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DYSFUNCTIONAL BEHAVIOR

DYSFUNCTIONAL BEHAVIOR. DEEP ETHOLOGY. Neil Greenberg Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Tennessee. WHAT IS NORMAL?. WHAT IS NORMAL? Merely sufficient?. How do we establish an effective model of the world ?.

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DYSFUNCTIONAL BEHAVIOR

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  1. DYSFUNCTIONAL BEHAVIOR DEEP ETHOLOGY Neil GreenbergDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Tennessee

  2. WHAT IS NORMAL?

  3. WHAT IS NORMAL? Merely sufficient? How do we establish an effective model of the world ? Given the evolved capacity of an organism to adapt: detect, integrate, and act upon information … experience experience experience What enables or impairs experience?

  4. WE ARE BORN INTO A WORLD OF MYSTERY What is that? What does it feel/smell/taste like? What can I do with it? / not do? Who is that? Who am I? How do I know?

  5. NOVELTY … MYSTERY – the unknown, the untested– is confronted or ignored Cognitive dissonance evokes affect (emotions, autonomic ns & subclinical stress) “reason” (reality testing : testing for correspondence and coherence)

  6. We SEEK mystery –we create and resolve mysteries that are more-or-less exciting … recreational … • Our concern with mystery seems to be in proportion to its real or apparent importance in meeting real or apparent needs … including growth experiences, • At a certain point, the cost of seeking and solving exceeds the benefit.

  7. BEHAVIORAL DYSFUNCTION Key QUESTIONS include : • How is abnormality, dysfunction, and pathology recognized and related? • Aristotle and modern conceptions - excesses, deficits, balance • Adaptive dysfunctions, behavioral polymorphism, spectrum disorders

  8. BEHAVIORAL DYSFUNCTION DEEP QUESTIONS • DEVELOPMENT (Genetic? Experiential? Epigenetic? Physiological?) • ECOLOGY (selection pressure; abiotic, biotic? Optimality? Behavioral polymorphism (=?= spectrum?) • EVOLUTION (ancestral EEA? Contribution to direct or indirect fitness? – “evolutionary optimality”) • PHYSIOLOGY (input, integration, output? Motivation? Affect? Cognition? Stress?_

  9. SPECTRUM DISORDERS For example: • Autism Spectrum Disorders (profound to Asperger's) • OCD Spectrum (includes eating disorders) • PTSD • Schizo-affective • Sociopathy (manipulate, deceive, and injure without guilt to obtain ends)

  10. SPECTRUM DISORDERS Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) (also known as Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs), cause severe and pervasive impairment in thinking, feeling, language, and the ability to relate to others. These disorders are usually first diagnosed in early childhood and range from a severe form, called autistic disorder, through pervasive development disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), to a much milder form, Asperger syndrome. I(NIMH)

  11. New Scientist 4 May 2010

  12. Proposed “new” Spectrum Disorder

  13. CURIOSITY, EXPLORATION, SENSATION-SEEKING: is there a spectrum of preoccupation with novelty? Novelty is Mystery! MYSTERY can be engaging It can evoke fear and wonder, awe and epiphany.

  14. MYSTERY can be profoundly troubling novelty evokes the physiological stress response and we either ignore, assimilate, or accommodate the novelty to reduce stress

  15. The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. -- Albert Einstein

  16. Pascal, contemplating the mystery of the cosmos, wrote, "The eternal silence of these infinite spaces terrifies me” -- Blaise Pascal

  17. DEEP MYSTERY • DEVELOPMENT: The amount of curiosity expressed changes during development • EVOLUTION: Different amounts of curiosity can characterize different species. • ECOLOGY: Curiosity can have varying costs and benefits in different environments • PHYSIOLOGY: Curiosity is very sensitive to stress hormones acting in specific parts of the brain.

  18. An aside on the quality of belief IS a BELIEF derived from another context (time, place, vicarious) VALID (does it have good external validity?) ... Does it generalize to the question -- the mystery– the novelty -- at hand? Is perceptual evidence corroborated (has coherence in a system of belief that involves others) Are the relative strengths of CORRESPONDENCE and COHERENCE in conflict? It there a tipping point where confidence goes one way or another. [back to the “dissonance-reduction” model of learning: assimilating or accommodating new information]

  19. MYSTERY Two neurobehavioral phenomena are at work here; the first is • The need for accurate models of the world within us and confidence in our beliefs. • This derives from the “essential tension” between “reality testing” and the fitting of validated percepts into a narrative: “story telling” 2. Do our BELIEFS derived from other contexts have good external validity ... Do they generalize to the Mystery at hand?

  20. Our religious and scientific traditions have evolved to help us cope with living in a world of endless MYSTERIES

  21. Can there be a spectrum in confidence about what’s real? DUALITIES in CONSCIOUSNESS RIGHT HEMISPHERE Correspondence: tests reality and if damaged, confabulation runs rampant (Ramachandran 1998) Deductive reasoning (Osherson et al 1998) LEFT HEMISPHERE Coherence: creates a “stable and internally consistent belief system” (Ramachandran 1998) Probabilistic reasoning (Osherson et al 1998)

  22. MYSTERY The second neurobehavioral phenomenon is foresight: We cannot turn off our need to KNOW THE FUTURE – the consequences of actions and connections between things this derives from a trait more-or-less critical for all creatures and highly enhanced in humans: foresight, a “perception” of the consequences of actions –dependent on our prefrontal cortex [but the strength of the “need to know” can diminish as other biological needs are met. ...and can return when being a “role model”]

  23. FORESIGHT

  24. MYSTERY The costs and benefits of engaging mystery are very delicately balanced The balance between UNANSWERED QUESTIONS and UNQUESTIONED ANSWERS creates an "essential tension" that is firmly founded in the biology of consciousness. This tension reflects a balance which is, at either extreme, dysfunctional, even pathological.

  25. CONFLICT is wired into us: paths to action compete and the outcomes reflect the organism’s estimate of the optimal solution to meeting a real or perceived survival need The relative urgency of the need evokes more-or-less of the stress response

  26. UNANSWERED QUESTIONS By doubting we are led to inquire, and by inquiry we perceive the truth Bronowski And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under Heaven… Ecclesiastes I:13

  27. We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. From “Little Gidding” by TS Eliot

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