Behavior and illusions: a model to study superstition in a participant replacement experiment

Abstract The notion of superstitious behavior can provide a basic background for understanding such notions as illusions and beliefs. The present study investigated the social mechanism of the transmission of superstitious behavior in an experiment that utilized participant replacement. The sample was composed of a total of 38 participants. Participants performed a task on a computer: they could click a colored rectangle using the mouse. When the rectangle was in a particular color, the participants received points independently of their behavior (variable time schedule). When the color of the rectangle was changed, no points were presented (extinction). Under an Individual Exposure condition, ten participants worked alone on the task. Other participants were exposed to the same experimental task under a Social Exposure condition, in which each participant first learned by observation and then worked on the task in a participant replacement (chain) procedure. The first participant in each chain in the Social Exposure condition was a confederate who worked on the task "superstitiously," clicking the rectangle when points were presented. Superstitious responding was transmitted because of the behavior of the confederate. This also influenced estimates of personal control. These findings suggest that social learning can facilitate the acquisition and maintenance of superstitious behavior and the illusion of control. Our data also suggest that superstitious behavior and the illusion of control may involve similar learning principles.

Metacontingencies, Experimentation and Nonhumans: Searching for Conceptual and Methodological Advances / Metacontingencias, experimentación y no-humanos: En búsqueda de avances conceptuales y metodológicos

La metacontingencia ha sido descrita como la relación funcional entre las contingencias conductuales entrelazadas, junto con su efecto directo e inmediato, llamado producto agregado, y un evento seleccionador dependiente de dicho efecto, llamado consecuencia cultural. El análisis metacontingencial permite la discusión de la complejidad del comportamiento humano en los sistemas sociales. En el presente estudio, quisimos revisar y discutir: (a) la importancia del análisis de procesos conductuales básicos para la comprensión de los fenómenos sociales humanos; (b) la necesidad de construir y mejorar los modelos experimentales de metacontingencias; (c) el estado actual de las investigaciones experimentales en metacontingencias; (d) el uso de modelos animales como forma de controlar los efectos de la conducta verbal, entre otras variables, sobre la selección cultural; (e) una propuesta concreta e ilustrativa de un modelo animal de metacontingencias.

Metacontingency has been described as the functional relation between interlocking behavioral contingencies, plus their direct and immediate effect, called aggregated product, and a selecting event dependent of such effect, called cultural consequence. The metacontingencies analysis enables the discussion of human behavior complexity in social systems. In the present study, we aimed to review and discuss: (a) the importance of basic behavioral processes analysis for the comprehension of social human phenomena; (b) the necessity of constructing and improving metacontingencies experimental models; (c) the current state of metacontingencies experimental investigations in humans; (d) the use of animal models as a way to control the effects of verbal behavior, among other variables, over cultural selection; (e) a concrete and illustrative proposal of an animal model of metacontingencies.

Fundamentos metodológicos da pesquisa em análise experimental do comportamento / Methodological principles of research in experimental analysis of behavior

O método de pesquisa tendo o sujeito como seu próprio controle é uma das marcas da Análise Experimental do Comportamento. Os modos como o analista do comportamento formula perguntas, mensura comportamentos, realiza comparações experimentais, analisa dados e deriva conclusões são relativamente distintos dos métodos praticados em outros campos da Psicologia. O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar introdutoriamente as principais características desse modo peculiar de investigação científica, explicitando as relações que suas estratégias e táticas mantêm com um conjunto de concepções filosófico-conceituais acerca da natureza de seu objeto de estudo, ou seja, o comportamento dos organismos.

The research method that applies single-subject designs is a hallmark in the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. The ways behavior analysts state their questions, measure behavior, perform experimental comparisons, analyze data and derive conclusions are relatively distinct from the methods applied in other fields of Psychology. The goal of the current paper is to summarize the main features of this peculiar strategy of scientific research, as well as to make explicit the relationships that their strategies and tactics maintain with a set of theoretical conceptions regarding the nature of its object of investigation, that is, the behavior of the organisms.