**5. Source of problem**

allow a person to behave according to established social conventions by the members of his/her culture that share practices with him/her. This possibility is linked to the language [2], which allows him/her to individualize socially but likewise to socialize to adapt to a culture's practices.

All human interactions thus have a value dimension that depends on the cultural context where they occur [5]. In this regard, behaviors will be rated as moral to the extent that they adjust to the value criteria that regulate the practices in groups of socially ranked individuals [5] and on the contrary, they shall be rated as bad or immoral, when they do not adjust. Due to the fact that there are social hierarchies, individuals' behavior will be assessed differently

It is important to consider that assessments do not occur due to internal or abstract entities or internalizations of cognitions or beliefs. Behavioral assessment is regulated by functional aspects that are not present in an effective manner when such behaviors occur. Ribes [8] mentions that we can only talk about beliefs based on individuals' behavior: *when we talk about believing we do not refer to any uncertain or incomplete knowledge inside our heads. Actually, we refer to the tacit or express acceptance of the adjustment criteria that regulate our actions in a given situation* (p. 84). The possibility of saying that someone believes in something occurs as a result of the observation of an individual's behavior, so we cannot explain beliefs as something different or independent. To say that a person has a belief does not mean that he/she has something inside but rather that he/she will tend to behave in a certain way with people and things [9, 10], in

Values, such as actions and beliefs, are acquired before other individuals explicitly impose behavior modes in the "ought to be" manner in a specific social context [5], and these situations, in which one or more people explain the "ought to be" of a relationship, are the ones that regulate individuals' behavior in other situations in which these criteria are tacit. In this manner, *the person acts in a situation which assessment criteria are tacit, as if he/she were in a situa-*

A person may behave according to the rules established by some of the members of his/ her social reference group in a particular situation, which would result in a correspondence between his/her behavior and the behavior that the reference group established as appropriate; in another situation, the person may behave differently from his/her social reference group's forms of behavior in exemplary situations, which would result in a lack of correspondence between his/her behavior and the behavior demands of the social group that should act as the model. This situation would be considered as a moral problem due to that lack of

Taking the foregoing into consideration, this methodology's second analysis dimension, the *macrocontingential system,* was developed. The said system refers to the psychological analysis of the moral dimension of behavior and, in a simplified manner, consists of an analysis of the correspondences between the valorative practices—such as actions and beliefs—of a person

The way of studying the moral dimension of behavior, from a psychological perspective, is to

depending on who emits the same and on who it affects.

30 Behavior Analysis

other words, to behave according to certain criteria.

*tion with explicit criteria* ([5], p. 105]).

correspondence or adjustment.

and of the people of his/her reference group.

focus on a person and his/her social environment.

The source of behavior is proposed with a set of categories that can identify relevant aspects in a person's interactive history, considering the functional historical role of the person himself/ herself and of the significant people to the behavior under study. The origin/source may have a dispositional function in the currently studied behavior.

Two aspects are evaluated: (1) history of the microcontingency and (2) evaluation of competencies [6]. Each one is described in more detail hereunder.
