Sie sind auf Seite 1von 23

The Behavior Analyst 1988, 11, 181-203 No.

2 (Fall)

Rule-Governed Behavior and Behavioral Anthropology


Richard W. Malott
Western Michigan University
According to cultural materialism, cultural practices result from the materialistic outcomes of those
practices, not from sociobiological, mentalistic, or mystical predispositions (e.g., Hindus worship cows
because, in the long run, that worship results in more food, not less food). However, according to behavior
analysis, such materialistic outcomes do not reinforce or punish the cultural practices, because such
outcomes are too delayed, too improbable, or individually too small to directly reinforce or punish the
cultural practices (e.g., the food increase is too delayed to reinforce the cow worship). Therefore, the
molar, materialistic contingencies need the support ofmolecular, behavioral contingencies. And according
to the present theory of rule-governed behavior, the statement of rules describing those molar, materialistic
contingencies can establish the needed molecular contingencies. Given the proper behavioral history,
such rule statements combine with noncompliance to produce a learned aversive condition (often labeled
fear, anxiety, or guilt). The termination of this aversive condition reinforces compliance, just as its
presentation punishes noncompliance (e.g., the termination of guilt reinforces the tending to a sick cow).
In addition, supernatural rules often supplement these materialistic rules. Furthermore, the production
of both materialistic and supernatural rules needs cultural designers who understand the molar, materi-
alistic contingencies.
Key words: rule-governed behavior, behavioral anthropology, radical behaviorism, cultural materialism

We may be at the right place at the and examples, such as the Hindu beef
right time to take part in the evolution taboo, the universal incest taboo, and
of a new interdisciplinary effort-behav- prestate warfare. As the beginning of an
ioral anthropology, the analysis of cul- answer, I will suggest that rule-governed
ture in terms of the principles of behav- behavior plays a major role in the evo-
ior. As this issue of The Behavior Analyst lution and maintenance of these cultural
bears witness, several behavior analysts patterns (Glenn, 1987, makes a similar
have shown an interest in anthropology, suggestion). By culture, I mean, socially
mainly in the materialistic cultural an- acquired values and repertoires or, as
thropology ofMarvin Harris (also Lloyd, Harris (1983) puts it, "the learned, so-
1985; Malagodi, 1986; Stoutimore, 1986; cially acquired traditions and lifestyles of
Vargas, 1985). And at least one anthro- the members of a society, including their
pologist has shown an interest in behav- patterned, repetitive ways of thinking,
ior analysis-Marvin Harris (1986, May). feeling, and acting (i.e., behaving)" (p. 5).
I think the general goal of behavioral This article will address the following
anthropology should be to answer the issues: (1) the evolution and maintenance
question: How do we explain the evo- of the Hindu beef taboo, from a tradi-
lution and maintenance of cultures, in tional anthropological view, from Har-
terms of the behavioral contingencies ris's cultural-materialistic view, from a
acting on the individual? I will illustrate traditional behavioral view, and finally
this question with a few of Harris's fa- from a radical behavioral view with an
vorite "riddles of culture"-paradoxes emphasis on rule-governed behavior; (2)
other examples supporting a radical be-
havioral analysis of the evolution of cul-
I completed this manuscript while on sabbatical
ture; (3) further applications of behav-
leave as a visiting scholar in the Department of ioral analysis to an understanding of the
Psychology at the University of Victoria. I would materialistic basis ofreligion; (4) whether
like to thank Maria Emma Garcia, Joseph Parsons, cultural designers are necessary; (5)
and Ernest Vargas for their helpful feedback, based whether behavioral anthropologists are
on earlier drafts of this article. Send requests for necessary, and (6) Harris's conceptual
reprints to Richard W. Malott, Department of Psy-
chology, Western Michigan University, Kalama- structure as viewed from a radical be-
zoo, MI 49008-5052. havioral perspective.
181
182 RICHARD W. MALOTT

THE MAINTENANCE OF is the number one cause of India's hunger


CULTURE: THE SACRED COW and poverty.... And an economist from
A Traditional Anthropological the University of Pennsylvania stated in
Analysis 1971 that India has thirty million un-
productive cows" (p. 7).
Much academic study of religion and Thus a traditional anthropological
culture seems to be designed to show that, analysis suggests that strongly held reli-
although scientists may think they un- gious values generate materialistically ir-
derstand the physical world, there are rational cultures such as the culture of
some things scientists will never be able the sacred cow.
to "put in their test tubes": the human
mind, the human spirit, the universal A Cultural Materialistic Analysis
mystical forces. As Harris (1974) says,
Ours is an age that claims to be the victim of an On the other hand, Harris (1974),
overdose of intellect. In a vengeful spirit, scholars sounding more like a systems analyst than
are busily at work trying to show that science and my stereotype of an anthropologist, points
reason cannot explain variations in human life- to the following materialistic benefits of
styles.... We have been taught to value elaborate owning a cow: A cow is "a factory for
"spiritualized" explanations of cultural phenomena making oxen" (p. 10). A cow is a factory
more than down-to-earth ones. (pp. 1-2)
for making manure for fertilizer, for heat,
Many anthropologists claim that their and as part of a flooring material. "In-
subject matter is "world views, symbols, dia's cattle annually excrete about 700
values, religions, philosophies, and sys- million tons of recoverable manure" (p.
tems of meanings" (Harris, 1983, p. 326). 13). A cow is the poor farmer's life in-
They tend to value more the myths and surance.
legends of a culture than the activities of The dry and barren cow may be a last
the participants in that culture. "Each desperate defense against the money-
lifestyle comes wrapped in myths and lenders. There is always the chance that
legends that draw attention to impracti- a favorable monsoon may restore the vig-
cal or supernatural conditions" (Harris, or of even the most decrepit specimen
1974, p. 3). To the extent that those ad- and that she will fatten up, calve, and
vocating a traditional approach consider start giving milk again (p. 14). The ox is
behavior, it is to emphasize the irrational also life insurance: "When an ox falls sick,
actions of human beings as being evi- a poor farmer is in danger of losing his
dence of the expression of the human farm" (p. 10).
spirit or of the individualistic or cultural Harris (1974) then argues that the sa-
personality that underlies those actions cred cow is not only an effective life-sup-
("you know how those Indians are"). port system but a cost-effective one as
They consider thought, human spirit, and well: The cows mainly eat "inedible by-
personality to be something above and products of human food crops" (p. 19).
beyond action or behavior and not re- So keeping a few absolutely useless older
ducible to those baser elements. cows is a small price to pay (p. 16). Even
For example, Harris (1974) presents the so, not that many are kept, because
traditional view of the Hindu taboo on slaughterhouses do exist to sell beef to
cow slaughter: non-Hindus (p. 18). Furthermore, the
The picture of a ragged farmer starving to death farmers judge 30% of the female cattle
alongside a big fat cow conveys a reassuring sense (young calves and old cows) not to be
of mystery to Western observers. . . . Westerners cost-effective; the farmers then "acciden-
find the idea that there might be a practical expla- tally" allow them to die (p. 23). And those
nation for Hindu love of cow more upsetting than cattle that do not die in the slaughter-
Hindus do. (p. 6)
houses manage to end up, cost-effective-
The high reinforcer value of the irra- ly, on the plates of low-ranking castes
tional may be why, as Harris (1974) points "whose members have the right to dis-
out, many experts claim, "cow worship pose of the bodies of dead cattle" (p. 17).
RULE-GOVERNED BEHAVIOR, BEHAVIORAL ANTHROPOLOGY 183
As a final utilitarian surprise, Harris tells loss of the traction animal or the bovine
us that "despite cow love, India manages factory for producing traction animals,
to have a huge leathercraft industry" (p. fertilizer, fuel, flooring, and milk. So this
18). might appear to be a simple example of
Some fundamentals of cultural mate- punishment by the removal of reinforc-
rialism. The preceding analysis illus- ers (response cost).
trates the fundamental principle of cul- According to this traditional behavior
tural materialism: Cultural practices tend analysis, the natural outcomes of cultural
to result from materialistic causes. To practices reinforce or punish those prac-
elaborate: Practices will be more likely to tices and thus determine the mainte-
survive if they aid the survival of the nance of those practices. This traditional
group. And practices will aid the survival analysis argues that the contingencies de-
of the group if those practices are cost- scribed by cultural materialism are the
effective producers of essential material straightforward, direct-acting contingen-
goods, or if they support practices that cies of operant conditioning.
are cost-effective producers of essential
material goods. "Cultural evolution, like A Radical Behavioristic Analysis
biological evolution, has (up to now at
least) taken place through opportunistic Before doing an analysis of the culture
changes that increase benefits and lower of the sacred cow from a point of view
costs to individuals" (Harris, 1980, p. 61). of radical behaviorism, we need to con-
So materialistic outcomes determine sider, in some detail, the problem of de-
the basis of culture even though "each layed outcomes, rule-governed behavior
lifestyle comes wrapped in myths and and its relation to delayed outcomes, the
legends that draw attention to impracti- types of contingencies involved, and the
cal or supernatural conditions" (Harris, importance of knowledge of those con-
1974, p. 3). tingencies.
The problem with delayed outcomes.
A Traditional Behavior Analysis The traditional behavior analysis of the
culture of the sacred cow overlooks one
I believe Harris has made a plausible crucial issue-a feature of the contingen-
analysis of the sacred cow phenomenon cies involving the natural reinforcers
in terms of the fundamentals of cultural contingent on rearing the cattle and the
materialism. Now the question is, how natural penalties contingent on killing
do we explain the maintenance of the cul- them. Those reinforcers and penalties are
ture of the sacred cow, in terms of the almost always too delayed to reinforce or
behavioral contingencies acting on the punish the causal actions-that is, those
individual human being? reinforcers and penalties are not in-
At first glance, the answer might seem volved in direct-acting contingencies. For
simple. The cultural practices of raising example, consider the following reinforc-
and protecting cattle are nothing but a set ers: fertilizer, fuel, flooring, milk, off-
of behaviors, and these behaviors all tend spring, and plowed fields; those reinforc-
to produce more reinforcers and fewer ers are contingent on the acts of tending
aversive outcomes for the practitioners. the cattle, but the presentation of those
These behaviors of raising and protecting reinforcers usually follows that tending
cattle produce traction animals essential by anywhere from several minutes to
for the production of grain; and they pro- several months.
duce fertilizer, fuel, flooring material, An increasing number of behavior an-
milk, and ultimately meat and leather. alysts agree that such delays are too great
So this might appear to be a simple ex- to reinforce the acts of tending. (See Ma-
ample of reinforcement by the presen- lott & Garcia, in press, for a review of
tation of reinforcers. the literature on delayed behavior con-
What happens to the behavior of kill- sequences.) As Michael (1984) notes,
ing cattle? That behavior results in the "Whenever our behavior is affected by
184 RICHARD W. MALOTT

