Evolution and Contextual Behavioral Science

Hayes, Steven C., Wilson, David Sloan

• Publisher: Context Press
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781626259140

What do evolutionary science and contextual behavioral science have in common? Edited by David Sloan Wilson and Steven C. Hayes, this groundbreaking book offers a glimpse into the histories of these two schools of thought, and provides a sound rationale for their reintegration.

Evolutionary science (ES) provides a unifying theoretical framework for the biological sciences, and is increasingly being applied to the human-related sciences. Meanwhile, contextual behavioral science (CBS) seeks to understand the history and function of human behavior in the context of everyday life where behaviors occur, and to influence behavior in a practical sense. This volume seeks to integrate these two bodies of knowledge that have developed largely independently.

In Evolution and Contextual Behavioral Science, two renowned experts in their fields argue why ES and CBS are intrinsically linked, as well as why their reintegration—or, reunification —is essential. The main purpose of this book is to continue to move CBS under the umbrella of ES, and to help evolutionary scientists understand how working alongside contextual behavioral scientists can foster both the development of ES principles and their application to practical situations.

Rather than the sequential relationship that is typically imagined between these two schools of thought, this volume envisions a parallel relationship between ES and CBS, where science can best influence positive change in the real world.

Table of contents

• Foreword
• Chapter 1: Evolution and Contextual Behavioral Science
• Chapter 2: The Contextual Science of Learning: Integrating Behavioral and Evolution Science Within a Functional Approach
• Chapter 3: Classical and Operant Conditioning: Evolutionarily Distinct Strategies?
• Chapter 4: Symbolic Thought and Communication from a Contextual Behavioral Science Perspective
• Chapter 5: Beneath Symbols: Convention as a Semiotic Phenomenon
• Chapter 6: The Evolutionary Basis of Risky Adolescent Behavior
• Chapter 7: Shaping DNA (Discoverer, Noticer, and Advisor): A Contextual Behavioral Science Approach to Youth Intervention
• Chapter 8: Situated Empathy: Applying Contextualism to the Science of Recognizing Other People’s Emotions
• Chapter 9: The Social and Contextual Nature of Emotion: An Evolutionary Perspective
• Chapter 10: Relational Models, Leadership, and Organization Design: An Evolutionary View of Organizational Development
• Chapter 11: Organizational Flexibility: Creating a Mindful and Purpose-Driven Organization
• Chapter 12: Evolutionary Mismatch: A Framework for Understanding Health and Disease in the Modern World—“Better Living Through Evolution”
• Chapter 13: Living Well as the First Medicine: Health and Wellness in the Modern World
• Chapter 14: Small Groups as Fundamental Units of Social Organization
• Chapter 15: PROSOCIAL: Using CBS to Build Flexible, Healthy Relationships
• Chapter 16: Variation and Selection in Psychopathology and Psychotherapy: The Example of Psychological Inflexibility
• Chapter 17: Reconciling the Tension Between Behavioral Change and Stability
• Chapter 18: Evolution and Contextual Behavioral Science: Where Are We and Where Are We Going? A Concluding Dialogue Between the Editors
• Index