EFFECTS OF CULTURAL CONSEQUENCES ON THE SELECTION AND MAINTENANCE OF TWO ALTERNATED CULTURAL PRACTICES

Abstract

Metacontingencies describe functional relations among interlocked behavioral contingencies, their aggregated products and cultural consequences. The present study investigated the effects of cultural consequences on the selection, maintenance and transmission of two alternating cultural practices. Undergraduate students were exposed to an ABABC experimental design, in which in conditions A and B different metacontingencies were operating and in C the cultural consequence was suspended. The individual and cultural consequences used were different in nature. The results showed the selection of the target cultural practices in the second exposures to the conditions (A and B). These data are discussed considering the amount of exposure to the metacontingencies and the probability of occurrence of the interlocking behavioral contingencies and their aggregated products described in each metacontingency. Keywords: cultural selection, cultural transmission, metacontingency.