Metacontingencies and Ethical Self-Control: Effect of magnitudes of individual and cultural consequences

Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the magnitudes of the individual and cultural consequences on the pattern of choices in situations of ethical self-control and metacontingencies. Six college students were divided into two microcultures, one with ABCAC'B'A design and another with an AC'B'ABCA design. In conditions B and B’ the magnitude of the individual consequence for impulsive responses increased while the cultural consequence diminished. In conditions C and C’ the magnitude of the cultural consequence increased and the individual consequence diminished. The results indicated the selection of a pattern of choices by the groups of both microcultures, according to the cultural consequence, with little or no influence of the manipulation of the magnitude of the consequences.

摘要：本研究旨在考察个体后果与文化后果的强度，对伦理自我控制（ethical self-control）与元偶联（metacontingencies）情境下的选择模式的影响。6名大学生被划分为两个微文化组，一组采用ABCAC'B'实验设计，另一组采用AC'B'ABCA实验设计。在B与B'条件下，冲动性反应对应的个体后果强度升高，而文化后果强度降低；在C与C'条件下，文化后果强度升高，个体后果强度降低。结果表明，两个微文化组均依据文化后果选择了对应的行为模式，而后果强度的操纵对其几乎无影响。