Behavioral Analysis of Motivational and Emotional Interactions in a Programmed Environment.

摘要

An interbehavioral analysis is provided as the basis for a unifying operational framework encompassing motivational and emotional functions. Within this context, a research environment has been designed for the conduct of small group experiments in a self-contained laboratory programmed to provide individual and social work and recreational opportunities during continuous residence by volunteer human subjects over extended time periods. Initial studies with groups of two or three individuals served to evaluate and optimize conditions which enhance habitability and performance productivity during intervals extending up to several weeks of continuous residence. The baseline individual and social behaviors observed under such programmed environment conditions were then utilized in a series of 10 and 15 day, three-person experiments to study the effects of cooperative and non-cooperative social contingency arrangements upon individual and group behavior. Recent studies have focused upon an analysis of motivational and emotional effects produced by experimental variations in the programmed consequences of required work tasks. (Author)