Abstract
This paper is an empirical exploration of a new approach to understanding how organisms develop selective and organized behavioral interactions with differing environments. By investigating mutually dependent “interbehavioral” transactions between individuals and environments, need exists for reformulating “reinforcement,” “learning,” and “motivation” conceptions and replacing them with parametric specifications of particular organismic, spatial, temporal, and historical variable configurations. Only such a “systems” analysis will suffice for future theoretical progress.
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We wish to express our gratitude to Benjamin Lahey for his editorial and organizational assistance on the early drafts of this manuscript, and to Arthur Yehle and William Verplank for their comments on the later drafts. The research involved was supported by the National Science Foundation’s College Science Improvement Program Grant GY 9325 to Rollins College. Support for preparation and publication also came from the Rollins Faculty Research Funds given to the first author.
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Ray, R.D., Brown, D.A. A Systems Approach to Behavior. Psychol Rec 25, 459–478 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03394339
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03394339