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There is an important relationship between our understanding of human learning (operant & respondent conditioning) and evolutionary biology. This relationship has been described many times in the past, and strengthening this relationship is critical to the survival of the field of behavior analysis and, perhaps, saving the world from itself.
The driving force behind the origin of life on Earth and the way humans learn is one in the same - evolution, or selections, occurring on different levels: on the genome, the epigenome, the behavior of the organism, and of the behavior of societies (collections of organisms, such as states, book clubs, Reddit, and homeowners associations).
How could that be true?
Selectionism is the process by which natural forces results or trend toward the survival and propagation of some individuals or organisms in a population but not of others with the result that the inherited traits of the survivors are perpetuated while others are suppressed. This is colloquially known as survival of the fittest, a term that Charles Darwin (or his colleague, Alfred Wallace) would have liked very much. Both men were concerned with understanding how change effects the behavior of organisms and societies, and if understanding that change could help humanity save itself from corruption and greed. Ironically, social darwinism arose as the capitalists of the turn of the century gained momentum over their predecessors, the noble classes of Europe, using Social Darwinism and the "Puritan Work Ethic" to explain why they were rich and others were not: God, or Mother Nature (whomever was most convenient) had preordained (or selected) them for glory, and the others, the poor, they were worthless layabouts worthy of naught but their disdain.
It is a fascinating parallel of fate that both B.F. Skinner and Charles Darwin - two giants in humanity's quest to understand how life changes over time - both realized quite quickly in their careers that their breakthroughs could be used to shape societies for the better of all members. It is also quite interesting that both Charles and Skinner worked extensively with pigeons in their quest to understand change.
Darwin first formulated the theory of evolution through natural selection that has become the basis for our understanding of modern biology (leading to huge breakthroughs for humanity - such as the emergence of the fields of genetics, evolutionary science, and all kinds of other good stuff). Though Darwin, following his 5 years aboard the HMS Beagle, was able to describe a theory for the emergence of species, he was puzzled by many things, such as the lack of "transitional" organisms in the fossil record, lack of understanding of how variation emerges in the first place (DNA was just being investigated by Friedrich Miescher, who published research on nuclein in 1874).
Skinner acknowledged that the 3-term contingency he described in his research and novel, Behavior of Organisms, had interesting symmetry to the fundamental force of nature that Darwin described:
“Human behavior is the joint product of (i) contingencies of survival responsible for natural selection, and (ii) contingencies of reinforcement responsible for the repertoires of individuals, including (iii) the special contingencies maintained by an evolved social environment.”
- B.F. Skinner (1984)
How is Behavior Analysis related to Evolutionary Science?
Don’t know anything about these sciences, or why they’re important? No problem - let me explain!
First, let’s start by defining some of our terms:
Operant Conditioning is a model for understanding learning by looking at the consequences that a behavior produces. Simplistically, behaviors that produce “good” consequences increase and strengthen in the organism’s behavioral repertoire, whereas behaviors that produce “bad” consequences decrease and weaken in the organism’s behavioral repertoire.
This type of learning was first described by Edward Thorndike, in 1898, who said:
“responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular situation become more likely to occur again in that situation, and responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to occur again in that situation”
This makes for some natural, intuitive sense, since you can likely recall plenty of times in your life where the consequences of your behavior caused you to behave differently in the future.
- Study for a test, get an A – that’s a “good” consequence, so maybe you studied more in the future after that event.
- Touched something too soon after it’d just come out of the oven, and got burned – that’s a bad consequence, so maybe you used oven mitts and were more careful in the future after that event.
This “law of effect” was further improved upon several decades later by B.F. Skinner, who introduced the notion of the 3-term contingency.
The idea here is that behavior comes under the control of the things happening around you – the environment.
You behave differently in different contexts because the behavior that you engage in produces different consequences in different environments.
Try yelling in a library or whispering at a loud party. Both of those won’t work, and as a result, your behavior will likely change over time in those environmental conditions until you’re whispering in the library and yelling to be heard over the DJ at that house party.
So, back to evolutionary biology:
What is it, and why is it important for behavior analysts?
First, a quick review on evolution: a scientist named Darwin sailed to the Galapagos islands on the HMS Beagle. While there, he eventually figured out the driving force of change in all life on earth: the principle of natural selection. An organism that can survive better in the environment will pass on more of it’s traits through it’s offspring, and therefore, more of that species will express that trait in the future. An organism that is less well adapted to the environment will pass on less of it’s traits, and eventually die off.
This process explains all the wonderful variation we see in nature: from amoeba to elephant.
Just like in the selection of behavior that we described above, the environment also plays a very critical role here. Imagine a population of Finches migrate a short distance to an island, where their primary source of food – a type of worm – is in abundance. The worms live in holes in the ground, sometimes deep, and sometimes shallow.
A finch with a longer beak is able to obtain more food because it can catch worms in both the shallow and deep holes. A finch with a shorter beak is restricted to only the shallow holes. As such, the longer-beaked finches eat better, are generally healthier, and reproduce more often. The short-beaked finches are hungrier, weaker, and reproduce less. Over time, the genes of the short-beaked finches disappear whereas the long-beaked finches become dominant.
At the same time, evolution is driving change in the worms, too. Worms that dig deeper holes live longer, avoiding those pesky finches. The deeper they dig, the longer they live and have time to reproduce. The worms that live in shallow holes die out over time as they become Finch food.
The evolutionary arms race is on.
Just like in our example above, both behavior and genetic traits are governed by the consequences they produce in their specific environments. The evolution of organisms and the evolution of behavior are both molded, at the highest level, through selection by consequences.
Repeating the quote from above: B.F. Skinner (1984):
“Human behavior is the joint product of (i) contingencies of survival responsible for natural selection, and (ii) contingencies of reinforcement responsible for the repertoires of individuals, including (iii) the special contingencies maintained by an evolved social environment.”
Another quote from B.F. Skinner, About Behaviorism, Chapter 14: Summing Up, Quote 10, (pp. 246-247)
“Contingencies of reinforcement also resemble contingencies of survival in the production of novelty . . . In both natural selection and operant conditioning the appearance of “mutations” is crucial.”
The mutation of the gene and variation in behavior are both driving forces for variability in behavior and variability in genetic traits. What causes that variation is a big topic, and deserves it’s own video. But for now, we can understand that variation will produce different effects in different environments.
A random mutation that gives a Giraffe a long neck helps the giraffe eat better and survive longer to reproduce.
A random variation in the way you style your hair results in compliments from everyone at your job, and that little behavioral variation becomes your new hair style. Selection by consequences.
What unites these two sciences is the same underlying principle of selection by consequences.
It’s an elegant thing, that the same force that shaped the long neck of a giraffe is also at work when you are deciding what to wear when you go out to a party or whether you'll have a burger, or a salad, for lunch. The universe is pretty neat.