Papers by Maria Helena Leite Hunziker
Freedom is the subject of long discussions in humanity. While some philosophies argue that notion... more Freedom is the subject of long discussions in humanity. While some philosophies argue that notion in a strict way, others question their own existence. Two philosophies that argue the human freedom so seemingly antithetical are the anarchism and behaviorism. This study aimed to analyze the concept of freedom presented in the work of two authors representing those philosophies (Bakunin and Skinner, respectively) are similar. Its basic purpose was to answer the question below: What are the compatibilities and incompatibilities between anarchism and radical behaviorism, proposed by these authors, with regard to the conception of human freedom? As a general method, were analyzed some of the works of these authors, especially those in which the concept of freedom was highlighted. The analysis was centered on the approach that these philosophies have on science, education and the state. As a result, it was identified as similar to the fact that both authors have argued that human nature is not intrinsically good or bad qualities, moral or immoral. For Bakunin, it is possible to conceive of a scenario of society/culture capable of generating men with characteristics defended by anarchists themselves of a free mansuch as solidarity, cooperation and respect for differences among individuals. Although using different language, this free man, described by Bakunin, does not differ from the assumed by Skinner to examine the environment (or environmental contingencies) that selects the behavior of the individual. Therefore, for both, the individual consists in his contact with the environment. Although consistent in this respect, they differ by a greater or lesser emphasis on the tools proposed to promote changes in behavior and make the planning of cultures that are close to the "ideal". Skinner provides these tools based on the propositions of a science of behavior, while Bakunin only describes characteristics of interpersonal relationships in a society that would produce men he would call "free" without making clear the way to establish this culture. Therefore, we conclude that, in spite of the generally suggested antagonism between the two philosophies, the concept of freedom present in the work of Bakunin is not incompatible with the one proposed by Skinner. It is suggested that a dialogue between the two philosophies can be fruitful, having regard to the goals of anarchism to a more egalitarian and just society, while from the behaviorism can derive the path to achieve them.
Behavioural Processes, May 1, 2019
Experimental evidence suggests that the return of fear may be prevented by post-retrieval extinct... more Experimental evidence suggests that the return of fear may be prevented by post-retrieval extinction (PRE), a procedure consisting of extinction training after the presentation of a retrieval cue. However, attempts to replicate these findings have yielded mixed results, with some studies showing diminished fear responses after PRE, whereas others show no effect on the return of fear following this procedure. The discrepancies across studies have been interpreted as evidence that there might be conditions under which PRE is not effective (boundary conditions), but these variables have yet to be fully described. We aimed to provide an overview of PRE in humans. We briefly present the theory and research that originated post-retrieval procedures with a focus on the experimental setup used in human studies. We continue with a compilation of possible experimental boundary conditions along with some questions for future research.
Revista Brasileira de Análise do Comportamento, Sep 11, 2018
Acta Comportamentalia: Revista Latina de Análisis del Comportamiento, Aug 31, 2015
O objetivo deste trabalho foi examinar aquisicao e manutencao da variabilidade reforcada positiva... more O objetivo deste trabalho foi examinar aquisicao e manutencao da variabilidade reforcada positivamente, tendo como adicao apresentacao de choque contingente ao padrao nao variavel. Na primeira fase, ratos (n=16) passaram por reforcamento diferencial da variabilidade, tendo o reforco (agua) contingente a emissao de sequencias de quatro respostas a duas barras: o reforco era liberado para sequencia que diferisse das quatro anteriormente emitidas. Para metade dos sujeitos, sequencias que nao atingissem o criterio para reforcamento eram seguidas de extincao (L) e para os demais por um choque eletrico breve e pouco intenso (L+). Na Fase 2, os animais previamente expostos a condicao L foram subdivididos em dois grupos (n=4), sendo um exposto ao procedimento L+ e outro ao procedimento de acoplamento (A+). Na Fase 3, esses animais foram expostos ao L. Conforme resultados, a variabilidade foi adquirida e mantida na condicao L. O choque como consequencia para sequencias “erradas” dificultou levemente a aquisicao da variabilidade, mas interferiu pouco na sua manutencao. Os choques acoplados reduziram a taxa de respostas e a variabilidade comportamental. Nessas condicoes, a variabilidade operante pode ser instalada e mantida sob contingencia diferencial envolvendo punicao e reforcamento positivo. Novas pesquisas sao necessarias para verificar a generalidade desses resultados.
