Resumo

AGGIO, Natalia Maria; ALMEIDA, João Henrique de; CORTEZ, Mariéle Diniz  e  ROSE, Julio C. de. The role of emotions in symbolic behavior learning. Perspectivas [online]. 2014, vol.5, n.1, pp. 27-39. ISSN 2177-3548.

Emotions are directly involved in important behaviors related to preservation and reproduction of species. It is known that originally neutral stimulus not directly related to survival and reproduction, as the symbols, may also control emotional responses, even without direct training. This paper discuss the importance of studying emotions and how humans learn to emotionally respond to stimuli initially not directly related to emotional events. It presents results of a line of research that, employing the paradigm of stimulus equivalence, investigated how emotional stimuli as members of equivalence classes transfer their meanings to neutral stimuli. The results from these studies demonstrate how emotional stimuli influence the way we assign meaning to symbols and indicate some relevant variables for the establishment, modification and maintenance of these meanings. The combined study of emotions and symbolic behavior, considering an interdisciplinary dialogue between evolutionary psychology and behavior analysis, can contribute to the understanding of evolutionary and cultural aspects of emotion that influence human behavior.

Palavras-chave : emotions; symbols; symbolic behavior; transfer of meaning; evolutionary psychology; stimulus equivalence.

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