To comprehensively understand the processes involved in social issues such as corruption, a behavior science has to rely on rigorous experimentation, interdisciplinary dialogue, and the use of diverse units of analysis. The present article proposes a behavioral analysis of corruption, highlighting how different units of analysis (operant behavior, culturobehavioral lineage, culturant, and macrobehavior) account for different facets of this social phenomenon. We propose that corrupt behavior involves relations in which there is a conflict between consequences for the individual and effects for the group-a concept similar to that of an ethical self-controlled response. This response can occur independently or in coordination with responses by other individuals. In addition, verbal control, as well as social reinforcement and punishment, plays an important role in the maintenance and transmission of this behavioral pattern. After presenting examples of how the theme has been experimentally studied in recent years, we conclude by suggesting that experimental studies on ethical self-control may fruitfully contribute to a behavioral analysis of corruption in its multiple dimensions.
Keywords: Behavioral economics; Bribery; Embezzlement; Ethical self-control; Macrocontingency; Metacontingency.
© Association for Behavior Analysis International 2019.