THE EFFECTS OF FEEDBACK ON COOPERATION IN THE PRISONER’S DILEMMA GAME SIMULATING A CLOSED MARKET SCENARIO

This study explores the effects of feedback on cooperation in the iterated prisoner’s dilemma game (PDG). Four sources of feedback were identified: peer, buyer, market and cultural feedback. Peer and buyer feedback were intrinsic to the PDG, for they were analyzed, but not manipulated. Market and cultural feedback comprised independent variables and their effects were measured on players’ and group cooperation (dependent variables). Twenty-seven participants played a PDG, divided in 9 groups of 3 players each. Cooperation was measured as rates of individual players’ cooperative X choices, and as aggregate products within groups. At the molecular (moment-to-moment) level, there was a significant within-subjects main effect of the market feedback F(1, 28) = 6.50, p = .02, ?p2 = .19. At the molar level, there was no significant effect of the market feedback, nor of the cultural feedback. It was not possible to establish a metacontingency between recurrent group cooperation and positive contingent group consequences. Players displayed sub-optimal choice behavior, seeking to maximize relative earnings within their group (defecting) over absolute earnings (cooperating). These results are discussed in light of how the source of feedback may sustain cooperation or defection in the PDG, and their implications in organizational settings. Reinforcing cooperative behaviors can be key to the maintenance and development of any organization, for informative performance feedback may not suffice. This study contributes to the understanding of economic decisional behavior in groups from a cultural selectionist perspective.Keywords: choice, cooperation, feedback, metacontingency, prisoner’s dilemma gameThis study explores the effects of feedback on cooperation in the iterated prisoner’s dilemma game (PDG). Four sources of feedback were identified: peer, buyer, market and cultural feedback. Peer and buyer feedback were intrinsic to the PDG, for they were analyzed, but not manipulated. Market and cultural feedback comprised independent variables and their effects were measured on players’ and group cooperation (dependent variables). Twenty-seven participants played a PDG, divided in 9 groups of 3 players each. Cooperation was measured as rates of individual players’ cooperative X choices, and as aggregate products within groups. At the molecular (moment-to-moment) level, there was a significant within-subjects main effect of the market feedback F(1, 28) = 6.50, p = .02, ?p2 = .19. At the molar level, there was no significant effect of the market feedback, nor of the cultural feedback. It was not possible to establish a metacontingency between recurrent group cooperation and positive contingent group consequences. Players displayed sub-optimal choice behavior, seeking to maximize relative earnings within their group (defecting) over absolute earnings (cooperating). These results are discussed in light of how the source of feedback may sustain cooperation or defection in the PDG, and their implications in organizational settings. Reinforcing cooperative behaviors can be key to the maintenance and development of any organization, for informative performance feedback may not suffice. This study contributes to the understanding of economic decisional behavior in groups from a cultural selectionist perspective.Keywords: choice, cooperation, feedback, metacontingency, prisoner’s dilemma gam

BEHAVIORAL AND CULTURAL ACCOUNTS OF CORRUPTION IN THE INTERFACE BETWEEN PUBLIC OFFICER AND CLIENT

O presente artigo aplica uma perspectiva analítico comportamental para examinar comportamento corrupto. Com esse artigo, pretende-se atender a um chamado feito há algumas décadas aos analistas do comportamento para estender os interesses e estratégias de sua disciplina a domínios tradicionalmente atribuídos às ciências sociais. Este artigo tem três objetivos: primeiro, examinar a corrupção como fenômeno comportamental e cultural; segundo, alertar a comunidade das ciências sociais para a utilidade das ferramentas conceituais analítico-comportamentais para a investigação da corrupção; terceiro, chamar a atenção de analistas do comportamento para algumas pesquisas sobre corrupção, que é uma das questões mais críticas do século XXI.Palavras-chave: Corrupção, Contingências, Metacontingências, Práticas culturais, Cultura.This paper applies a behavior analytic framework to examine corrupt behavior. With this article, we heed to the call made some decades ago to behavior analysts to extend the interests and strategies of their discipline into domains traditionally assigned to the social sciences. This article has three objectives: First, to examine corruption as behavioral and cultural phenomena; Second is to draw the attention of the social sciences community to the potentials of behavior analytic tools to investigate corrupt behavior; Third, to appeal to behavior analysts to direct some research attention to corruption, which is one of the most critical issues of the twenty-first century.Keywords: corruption, Contingencies, Metacontingencies, Cultural practices, Culture

