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Social Behavior

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Handbook of Research Methods in Human Operant Behavior

Part of the book series: Applied Clinical Psychology ((NSSB))

Abstract

Considered most broadly, a person’s behavior is social when its causes or effects include the behavior of others. From the wide range of everyday actions that fit this definition, social scientists have focused on particular, consequential forms of social behavior for experimental study. One of the longest experimental traditions has been the study of cooperation and competition, contrasting social behaviors that are ubiquitous in groups of various types and sizes and the basis of competing economic and organizational philosophies. Although cooperation and competition are often used in a general sense to connote activities that benefit others or gain advantage over them, respectively, definitions in the experimental tradition are more specific. Here cooperation and competition are behaviors that occur in the context of particular contingencies that specify behaviors and the criteria for their reinforcement. With a cooperative contingency, all participants receive a reinforcer if their responses collectively meet a specified performance criterion. With a competitive contingency, reinforcers are distributed unequally based on relative performance.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA

    David R. Schmitt

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  1. David R. Schmitt
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, 26506-6040, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA

    Kennon A. Lattal  & Michael Perone  & 

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Schmitt, D.R. (1998). Social Behavior. In: Lattal, K.A., Perone, M. (eds) Handbook of Research Methods in Human Operant Behavior. Applied Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1947-2_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1947-2_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-1949-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-1947-2

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