Behavior dynamics: One perspective

Abstract

Behavior dynamics is a field devoted to analytic descriptions of behavior change. A principal source of both models and methods for these descriptions is found in physics. This approach is an extension of a long conceptual association between behavior analysis and physics. A theme common to both is the role of molar versus molecular events in description and prediction. Similarities and differences in how these events are treated are discussed. Two examples are presented that illustrate possible correspondence between mechanical and behavioral systems. The first demonstrates the use of a mechanical model to describe the molar properties of behavior under changing reinforcement conditions. The second, dealing with some features of concurrent schedules, focuses on the possible utility of nonlinear dynamical systems to the description of both molar and molecular behavioral events as the outcome of a deterministic, but chaotic, process.