consequences that occur more than a few A rule can be in the form of a simple
seconds after the behavior and where verbal description (Skinner's tact [1957,
bridging stimuli are not present, the effect chap. 5])-"If you touch that stove...."
cannot generally be interpreted as the di- Or the rule can be in the form of a sug-
rect result of the consequences" (p. 1 18). gestion, request, set of instructions, or
Furthermore, Michael (1986) points demand (Skinner's mand [1957, chap.
out that we should not appeal to stimu- 3])-"Tell that joke to Jim... ." In this
lus-response chaining in an effort to ac- latter case of the mand, the statement
count for the control of delayed conse- usually implies some additional behav-
quences. Such an appeal assumes there ioral contingency supporting compliance
is a reliably repeated, uninterrupted chain with the rule; for example, that addition-
of stimuli and responses connecting the al contingency might involve social ap-
response of concern to the delayed con- proval by the person who made the state-
sequence of concern. But this is not like- ment. Both types of rules are relevant to
ly. our analysis of culture; however, the gen-
A similar critique applies to the use of eral analysis is much the same for both
the concept of punishment by the re- types, so I will make little further dis-
moval of reinforcers in the analysis of the tinction between them.
low frequency of the killing of cattle. So Rule-governed behavior is the behavior
it does not seem likely that this set of specified by the rule that occurs as a result
cultural practices is a result ofthe operant of the statement of that rule. In trying to
conditioning of its components using determine why the rule governs the be-
natural, materialistic contingencies. havior, behavior analysts generally point
Rule-governed behavior and delayed to the rule's function as a discriminative
outcomes. Instead of treating the mate- stimulus; but I find to be crucial the rule's
rialistic cultural contingencies as direct- overlooked role as an establishing oper-
acting contingencies ofreinforcement and ation (Michael, 1982). (We will soon re-
punishment, I propose that the sacred cow turn to this issue.)
phenomenon consists of a culture pre- Michael (1984) has also stressed the
scribed by a set of rules. importance of rules in dealing with de-
Most of the radical behavioral analyses layed outcomes:
in this article make use of the behavioral
concept of rule. A few comments about Within the last ten years it has become increasingly
the concept seem in order before dealing clear that much human behavior is rule governed
with the analysis itself. rather than contingency shaped. Whenever our be-
havior is affected by consequences that occur more
than a few seconds after the behavior and where
By rule I mean a verbal description of a behavioral bridging stimuli are not present, the effect cannot
contingency. For example, "If you touch that stove generally be interpreted as the direct result of the
when it's hot, you'll burn yourself," or "Tell that consequence, but is probably related to our ability
joke to Jim, he'll like it." A behavioral contingency to generate and to be affected by descriptions of
consists of a response, an outcome, and a discrim- contingencies. (p. 118)
inative stimulus in the presence of which the re-
sponse will produce that outcome. For example, in Let me emphasize one crucial qual-
the presence of a hot stove, touching that stove will ification. Many behavior analysts talk as
produce an aversive burn. Or in the presence of a
receptive audience, telling a joke will produce a if rules describing contingencies that are
rewarding laugh. not direct-acting exert perfect control,
This definition is only a slight extension of Skin- once the person knows the rule. I am not
ner's 1969 formulation.... Although Skinner (1969) among that group of behavior analysts.
discusses rules merely as "contingency-specifying We need a prerequisite repertoire and set
stimuli" (e.g., p. 157), his examples all involve ver-
bal stimuli. Therefore, they seem in keeping with of values that are hard to come by-so
the present spirit of not considering simple, non- hard that no one whom I have had the
verbal stimuli as rules. For example, we would not opportunity to observe for more than five
consider an example of a rule to be the green key minutes seems to have acquired that rep-
light associated with the opportunity for reinforce-
ment of the key-peck response in the operant test ertoire to a 90% reliability level. All peo-
chamber. (Malott, 1982, in press) ple lose their rule governance some of the
RULE-GOVERNED BEHAVIOR, BEHAVIORAL ANTHROPOLOGY 185
time, and some people lose their rule gov- will no longer be able to leave that par-
ernance all the time. ticular gas jet on again. A delayed, ma-
I think the prerequisite repertoire and terialistic outcome has affected the fre-
values include: effective control by fa- quency of future responses of leaving on
miliar rules stated by others; effective the gas stove. But that outcome has done
control by novel rules stated by others; a so by preventing the opportunity for fu-
high probability that the person's per- ture responses. This change in behavior
formance will evoke accurate and timely is no more a change in repertoire or val-
self-evaluation; a high probability that the ues than would occur if we took a rat out
self-evaluation will evoke automatic or of the test chamber at the end of the ses-
self-delivered reinforcement or punish- sion and noted that, once outside the
ment, as appropriate; effective reinforc- chamber, it no longer pressed the lever.
ers and aversive conditions for that au- (On the other hand, if the formerly neg-
tomatic or self-delivered reinforcement ligent home owner did become reliably
or punishment; and the timely evocation more conscientious in a future home,
of the self-statement of appropriate rules. when the opportunity to make the dev-
These skills and values are all linked to- astating response was again present, I
gether in a precarious chain of necessary would suspect rule-governed behavior
prerequisites, in which a momentary had come into the picture. If the home
weakness in any one link will cause the owner were a languageless chimpanzee,
entire chain to break (see Malott, in press, with no rule-governed behavior, I doubt
for more details). if he or she would profit from the unfor-
One might raise the following objec- tunate experience-I doubt if the home
tion to the notion that the rule is always owner would become more conscien-
needed with delayed outcomes: Suppose tious.)
a delayed, aversive outcome always fol- Types of contingencies and their im-
lows a particular response. Then the portance for rule control. There are two
stimuli that response immediately pro- general types of behavioral contingen-
duces would become learned aversive cies-those that are direct-acting and
stimuli. And those stimuli would auto- those that are not. Contingencies that are
matically punish that response. This ob- direct-acting involve outcomes that are
jection would be relevant, if we were in- sufficiently immediate, probable, and
deed punishing the behavior. But I am sizable as to reinforce or punish the pre-
suggesting that punishment does not oc- ceding, causal response (e.g., the deli-
cur when the contingent aversive stim- cious taste of ice cream made from the
ulus follows the causal response by a long milk of the sacred cow would reinforce
interval. Similarly, I suggest that the the eating of that ice cream).
stimuli immediately produced by the re- Those contingencies that are not di-
sponse do not become learned aversive rect-acting involve outcomes that are
stimuli when there is that large delay be- either too delayed, too improbable, or
tween those response-produced stimuli too small, though they may be of cu-
and the aversive outcome. So we still need mulative significance (e.g., the harmful
rules, if delayed outcomes are to control effects of each individual bite of that ice
our behavior. cream are too small to punish that bite).
True, delayed outcomes can some- There are also two types of contingencies
times change the frequency of the causal that are not direct-acting-those that are
response without the intervention of rule indirect-acting and those that are inef-
governance. But I think such changes are fective in controlling behavior (of course,
not examples of changes in repertoire. direct-acting contingencies are also effec-
For example, suppose a person acciden- tive).
tally leaves on the gas stove without light- I assume that indirect-acting contin-
ing it. And suppose that after the person gencies must control behavior through
leaves home, an electric spark ignites the other contingencies that are, themselves,
gas and blows up the house. The person direct-acting. Aside from direct, social
186 RICHARD W. MALOTT
intervention, there are two types of in- delay of the outcome does not make it
direct-acting contingencies- those de- hard for us to follow rules. For example,
scribed by rules that are easy to follow we will have no trouble putting a frozen
and those described by rules that are hard turkey in the microwave, even though it
to follow. must cook there for a considerable time
Rules that are easy to follow describe before it is done. We need not make an
contingencies involving outcomes that are especially impressive display of self-
probable and sizable, though those out- management to cope with that 3-hour de-
comes may be delayed (e.g., "If you don't lay.
take your calf to market today, you won't Rules that are hard to follow describe
be able to sell it until next week, and contingencies involving outcomes that are
you'll need the money before then"). I either improbable or small (and of only
assume that the rule statement combines cumulative significance). Let us first con-
with the farmer's momentary noncom- sider rules specifying contingencies with
pliance to set up a learned aversive con- small but cumulatively significant out-
dition (often called guilt, shame, a sense comes. Such rules are hard to follow, re-
of sinfulness, or fear). Of course, the es- gardless of whether those outcomes are
tablishment of this learned aversive con- immediate or delayed (e.g., if you read
dition requires a history of aversive stim- those difficult and tedious textbooks on
ulation having been paired with animal husbandry, you will be able to
noncompliance with stated rules. I fur- help your fellow farmers breed better
ther assume that, in the present case, the cows). Such contingencies often involve
direct-acting contingency involves some- no deadlines (i.e., limited holds) and thus
thing like automatic reinforcement from allow for procrastination.
the compliance-contingent reduction of As another example, we have trouble
that aversive stimulation. This reduction following health rules (e.g., daily dental
of an aversive condition is like the re- flossing). Why? Again, not because the
duction in the guilt or fear that reinforces outcome is too delayed; depending on
your finally getting around to grading how negligent we have been, we may im-
those term papers. (For additional com- mediately remove some plaque with each
ments on the behavioral history of pun- stroke of the floss. We have trouble only
ishment that establishes the aversive because the outcome is too small; its val-
conditions of guilt, shame, a sense of sin- ue is only of cumulative significance. The
fulness, and fear, and for comments on outcome from one stroke of floss, or an
their role in social control, see Skinner's entire session's strokes, is too small to
analyses [1953, pp. 187-188, 235, 325, reinforce flossing. Only weeks or months
337, and 361].) (I should point out that of daily flossing keep the teeth clean
the reinforcing reduction of an aversive enough for long enough to have an ap-
condition that I have been assuming is preciable effect on the amount of peri-
often called negative reinforcement, odontal disease.
though I will avoid this terminology be- These contingencies have only small,
cause it seems to confuse all but the hap- though cumulatively significant, out-
py few; and perhaps such terminology comes. For them to control behavior,
plays a small role in preventing the happy even indirectly, they need the support of
few from becoming the satisfied many.) a rule describing an additional contin-
Even though most writers analyze the gency; and that rule must be of the easy-
problems of self-control in terms of de- to-follow variety (e.g., "If you don't get
layed outcomes (e.g., delayed gratifica- your cow inoculated today, you will def-
tion), I think such an analysis misses the initely be the recipient of a sizable su-
real problem. True, delayed outcomes pernatural outcome that you will have
mean that the contingency will not be wished you had not received"). Here is
direct-acting; that is, the contingency will what I assume is the reason this super-
not reinforce or punish the response that natural rule is easy to follow: Its state-
produced that delayed outcome. But the ment, describing the additional contin-
RULE-GOVERNED BEHAVIOR, BEHAVIORAL ANTHROPOLOGY 187
gency, establishes an effective aversive come of each bite of beef or even each
condition; the person can then escape this meal of beef is too small to effectively
aversive condition by complying with the punish beef eating. (Figure 1 shows the
supernatural rule; and this escape re- hierarchical relation among these con-
sponse just happens to be the one that cepts.)
has the desirable materialistic outcome- Ofchief concern to the present analysis
for example, the cow finally gets inocu- is the assumption that whenever an in-
lated. direct-acting contingency effectively con-
Now let us briefly consider rules spec- trols behavior, a direct-acting contingen-
ifying contingencies that have improba- cy is hiding some place in the background
ble outcomes. We have trouble following doing the real work. (For more detailed
safety rules (e.g., buckling up). Why? Not discussions of the contingencies sup-
because the outcome is too delayed; we porting rule-governed behavior, see Ma-
might be injured as soon as we back out lott, 1984, 1986, in press.)
of our garage. We have trouble only be- Does the individual need knowledge of
cause the outcome is too improbable. the contingencies?Note that I am not say-
State seat-belt laws greatly increase buck- ing we must have knowledge of direct-
ling up by increasing the probability of acting contingencies (the contingencies of
an aversive outcome for noncompliance; reinforcement and punishment) for those
this buckling up occurs, even though the contingencies to control our behavior. As
size of that aversive event (a small fine Skinner (1974) points out, "We do not
and a few points on our driver's record) need to describe contingencies of rein-
is much less than the permanent injury forcement to be affected by them. Lower
or death involved in the natural contin- organisms presumably do not do so, nor
gencies with their extremely low proba- did the human species before it acquired
bilities. verbal behavior" (p. 141).
The ineffective contingency is the sec- An early, human-operant, laboratory
ond type of contingency that is not direct- example is the study by Hefferline, Kee-
acting. (The first type was indirect-act- nan, and Hartford (1956). They condi-
ing.) Though ineffective contingencies tioned an invisibly small, covert thumb
may involve important outcomes, they twitch by turning off an aversive noise or
can fail to control behavior for two rea- postponing that noise, whenever their
sons: human subjects twitched a thumb ever
One reason can be that no rule exists so slightly. The subjects were completely
to describe the ineffective contingency. unaware of what was going on-no
No one is aware of the contingency (e.g., knowledge, no rules; just pure, preverbal,
100 years ago, no one was aware of the animal-like conditioning (i.e., they could
relation between eating a well-fed sacred not describe the contingencies of rein-
cow and the buildup of cholesterol). forcement, when later asked to do so).
The second reason for ineffective con- But the experimenters were only able to
tingencies can be that the contingency is do this conditioning because occasion-
described by a rule that is hard to follow ally a thumb twitch immediately turned
and no easy-to-follow rule supports it off the noise. If there had been a 3-hour
(e.g., "Each bite of the sacred cow paints delay between the response and the de-
a minuscule but cumulatively lethal livery of the reinforcer (noise off), they
amount of plaque on your arteries, and would not have gotten the increased fre-
God doesn't care"). Note that this par- quency of thumb twitches. (I am using
ticular rule happens to be of the tact rath- awareness of a stimulus or event in the
er than the mand variety. Incidentally, sense of being able to tact or verbally
this rule would be hard to follow, even describe that stimulus or event [Malott,
without the contingencies of reinforce- General, & Snapper, 1973, chap. 6; Ma-
ment for beef eating implied in Mc- lott & Whaley, 1976, chap. 22; Skinner,
Donald's advertisements; it would be 1974, pp. 220-221] and I am using
hard simply because the harmful out- knowledge and awareness as rough syn-
188 RICHARD W. MALOTT