Revista Brasileira de Análise do Comportamento, Sep 23, 2021
Embora o feminismo venha sendo estudado sob a perspectiva analítico-comportamental, o conceito de... more Embora o feminismo venha sendo estudado sob a perspectiva analítico-comportamental, o conceito de "patriarcado", fundamental na abordagem feminista, ainda não foi explorado sob essa perspectiva. O presente artigo se propôs a dar início ao preenchimento dessa lacuna partindo dos principais conceitos utilizados no estudo sociológico do patriarcado, entendido aqui como um conjunto de regras e contingências sociais que dá aos homens maior domínio sobre os reforçadores/punidores a serem liberados socialmente (maior poder), com relevantes prejuízos para as mulheres. As relações de opressão/exploração das mulheres, bem como o vetor da violência que indica a alta frequência de feminicídio e estupros femininos, são algumas das consequências consideradas como função desse desequilíbrio de poder entre os gêneros. Contingências envolvendo reforçamento, punição, controle por regras, discriminação, escolha, contingências concorrentes, equivalência de estímulos, são consideradas frente a exemplos concretos da supremacia masculina. No seu todo, sugere-se a importância de se considerar a estreita relação entre patriarcado-racismo-capitalismo no estabelecimento /manutenção da ideologia patriarcal. Algumas condições que aumentam as chances de contracontrole pelas mulheres são sugeridas como forma de se promover um convívio social mais justo e igualitário entre os gêneros. Palavras-chave: patriarcado, feminismo, análise do comportamento, poder, exploração.
Behavioural Processes, 2023
Psychophysiology, Nov 18, 2021
Return of fear may be prevented by post‐retrieval extinction (PRE), a procedure consisting of pre... more Return of fear may be prevented by post‐retrieval extinction (PRE), a procedure consisting of presenting a stimulus that was present during conditioning (retrieval cue) prior to extinction training. However, recent evidence suggests that there might be circumstances under which PRE is not effective to prevent the return of fear (boundary conditions), but some of these conditions remain unknown. We explored if rehearsing the CS, US or CS‐US contingency during the interval between the retrieval cue and extinction training might change the effects of PRE. One day after differential fear conditioning, healthy human participants (n = 83) underwent either standard extinction (control condition, n = 31) or two different PRE procedures, one in which participants rehearsed the CS‐US contingency during the interval between the retrieval cue and extinction (rehearsal condition, n = 25), or another in which they underwent a verbal fluency task directing their attention away from the experimental contingencies during this interval (nonrehearsal condition, n = 27). Return of fear in a reinstatement test was observed in both control and rehearsal conditions, whereas in the nonrehearsal condition there was a generalized increase in response to the CS+ and CS−. Differential response in the rehearsal condition had values slightly smaller than the control group with no significant differences from both control and nonrehearsal conditions. These results suggest that the overt behavior of participants during the interval between a retrieval cue and extinction training might change the effects of PRE in healthy human participants, but further manipulations of these variables are needed to confirm these findings.
Psicologia: Teoria E Pesquisa, 2016
RESUMO-Este artigo buscou examinar algumas das contribuições das neurociências para o estudo da d... more RESUMO-Este artigo buscou examinar algumas das contribuições das neurociências para o estudo da discriminação de estímulos. Foram discutidos experimentos relacionados a processos discriminativos envolvendo (a) estimulação cerebral como estímulo antecedente e consequente, (b) atividade neural como resposta, (c) lesão cerebral, (d) drogas e (e) mudanças no cérebro em função do treino discriminativo. Argumenta-se que a integração entre dados comportamentais e (neuro) fisiológicos tem se mostrado uma estratégia promissora para um entendimento mais completo sobre o comportamento dos organismos. Palavras-chave: discriminação de estímulos, eventos neurais, análise do comportamento, neurociências Contributions of Neurosciences to the Study of Discriminative Behavior ABSTRACT-This paper aims to examine some contributions of neuroscience to the study of stimulus discrimination. Experiments are discussed concerning the discriminative processes involving (1) brain stimulation as antecedent and consequent stimulus, (2) neural activity as response, (3) brain lesions, (4) drugs, and (5) brain changes after exposure to discriminative training. We argue that the integration of behavioral and (neuro) physiological data has proved to be a promising strategy for a more complete understanding of the behavior of organisms.
Behavior and Social Issues, Nov 1, 2020
Musculoskeletal science and practice, Jul 1, 2019
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
This study aimed to investigate whether variable patterns of responses can be acquired and mainta... more This study aimed to investigate whether variable patterns of responses can be acquired and maintained by negative reinforcement under an avoidance contingency. Six male Wistar rats were exposed to sessions in which behavioral variability was reinforced according to a Lag contingency: Sequences of three responses on two levers had to differ from one, two or three previous sequences for shocks to be avoided (Lag 1, Lag 2 and Lag 3, respectively). Performance under the Lag conditions was compared with performance on a Yoke condition in which the animals received the same reinforcement frequency and distribution as in the Lag condition but behavioral variability was not required. The results showed that most of the subjects varied their sequences under the Lag contingencies, avoiding shocks with relatively high probability (≥ 0.7). Under the Yoke procedure, responding continued to occur with high probability, but the behavioral variability decreased. These results suggest that behavioral variability can be negatively reinforced.
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Papers by Maria Helena Leite Hunziker