Behavioral systems analysis: Methodological strategies and tactics

Abstract

A general-systems model stressing the inherent organizational aspects of continuous behavioral-environmental interaction is presented as a natural extension of 20th century developments in scientific worldviews. The cultural context of scientific inquiry has often been depicted as a dynamic process which has evolved through at least three phases of philosophical orientation, or paradigmatics. Each paradigm has carried its own special implications for research strategies and tactics. Beginning with a substance-property view emphasizing self-action, scientific philosophy gradually shifted to a cause-effect orientation with emphasis on the lineal-mechanical aspects of that presumed process. Developments within this century have brought science to the integrated-field/systems view of natural phenomena, with an associated emphasis on organizational properties and dynamics. However, psychology has lagged considerably in accommodating to this latter stage of scientific philosophy, both theoretically and methodologically. The model presented identifies with modern integrated-field/systems theory and offers empirical illustrations of its implications. Emphasis is placed on practical distinctions between structural, functional, and operational analysis, with special attention to such model-specific phenomena as behavioral velocity, kinematic syntax and variability, systemic coherence, and dynamic stability versus perturbed oscillations in systemic operations. Compatibilities between the behavioral systems model and various other contemporary efforts to expand psychological paradigmatics are reviewed in conclusion.