|Continrg end es

|Direct-Acting ||Not Direct-Acfing |

IncIlrect-Acing Ineffective

Hard-to-Follow Rules Hard-to-Fdlow Rules


Easy-to-Follow Rules Supplemented by No Rule Exists NOT Supplemented by
Easy-to-Fdlow Rules Easy-to-Follow Rules

Figure 1. The relationship between terms used to analyze rule-governed behavior.

onyms [see Skinner, 1974, chap. 9, for Suppose a Hindu farmer finds himself
various uses of the term knowledge].) tending his cattle less than the cultural
But we do need the immediate delivery rules recommend, and suppose he states
of some reinforcing or aversive condition those rules for the tending of the sacred
for our behavior to be controlled. So when cows. Then, given the proper behavioral
the materialistic contingency does not history, the combination of his neglect
provide that immediate delivery, we do and the statement of the rules will gen-
need an awareness of rules, either ma- erate the learned aversive condition often
terialistic, social, or supernatural. The called guilt, shame, a sense of sinfulness,
statement of those rules acts as a moti- or fear; taking proper care of his cattle
vating operation that establishes an aver- will reduce this learned aversive condi-
sive condition whose termination will tion; and that reduction of aversiveness
reinforce compliance and whose presen- will reinforce his compliance with the
tation will punish noncompliance. cow-care rules.
Rule-governed behavior and the sacred In an analogous manner, compliance
cow. With the preceding extensive back- with rules prohibiting the killing of cattle
ground in rule-governed behavior, we are is maintained through punishment of
now ready to consider the sacred cow in noncompliance by the presentation of an
more detail. The rules of the culture of aversive condition, again, like guilt or
the sacred cow might specify materialis- fear.
tic outcomes; for example, "If you kill For both sorts of rules, failure to com-
your oxen during the drought, you won't ply generates the aversive condition of
be able to plow your fields when the rains guilt or fear, because in the past, such
finally do come." However, to the extent failures have been paired with the threat
that the cow is a sacred cow and not just of materialistic, social, or supernatural
a materialistic cow, the rules must specify sanctions for failure to comply. The
supernatural outcomes; for example, "If promise of materialistic, social, or su-
you kill your oxen during the drought or pernatural rewards may also help to sup-
any other time, for that matter, your next port compliance; however, that support
few reincarnations will be less than de- may simply be in the form of the en-
sirable." hancement of the aversiveness of non-
Those rules consist of two sorts, rules compliance: if you do not comply, you
prescribing actions, such as the proper will lose the opportunity to collect those
tending of the cow, and rules prohibiting promised rewards.
actions, such as the killing of the cow. Another way to stress the importance
RULE-GOVERNED BEHAVIOR, BEHAVIORAL ANTHROPOLOGY 189
of rules is to point out the low probability this radical behavioral analysis of the
that the sacred cow would stand a chance maintenance of the sacred cow: The nat-
in a nonverbal culture, that is, one with- ural, materialistic contingencies are not
out rule-governed behavior. The cow direct-acting (i.e., they are based on out-
would soon be either neglected or led to comes that are too delayed to reinforce
slaughter, regardless of any long-range, the tending of the cow and also too de-
materialistic benefits that might follow layed to punish the killing of the cow).
from keeping it alive. Therefore, direct-acting contingencies of
Now the traditional behavior analyst reinforcement and punishment must also
might make the following counterargu- be present. Those direct-acting contin-
ment, in an effort to downplay the im- gencies result from the statement (often
portance of verbal behavior and its re- a self-statement) of rules specifying prop-
sultant rule control: Nonverbal animals er behavior pertaining to the cow. Those
seem to find it aversive to part with their rules act as motivating or establishing op-
food; for example, try taking a sacred- erations, setting up learned aversive con-
cow bone away from Rover. Perhaps this ditions that reinforce rule compliance and
suggests that nonverbal animals would punish noncompliance. These learned
also not slaughter sacred cows and, there- aversive conditions probably result from
fore, such cultural practices do not need a history of punishment for failure to
the support of rule control. But Rover's comply with certain general classes of
refusal to share a few chews of the sacred- rules. Most often, that punishment would
cow bone does not suggest that he himself be socially mediated; for example, by the
would refrain from the chewing. Thus we parents of children as the children ac-
should not take Rover's frustration-in- quire rule-governed behavior.
duced aggression as evidence for the pos- The traditional analysis is most com-
sibility of a nonverbal culture of the sa- patible with the philosophical position
cred cow. known as methodological behaviorism,
The traditional behavior analyst might with its abhorrence of inferences of pri-
also make this argument against the need vate events. I call the present analysis a
for rules: Good nonverbal experiences radical behavioral analysis, because ofits
with one's cows can establish those cows reliance on the self-statement of rules and
as learned reinforcers. So the threat of automatic reinforcement by the reduc-
loss of the cows would be too aversive to tion of learned aversive conditions.
bear, even without rule control. But, in However, not all who consider them-
spite of the most tender of nonverbal ex- selves radical behaviorists would be as
periences between young 4-H members willing to assign so important a causal
and their prize steers, after the livestock role to private events in their natural sci-
judging contest, they proudly sell those ence. (For more discussion of these phil-
pets for slaughter, albeit with an occa- osophical issues, see Malott and Garcia,
sional tear. Even with such tender rela- in press.)
tions, we do not have an optimistic pic- In a related analysis, Glenn (1986) says,
ture of the fate of the sacred cow in a "Verbal behavior provides a critical link
nonverbal culture-one deprived of the between contingencies and metacontin-
benefits of rule control. gencies [the molar contingencies of cul-
Incidentally, the cultural rules usually tural materialism].... Verbal behavior
specify outcomes that are also too de- in the form of rules bridges the gap be-
layed to reinforce compliance or punish tween behavior and long-term conse-
noncompliance, regardless of whether quences" (p. 3). But be careful not to take
those outcomes are materialistic, social, the gap-bridging metaphor to mean that
or supernatural. So the outcomes speci- the person mediates between the re-
fied by the rules are not usually the ones sponse and its delayed reinforcer by stat-
that reinforce compliance and punish ing rules to himself or herself during the
noncompliance. delay. I argue that, even with rules, the
Let me summarize and amplify slightly delayed reinforcer never reinforces the
190 RICHARD W. MALOTT
relevant, causal response. Instead, the rule or at least will come closer to doing so.
statement establishes the stimuli associ- (Perhaps instead, we should say the ma-
ated with noncompliance as an aversive terialistic benefits to the influential, pow-
condition; and a reduction ofthose aver- erful subgroups determine the culture's
sive stimuli in turn reinforces compli- practices, even when those practices may
ance, while an increment in those aver- be harmful to the larger group. Harris
sive stimuli punishes noncompliance. [1985] makes that point: "In market
economies such as the United States, good
THE EVOLUTION OF CULTURE: to eat may mean good to sell, regardless
THE SACRED COW of the nutritional consequence" [p. 16].
A Cultural Materialistic Analysis "Long before there were kings, capital-
ists, or dictators, lopsided allocations of
Harris (1985, chap. 3) presents a his- costs to women and children and of ben-
tory of the evolution of the culture of the efits to men and adults were not uncom-
sacred cow: The population had grown mon" [p. 17]. "In beef-eating nations like
and the land had been depleted to the Mexico and Brazil, . . . beef cattle are
point where the population had exceeded now eating better than from one-third to
the carrying capacity of the environment. one-half of the people at the bottom of
The people would have to make more the social pyramid" [p. 64].)
efficient use of their land, if they were to
support their growing numbers. That A Traditional Behavior Analysis
meant they would have to use their land Now the question is: How do we ex-
to produce crops for direct human con- plain this evolution of the culture of the
sumption, rather than first running those sacred cow, in terms of the behavioral
crops through cattle and then eating the contingencies acting on the individual
cattle. However, "the priviledged Brah- human being? Again, at first glance, the
mans and Kshatriyas continued to answer might seem simple. A traditional
slaughter cattle and gorge themselves on analysis suggests that the culture of the
beef long after it was impossible to invite
sacred cow evolved in the same way as
ordinary people to share in their good the cow herself evolved-through ran-
fortune" (p. 53). And "to obtain cattle dom mutations, though here the muta-
for their gluttonous feasts, . . . taxation,
tions would be cultural, not biological.
confiscation, or other coercive measures The traditional analysis suggests that the
would have been necessary once the contingencies of cultural materialism took
peasants were unable or unwilling to do- those random mutations and, through re-
nate surplus animals to the temples" (p. inforcement, punishment, and extinc-
5 5). At that time, many different religious
tion, shaped the cost-effective culture of
leaders developed popular religions with the sacred cow, just as the contingencies
rules prohibiting the killing and thus theinvolving a full bucket of milk shape the
eating of cattle, and those "nonkilling re-
skilled milking of that cow. In other
ligions had great mass appeal" (p. 55). words, a traditional behavioral analysis
They appealed to the masses whose few suggests that random behavioral muta-
remaining cattle were being eaten by the tions are shaped through differential re-
elite. and extinction
As we saw, the materialistic analysis based on the punishment,
inforcement,
materialistic contingencies
of the maintenance of culture is this: A described by cultural materialism.
culture's practices tend to be those that
result in materialistic benefits for the A Radical Behavioristic Analysis
group. So a materialistic analysis of the
evolution of culture is that a culture The materialistic contingencies of cul-
evolves when the environment changes tural materialism are not direct-acting. A
in such a way that the old practices will problem with the preceding traditional
no longer provide for the material needs behavior analysis is that the analysis does
of the group and the new practices will, not specify the behavioral contingencies
RULE-GOVERNED BEHAVIOR, BEHAVIORAL ANTHROPOLOGY 191
operating on the individual. In addition, culture ofthe sacred cow as the cows' sole
we have already seen that the materi- proprietors.
alistic contingencies are too delayed to The flippant tone of these metaphors
directly maintain the practices associated should not hide the great suffering and
with cow worship. And the acquisition of tragedy that accompanies most cultural
those practices may be even less appro- changes of this sort. Evolution is no less
priately understood in terms of direct re- painful than revolution, just more grad-
inforcement by the natural outcomes. ual.
This is so because, in comparison with The sacred cow followed rather than
maintenance of a repertoire, acquisition preceded forced vegetarianism. Harris's
of a repertoire is a more fragile process history suggests that materialistic con-
requiring maximally effective contingen- straints forced the culture of vegetari-
cies of reinforcement. anism on the masses of poor farmers. He
Furthermore, in contrast to the tradi- points out that only after vegetarianism
tional behavior analysis, I suggest that was well under way were the religious
the new cultural practices did not result prescriptions adjusted to these new ma-
from random mutation. A few poor terialistic practices. This adjustment came
farmers did not just happen to refuse to as various religious leaders actively pros-
give up their cattle. Instead, the farmers elytized those masses of poor farmers,
induced a materialistic rule: "If I give up those who had no cattle to spare for meat
my cattle, I'll be in serious trouble with on their own table, those who resented
my farm." Failure to comply with that their sole traction animal or their sole
and related materialistic rules must have source of milk being confiscated and
set up an aversive condition (e.g., fear, served as meat on the table of the priv-
anxiety, guilt) whose termination rein- ileged Brahman few. As Harris (1985)
forced proper care and preservation of puts it, "I have yet to encounter a flour-
the materialistic cow. I object to the ran- ishing religion whose food taboos make
dom cultural-mutation part of the ana- it more difficult for ordinary people to be
logues to biological evolution and oper- well nourished" (p. 87).
ant shaping. Instead, I suspect the cultural The reinforcement ofcow worship. The
change from carnivorism to vegetarian- sequence from materialistic practice to
ism resulted from conscious, planned, religion, in turn, suggests one reason for
rule-governed behavior from those who the evolution of new religions. It is a rein-
made the change. forcer to hear that our practices (e.g., de-
This does not mean the diet did not privation-enforced vegetarianism) not
change gradually, as the number of meat- only conform to the materialistic realities
less days per week evolved from none to of our current life but will also produce
