Sentence examples for explanation of behavior from inspiring English sources

It would reflect the principle of logical or analytical behaviorism that if mental terms are to be used in the description and explanation of behavior, they must be defined or paraphrased in non-mental behavioral terms.

This raises the question of when it is appropriate to attribute mental states in the explanation of behavior.

Contemporary psychology and philosophy largely share Hempel's conviction that the explanation of behavior cannot omit invoking a creature's representation of its world.

According to holism, particular mental states can be cited in explanation of behavior only in the context of other mental states, which in turn depend upon others.

Functionalism, on the other hand, seems to be at the next level of abstraction up from explanation of behavior based on physical mechanisms.

Both hypotheses provide an adequate explanation of behavior in existing experiments, but the two approaches rely on very different interpretations of the factors underlying subjects' behavior.

So, the third reason for behaviorism's appeal is that it tries to avoid circular, regressive explanations of behavior.

A core objection is that neuroscientific "explanations" of behavior often simply re-state what's already obvious.

"Scientific debates are rarely settled by compromise, and when we look for 'biocultural' explanations of behavior we dilute the interest of both sides," he writes.

While the debate over the degree to which human behavior is influenced by nature vs. nurture ("Human Nature: Born or Made," March 14) is scientifically interesting, history shows that biological explanations of behavior adapted to social policy have often led to disasters ranging from prejudice to genocide.

Higher levels of organization limit reductionistic explanations of behavior.