Association for Behavior Analysis International

We will present how operants are involved in interlocking behavioral contingencies using descriptive studies that include the concepts of metacontingency and macrocontingency. The phenomena under analysis are: (1) Disasters as ecosystems: cultural practices in prevention and intervention; (2) Two historical events that occurred in Brazil The Tapuios ethnogenesis and their contribution to indigenous policies, and barricades of health in Rio de Janeiro during the transition from the Imperial to the Republican system; and (4) The mobilization through social merchandising of a soap opera against the trafacking of persons. The contributions of metacontingency and macrocontingency are shown in these different contexts in which complexities are described and allow us to follow the evolution of recurrent social practices and their outcomes in social settings due to environmental selection. The areas considered in these presentations emphasize the need for exchange between behavior analysis and other disciplines such as politics, history and communication. Such interaction may result in an expansion of our understanding of the evolution of cultural practices and cultural planning.

The 1980s were followed by a high number of natural disasters and climate change has stimulated the states of the United Nations to organize a complex mobilization that seeks substantial reduction of disaster losses of life as well as communities and countries social, economic and environmental assets. The important implementation of Hyogo framework for action 2005-2015: left gaps that will be filled by the recent framework approved in the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction 2015-2030. Actions from different entities must consider the global development agenda a sustainable development of humanity and the planet. In disaster ecosystems, metacontingencies include the coordination of governments, experts, public and private sectors, and wide range relevant stakeholders at all levels, both externally and locally. Disaster risk reduction requires transparent risk informed decision-making that is easy to understand and science based. Measures and indicators clearly define aggregate products. The metacontingencies of disaster management have interlocked behavior contingencies (IBCs) that interact with global-regional and national-local disasters teams. Metacontingencies and macrocontingencies allow us to describe phenomena in a way that may contribute to the implementation of actions in different phases, from prevention to recovery after a disaster event.

Metacontingencies involve dependency relationships between interlocked behavioral contingencies (IBCs), their aggregated products and an external result. This presentation discusses the need to broaden the discussion about the relationship between control and counter control that is present in IBCs to understand some apparent paradoxical effects in cultural selection. Recurrences of IBCsinvolving counter control can be especially harmful in the cultural selection process. This presentation examines an episode in Brazilian history known as the "health barricades", a popular revolt against the governmental mandatory decision to vaccinate against smallpox. The episode took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1904. A vaccination program may be regarded as a metacontingency: it involves intertwining of many behavioral contingencies, an increase in population health and a number of cultural consequences as critical variables. In this episode, however, mandatory vaccination was treated as police case; whoever did not accept the vaccination was arrested. Health services, with help from the police and the army, went to peoples houses using force. The presence of aversive control in IBCs led to a revolt against governmental practice, a form of counter control. These considerations are important for the consolidation of successful strategies of adherence to large-scale application of behavioral technology.

Behavior Analysis has a fundamental role in cultural planning and, in the last few years, several behavior analysts have been studying cultural practices using the concept of metacontingencies. It is possible to use wide-reaching communication technology to change the behavior of a great number of people. Several current TV shows encourage citizenship and affect society in a favorable way. One of the strategies used by these shows is social merchandising, which involves inserting social themes and mobilization messages in the plot of a story. The goal of this paper was to analyze the presentation of cultural practices included in a social theme of great impact-- human trafficking-- in a Brazilian soap opera with a large audience. We identified contingency arrangements, cultural products and selecting consequences using the concept of metacotingencies. Further, we analyzed the recurrent presentation and impact of the intervention on the fight against human trafficking in Brazil.