Reciprocity With Unequal Payoffs: Cooperative and Uncooperative Interactions Affect Disadvantageous Inequity Aversion

Cooperation among unrelated individuals can evolve through reciprocity. Reciprocal cooperation is the process in which lasting social interactions provide the opportunity to learn about others\u27 behavior, and to further predict the outcome of future encounters. Lasting social interactions may also decrease aversion to unequal distribution of gains – when individuals accept inequity payoffs knowing about the possibility of future encounters. Thus, reciprocal cooperation and aversion to inequity can be complementary phenomena. The present study investigated the effects of cooperative and uncooperative interactions on participants\u27 aversion to disadvantageous inequity. Participants played an experimental task in the presence of a confederate who acted as a second participant. In reality, the participant interacted with a computer programed to make cooperative and uncooperative choices. After interacting with a cooperative or uncooperative computer, participants chose between blue cards to produce larger gains to the computer and smaller for him/her or green cards to produce equal and smaller gains for both. Results confirmed our first hypothesis that uncooperative interactions would produce aversion to disadvantageous inequity. Lastly, half of the participants were informed that points received during the experiment could be later exchanged for money, and half were not. Results indicated that information about monetary outcomes did not affect aversion to inequity, contradicting our second hypothesis. We discuss these results in the light of theories of reciprocal cooperation, inequity aversion, and conformity

How should behavior analysis interact effectively with the social sciences

ABSTRACT: I would like to discuss some perspectives on scientific approaches traditionally viewed as mutually incompatible or antagonistic. This might be illustrated by e.g. natural scientists’ claim of unambiguous communication as a result of objective description of experience vs. social constructivists claiming that there can be no such objective description of reality, since reality is constructed in a context and may vary relative to an individual’s perception, cultural,ethnic and political belonging. This is not a discussion limited to behavioural analysis vs.humanistic approaches or empiricism vs. hermeneutics, but a seemingly antagonistic and sometimes hostile dispute going on for more than half a century within the European and American intellectual communities. I want to frame this discussion with reference to the classical scientific ambition of “Unity of Knowledge” as expressed by the physicist Niels Bohr. This ambition is further developed and refined by contemporary biologist Edward O. Wilson when he describes the unity of knowledge as “Consilience.” I want to argue for a unifying behavioural approach with high scientific ambitions, but with the humble recognition that we have not yet, and may never reach a point we can call "The End of Science.

How should behavior analysis interact effectively with the social sciences

ABSTRACT: I would like to discuss some perspectives on scientific approaches traditionally viewed as mutually incompatible or antagonistic. This might be illustrated by e.g. natural scientists’ claim of unambiguous communication as a result of objective description of experience vs. social constructivists claiming that there can be no such objective description of reality, since reality is constructed in a context and may vary relative to an individual’s perception, cultural,ethnic and political belonging. This is not a discussion limited to behavioural analysis vs.humanistic approaches or empiricism vs. hermeneutics, but a seemingly antagonistic and sometimes hostile dispute going on for more than half a century within the European and American intellectual communities. I want to frame this discussion with reference to the classical scientific ambition of “Unity of Knowledge” as expressed by the physicist Niels Bohr. This ambition is further developed and refined by contemporary biologist Edward O. Wilson when he describes the unity of knowledge as “Consilience.” I want to argue for a unifying behavioural approach with high scientific ambitions, but with the humble recognition that we have not yet, and may never reach a point we can call "The End of Science.

