Uma síntese crítica da Teoria do Condicionamento Social: O desenvolvimento do apego em uma perspectiva analítico-comportamental

Abstract

Attachment theory is a psychological theory of socioemotional development that emphasizes that organisms are born with a sensitivity to social stimulation from their conspecifics that is phylogenetically selected by predation pressures. Within Behavior Analysis, psychologist Jacob L. Gewirtz developed an approach to behavioral attachment relationships, called Social Conditioning Theory. As it is a pioneering approach in experimental developments on the subject and a theoretical landmark in the history of attachment theory and behavioral-analytic developmental psychology, this conceptual research carried out an investigation into the verbal statements of this theory based on seven scientific texts published by Gewirtz either as author or co-author, as long as the material helps to clarify the general contours of his theory. To this end, a search was carried out in journals specific to the area, important books in the area of development and attachment, as well as research in databases and platforms for texts that address their behaviorist perspective on attachment. Its main characteristics stand out as its philosophical anti-mentalism, the behavioral definition of attachment as a socially discriminated operant, the interactionist implications for the innate-learned debate, in addition to providing useful hypotheses for analyzing and designing new behavioral relationships.