Abstract
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.