De que forma as coisas que nós fazemos são contadas por outras pessoas? um estudo de correspondência entre comportamento não verbal e verbal

Abstract

Correspondence between non verbal and verbal behavior is a well established research area in behavior analysis. The aim of the present study was to investigate some variables that may influence the accuracy of reports about other individuals' non verbal behavior. Twelve children, between 4 and 6 years of age, of a public kindergarten participated in the present study. Participants were distributed in two pairs - in which one child played and the other observed the first one - and two quartets, in that two children played and two observed. Each experimental session had (a) a play period, when the children could play with up to 3 toys (from a total of 6) while they were observed, (b) a reporting period and, occasionally, (c) a probe. The children that belonged to pairs and were assigned to play were asked to report their own behavior; all of the other participants were asked to report about the chosen/ not chosen toys of one other child. All of the participants were exposed to baseline sessions, when reports about the manipulated toys were made without differential consequences. After that, children were exposed to sessions when a specific content of their reports («played or «didn't play) was reinforced individually. During the following phase the same contingencies were maintained but reports were made in groups. It was then introduced a condition when only reports that were correspondent to the toys actually manipulated were reinforced. Results showed that 10 of 12 participants emitted corresponding reports during baseline. When content of reports were individually reinforced, 5 participants started to report without correspondence. When the content of reports was reinforced in group, 5 other participants also started to emit non-corresponding reports. When the reinforcement of correspondent reports was introduced, participants tended to continue to report non-correspondingly. Only in the final sessions, after the introduction of verbal cues (confirmation and/or disconfirmation), participants again emitted corresponding reports. Also, characteristics of the non verbal behavior such as duration or variability, seem not to have interfered with the accuracy of the reports. There were no of differences in the verba1 reports of the children who played and those who observed between those who played and observed in relation to those who observed the classmate playing only. When reports were made in the presence of other participants that had access to the situation that was being reported there were not differences in the report patterns. Results indicated also that contingencies in effect for the report of other person's non verbal behavior may have effects on self-reports