seven. It does not mean complete vege- desirable outcomes in our later lives. It
tarianism was the ultimate, planned des- is also a reinforcer (escape from guilt or
tination of the earlier generations of fear) to no longer hear that those prac-
farmers who started down that road. And tices will get us in supernatural trouble,
it does not mean that those farmers who contrary to the warnings of a previous
failed to change their ways had no trouble religion. This would apply to the poor
surviving and producing sufficient de- farmer who cannot afford to sacrifice his
scendants to carry on their obsolete car- cow to the Brahmans, in keeping with his
nivorous tradition. old religion; he may find it a special rein-
Less adaptive biological mutations ex- forcer to hear that there is a Buddha who
tinguished, leaving the sacred zebu cow would even prefer that he not sacrifice
(the hardiest breed) to graze alone. Less the cow. And for many of us, it may be
productive milking responses extin- even more of a reinforcer to hear that the
guished, leaving an efficient response se- practices of our oppressors (e.g., confis-
quence. And the cultures of human car- cating our cattle) will produce undesir-
nivores, with their less effective practices, able outcomes in their later lives. As Har-
extinguished, leaving the members of the ris (1985) notes, "Religions gain strength
192 RICHARD W. MALOTT
when they help people make decisions Perhaps the control of proper cow care
which are in accord with preexisting use- gradually shifted from rules specifying
ful practices, but which are not so com- materialistic outcomes to those specify-
pletely self-evident as to preclude doubts ing supernatural outcomes. And perhaps
and temptations" (p. 77). the farmers need a little, though evidently
In addition, there is the Buddhist not too much, probing, before they can
equivalent of the Western hellfire and state the materialistic outcomes. But
brimstone; that equivalent is a less than Harris's analysis of the sly tactics the
optimal reincarnation. So we must re- farmers use to get rid of unwanted calves
member the additional reinforcement of suggests that those farmers are as much
the removal of the aversive condition of in touch with the materialistic rules as
hearing that one's nonparticipation in cow they are with the religious ones. The
worship is producing negative supernat- farmers may be like faculty members ar-
ural sanctions. Therefore, reinforcement guing in faculty meetings for increased
by the immediate presentation of rein- support for their programs, basing their
forcers and the immediate reduction of arguments on semireligious, semimysti-
aversive conditions directly maintains the cal appeals to the common good, but often
person's participation. quite aware of the materialistic benefits
The cow-worship culture and aware- that will come their personal way if their
ness ofthe materialistic molar contingen- program gets its requested support.
cies. What about the original religious de- Furthermore, even if by some quirk of
signers of the cow-worship culture? Were opacity, the materialistic rules were not
they also aware ofthe materialistic value apparent to Buddha, they have been ap-
of cow preservation? Did Buddha un- parent to at least one of the more recent
derstand? If he was in touch with his en- leaders. Harris (1985) quotes Mohandas
vironment well enough to generate such Gandhi as saying: "Why the cow was se-
a powerful religion, it seems plausible that lected for apotheosis is obvious to me.
he was also sufficiently in touch to un- The cow was in India the best compan-
derstand what every poor farmer under- ion. She was the giver of plenty. Not only
stood. did she give milk but she made agricul-
But such an insight by the religious ture possible" (p. 65).
leaders may not have been necessary, be- Summary of a radical behavioristic
cause the religion's popularity with the analysis. Consider both the maintenance
farmers probably resulted from its su- and the evolution of the materialistically
pernatural rationalization of existing cow- beneficial cultural practices of cow wor-
care practices; and that rationalization did ship. Those practices involve materialis-
not require materialistically sophisticat- tic contingencies that are too delayed to
ed religious leaders. reinforce or punish the practices of the
However, it would probably help the culture. So rules may govern those prac-
spread of such a religion if its designers tices. Furthermore, because of their com-
understood the basis of the reinforcer plexity and their opposition by other
value it had for the farmers- if the de- powerful concurrent contingencies (like
signers' actions were rule-governed. But those involving the taste of beef), it is
a contingency-controlled analysis may unlikely that those rules could have
also be plausible. For example, the im- evolved as a result of random cultural
mediate reactions of the audience might mutation. Therefore, they must have been
shape the verbal behavior of a religious developed by people who were quite
leader, without the leader's even being aware of the materialistic contingencies.
aware of the shaping process. Nonethe- Even when people now state the rules in
less, if successful men and women of the terms of supernatural, rather than ma-
cloth were cut from the same cloth then terialistic outcomes, the original devel-
as now, they were probably quite aware opers of those practices (the poor farmers)
of the reinforcing effects at least some of must have been aware of their materi-
their actions had on their followers. alistically beneficial outcomes. This
RULE-GOVERNED BEHAVIOR, BEHAVIORAL ANTHROPOLOGY 193
awareness must have been necessary (not However, even ifthe hunter can detect
merely helpful), because the natural con- the depletion of the harvestable animal
tingencies of reinforcement and punish- bio-mass within a few days of the onset
ment not only would not have generated of excessive hunting, that depletion of
such practices but would have worked resources will still be too delayed to pun-
against those practices. ish the excessive hunting of any individ-
More generally, consider the evolution ual or group of individuals. But that de-
of cultural practices involving contingen- pletion might not be too delayed to cause
cies with outcomes that are too delayed the hunters to generate rules about the
to reinforce or punish those practices. materialistic consequences of excessive
(Note that this need not apply to practices hunting.
involving contingencies with immediate So it does not seem likely that cultures
reinforcers and aversive stimuli.) At some that discourage intensification of pro-
point, there must be designers of those duction develop as a matter of random
cultural practices. Furthermore, those mutation that is then selected by the evo-
designers must be aware of the rules de- lutionary contingencies operating on the
scribing the materialistic contingencies group as a whole. At least, at the begin-
that are not direct-acting; otherwise those ning of those practices, leaders must have
contingencies will remain ineffective in known the materialistic rules. If the lead-
controlling the behavior of the members er's behavior had not been governed by
of that culture. Incidentally, this analysis the materialistic rules addressing the
does not preclude the possibility that the dangers of overhunting, they would have
designers of a particular-cultural practice had no reason to generate taboos for pre-
might consist of a large number of the venting overhunting. This is so because
members of that group, for example, all all the direct-acting contingencies and
the poor farmers who still had cows. more easy-to-follow rules would have
(Much of the remainder of this paper in- supported that overhunting.
volves other examples aimed at testing The aggressive bachelors. In discussing
the adequacy of this radical behavioristic the warring villages of the Amazon, Har-
analysis.) ris (1980) notes, "To encourage male ag-
gressiveness, wives are withheld from ju-
THE EVOLUTION OF CULTURE: nior males and awarded to dominant
OTHER EXAMPLES seniors" (p. 91). Now, I wonder if there
is the causal relation the sentence seems
Other Examples of Cultural Practices to imply.
with Delayed Outcomes Even if we assume that such a practice
Folk medicine and the taboo on eating does encourage male aggressiveness, and
cattle are cultural practices whose ma- even if we assume that such a practice
terialistic outcomes are often too delayed might help the survival of certain tribes
to reinforce those practices. This suggests that indulge in it, could the practice orig-
the importance of rule control not only inate as a result of random cultural mu-
for the maintenance of those practices, tation? Probably not. The hypothesized
but also for their evolution. Let us now resulting aggressiveness and increased ef-
consider some other examples. fectiveness of the young warriors would
be too delayed to directly reinforce the
The modest hunters withholding of the wives. At least origi-
nally, the practice might have been gov-
Hunters are active no more than one or two days erned by rules specifying the contingen-
a week; more frequent hunting under the goad of cies of group survival. Or the practice
big-man redistributors would gradually deplete the might have been governed by rules spec-
harvestable animal bio-mass. Hence hunter-gath- ifying some other materialistic out-
erer political-economic ideologies are more likely
to insist that the successful hunter be modest and comes, such as the benefit to the domi-
reticent about his productivity. (Harris, 1980, p. nant senior males of having less
81) competition for the wives; then its ben-
194 RICHARD W. MALOTT
efits to the survival of the tribe might each new generation from repeating the trials and
have been fortuitous. errors of past generations. (Harris, 1980, pp. 80-
81)
Prestate warfare probably does not regulate pop-
ulation through combat deaths but through its effect This is another interesting problem.
on the sex ratio, encouraging people to rear maxi- Are we simply talking about pure evo-
mum numbers of males and minimum numbers of lution by natural selection? Do those cul-
females. Thus prestate warfare occurs not simply tures that just happen to have an incest
as an aberration caused by the failure of the mode taboo therefore have a competitive ad-
of production to provide adequate subsistence-a
view of Marx ( 1937) surprisingly shared with Mal- vantage that makes them more likely to
thus. Warfare also occurs as a means of slowing survive and perpetuate similar cultures?
population growth, conserving resources, and It seems unlikely, because it is hard to
maintaining higher per capita levels of subsistence. imagine how these types of complex cul-
(Harris, 1980, p. 69) tural practices could start as a sort of ran-
Harris suggests that one of the reasons dom mutation (from earlier cultural
for prestate warfare is that it reduces pop- practices that were irrelevant to the long-
ulation growth or has reduced it in the range contingencies under consider-
past through the mechanism of selective ation). The reinforcer value of sexual
female infanticide. But the benefits of stimulation is too strong. Sexual reinfor-
population control are too delayed to cers would almost guarantee that we are
reinforce the acts of female infanticide, biologically programmed for incest. (That
not to mention the even more antecedent is why we must have such strong social
acts of committing war. So if its impact taboos and laws and why we still have
on female infanticide controls warring, problems with it.)
then the early leaders must have known But suppose incest avoidance did hap-
the rules describing the causal chain from pen to get started; would that abstinence
war to female infanticide to population continue because of reinforcement from
control to higher levels of subsistence. I the materialistic benefits it produces for
suspect that knowledge of such convo- the abstainers from incest? Or would that
luted causal sequences would be unlikely abstinence continue because of the pun-
without the help of exceptionally percep- ishment from the loss of materialistic
tive scholars, like Harris. benefits for the perpetrators of incest? I
However, it might be that those tribes doubt if either of those processes would
that have warfare will be more likely to maintain abstinence; their associated
survive because they have smaller pop- benefits and penalties are too delayed.
ulations as a result of their female infan- Such abstinence would still need the sup-
ticide. In this way we could explain the port of immediate contingencies of re-
existence of tribes that practice prestate inforcement and punishment. That may
warfare and its resultant female infanti- be why we have the establishment of
cide. But we would have to appeal to oth- rules -the incest taboos. The support the
er causes for the occurrence of the wars materialistic outcomes provide must be
themselves (e.g., the failure of the mode indirect, at best, because those rules of
of production). abstinence are of a religious, moral, su-
Incest taboos. Harris says the taboos pernatural nature, with little reference to
against incest originated with hunters and materialistic outcomes. That is, it may
gatherers who lived in small bands con- be easier to control someone's behavior
sisting of nuclear families and depended if you say, "You are going to hell if you
on "inter-band marital alliances" for a practice incest, even once." It may be
broader resource bank, for trading, and harder to prevent incest if you say, "In
for allies in time of war. the long run, each time you practice in-
cest you'll have a very small but cumu-
The investment of the incest taboo with so much latively significant negative effect on your
guilt, anxiety, and symbolism reflects deep anxiety
and ambivalence about the cost/benefits of incest; tribe's chances of survival."
hence the need for unquestionable "sacred" social (There is still a need for rule control
rules that cut through the ambivalence and prevent even though incest between immediate
RULE-GOVERNED BEHAVIOR, BEHAVIORAL ANTHROPOLOGY 195

