Acta Comportamentalia

Aversion to Inequity in Psychophysical Judgments of Occupational Prestige in Psychology

Raul Reyes Contreras, Carlos Santoyo Velasco — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0600

This study analyzes the distribution of monetary resources based on occupational prestige and inequity aversion in the workplace. Based on Information Integration Theory (IIT), it seeks to understand how individuals allocate resources when occupational differences are minimal. The objective was to evaluate the effect of presenting information about occupations with similar prestige on resource distribution, identifying patterns of information integration and differentiated allocation strategies. A repeated-measures design was employed with 82 university students. A digital instrument was used with two phases: in the first, participants allocated resources based on the occupation of a single person; in the second, they compared two occupations. Repeated-measures ANOVA and cluster analysis were applied to identify allocation strategies. Participants showed a tendency to distribute resources equally (~50%). However, two groups were identified: the “egalitarians,” who allocated resources uniformly, and the “stratifiers,” who favored occupations such as Neuropsychology and Experimental Psychology. No significant interaction effects were found. The study confirms that inequity aversion emerges even in contexts of similar prestige. It concludes that participants apply
additive integration rules and that perceptions of equity influence the distribution of resources, providing key evidence for the literature on distributive justice and occupational prestige.

The Sustainable use of Common Resources in the Game Keep Fishin’: A Systematic Replication

Luiz Henrique Alves, Júlio Cesar de Camargo, Verônica Bender Haydu — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0600

In recent decades, the excessive use of renewable natural resources has jeopardized their preservation, prompting behavior analysts to examine the consumption of common-pool resources and explore the use of gamification to study this phenomenon. The present study replicated Camargo (2019, Experiment 2), which developed a video game-based task simulating ocean fishing. This study aimed to evaluate two additional consequences (earning extra points and losing points) on the consumption of common-pool resources and examine the relationship between participants’ history of playing electronic games and real-life fishing with the consumption of common-pool resources. The experimental design incorporated the online game Keep Fishin’, with 75 university students participating, of whom 50 completed the game (16 in Part 1 and 44 in Part 2). The researcher allocated the participants into three experimental conditions: Control, Bonuses (extra points), and Penalties (losing points). Following the game’s completion, he administered an online questionnaire that solicited personal data and information about their history of video game usage and real-life fishing experiences. The results indicated a slight advantage for the Bonuses condition among Part 1 participants, who required fewer attempts to complete the game. However, this difference was not statistically significant. Participants who entered Part 2 exhibited no significant differences between conditions. Furthermore, Part 1 participants of the Bonuses group showed a higher estimated number of fish caught than the Penalty group. Part 2 participants demonstrated no differences across the three conditions. Additionally, participants from both parts in the Bonus condition exhibited the highest estimated average of catch-release fish responses. In contrast, those in the Penalty condition demonstrated a lower average number of such responses than the others. The findings indicate that the behavior exhibited by Part 1 participants, where the game was more complex, was affected by the consequences. The effective management of resources was paramount for the successful completion of the game, as it required the maintenance of a sufficient catch to sustain life. These data corroborate Camargo’s results, which also noted a prevalence of the catch-release fish response among participants in the Control and Bonus conditions. In the present study, the catch-release response was not related to participants’ experience with real-life fishing activities, which may be attributable to the fact that the participants were students with limited experience in this type of sport. The findings of this study suggest that the two types of consequences (earning extra points and losing points) presented during the Keep Fishin’ online game affected the estimated number of catch-release fish responses, allowing us to suggest that this game is an appropriate resource to investigate the effects of differential consequences on the consumption of common-pool resources.

The use of Statistics in Brazilian Journals of Behavior Analysis

Bruna Rodrigues Lins, Bruno Angelo Strapasson — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0600

