Hélia Hisako Utida’s research while affiliated with Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo and other places

In the last decade, radical behaviorists have been studying private events. Skinner overtly admits the occurrence of covert links in behavioral complex events, as it is the case of the problem solving behavior, but presents no explicit procedure to study covert behavior. In order to understand problem solving behavior it is necessary to focus on subject's flow of the responses in their attempts to reach the solution. Therefore we must find procedures to explicit covert behaviors which occur while one solves a problem. Whichever they may be, they must rely on subject's (spoken or written) verbal behavior which has to be analyzed and interpreted. This work proposes a procedure for classifying the subject's verbal behavior emitted during a task of problem solving. It also discusses methodological decisions and implications for the study of private events.

Resumo Abstract Os eventos privados têm sido alvo de discussão pela comunidade behaviorista radical, na última década. Skinner, embora admita a ocorrência de elos encobertos em eventos comportamentais complexos, como é o caso da resolução de problemas, não indica como torná-los públicos. A busca de alternativas metodológicas é, pois, fundamental uma vez que em diferentes fenômenos, eventos privados estão envolvidos. Quaisquer que sejam, as alternativas de publicização de elos encobertos apóiam-se no comportamento verbal dos indivíduos (falado ou escrito), que precisa ser analisado e interpretado. Partindo de dados obtidos em tarefa de resolução de problemas em grupo, o presente trabalho apresenta proposta de categorização, discutindo decisões metodológicas e implicações das mesmas no tratamento de verbalizações ocorridas durante o processo de resolução de problemas. Palavras-chave: interações verbais; categorização de verbalizações; resolução de problemas; eventos privados; linguagem. In the last decade, radical behaviorists have been studying private events. Skinner overtly admits the occurrence of covert links in behavioral complex events, as it is the case of the problem solving behavior, but presents no explicit procedure to study covert behavior. In order to understand problem solving behavior it is necessary to focus on subject's flow of the responses in their attempts to reach the solution. Therefore we must find procedures to explicit covert behaviors which occur while one solves a problem. Whichever they may be, they must rely on subject's (spoken or written) verbal behavior which has to be analyzed and interpreted. This work proposes a procedure for classifying the subject's verbal behavior emitted during a task of problem solving. It also discusses methodological decisions and implications for the study of private events.