family members produces an increased be unlikely to occur by chance (i.e., the


frequency ofstillborns, deformations, and operant level is low). Therefore, the nat-
other harmful traits, within one or two ural consequences of such preparations
generations. The delay is still too great could not reinforce the stimulus-re-
[9 months minimum] to punish incest.) sponse chains comprising those prepa-
So once again, the question is: Just how rations with sufficient frequency that the
did the rules prohibiting incest get estab- response-chains would be acquired. Their
lished in the first place? Were tribal lead- operant level might be so low that their
ers able to state the functional relation chance concoction would be as unlikely
between incest prohibition, interband as 1,000 monkeys sitting at 1,000 word
marriages, and interband cooperation, processors for 1,000 years concocting Be-
without the help of a professional sys- havior of Organisms. (Exceptions might
tems analyst? Did they then invent un- include the immediate analgesic effect of
challengeable sacred rules to control the a cut or burned finger contacting the juice
behavior of those whose abstinence would from an aloe vera plant.) In addition, the
be less controlled by the cumulatively materialistic contingencies are also in-
significant benefits to themselves and direct-acting for many practices of folk
their tribe? medicine, just as they are for modern,
At this early point in the evolution of scientific medicine.
behavioral anthropology, one of the con- Therefore, instead of resulting from the
tributions of radical behaviorism to the reinforcing materialistic contingencies,
enterprise is to point out problems of many practices of folk medicine must re-
analysis that seem to have been over- sult from their discovery by medicine
looked. And our understanding of the men who have systematically evaluated
function and importance of rule-gov- the effects of various plants (P. Brown,
erned behavior supports that contribu- personal communication, August 1984).
tion. So, like other cultural practices, at least
some folk medicine must also result from
The Problem of the Low Operant Level rule governance, rather than direct-act-
ing materialistic contingencies.
Thus far I have suggested that the ma-
terialistic contingencies for cultural prac- FURTHER COMMENTS ON THE
tices are often not direct-acting (i.e., they MATERIALISTIC BASIS
cannot reinforce those practices). Instead OF RELIGION
the practices are rule governed, though
those rules sometimes refer to supernat- We should distinguish between rein-
ural contingencies rather than materi- forcement that directly maintains a per-
alistic ones. There is one more reason son's participation in the ceremonies of
reinforcement by materialistic contin- a religion and the materialistic benefits
gencies would sometimes fail to account of that participation. I mentioned three
for the acquisition of cultural practices. reinforcement contingencies that main-
In many instances, the operant level of tain participation: (1) the reinforcement
the cultural practice is too low; in other from hearing that one's existing practices
words, the probability is too low that a will produce supernatural as well as ma-
cultural practice would arise by chance terialistic reinforcers, (2) the reinforce-
or for some irrelevant reason. And with- ment from no longer hearing that one's
out some divine shaper, that practice current practices are producing negative
would not occur often enough for the nat- supernatural sanctions, and (3) the re-
ural contingencies to reinforce that prac- inforcement from hearing that our ene-
tice with sufficient frequency to cause it mies are in supernatural trouble. So re-
to be acquired. ligious participation is maintained by
Folk medicine. Folk medicine might be reinforcement both by the immediate
a good example. For many folk remedies, presentation ofreinforcers and by the im-
their preparation is elaborate and would mediate reduction of aversive condi-
196 RICHARD W. MALOTT

