ABSTRACT
Although there are clear, cogent statements of the concept of integrative levels (Novikoff, 1945; Aronson, 1984, 1987), the way in which the concept of integrative levels is used (how it is “defined”) continues to become part of the discussions of many issues in the study of the development and evolution of behavior. This is especially so when explanations of behavioral processes are considered to be anthropomorphic, that is, attribution of human behavioral characteristics to other animals; zoomorphic, that is, attribution of behavioral characteristics of other animals to humans; or reductionist, that is, invoking explanatory reductionism in Mayr’s sense. In this sense explanatory reductionism is “The view that the mere knowledge of its ultimate components would be sufficient to explain a complex system…” (Mayr, 1992). The concept of integrative levels can be seen as an alternative to all three formulations described above.
