Section 1 - Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2021
Summary
In my book, I explore the origin and evolution of a variety of behavioral innovations – including the Butterfly Stroke, the High Five, and the Heimlich Maneuver – which appear to have been ingeniously and foresightfully designed. More commonly, however, these creative acts have actually arisen “as if by design.” This revelation requires a much more thorough look into the histories of these innovations in order to better understand the very nature of behavioral creativity. What emerges is an intricate web of causation involving three main factors: context, consequence, and coincidence. By concentrating on the process rather than the product of innovation, I elevate behavior to its proper place – at the very center of creative human endeavor – for it is truly behavior that produces the innumerable innovations that have captivated thinkers’ imagination. Those most splendid theories, goods, and gadgets would never have come into being without the behaviors of their inventors.
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- As If By DesignHow Creative Behaviors Really Evolve, pp. 1 - 16Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
References
References
Enfield, N. (2018, July 19). Our job as scientists is to find the truth. But we must also be storytellers. The Guardian.Google Scholar
Lattal, K. A. (1998). A century of effect: Legacies of E. L. Thorndike’s Animal Intelligence monograph. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 70, 325–336.Google Scholar
Mischel, W. (2014). The marshmallow test: Mastering self-control. New York, NY: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, D. A., and Janczyk, M. (2019). Who is or was E. R. F. W. Crossman, the champion of the Power Law of Learning and the developer of an influential model of aiming? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 26, 1449–1463.Google Scholar
Rung, J. M., and Madden, G. J. (2018). Experimental reductions of delay discounting and impulsive choice: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147, 1349–1381.Google Scholar
Schwartz, B., Wasserman, E. A., and Robbins, S. J. (2002). Psychology of learning and behavior (5th ed.). New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Wasserman, E. A. (2019). Precrastination: The fierce urgency of now. Learning & Behavior, 47, 7–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
References
Colin, T. R. and Belpaeme, T. (2019). Reinforcement Learning and Insight in the Artificial Pigeon. CogSci: Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 1533–1539.Google Scholar
Cook, R. and Fowler, C. (2014). “Insight” in Pigeons: Absence of Means–End Processing in Displacement Tests. Animal Cognition, 17, 207–220.Google Scholar
Epstein, R. (1981). On Pigeons and People: A Preliminary Look at the Columban Simulation Project. The Behavior Analyst, 4, 44–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, R. (1985). Animal Cognition as the Praxis Views It. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 9, 623–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarf, D. and Colombo, M. (2020). Columban Simulation Project 2.0: Numerical Competence and Orthographic Processing in Pigeons and Primates. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 3017.Google Scholar
Shettleworth, S. J. (2012). Do Animals Have Insight, and What Is Insight Anyway? Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 66, 217–226.Google Scholar
Accessibility standard: Unknown
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
Accessibility compliance for the HTML of this chapter is currently unknown
and may be updated in the future.