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| Analysis of Cultural Phenomena: Behavioral Technology to the Rescue |
| Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
| 10:30 AM–11:50 AM |
| Gregory AB |
| Area: CSE |
| Chair: Mark A. Mattaini (Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois, Chicago) |
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| The Science of Nonviolent Power I: The Analysis of Activist Cultures. |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| MARK A. MATTAINI (Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois, Chicago) |
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| Abstract: Collective violence is a worldwide concern. Billions of dollars and eons of human experience have been dedicated to elaborating the science and practice of collective coercion and killing—at appalling collective cost. Gandhi and others have often asserted that nonviolence is a science. This assertion has so far been treated as largely metaphoric, however, and vanishingly few resources have been dedicated to elaborating such a science. Given that violence is behavior, and collective violence emerges from sets of interlocking contingencies of reinforcement maintained by groups (interlocking cultural practices), it should be realistically possible to analyze violence, and nonviolent alternatives, from the perspective of cultural analytic science. The findings of such investigations might then realistically contribute to campaigns of nonviolent struggle, and thereby reduce levels of collective violence.
The initial strategy for the program of research to be reported here, similar to that used in other sciences in which the phenomena of interest extend over space and time—and experimentation is therefore difficult (e.g., astrophysics and some forms of historical research), is to analyze a number of cases, develop hypotheses from those examples, and then test and refine those hypotheses with additional cases. This initial report will focus on the analysis, in context, of interlocking practices within groups involved in nonviolent struggle—practices that support commitment to nonviolent action, or contribute to the breakdown of such commitments. |
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| Consequence Analysis: Practical Knowledge Building Technology with Social Justice Implications. |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| SARAH K. MOORE (Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois, Chicago) |
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| Abstract: Three iterations of consequence analysis (Sanford & Fawcett, 1980; Moore & Mattaini, 2001; Moore, 2006) have demonstrated that the technology is effective in shifting opinions/attitudes in ways that are consistent with improved collective consequences. This paper will: briefly review the literature; emphasize current research findings; and discuss ways the technology might be used to address social issues of importance, especially those with social justice, human rights, and environmental implications. |
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| An Experimental Analysis of Cultural Materialism and Metacontingencies. |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| TODD A. WARD (University of Nevada, Reno) |
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| Abstract: Since the 1980s behavior analysts have discussed a union with a cultural anthropological paradigm known as Cultural Materialism, which explains social organization in terms of manipulable variables. This discussion led to the conception of the metacontingency, a term meant to bridge operant and cultural selection. Although there is much theoretical debate on this general topic, particularly the value of the metacontingency, no experimental data exist on which to base such a debate. We created a laboratory analogue to a fundamental cultural materialist relation in which dyads produced resources of varying yields across six changing criterion conditions. In order to maximize reinforcement, the participants had to interlock their allocation of resources to generate the aggregate consequence of saving the group from experimental death. Results indicate that two dyads generated recurring aggregate “group saved” consequences. We also found an essential environment-population relation that sets the minimal limit for population survival. This study has two main benefits: (a) provides a way to debate the utility of the metacontingency experimentally, and (b) enables an experimental analysis of the most fundamental contexts required for behavior to exist in the first place, potentially enabling the development of “contextual schedules” as opposed to schedules of reinforcement. |
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| The False Dichotomy of Morality and Self-Interest: Using Consequence Analyses to Facilitate Humanitarian Action against Genocide. |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| MICHELLE ENNIS SORETH (Rowan University), Denene M. Wambach (Temple University ) |
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| Abstract: Under the contingencies operating in the current political and economic climate, appeals to aid other nations are often made from two positions that are cast as opposing determinants of action. The first involves an appeal to national interest in that action is only taken if it benefits the intervening nation, while the second involves an appeal to the moral values of an intervening nation that supports human rights and social justice (e.g., Power, 2002). In the behavior analytic system, moral values are not viewed as causal entities but rather as behavior, specifically as verbal behavior about what is considered moral and immoral (Baum, 2005). As a result, the behavior analytic standpoint dissolves the dichotomy that casts acting out of self-interest and acting out of altruistic morality as opposites. The resulting re-conceptualization focuses on the consequences of action, allowing for better accuracy in predicting the conditions under which nations are likely to act in the aid of others while providing a more effective vehicle for promoting human rights worldwide. The current paper will detail this behavior analytic re-conceptualization and discuss its implications specifically as they relate to the action and inaction taken by nations in cases of genocide. |
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