What do you make of the distinctions between molecular and molar behaviourisms? Where does the majority of the behaviour-analytic community stand?
Hello Anonymous and thanks for the question - keeping me on my toes this summer!
Before I weigh in, a little primer on the two definitions there:
Molecular view on behaviour - each behaviour is itself a discrete unit to be analyzed in terms of its occurrence and rate of response. It is as if we press pause on life to analyze the behaviour and what’s happening at that moment.
Molar views on behaviour - behaviour is part of a larger temporal continuum and influenced by the collection of events (or their absence) taking up space and time.
Practicing behaviour analysts are good at a molecular analysis. When we want to know the function or purpose for a behaviour we look to the immediate antecedents and consequences the moment the behaviour occurred. We do this analysis over and over again in order to then plan for behaviour change. There are of course limitations to this especially when we get into more complex behaviours or behaviours that are low in frequency. A molecular view does little to explain the variations in our behaviour repertoires and about the choices we make and when. We also don’t get to see if there is a time/space pattern between our behaviours.
I know for me, an increased understanding in satiation and deprivation (motivating operations) and matching law lends itself to a more molar view on behaviour. Events occurring earlier in the day make other events more or less reinforcing (or aversive). Therefore, we have to expand our analysis to include and measure these events. Also, a molar analysis on behaviour can ask, when not engaged in [target behaviour] what else is the person doing/getting? This is one of the reasons why I sometimes do a contingency space analysis as part of my functional behaviour assessments. Here, I track all events and their consequences to see the probability not only of behaviour-consequence relationships (desired and undesired) but the consequence-behaviour relationships as well. This can be especially telling when I’m not always around to catch that molecular moment.
We can’t ignore nor take away from the influence a molecular view on behaviour has contributed to our understanding of behaviour. This continues to be the roots of behaviour analysis. That larger more molar view is perhaps where we are taking behaviour analysis next. We need both if we are going to truly understand behaviour.
Resources:
Baum, W.M. (2002). From molecular to molar: A paradigm shift in behavior analysis. Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 78(1), 95-116.
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