Societal Well-Being: Embedding Nudges in Sustainable Cultural Practices

This study provides a behavior analytic framework to a previous nudging experiment from Kalbekken and Sælen (2013). We are concerned with achieving societal wellbeing from a selection of cultures perspective, and we call for increasing synergies between the two fields. The original experiment achieved a 20% reduction in food waste among restaurant customers by implementing two independent nudges: reducing plate size and socially approving multiple servings. We use this experiment as an example to introduce an analysis of the social contingencies (metacontingencies) responsible for not only establishing, but also maintaining, sustainable behavioral repertoires. We show how reducing food waste can be a simple, economic, and effective example of a behavioral intervention when programmed with contingencies of cooperation. Furthermore, we generalize our model to social architectures that create and sustain cultural practices. Namely, our model addresses the long-term effects of nudging as a result of cooperation between stakeholders, and how they are maintained by feedback loops. Whereas the aggregate effect of individual choice behavior can affect food consumption significantly, it may not suffice to change an enduring cultural practice. We argue a behavior analytic approach in studying complex systems informs nudging applications at the policy making level

Natural, Behavioral and Cultural Selection/Analysis: An Integrative Approach

In Selection by Consequences, Skinner (1981) described a causal model that explains human behavior as a joint product of three levels of selection: (i) the contingencies of survival involved in natural selection, (ii) the contingencies of reinforcement involved in the selection of individual behavior, and (iii) contingencies of an evolving social environment. Since then, researchers from behavior analysis and other fields such as biology and anthropology have used an evolutionist/selectionist approach to greatly improve our understanding of those three levels of analysis. As our knowledge of each level has expanded, the borders between them and their belonging to specialized academic domains has become less clear. Even though Skinner (1981, p 502) stated that “each level of variation and selection has its own discipline – the first, biology; the second, psychology; and the third anthropology”, we argue that Selection by Consequences sets a milieu for behavior analysis to take part in the analysis of the integrated relation among all levels of analysis. In this commentary to Skinner’s (1981) paper, we aim to point out some advances in behavior analysis that may contribute to bridging the gap between the three levels of analysis described by Skinner. In doing so, we will briefly describe some relations between natural and behavioral selection and between behavioral and cultural selection. Additionally, we discuss an alternative model to analyze selection of cultures

Contributions of Behavior Analysis to Behavioral Economics

This article discusses behavior analysis’ contribution to behavioral economics. Nobel Laureate Award winner Herbert Simon described the science of economics in an evolutionary context in A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice. Without claiming any relation between the two publications, it was published two years after B.F. Skinner’s Science and Human Behavior. While popular behavioral economics continues the critique of Homo Economicus, the eagerness to prove that man is not rational carries the risk of substituting one mentalistic explanation for another. Behavior analysis may contribute to developing knowledge about behavioral economics and consumer behavior. The selectionist perspective, the generic principle of reinforcement, and single-subject research are its main contributions. The conceptual framework of behavior analysis enables investigation of the selection of functional relations between human choice behavior and its environmental contingencies. The circumstance-specific research methods of behavior analysis and the possibility to extend them into large-scale analysis provide the means to explain the psychological underpinnings of behavior. Behavior economics offers good descriptions of important phenomena, and behavior analysis contributes with the technology to explain and influence them

The effects of performance feedback on organizational citizenship behaviour: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Performance feedback is a managerial practice whose effects widely impact job satisfaction and commitment. Job satisfaction and commitment represent antecedents of organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), denoting a willingness to cooperate. However, there has been little research on the direct relationship between performance feedback and OCB. Previous works addressed their mediating role, such as organization-based self-esteem, job satisfaction or other measures of discretionary effort. Our search of peer-reviewed studies containing measures of feedback and OCB found 15 studies, containing 21 critically appraised correlation measures. While descriptive findings of the systematic review showed a small correlation, studies that contained measures of feedback frequency were more likely to include higher reports of OCB than studies containing measures of feedback properties. After computing correlation scores to effect sizes, findings from the meta-analysis indicated a small average effect size of performance feedback on OCB (radj =.27, 95% CI =.21 –.33). The discussion addresses the differential effects of positive and negative feedback, frequency, and properties of feedback on reports of OCB levels (by employees and supervisors), as well as further applications for line management