tions. (On the other hand, note that, as a suggestion). This also means our
opposed to participation in a religion, churches might significantly impact on
compliance with the rules of that religion dental disease if they would invoke the
is generally maintained by only one type wrath of God (no matter how delayed)
of contingency-the escape contingen- for each failure to floss.
cy-reduction of the guilt or fear that the The buckle-up rule needs the support
religion has caused noncompliance to of divine intervention because its materi-
evoke.) alistic base involves an improbable out-
Yet what about the long-range materi- come-an accident. And the "if-you-got-
alistic benefits? What about the utilitar- 'em-floss-'em" rule needs that divine
ian notion that religions become popular support because its materialistic base in-
because they reduce doubt and tempta- volves outcomes that are small and of
tion, allowing the individual more con- only cumulative significance (i.e., any
sistently to act "in accord with preexist- single failure to floss does not matter; no
ing useful practices" (Harris, 1985, p. 77)? single failure will produce an appreciable
Is it possible that religious rules can con- increase in periodontal problems).
trol behavior more effectively than some You need not be a highly skilled in-
materialistic rules and that this more ef- trospective behavior analyst to predict
fective control helps account for reli- that we would get nearly 100% compli-
gion's popularity? ance with the buckle-up and flossing rules,
if it were certain that failure to comply
The Effectiveness of Religious Rules would result in a day's tending a blast
furnace in a steel mill in Gary, Indiana,
As I mentioned earlier, rules are hard no matter how delayed that day of reck-
to follow, if they specify outcomes that oning.
are improbable or small and of only cu- So religious rules may exert more ef-
mulative value. However, rules are easy fective control over the materialistically
to follow ifthey specify probable and siz- relevant behavior of the devout than will
able reinforcers or aversive conditions, the materialistic rules themselves. (Even
even if those outcomes may be delayed. with a fair amount of backsliding, reli-
Now materialistic rules are often hard to gious rules may generate this improved
follow because they specify improbable control.) Then can this more effective
or small outcomes. And for the true be- control help account for the popularity
liever, religious rules are often easy to of religion?
follow because they often specify out-
comes that are certain and sizable, though Why Is Religion so Popular?
delayed. Violations of religious rules usu-
ally result from ambiguity about the size I think religion's utility might not help
or certainty of the supernatural out- much to account for its popularity with
comes. Violators are usually not true, true the laity. I doubt if the average Indian
believers. So religion has materialistic farmer worships the cow because such
value to the extent that it allows for the worship will help him resist the temp-
substitution ofsupernatural rules that are tation of foolishly slaughtering that cow
easy to follow for materialistic rules that during hard times. He worships the cow
are hard to follow. because of the immediate reinforcement
This means we might have much less of thinking he will attain a desirable af-
death on the highways if our churches terlife and avoid an undesirable one. But
insisted that each failure to buckle up dis- the lack of conflict between the religious
pleases God and that God or a designated rules and obvious materialistic rules may
representative (e.g., St. Peter) keeps track prevent countercontrol developing in op-
of each rule violation and will ultimately position to those religious rules.
call each of those violations to our atten- However, religion's utility may ac-
tion, in a most aversive manner (e.g., one count for much of its popularity with so-
extra day in purgatory per violation -just cial planners and managers. But this
RULE-GOVERNED BEHAVIOR, BEHAVIORAL ANTHROPOLOGY 197
means the planners and managers must of cost-effectiveness and not problems of
know the importance of the materialistic public health or trichinosis.
rules and know the support the religious Note that the use of religious contin-
rules provide for behavior that conforms gencies may allow the original rule givers,
to that prescribed by those materialistic those who understood the materialistic
rules. For example, "During droughts and contingency, to set the cultural practice
famines, farmers are severely tempted to in motion. Then the priests of a society
kill or sell their livestock. Those who suc- can maintain the practice in the culture,
cumb to this temptation seal their doom, without understanding its materialistic
even if they survive the drought, for when basis; and the original rule givers who
the rains come, they will be unable to understood can fade into obscurity, as
plow their fields" (Harris, 1974, p. 15). Frazier planned to do after he had fin-
This is an important set of contingencies ished designing the utopian community
in need of any support they can get. The in Skinner's (1948) novel Walden Two.
earlier quote of Gandhi's showing his
knowledge of the materialistic value of The Generous Hunter
the sacred cow is in keeping with the no- Consider this use of religious contin-
tion that the planners may have such gencies: "Yanomamo hunters, for ex-
knowledge. ample, believe that if they do not share
Harris (1985) further suggests knowl- their catch, they will lose their hunting
edgeable leaders in his discussion of the skills" (Harris, 1985, p. 27). The super-
Israelite ban on pork and other protein natural rule supports a practice that might
sources that were either not worth the otherwise be difficult to enforce. The dif-
effort or were more useful alive than dead: ficulty may not lie so much in the im-
"The food laws in Leviticus were mostly mediacy of the reinforcers for private
codifications of preexisting traditional consumption by the hunter; instead the
food prejudices and avoidances. . . . I materialistic benefits to the hunter for one
envision the Levite authorities as under- instance of sharing are small compared
taking the task of finding some simple with the benefits ofeating the game him-
feature which good-to-eat vertebrate land self. The benefits of a single instance of
species shared in common" (p. 77). The altruism (social approval, the well-being
authorities ended up banning non-cud- of his family and tribe, and the reciproc-
chewers and non-split-hooved animals, ity of other hunters) may not suffice to
thus discouraging the growing of pigs (a support that altruism, even though the
food supply that, in the long run, was not cumulative effects of many instances of
cost-effective for the group as a whole, in such altruism would be significant. Thus,
that arid environment) and discouraging such altruistic rules are often hard to fol-
the slaughtering of camels (a useful beast low and need some sort of supernatural
of burden). This prohibition of the or moral support.
slaughtering of camels exemplifies the This also exemplifies an advantage of
need for the leaders' knowledge of the religious rules over rules whose materi-
long-run contingencies involving the ul- alistic outcomes are dispensed by other
timate utility of the camels as beasts of human beings. The other people are not
burden; it is hard to imagine why they always watching to detect violations and
would otherwise be inclined to design ta- compliance, but God is. You cannot es-
boos to prevent their immediately rein- cape omnipresent supernatural forces
forcing consumption as food. The natural (Malott & Kent, 1977; Malott & Whaley,
contingencies of reinforcement and pun- 1976, chap. 19).
ishment (the immediate, direct-acting
contingencies) would not support such The Sacred Cow
long-range beneficial actions. Incidental-
ly, Harris (1985, chap. 4) argues con- I have suggested that religion has util-
vincingly that the Jewish and Muslim itarian value in that it allows for the sub-
pork taboos evolved because of problems stitution of supernatural rules that are
198 RICHARD W. MALOTT
easy to follow for materialistic rules that (Incidentally, for those whose anthro-
are hard to follow. In turn, this would pological field work consists of looking
suggest (though not of logical necessity) at Hollywood movies, I recommend the
that where we have supernatural rules, video tape of Pearl Buck's classic The
we might find materialistic rules that are Good Earth [Lewin & Franklin, 1937];
hard to follow hiding behind them; we the story addresses the dilemma of the
might find materialistic contingencies in- starving Chinese farm family and its ox.)
volving outcomes that are individually
improbable or individually small and of ARE CULTURAL DESIGNERS
only cumulative significance. NECESSARY?
How would we apply this inverted
analysis to the Hindu taboo on eating In reading the literature of behavior
beef? The materialistic outcome of one analysis and cultural materialism, it is
bite of beef is small, even though it be- easy to infer that materialistic forces con-
comes cumulatively significant (loss of trol the evolution of cultures without the
the scarce cattle and their by-products) intervention of designers and managers.
well before the culture reaches the North However, this is inference by default. This
American ideal of T-bone steak every inference results from the limited refer-
night for dinner. On a society-wide level, ence both literatures make to cultural de-
this could explain the need for the culture signers and managers. But I have been
of the sacred cow. arguing that such an inference is in error,
What about the individual farmer, at least about the evolution and main-
tempted to slaughter the cow or ox during tenance of human cultures dealing effec-
hard times? True, the slaughtering pro- tively with long-range outcomes. The
duces an immediate, definite, and sizable point of much of this paper is that such
(negative) materialistic outcome for the cultures must require cultural designers
animal. But that outcome has little neg- and managers-people who provide the
ative biological significance for the farmer rules that control our actions. Why? Be-
until some time later, when he needs milk cause, as I have suggested, the natural,
or needs to plow his field. But those de- direct-acting contingencies of reinforce-
layed outcomes would seem to be sizable ment and punishment will often cause us
and probable; so why is the prohibition to act in ways that are counterproductive
against the slaughter of the cow or ox a in the long run, especially as our societies
rule that is not easy to follow for the become more complex.
farmer? Why does that materialistic rule Furthermore, perhaps most of our cul-
need the support of a supernatural rule? tural practices address long-range out-
We are all good at rationalizing the im- comes. Otherwise, there is no need to
mediately expedient against our ultimate have culturally programmed practices,
well-being. And we are, perhaps, increas- when the materialistic contingencies can
ingly persuaded by our rationalizations, reinforce the appropriate actions of the
as the expediency increases. So as his individual-except perhaps to prime
family becomes increasingly hungry, the those actions, when the operant level is
Hindu farmer may kill the cow, ration- too low.
alizing that he will find another one, that For example, if we itch, we scratch; and
he can plow the field himself without an the resulting reduction in the aversive
ox, or that they will sell the farm and live itching reinforces the scratching. We do
the high life in Calcutta. Then the su- not need a cultural planner to give us a
pernatural rule comes to the rescue, say- materialistic rule that advises us to scratch
ing, in essence, "You may be able to kid when we itch. And we do not need a plan-
yourself about the negative materialistic ner to tell us God will be unhappy if we
consequences of killing your cow, but you do not scratch.
know for sure that you are in serious trou- But we do need cultural intervention
ble with the supernatural, at least if you from our elders to suppress our scratch-
are a true believer." ing certain parts of our anatomy in cer-
RULE-GOVERNED BEHAVIOR, BEHAVIORAL ANTHROPOLOGY 199
tain settings. This is because the mater- cultural materialism (i.e., that culture re-
