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Patterns yes, agency no

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

William M. Baum
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824-3567. wm. baum@unh.edu

Abstract

Contrary to his own perspective, Rachlin introduces a ghostly inner cost to explain the persistence of behavioral patterns and agency to explain their origins. Both inconsistencies can be set straight by taking account of history and a context larger than the pattern itself. Persistence is explained by stimulus control, if one assumes that defection from a pattern has stimulus properties and is punished. The origins of patterns are understood as an outcome of selection in the larger context of cultural or biological evolution.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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