ABSTRACT
This chapter provides many examples of how selection by consequences can operate at three levels of analysis: biological, behavioral, and cultural. Adaptive behavior provides benefits that can lead to changes at the genetic, behavioral, and cultural levels. Selectionism is a universal process and is applied here to the behavior of organisms. First, evolution, or selection of genes by reproductive fitness is reviewed. The important of behavioral rigidity and flexibility are considered. Then, learning, or selection by consequences, is described. Sensitivity to reinforcement as a basic process is foundational to this type of selectionism. Finally, selectionism applied to the survival of behavior in cultures is described. Meta-contingencies are described as a basic process of cultural learning. Contingency analysis has proved useful in accounting for many diverse observations, from behavior that is present at birth, to changes in conditioning ability in flies, to acquisition of verbal behavior in humans, to the creation and maintenance of cultural practices and taboos. A scientific approach to behavior based on selection at three levels is ongoing and substantiated by thousands of research studies. The findings from these explorations have led to further questions about the regulation of behavior in more complex and widespread areas.
