The Seven Sins of Evolutionary Psychology - Konrad Lorenz Institute

Shulamith Kreitlercreased complexity of organization of the actions.For example, several action units may combine intolarger units by forming a sequence or chain of unitsor a hierarchically structured ‘family of habits’,wherein one or more action units may be replacedby other units when the former do not attain thegoal.The increased organizational complexity enablesalso increased flexibility in form, structure and enactment,which is manifested, for example, by selectingaction units in line with situational characteristicsand adapting the enactment of the actionunits to particular contextual conditions in whichthe action takes place. Increased flexible adaptabilitymay reach a level where its implementation cannotdepend any more on tuning-in with the situationalconstraints as one goes along, following the trial–and–error method. The next major evolutionarystep in this respect consists in the emergence of thebehavioral program which completely changed thescene of action by introducing from above an organizationalprinciple that takes control over actionfrom “the top, organizing the enactment in terms ofan overall scheme”. This change may have occurredat the level of worms. The program starts to play arole in the selection of the appropriate action unitsfor the behavior and in the way habits are embeddedwithin it (GALLISTEL 1980; MILLER/GALANTER/PRIBRAM1960).Within the sphere of behavioral programs a furtherevolution takes place whereby learning gets anincreased role and contribution. The primary programsare innate ones, such as reflexes. These programsbecome slowly more flexible and adaptable.For example, conditioning brings about the bindingof these primary programs to new signals so thatthey come to be evoked by learned stimuli in thecontext of new situations. These and other processesof learning invade, as it were, the innate schemes,enlarging and transforming them in different ways.Moreover, the innate programs are gradually amplifiedby newly evolving programs that are increasinglybased on learning. Thus, the next stage consistsof programs that are partly innate and partlylearned, such as instincts, behaviors correspondingto defense mechanisms, language and social behaviors.The components due to learning become graduallymore salient and push the innately-given componentsinto the background so that they becomebarely perceptible. For example, in an instinct thelearning-based ‘appetitive behavior’ is distinctly differentiatedfrom the end-stage behavior which representsthe more innate components. However, in adefense mechanism behavior such as displacement,the innate element is represented not in the actualmanifest behavior but in its underlying cause orgoal. In different social behaviors, such as courting,threatening or impressing others the innate elementis even more covert (HINDE 1970, pp370–382; MORRIS1969).The next evolutionary stage is characterized bythe emergence of behavioral programs that arepurely learned, such as, driving a car or using theinternet. It is likely that even here there are somebarely perceptible but identifiable innate elementsthat have stealthily invaded the scheme (e.g., pushingbuttons, turning wheels). The next evolutionarystage consists in giving up ready-made programs andrelying increasingly on ad-hoc programs newly createdin line with the present circumstances. Thus,program retrieval is gradually replaced by planning.A series of studies on the development of planningshowed that the major developments occur in regardto information gathering (focusing on items of informationnecessary for proceeding smoothly withthe action), information organization (for example,in terms of if–then considerations, or defining domainsof information), and plan structuring (chronologicalordering, number of steps, major and alternateplans, etc.). The development of planningand acquisition of planning skills are promoted bymotivation and increased awareness of needs (KRE-ITLER/KREITLER 1987a–c).The advantage of the ad-hoc programs is their perfectfit to the situation, their disadvantage—thatthey have to be created under the pressure of ongoingbehavior. The task is however made easier in viewof the more advanced development of programs forthe formation of programs. These programs makeuse of elements accumulated in the course of previousdevelopment, from the bottom, as it were, but assoon as they emerge they start controlling the processesfrom the top, as it were. However, in this fieldtoo, the more developed manifestations do not completelyreplace the lower-level products, which maystill be adequate for handling specific situationsmore adequately than higher-level behaviors (seethe principle of “preservation of the fittest” in “TheCO Theory: General Characteristics”).The described development of programs emphasizedtheir increased shaping by learning. The developmentof programs may also be examined from thecomplementary viewpoint of the changes they undergo.First, it is evident that behavioral programsincrease in number, so that the organism has programsadequate for an increasing number of differ-Evolution and Cognition ❘ 90 ❘ 2001, Vol. 7, No. 1