The use of Null Hypothesis Significance Tests (NHST) has been a topic of debate in science, psychology, and behavior analysis due to difficulties in interpreting them correctly, their tendency towards dichotomous thinking, and the frequent associated questionable practices. The behavior analysis literature has a tradition of criticizing the use of NHST for studying individual behavior, given its preference for single-case research designs (SCRD). Despite this, there has been an increase in the use of NHST in international behavior analysis journals over the last six decades. However, there has been a lack of evaluations of Brazilian behavior analysis literature. In this study, we examined the reports of inferential statistics in all empirical articles published in the Revista Brasileira de Análise do Comportamento is (Brazilian Journal of Behavior Analysis), the Revista Brasileira de Terapia Comportamental e Cognitiva (Brazilian Journal of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy), and Perspectivas em Análise do Comportamento (Perspectives in Behavior Analysis) until April 2021. Our findings reveal that almost half of the papers published in the mentioned journals were empirical. Among these, 76.6% were experimental studies, and approximately a quarter (25.2%) used NHST for statistical inferences, with a noticeable upward trend in its use. However, only 3.2% included inferential statistics with estimation metrics such as confidence intervals and effect sizes. Importantly, we found that 69.5% of the studies using inferential statistics presented their results incorrectly or incompletely according to the APA standards in force at the time of their publication, hindering the verification and revaluation of the statistical calculations presented. Our study reveals that Brazilian behavior analysis journals show similar trends to international journals in the use of NHST, and the incomplete reporting of associated statistics is damaging to the field. This emphasizes the pressing need for improvement in the editorial policies of behavior analysis journals regarding the reporting of inferential statistics.

Resurgence of Variability as a Function of Decreasing Reinforcement Magnitude

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0600

Behavioral resurgence refers to the reoccurrence of a previously reinforced target behavior (R1), which was later extinguished, when a current response (R2) is thinned in some way. Thinning, in this sense, refers to an environmental manipulation that decreases the frequency of the behavior, functioning similarly to extinction. A study was conducted to investigate whether the resurgence of behavioral variability dimension occurs in the same way as the frequency of behavior, given the scarcity and inconclusiveness of data from studies on variability resurgence. Previous studies point to two potential problems: (1) the use of extinction as a test, which does not allow for isolating the effect of resurgence from the behavioral history as compared to the effect of variability induced by extinction, and (2) the analysis based solely on the U-value measure, which does not provide information about the variability pattern. To address these problems, parametric thinning of reinforcement magnitude was implemented, and new measures were used to indicate response patterns, such as recurrence time and random number generator. A within-subject design was applied, with three experimental phases and order balancing in Phase 3. In Phase 1, participants were exposed to a Lag 10 Variation contingency, with a reinforcement magnitude of five points. In Phase 2, they were exposed to a Lag 3 Repetition contingency, with a reinforcement magnitude of 10 points. In Phase 3, the same contingency from the previous phase was maintained, but parametric thinning of the reinforcement magnitude was carried out, manipulating the magnitude of points every 30 trials. Additionally, participants were divided into two groups, differing in the order in which the points were presented, either increasing or decreasing. Resurgence occurred both in the level and pattern of variability, but it depended on the order of exposure. It is discussed that the resurgence of variability results from the reinforcement history, not just from extinction-induced effects. Furthermore, it is suggested that any form of thinning of R2 may be sufficient to cause the resurgence of R1, which has significant implications for understanding behavioral resurgence and variability as an operant dimension of behavior.

Teaching Reading to a boy with Autism Using Table Games

Bruno Gerencser Zagato Zagato, Nassim Chamel Elias — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0600

Proficiency in reading is an important factor in academic success, as it allows students to comprehend the material and obtain information. Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may have difficulties in reading and a difference between the behavior of reading orally (textual operant) and reading with comprehension (associating words and pictures). Board games are a pastime that can be suitable for engaging individuals with ASD, as it requires attention, and the transfer of skills already acquired and has been used in previous studies for teaching reading to children with typical development and children with ASD. In order to expand on previous findings, the aim of the present study was to verify the effect of the use of board games on the emergence of reading performance in a child with ASD. The procedure used was based on identity matching-to-sample between pictures and words and arbitrary matching-to-sample between pictures and words in the four table games and the use of differential consequences and prompt fading. The participant was a six-year-old boy with ASD Level 1 diagnosis. The design consisted of a reading pre-test, application of the games in a teaching situation, with three stages in each game, and a post-test and follow-up of reading. The results indicated the reaching of the learning criterion in all games and the emergence of reading the twelve words used in the study, maintained in the follow-up. The results suggest that board games can be used as a teaching tool and represent a low-cost strategy that is generally known by parents and teachers. Even in a less formal structure of the games, it was possible to use several principles of behavior analysis, such as the use of social reinforcers, fading, and discrete trial teaching. It is suggested that the study be replicated with more participants and with a more robust experimental design, such as multiple probes of reading after reaching the criterion in each game.

