Resumo

MARCHEZINI-CUNHA, Vívian  e  TOURINHO, Emmanuel Zagury. Assertiveness and self-control: a behavior-analytic interpretation. Psic.: Teor. e Pesq. [online]. 2010, vol.26, n.2, pp. 295-304. ISSN 0102-3772.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-37722010000200011.

Issues related to assertiveness have been investigated by behavior therapists for over three decades. It is more recent, however, the effort made by behavior-analytic therapists to examine such issues with the same conceptual and methodological tools employed by their colleagues in basic and conceptual research. This study aims to provide a behavior-analytic interpretation of assertive, aggressive and passive behavior patterns. We recovered some definitions of assertiveness/aggressiveness/passiveness and then examined the corresponding phenomena as behavioral relations, discussed some aspects of the behavior-analytic approach of self-control, and suggested that behavioral relations defined as assertiveness/aggressiveness/passiveness may be interpreted as instances of self-control or impulsiveness. Such approach may give rise to new directions in clinical research of social skills from a behavior-analytic standpoint.

Palavras-chave : assertiveness; aggressiveness; passiveness; self-control; conflict of consequences.