Accession Number : AD0717675

Title :   The Shuttle Box of Subsistence Attitudes.

Descriptive Note : Technical rept.,

Corporate Author : PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV UNIVERSITY PARK

Personal Author(s) : Guthrie,George M.

Report Date : JAN 1971

Pagination or Media Count : 35

Abstract : Many patterns of behavior among rural Filipinos suggest that they behave toward one another in ways which limit any surplus of goods or money which an individual or a family may accumulate. These leveling activities are seen by the participants as being helpful or equal, as sharing, and as not showing off. The patterns do help when there is an emergency, but they limit an overall improvement in the standard of living. Each individual has a 'right to survive' but not a 'right to get ahead'. An attempt is made to interpret the persistence of subsistence living patterns in terms of avoidance behavior, following the research of R. L. Solomon. The experiments of Solomon show that once a dog has learned an action which enables it to avoid a shock it continues the behavior even though the danger has passed. Furthermore, if the dog receives shocks from which he cannot escape he will show a 'trained helplessness' in which he fails to learn the responses which would enable him to escape subsequent shocks. It is suggested that many of the apparently self-defeating actions of Philippine rural people can be understood in terms of avoidance learning and that remedial steps can be suggested from Solomon's research. (Author)

Descriptors :   (*BEHAVIOR, PHILIPPINES), (*RURAL AREAS, PHILIPPINES), (*CULTURE, ANALYSIS), CONDITIONED RESPONSE, TRANSFORMATIONS, APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, STRESS(PSYCHOLOGY), ANALOG SYSTEMS, LABORATORY ANIMALS, PERFORMANCE(HUMAN)

Subject Categories : PSYCHOLOGY

Distribution Statement : APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

Search DTIC's Public STINET for similiar documents.

Members of the public may purchase hardcopy documents from the National Technical Information Service.