This study empirically analyzed behaviors inaccessible to public observation. Using a procedure that experimentally turned public previously covert responses through the resolution of problems, it was possible to verify 1) the effectiveness of contingencies programmed to turn public previously covert precurrent responses; 2) the relationship between covert verbal responses and programmed contingencies; and, 3) the subsequent probability of behaviors under control of stimuli generated by the covert response to be positively reinforced. Sixty-four human subjects distributed in two conditions Complex and Simple participated in the study. After each attempt, informative responses and written responses about the resolution of problems were obtained. The results show that task complexity did not interfere with the private characteristic of the responses and that the social contingencies turned public the precurrent responses in the problem resolution. This procedure gives empirical evidence to some propositions established by radical behaviorists and offers new questions for the discussion of private events.
Accessibility; private behavior; verbal behavior; precurrent responses
