Condições de experimentação inferencial para investigação dos eventos privados

Abstract

Skinner outlined the conditions to inquire into private events in 1945. Two experiments were conducted to determine the efficacy of experimental procedures, which set up correlations between private events and verbal responses, and to dispose of usage conditions of the term “private event”. The aim of the Experiment 1 was to investigate the mutual relations between verbal reports indicating private events and public behaviors (description of contingencies and problem solving). Eight undergraduate students without any previous experimental history were exposed to three experimental conditions: Baseline, Training and Extinction. The contingencies description reports and problem solving responses were recorded in each experimental condition. Nevertheless, in the Training condition, the responses indicating privacy (informative responses) were registered as well. Correlation between informative responses and description responses was established. In spite of it, any correlation involving problem solving responses could not be observed. The purpose of the Experiment 2 was to verify the effect of previous reinforcement contingencies upon the inter-relation between public behaviors and informative responses. Five undergraduate students without any previous experimental history of instrumental conditioning were exposed to two experimental sessions. In the Session 1, correlation between contingencies description responses and problem solving responses was established. The Session 2 was similar to Experiment 1, but the contingencies arrangement was not the same used in the Session 1. Data analysis showed correlation between informative responses and description and problem solving responses in the Session 1, when the participants responses were not under contingency control of the Session 2. Moreover, when the responses were under contingencies control of the Session 2, they were related to them. The experiments 1 and 2 provide empirical evidencies of the correlation between observable events and private events. The results of both experiments also give consent for the establishment of experimental usage conditions of the term “private event” by means of controlling variable detection.