Behavioral illusions as obstacles to a science of purpose and how to get around them

Abstract

This review describes what a behavioral illusion is, why it has been an obstacle to research aimed at determining the purposes of behavior and suggests a way to get around these obstacles in order to start doing research aimed at understanding the purposes rather than the causes of behavior. A behavioral illusion happens when the behavior of a purposeful (closed loop, negative feedback) system is seen as that of a nonpurposeful (open loop) one. It is an obstacle to studying purposeful behavior because the results of research using conventional methods look like they were produced by a nonpurposeful system even if they were produced by a purposeful one. This obstacle can be overcome by using the results of conventional research as hints about the variables controlled by the systems under study.