Behavioral-Based Safety Intervention to Promote the use of Helmet by Cyclists

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0600

Workplace accidents have historically been a significant social issue in modern society. Thousands of workers are exposed to labor accidents worldwide every day. Under the label of “behavior-based safety”, studies have examined ways of behavior-analytic interventions to address this problem. Visual and textual prompting is among the frequent ways of intervention in formal workplaces. So is the presentation of performance feedback concerning the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). However, the emergence of the so-called “uberized” workforce may pose a challenge to the effectiveness of such interventions. Previous studies have reported intersubject variability resulting from interventions to promote helmet use among professionals engaged in delivery services using bicycles as a means of locomotion and who are registered on online labor-mediation platforms. The precariousness of many aspects of the work relationship may make the intervention focused on helmet use become something that seems to be less important. If that is true, interventions to promote helmet use in professionals inserted at the uberized work could be less likely to succeed. This study compared the effectiveness of a behavioral intervention to promote helmet use in two situations: an uberized work context (Context 1) and an alternative context of using bicycle as an alternative mode of locomotion (Context 2). Three professionals, formally registered at online platforms of delivery services, and three college students participated in the study. The intervention comprised two phases: (1) free access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and (2) exposition to visual prompts through digital banners with contingent performance feedback of using helmet. A multiplebaseline experimental design across participants was used. The data show that the intervention was ineffective in promoting helmet use among the three professional cyclists. In Context 2, all the participants started to use the helmet when given the intervention. Procedures defined as Phase 1 of the intervention were sufficient to promote safe behavior in two participants in Context 2. For the third participant, who already owned a helmet, Phase 2 effectively promoted safe behavior. Given the difference in intervention effectiveness between the two contexts, issues related to Context 1 are discussed. Uberized labor relations, with its inherent risks and uncertainties, seems to be a peculiar work environment that offers singular barriers to behavior-based safety interventions such as those concerning helmet use.

Food Selectivity: Effects of an Intervention in Children With ASD

Laís Sassaki Furine, Fani Eta Korn Malerbi — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0600

This study aimed to assess whether a procedure that used a sequence of instructions (SI) for successive approximations of eating behavior and that manipulated food shape (FS) would improve the acceptance of rejected fruits by children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Additionally, it was intended to verify whether acceptance would be maintained after fading the modified shape. The participants were two boys diagnosed with ASD, aged 3 and 8. The sessions took place at the participant’s home during snack times between main meals. The procedure had three phases: (1) Pre-test, which proved the rejection of the fruit; (2) Sequence of Instructions (SI), in which instructions were used so that successive approximations to the behavior of eating the food occurred; and (3) Shape Manipulation (SM), in which the fruit was initially presented in playful shapes and then had the shape faded until it was presented in the regular shape. In both phases, two fruits were presented to each child. The selection was based on the list of fruits in the Food Guide for the Brazilian Population (2008), with the selection criteria were rejection and seasonality, prioritizing taste and color. The dependent variables were following the instructions, consumption of each fruit and the frequency of active refusal responses. The results showed that in the SI Phase, both participants consumed the previously rejected fruits. In the SM Phase, consumption was observed for only one of the participants. The follow-up sessions occurred 40 days after the intervention ended, revealed that consumption of the fruit used during the intervention was maintained. To help participants’ mothers include new foods into their diets, materials were prepared for each family based on the results obtained. The intrasubject design used in this study made it possible to verify the need for individualized interventions that take into account the history and characteristics of each participant. The present study provides alternatives to treating of food refusal n the absence of escape extinction.

On Teachers’ Knowledge of Other Disciplines About Behaviour Analysis

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0600

This study presents the results of a survey administered to faculty members in medicine, physics, and law, aimed at assessing their knowledge of psychology and Behavior Analysis (BA). The data provide insight into the relevance of implementing BA education programs across non-psychology disciplines as an effective response to teaching and learning challenges. The objective was to examine the general level of knowledge about psychology, with an emphasis on BA, through a descriptive analysis based on the results obtained from surveys administered to university faculty. A total of 111 faculty members from the Schools of Medicine, Physics, and Law at the University of Seville participated in the study. The survey instrument included multiple sections comprising closed-ended questions, multiple-choice items, Likert-scale responses, open-ended questions, and ranking tasks. The survey was distributed via email addresses obtained from the university of Seville’s website. The analysis revealed heterogeneous response patterns influenced by each participant’s academic background. While participants reported familiarity with various psychological paradigms, their theoretical orientations were largely eclectic. A general lack of specific knowledge regarding behavior analysis was observed across disciplines.