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| Units of Analysis in Behavior |
| Monday, May 31, 2004 |
| 11:00 AM–11:50 AM |
| Independence East |
| Area: TPC |
| Chair: Jose E. Burgos (CEIC - University of Guadalajara) |
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| Parts of Behavior |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| JOSE E. BURGOS (CEIC - University of Guadalajara) |
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| Abstract: Mereology (from the greek 'meros', meaning 'part') is the formal theory of part/whole relations. This theory can help us articulate the view that operants are individuals, which implies that they have parts. Here I offer a basis for a mereology of behavior in general, operant as well as respondent. I start by assuming that behavior consists of events. But what is an event? I adopt Jaegwon Kim's view, according to which an event is a temporary exemplification of a property by a continuant in a temporal region. We thus need a mereology of events so understood, taking as a starting point the family of systems S put forward by Simons (1987, Parts), whose primitive concept is that of proper parthood. The structured character of events under Kim's view requires a trivalent concept of proper parthood. An event e can thus be a minimal, median, or maximal proper part of another event e', depending respectively on whether one, two, or all the components of e are parts of the corresponding component(s) of e'. I suggest directions for future applications of this mereology to behavior, showing implications for the molar-molecular debate and the role of the neurosciences in understanding behavior. |
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| Private Events and Selection by Consequences |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| EMMANUEL Z. TOURINHO (Universidade Federal do Para, Brazil) |
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| Abstract: Private events have been acknowledged as a main topic for behavior analysts, especially for those interested in clinical applications of behavior analysis. Despite their importance, private events have been the subject matter in few conceptual analyses, what might explain some controversies concerning their causal status. The present study argues that phenomena of different levels of complexity have been considered under the concept of private events. It is suggested that the degrees of complexity may be approached with the principle of selection by consequences. According to this proposal, phenomena called private events vary along a continuum of complexity defined in terms of their phylogenetic, ontogenetic and cultural components, and the way one component prevails over the others. At one end of this continuum there are the "basic emotions," largely the product of natural selection. At the other end of the continuum, one will find complex phenomena that include verbal relations, produced by cultural contingencies. Somewhere in the middle of the continuum, one can identify feelings as behavioral relations produced by ontogenetic nonverbal contingencies. The distinctions may be helpful in discussing the components of each instance of private event and the types of intervention to be carried out by the behavior analyst. |
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