Scientific dissemination and COVID-19: a behavior analyst in communication with the public.

Abstract

This text presents the description of six videos and three interviews produced by the author during the year 2020, about the COVID-19 pandemic, for the population in general. The videos were produced by the author herself; one interview was given to Nexo newspaper and two others to Globonews. In each of the videos and interviews, the contents addressed the principles of Experimental Analysis of Behavior that explained the actual contingencies from the beginning of the pandemic until November 2020, with instructions on behaviors that should be presented and those to be avoided, as well as possible determinants of each. Principles, such as positive, negative reinforcement, verbal control, aversive control, anxiety paradigm, three term  contingency and the model of selection by consequence were addressed in the videos and interviews, as well as explained in this article. The contents also included data from the reality of COVID-19 at the time, such as number of deaths, social isolation rates and behavior of the population in the city of São Paulo, data that controlled the author's behavior in spreading science on a larger scale. The emphasis of the videos and interviews was that in the absence of a vaccine and pharmacological treatments, the treatment should be behavioral. It was concluded, in this context, about the importance of scientific dissemination and constant communication with the lay population, facing the challenge of maintaining a simple language, without losing precision, clarity and empirical base, besides exercising the social responsibility of the scientist.