Introduction: Behavior function Areas and Dimensions of Psychopathology

Abstract

Human and animal behavior may be classified for study and teaching in many different ways. All classification systems are to some degree arbitrary, reflecting both the preconceptions and the interests of their creators. There are no truly “natural” systems of classification and no theoretical systems which are finally or absolutely correct. Such systems are judged not for their ultimate truth but for their usefulness in ordering the observed data in ways which provide satisfying explanations, permit some prediction and influence of future events, and foster new observations by raising additional questions. The usefulness of a classification or other theoretical system is itself a relative matter, depending in large part upon the particular purposes for which it is intended.