Schedules of Cultural Selection: Comments on "Emergence and Metacontingency"

Abstract

The paper by Houmanfar, Rodrigues, & Ward (2010) puts behavioral contingencies in the realm of psychology and metacontingencies (recurrent interlocked behavioral contingencies which result in aggregate products) in the field of sociology. The present work sees the metacontingency as a new behavior analytic concept, not as a matter belonging to a different discipline. It opens a completely new area of research and application not explored by the social sciences. Some examples are presented to exemplify a new area, the schedules of cultural selection.