ialistic penalties for such offensive sults from materialistic forces). On the
behavior are too delayed and probably other hand, in arguing for the importance
too small (for each individual response) of indirect-acting materialistic contin-
to punish the offending response class. gencies, Harris (1980) need not be ar-
Now it is true that other primates have guing against rule governance at a more
also developed cultures (Harris, 1983, pp. molecular level, for as he notes, "cultural
21-26), and they have done so without materialism is not addressing the ques-
the benefits of rule-governed behavior. tion of how technological inventions and
Among the troops of Japanese macaque other kinds of creative innovations orig-
there is not only the famous culture of inate in individuals but rather how they
sweet-potato washing but also the cul- come to exert an influence on social pro-
tures of breaking the hard stone of the duction and social reproduction" (p. 59).
fruit of the muku tree, eating shellfish, However, behavioral anthropology
keeping social distance, and separating should address "the question of how
the wheat from the sand-all cultural technological inventions and other kinds
practices that vary from troop to troop. of creative innovations originate in in-
Among the Gombe chimpanzees there dividuals." I argue that innovations must
are not only the famous cultural practices result from rule-governed behavior, and
of fishing for ants and termites with twigs, that those rules must describe Harris's
but also the practices (presumably cul- materialistic contingencies. This is not an
tural) of manufacturing and using leaf argument in opposition to Harris's an-
sponges for food retrieval and personal timentalism.
hygiene, using sticks and stones to break So even though the cultural anthro-
open fruits, seeds, and nuts, and also us- pologist and the behavior analyst usually
ing those tools as weapons. However, work at different levels of analysis, we
these practices involve direct-acting ma- also need behavioral anthropologists
terialistic contingencies with immediate working simultaneously at both levels,
natural outcomes that are sizable and the molecular as well as the molar. We
probable. Knowledgeable cultural de- need some discipline straddlers to con-
signers need not apply. But the contin- cern themselves with how these molar
gencies emphasized in Harris's cultural forces exert direct, proximal action or.
materialism are generally indirect-acting, the behavior of the individual. Perhaps
and that is a different story. even the general cultural anthropologist
Do we generally need cultural design- should address the molecular behavioral
ers who know about the materialistic level as well, because the present molec-
contingencies, to develop complex cul- ular analysis does suggest that cultural
tures of the sort we have been discussing? designers and possibly managers are im-
The jury is still out, but I believe a radical portant participants in developing the
behavioristic analysis in terms of rule- rules that support the evolution and
governed behavior suggests we do need maintenance of culture. These partici-
such knowledgeable designers for com- pants have thus far not received enough
plex cultures to evolve. That knowledge attention in the literature of behavior
must come from systematic observation analysis or cultural materialism.
by scientists, engineers, medicine men,
or just shrewd observers.
THE EMIC, THE ETIC,
THE MENTALISTIC, AND
ARE BEHAVIORAL THE BEHAVIORISTIC
ANTHROPOLOGISTS Harris (1987, May) has developed a
NECESSARY? conceptual framework within which he
On the one hand, I am not suggesting places the science of cultural material-
that anthropology should forego molar ism, and he has shown considerable con-
laws, such as the fundamental tenet of cern for the relation between behavioral
200 RICHARD W. MALOTT
anthropology and that framework. So this ment of desirable behavior by attending
seems an appropriate point to address to it and the extinction of undesirable
that concern from a radical behavioral behavior by ignoring it; and they say they
view. have decided to follow those rules.
Harris's framework makes extensive (Incidentally, I do not believe that
use of two dichotomies: (1) a distinction teachers' reports of rates ofdisruption by
between behavioral events (overt behav- the students are relevant to Harris's di-
ior) and mental events (covert behavior, chotomies. When the teachers' use of re-
thoughts, general self-statements, self- inforcement and extinction is the behav-
stated rules, or [for the mentalist] mental ior under study, the dichotomies address
events); and (2) a distinction between only the overt and covert behavior di-
emic descriptions (the actor's description) rectly relevant to their use of reinforce-
and etic descriptions (the observing sci- ment and extinction. Also, note that the
entist's description) (Harris, 1983, chap. emic-mental description seems to be
1; Lloyd, 1987). Anthropologists with a roughly equivalent to the actors' descrip-
mentalistic bent may go so far as to re- tions of the causes of their behavior, as
strict the domain of cultural anthropol- long as those causes are mental or involve
ogy to mental events, to the mental rules covert processes.)
of a society (Harris, 1983, p. 5). Good- However, on the etic-behavioral side,
enough (1970, p. 103) exemplifies such both ethnologists describe the teachers'
mentalistic anthropology when he says, behavior as being just the opposite of that
"A culture . . . should not be confused described by the teachers themselves. The
with the things people habitually do nor teachers attend to the children when the
with ... a material-behavioral system of children are off task or disruptive and
interacting people and things." Instead, ignore them when they are quietly study-
Goodenough emphasizes perceptions, ing.
purposes, unconscious motives, deci- Now on the etic-mental side, the men-
sions, and attributions. talistic ethnologist is likely to provide an
In such a context, it is important to inferential description of the mental life
distinguish between the present radical of the teachers by saying that they have
behavioristic anthropological view of in their minds rules telling them to attend
covert behavior and rule governance and to inappropriate behavior and to ignore
the mentalistic anthropological view of appropriate behavior. Furthermore, those
mental events and rule governance to rules may be at the conscious level, or
which Harris objects (Harris, 1980, chap. they may be of the deep structural sort.
9). Therefore, let us consider the follow- In fact, the failure of the teachers to ac-
ing hypothetical study. curately report those rules may even sug-
Suppose both a mentalistic ethnologist gest their inaccessibility due to their being
and a behavioristic ethnologist analyze buried so deeply. But regardless of the
the teaching culture of grade-school location of the rules, the mentalist infers
teachers who have had a weekend work- rules and rule governance from observed
shop in the ABC's of behavior modifi- consistencies in the behavior of the ac-
cation. (I hope this example will make tors, especially when the actors' behavior
up in didactic value what it lacks in eth- is incongruent with the actors' reports of
nographic charm.) On the emic-behav- their mental life. The mentalist may be
ioral side, the teachers tell the ethnolo- tempted to infer rules and rule gover-
gists that they always catch the children nance from the actors' reports of their
being good-that they pay attention to mental life, when those reports are con-
the children when they are on task and gruent with the actors' overt behavior.
ignore them when they are off task or On the other hand, the behavioral eth-
disruptive. On the emic-mental side, the nologist will not provide an inferential
teachers say they behave so admirably as description of the actors' mental life and
teachers because they know and follow will not infer rules and rule governance
the rules recommending the reinforce- simply from observed behavioral con-
RULE-GOVERNED BEHAVIOR, BEHAVIORAL ANTHROPOLOGY 201
sistencies. The reason for this reluctance ment and punishment. I infer that the
is that the behavioral ethnologist knows person has stated a rule to herself or him-
that behavioral consistency may result self, a rule describing more molar, indi-
from the direct-acting contingencies of rect-acting, generally external contingen-
reinforcement and punishment in the ac- cies. The statement of that rule establishes
tors' environment. The teachers' attend- a motivating condition (guilt, fear, etc.)
ing to disruptive behavior has been rein- whose termination reinforces compli-
forced by the temporary termination of ance with that rule. This inference is
that aversive disruption. This reinforce- strengthened when I observe that the per-
ment occurs regardless of whether the son's past noncompliance with such rules
teachers are aware of the reinforcement has been punished by the immediate pre-
process. Similarly, the teachers' attend- sentation of aversive stimuli or the re-
ing to studious behavior has been pun- moval or reinforcing stimuli.
ished by the disruption of the teachers' I would argue that this willingness to
other activities, again regardless of the infer the use of behavioral rules and in-
teachers' awareness. (Of course, the be- ternal behavioral contingencies should
havioral ethnologist would not deal with not be mistaken for an inclination toward
the actor's mental life, in any case, be- mentalism. (Such a pair of inferences is
cause the behaviorist denies the existence not mentalistic. In support of this con-
of any mental life. But the radical be- tention, please consider this analogy: A
haviorist would sometimes be willing to mind reader has just amazed you by list-
deal with covert verbal behavior.) (This ing your exact social security number, the
application of Harris's two dichotomies exact amount of money in your billfold,
is shown in Figure 2.) and perhaps even more useful contents
However, if I were the behavioral eth- of that violated accessory. As a tough-
nologist, and if I were observing teachers minded scientist, you doubt that the en-
who had had extensive hands-on training tertainer has read your tough mind. In-
in behavior modification, and if I ob- stead, you infer that this trickster had
served the teachers reinforcing studious access to your billfold and took advan-
behavior and ignoring inappropriate be- tage of that access. You would not think
havior, then I would probably infer gov- such inferences inclined you toward
ernance by rules describing the nondi- mentalism. Similarly you should not
rect-acting, molar contingencies of think yourself inclined toward mental-
behavior modification. Why? Because the ism if you joined me in inferring other
processes of reinforcement and extinc- covert activities such as the use of be-
tion are too slow (the students' behavior havioral rules and internal behavioral
changes too gradually) to reinforce the contingencies.)
teachers' proper use of behavior modi- Instead of being mentalistic, the infer-
fication. In other words, behavior mod- ence of rules and contingencies is merely
ification cannot come under the direct a radical behavioristic extrapolation from
control ofthe imperceptibly small, though public events to private events (Malott
cumulatively impressive, outcomes of & Garcia, in press). I believe such an in-
each individual act of behavior modifi- ference is in the tradition of Skinner's
cation (the reinforcement of studious be- analysis of the role of private events in a
havior and the ignoring of inappropriate natural science (Skinner, 1945; 1953,
behavior). chap. 17). The inference of the use of
So on some occasions, we do observe rules and covert reinforcement and pun-
behavioral consistency that appears to ishment should not be confused with in-
occur without plausibly effective external ference ofmentalistic constructs "a dis-
contingencies of reinforcement or pun- tinct group of conscious or mental
ishment in the actors' immediate and past phenomena not reducible without re-
environments. And on those occasions, mainder to physical phenomena" (En-
by default, I am willing to infer internal, glish & English, 1958, p. 318).
molecular contingencies of reinforce- The rules I infer are behavioral rules-
202 RICHARD W. MALOTT

