EFFECTS OF CONCURRENT CULTURAL UPON CULTURANTS

Abstract

 In a metacontingency, culturants (composed by interlocking behavioral contingencies – IBCs – plus aggregate product – PA) are controlled by cultural consequences. This study investigated whether a maximization of gains would determine the culturant’s selections in concurrent schedules. Undergraduate students were divided into two groups. Group 1 was exposed to an AB design. Group two was exposed to a BA design. The task was a choice between two cards. In condition A, the choice of the blue card produced R$0,25 and a 30-s time out (TO). Choice of the orange card produced R$0,10 and no TO. In condition B, the choice of the yellow card produced R$0,10 and no TO. If participants chose the red card, they would obtain R$0,05 and a 180-sTO. Each session lasted 12 min. At the end of the session, a participant was replaced. In general, all generations of both groups chose the card that produced larger gains at the end of session. The groups also tended to maintain the tradition of choosing the card that produced lower gains only once in the session. Data on verbalizations data suggested how to understand the transmission of behavior across generations. We concluded that culturants were controlled by consequences with larger gains, even if they involved the time out. We discuss implications of these results to the culturant’s selection, as well as procedural issues in metacontingecies experiments.Keywords: metacontingency, culturants, concurrent schedules, preference, undergraduate students.