Behavior, Process, and Evolution in the Multiscale Molar Paradigm

Abstract The Multiscale Molar View of behavior fits with evolutionary theory and with General Process Theory. These two theories combine to afford a monistic ontological basis for understanding behavior as consisting of extended activities controlled by extended behavior–environment relations. General Process Theory casts the world as process and all existences as processes—no objects, no events, and no substance. Although the theory applies to both animate and inanimate things, behavior analysts focus on animate processes. Evolutionary theory conceives of a species as a process, the function of which is to evolve, and the individual members—the parts—as processes, the function of which is to reproduce. All behavior consists of activities, which are processes that ultimately promote surviving and reproducing. Evolutionary theory, process ontology, and the concept of induction provide a powerful conceptual framework for understanding not only behavioral phenomena in the laboratory and everyday life but also for more flexible approaches to clinical applications.