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Re: Where are Behavior Patterns?
Stephanie Wilson (swilson@BIGCAT.MISSOURI.EDU)
Mon, 31 Jan 1994 16:40:14 -0600
On Fri, 28 Jan 1994, SS51000 wrote:
> It never would have occurred to me to take M. Hill's "shared patterns of
> behavior" to refer to *mental* phenomena, as D. Read has done. I think
> of "behavior," whether patterned or not, as directly observable
> movements of organisms in space and time. *Patterned* behavior is such
> movement when it is spatiotemporally recurrent. Such patterns within a
> social group are what I mean by "interaction"; analytically, they are
> entirely separable from that group's symbolic interpretations of reality
> (if it has any). --Bob Graber
Bob, your definition of behavior seems to refer to basic animal behavior.
Zoologists can only study this observable behavior because they cannot
know what the animal is thinking. But humans can tell other humans what
they are thinking. Maybe this "mental" cultural behavior would be better
understood by looking at "conformity". Cultures generally have an "idea"
of itself that it passes on to the next generation. How do cultures deal
with individuals that do not conform to the cultural norms (deviant
behavior; criminal activities; outlaws; outcasts)? Would "shared
patterns" equal cultural norms?
Stephanie Wilson
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