Defining Behavior with the Tree of Knowledge System

Defining Behavior with the Tree of Knowledge System Gregg Henriques, Ph. D. – James Madison University

The To. K System: A New Approach to the Concept of Behavior

Overview �Behavior is a central concept in science �Concept of behavior can apply to objects, organisms, animals or people �The To. K System offers a new way to see how the behaviors of objects, organisms, animals and people can be linked and differentiated �It offers a map to see that there are DIFFERENT KINDS of Behavior �Different than attempting to define what is behavior and what is not

The Tree of Knowledge System: Toward a Holistic Map of Behavior

The To. K is Directly Congruent with the “Big History” Movement See here: https: //www. bighistorypr oject. com/chapters/1#qu iz-threshold-1 Big History maps the universe and our place in it on the dimensions of time and complexity.

But it depicts four dimensions of Behavioral Complexity These dimensions are: 1) Matter; 2) Life; 3) Mind; and 4) Culture.

Different Kinds of Behavior �Behavior of Physical Objects �Behavior of Living Organisms �Behavior of Mental Animals �Behavior of Human Persons

Matter is frozen chunks of energy, which, along with space and time, emerged following the Big Bang. Nonliving material objects range in complexity from subatomic particles to large organic molecules. The physical sciences (i. e. , physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy) describe the behavior of material objects.

Life Biological complexity, in addition to being a function of material behavioral causes, also stems from genetic/epigenetic information processing causation (i. e. , input-information processing-output), which ultimately gives rise to emergent forms of self-organization.

Mind Mental complexity, in addition to being a function of biological and material behavioral causes, also stems from neuroinformation processing causation, which ultimately gives rise to emergent forms of self-organization, including animal consciousness.

Behavior of Animals The To. K defines the essence of the behavior of animals as (coordinated mental-behavioral) investors that expend effort to effect change in the animal-environment relationship. (The central mechanism that allows for behavioral investment is the nervous system. Vertebrates are presumed to have mental experiences)

Culture Cultural complexity, in addition to being a function of psychological, biological, and material behavioral causes, also stems from linguisticinformation processing causation, which ultimately gives rise to human societies and the reflective self-consciousness of modern peoples.

Behavior of Persons The To. K defines the essence of the behavior of persons as Deliberative, Self-Conscious Actors who Justify their Actions to an Audience. (The justification can be implicit or explicit and the audience can be self or others. The social space is a matrix of justification, investment and influence). This seems to me to line up directly with Descriptive Psychology

The Tree of Knowledge System allows one to see clearly “Psychology’s Puzzle”: It has two different subject matters (dimension of animal mind and cultured person), but is only one science. Social Science } Humans, personality, social psychology, culture, language, selfconsciousness, etc. Natural Science Animal learning, brainbehavior relationships, perception, sociobiology, etc.

A New conception of Behavior � The To. K System offers a “universal behavioral metaphysics”, meaning that the concept of behavior and the categories of change versus constancy, and objects and fields are fundamental to the “language game” of science. � The universe is depicted as an unfolding wave of behavioral complexity and change, and the task of basic science is to mathematically map this process. � The most basic definition of behavior is the change in object-field relationships.

The To. K System: Levels, Dimensions, and the Periodic Table of Behavior

Levels of Analysis and Dimensions of Behavioral Complexity Unlike other systems, the To. K differentiates levels of analysis from dimensions of behavioral complexity. The level of analysis refers to whether one is looking at a part, a whole, a group or the entire system. Consider this Dali painting. The “parts” level of analysis (woman looking out) is very different than the whole (a portrait of Lincoln).

What one sees depends on one’s level of analysis.

In addition to considering levels of analysis, the To. K also points out that there are different dimensions of complexity. The To. K gives rise to a Levels by Dimensions view of Behavior, charted in the Periodic Table of Behavior. LEVELS System Group by DIMENSIONS Whole Part Culture Mind Life Matter

Why, according to the To. K, are there dimensions in addition to levels? And why are there four of them instead of three or five? Following Matter, new dimensions of behavioral complexity emerge because they are associated with a novel information processing system Life…………………. . genetic system Mind…………………nervous system Culture………………human language This conception gives rise to a…

Periodic Table of Behavior To a new, dual axes map of a Levels by Dimensions view… Levels of analysis

Rate Each on Whether or Not They are Behavior (1 to 5) Levitis et al (2009) empirically demonstrated lack of consensus on what constituted behavior: (a) a person decides not to go to the movies; (b) a beetle is swept away by the current in a river; (c) a spider spins a web; (d) a plant bends toward the sun; (e) geese fly in a V formation; (f) if a person’s heartbeat speeds up following a nightmare; (g) algae swim toward food; (h) a rabbit’s fur grows over the summer season; (i) a country elects a new president; and (j) an electron bounces off a magnetic field.

Conclusion �The To. K is a new map of behavior �It starts with behavior in general, and differentiates and links the behavior of objects, organisms, animals, and persons �It affords psychology a new look at behavior �It lines up directly with Descriptive Psychology’s claims about the conceptual analysis of the behavior of persons as such.

Mapping Behavior via To. K

Mapping Reality in the Four Dimensions of Behavior According to the To. K System Mind Culture Material Culture Life Scientific Ideas Matter