Date of Award

7-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Behavioral Analysis

First Advisor

Catherine Nicholson, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Second Advisor

Elbert Blakely, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Third Advisor

Bryon Neff, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Fourth Advisor

Vida Tyc, Ph.D.

Abstract

This study consisted of three experiments to improve our understanding of the conditions that foster cooperation related to sustainability. In Experiment 1, participants completed a demographic questionnaire and an environmental and social discounting task. Results (a) support the utility of the environmental discounting task; (b) suggest responding to the discounting task is dissimilar; and (c) show that responding to hypothetical consequences on the social discounting task correlates to actual responding. Experiment 2 evaluated whether interlocking behavioral contingencies (by microculture members) associated with sustainable and non-sustainable aggregate products (Condition A & B) could be selected by cultural consequences (i.e., 20¢ toward a cause) that competed with individual consequences (i.e., 10¢ or 30¢ for oneself) of a greater magnitude in a reversal design. Experiment 3 was similar, except (a) the sustainable cause was available throughout, (b) each participant started with $6 (60 tokens), and (c) punishment on ethical self-control was evaluated. Experiment 2 results suggest that the sustainable cause selected the participant's responses, whereas Experiment 3 results were inconclusive.

Comments

Copyright is held by the author.

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