EMIC ETIC
(actors description) (scientist's description)

BEHAVIORAL Practices behavior Does not practice behavior


(overt behavior) modification modification

MENTAL
(covert behavior,
Mentalistic: followsnrlesof
Follows the rules of humanistic concern
thoughts, behavior modification
self-statements, Behavioristic: shaped by the
rule statements) I
contingencies of expedience

Figure 2. Harris's four domains of analysis applied to the culture of school teachers.

verbal descriptions of behavioral contin- will not infer rule governance simply from
gencies (i.e., the situation, the response, behavioral consistency. Instead, he or she
and the outcomes of that response). These will rely on an etic description of the ob-
are not mentalistic or cognitive rules. This served behavior and will infer rule gov-
means it would not be correct to talk of ernance only as a last resort, only when
unconscious rule-governed behavior or external contingencies of reinforcement
the rule-governed behavior of other an- and punishment seem absent. It is this
imals as cognitive psychologists some- willingness, albeit a cautious willingness,
times do. At least it would not be correct to infer rule governance when need be
to do so, if you agree with me in accepting that places such a behavioral ethnologist
the behavioristic analysis of conscious- in the camp of the radical behaviorists
ness or awareness: people are conscious rather than the methodological behav-
or aware of something, if they can tact iorists.
(verbally describe) that thing. And it
would not be correct to do so, if you agree CONCLUSIONS
with me that other animals normally do
not have that verbal repertoire. Instead, In summary, I am suggesting that the
unconscious behavior and the behavior materialistic contingencies that form the
of other animals is controlled by direct- basis of much of culture are not direct-
acting environmental contingencies acting (they specify outcomes that are too
(contingency controlled or contingency delayed, too improbable, or individually
shaped). too small). Therefore, they do not rein-
However, an inclination to infer inter- force or punish the cultural practices. In-
nal contingencies might accurately sug- stead, the materialistic contingencies shift
gest a willingness to skate on thin ice; it's from being behaviorally ineffective to
risky business, but somebody has to do being indirect-acting when they receive
it. The controlling environment does not the support of the direct-acting behav-
stop at the skin -only the reach of some ioral contingencies that are established
of our observations is so prevented. by the statement of rules. Furthermore,
In summary of the emic and etic de- materialistic rules are often hard to fol-
scriptions, the behavioral ethnologist dif- low. So they, in turn, need the support
fers from the mentalistic ethnologist in of supernatural rules, which are easy to
that the behavioral ethnologist will rely follow-easy to follow in the sense that
less on the emic self-description of the they specify sizable and highly probable,
behavioral and mental life of the actors. though delayed outcomes. And these
In addition, the behavioral ethnologist rules, both materialistic and supernatu-
RULE-GOVERNED BEHAVIOR, BEHAVIORAL ANTHROPOLOGY 203

ral, need knowledgeable cultural design- Symposium conducted at the meeting of the As-
ers for their production. In conclusion, I sociation for Behavior Analysis, Milwaukee, WI.
Malott, R. W. (1984). Rule-governed behavior,
view this rule-governed analysis not as self-management, and the developmentally dis-
being in contradiction of cultural mate- abled: A theoretical analysis. Analysis and Inter-
rialism, but rather as being in support. vention in Developmental Disabilities, 6, 53-58.
And in providing support, this analysis Malott, R. W. (1986). Self-management, rule-
suggests areas needing more attention as governed behavior, and everyday life. In H. W.
Reese & L. J. Parrott (Eds.), Behavioral science:
we attempt to further understand the Philosophical, methodological, and empirical ad-
evolution and maintenance of specific vances (pp. 207-228). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence
cultural practices. Erlbaum.
Malott, R. W. (in press). The achievement of eva-
sive goals: Control by rules describing contin-
REFERENCES gencies that are not direct-acting. In S. Hayes
English, H. B., & English, A. C. (1958). A com- (Ed.), Cognition, contingencies, and rule-gov-
prehensive dictionary of psychological and psy- erned behavior. New York: Plenum Press.
choanalytic terms. New York: David McKay. Malott, R. W., & Garcia, M. E. (in press). The
Glenn, S. S. (1986). Metacontingencies in Walden role of private events in rule-governed behavior.
Two. BehaviorAnalysis andSocial Action, 5,2-8. In L. J. Hayes & P. N. Chase (Eds.), Dialogues
Glenn, S. S. (1987). Rules as environmental events. on verbal behavior: Proceedings of the First In-
The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 5, 29-32. ternational Institute on Verbal Relations. Hills-
Goodenough, W. H. (1970). Description and com- dale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
parison in cultural anthropology. Chicago: Al- Malott, R. W., General, D. A., & Snapper, V. B.
dine. (1973). Issues in the analysis of behavior. Kal-
Harris, M. (1974). Cows, pigs, wars and witches: amazoo, MI: Behaviordelia.
The riddles ofculture. New York: Random House. Malott, R. W., & Kent, H. M. (1977). Developing
Harris, M. (1980). Cultural materialism: The moral control. In J. E. Krapfl & E. A. Vargas
strugglefor a science of culture. New York: Ran- (Eds.), Behaviorism and ethics (pp. 49-62). Kal-
dom House. amazoo, MI: Behaviordelia.
Harris, M. (1983). Cultural anthropology. New Malott, R. W., & Whaley, D. L. (1976). Psychol-
York: Harper & Row. ogy. Holmes Beach, FL: Learning Publications.
Harris, M. (1985). Good toeat. NewYork: Simon Michael, J. (1982). Distinguishing between dis-
and Schuster. criminative and motivational functions of stim-
Harris, M. (1986, May). Cultural materialism and uli. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Be-
behavior analysis: Common problems and radical havior, 37, 149-155.
solutions. Paper presented at the meeting of the Michael, J. (1984). Behavior analysis: A radical
Association for Behavior Analysis, Milwaukee, perspective. In B. L. Hammonds & C. J. Scheirer
WI. (Eds.), Master lecture series, Volume 4: Psychol-
Harris, M. (1987, May). Discussant. In H. S. Pen- ogy of learning (pp. 99-121). Washington, DC:
nypacker (Chair), Behavior analysis and cultural American Psychological Association.
materialism. Symposium conducted at the meet- Michael, J. (1986). Repertoire-altering effects of
ing of the Association for Behavior Analysis, remote contingencies. The Analysis of Verbal Be-
Nashville, TN. havior, 4, 10-18.
Hefferline, R. F., Keenan, B., & Hartford, R. A. Skinner, B. F. (1945). The operational analysis of
(1956). Escape and avoidance conditioning in psychological terms. Psychological Review, 52,
human subjects without their observation of the 270-277.
responses. Science, 130, 1338-1339. Skinner, B. F. (1948). Walden Two. New York:
Lewin, A. (Producer), & Franklin, S. (Director). Macmillan.
(1937). The good earth (Film). Hollywood: Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behav-
MGM/UA. ior. New York: Macmillan.
Lloyd, K. E. (1985). Behavioral anthropology: A Skinner,B.F. (1957). Verbalbehavior.Englewood
review of Marvin Harris' Cultural materialism. Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Journal ofthe Experimental A nalysis ofBehavior, Skinner, B. F. (1969). Contingencies of reinforce-
43, 279-287. ment. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Lloyd, K. E. (1987). Emics and etics. In H. S. Skinner, B. F. (1974). About behaviorism. New
Pennypacker (Chair), Behavior analysis and cul- York: Vintage.
tural materialism. Symposium conducted at the Stoutimore, M. (1986, May). Arranging for the
meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis, analysis of cultural practices. Paper presented at
Nashville, TN. the meeting ofthe Association for Behavior Anal-
Malagodi, E. F. (1986). On radicalizing behav- ysis, Milwaukee, WI.
iorism: A call for cultural analysis. The Behavior Vargas, E. A. (1985). Cultural contingencies: A
Analyst, 9, 1-17. review of Marvin Harris's Cannibals and kings.
Malott, R. W. (1982, May). Skinner on issues Journal ofthe Experimental A nalysis ofBehavior,
relevant to rule-governed behavior. In M. E. 43, 419-428.
Vaughan (Chair), On rule-governed behavior.

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen