CC). Visando analisar as possibilidades da inclusão de elementos antecedentes em metacontingências, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo aferir os efeitos da concorrência entre sistemas culturais sobre a evolução de CCEs mais complexas. O Experimento 1 investigou os efeitos do contexto de concorrência na evolução de entrelaçamentos mais complexos. Seus resultados indicaram que o contexto de concorrência influenciou seleção de CCEs mais complexas, com ênfase destacada para o papel da interação verbal vocal entre os membros de diferentes sistemas culturais. O Experimento 2 aferiu os efeitos da interação verbal entre membros de sistemas culturais diferentes sobre a evolução de entrelaçamentos mais complexos. O Experimento 3 investigou os efeitos de consequências culturais de magnitudes variadas e proporcionais ao grau de complexidade do entrelaçamento na evolução de entrelaçamentos mais complexos. Os resultados apontam que o procedimento foi efetivo na seleção de CCEs com maiores graus de complexidade. Os dados deste estudo sugerem que antecedentes culturais de caráter social influem na evolução de práticas culturais e necessitam de mais investigações experimentais.
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In their paper, Glenn and Malott (2004), both of whom have made important contributions to the science of behavior and its applications, have taken on a very complex and critically important subject, dealing with organizational change from a cultural analytic perspective. The article raises a great many interesting and important questions, which clearly need to be examined if behavior and cultural analysis is to move toward practical application at the cultural level. Only three of those questions will be touched on in this commentary, specifically: 1) Why is there so far no substantial empirical work that emerges directly from metacontingent theory? 2) Is the integrated systems/cultural analytic approach as presented by Glenn and Malott adequately parsimonious? 3) What units of analysis and selective mechanisms are of most use in understanding cultural level selection? Why No Empirical Work? Cultural analytic theorizing focused on metacontingencies became quite active by the late 1980s. Sigrid Glenn's seminal paper on the subject was published in 1991, and had a very significant effect on the field. From that point forward for a number of years, practically all discussions of cultural analysis cited that work. To the best of my knowledge, however, no basic experimental research has ever been published in this area, and applied experimental work involving cultural entities (organizations, communities) has generally relied on much simpler analyses. The approaches taken have typically consisted of either intentional shifts in a small number of postcedents of instances of desirable and undesirable cultural practices, or the use of simple feedback mechanisms (e.g., Biglan, 1995; Mattaini & Thyer, 1996; Metzler, Biglan, Rusby, & Spague, 2001). The experimental organizational behavior management and cultural intervention literature, and most of the conceptual work in those areas as well, seems to focus on very simple interventions. Why are there no detailed metacontingent analyses leading to specific experimental manipulations? There appear to be several possibilities. Perhaps the conceptual work that has been done is not yet advanced enough to provide actual, on-the-ground guidance for designing and conducting experiments. Perhaps it is just too soon, and investigators have 1 The author can be reached at mattaini@uic.edu.