Evolution of Cultural Interbehavior in a Turn-Based Matching-to-Sample Procedure

Kantor's (1982) analysis of cultural interbehavior focuses on shared stimulus-response functions that are conventional across individuals and established under the auspice of a group. Demonstrating shared stimulus-response functions requires observing both diffusion and culturalization at the cultural and psychological levels of analysis, respectively. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the usefulness of a turn-based matching-to-sample procedure (TBMTS) for such a dual analysis. In particular, TBMTS was used to examine the participation of discriminability and relative change of rewards in the establishment of shared stimulus-response functions across 24 dyads. On each trial, (1) one participant selected a symbol in the presence of a shape, (2) the other participant selected a shape in the presence of a symbol identical to that selected by the first participant to respond, and (3) both participants received points based on correspondence (i.e., the second participant to respond selected a shape that was identical to that presented to the first) or noncorrespondence (i.e., the second participant to respond selected a shape that was not identical to that presented to the first). Across almost all dyads, shared stimulus-response functions were established in the first condition in which correspondence produced more points than noncorrespondence. When noncorrespondence produced more points in the following condition, stimulus-response functions deviated from established patterns faster when points for correspondence decreased rather than increased or remained the same. This study satisfies experimental controls required by both Kantorian and behavior-analytic perspectives to demonstrate the evolution of cultural interbehavior, allowing for much more complex events to be investigated.