When we treat behavior within an evolutionary framework and as temporally extended flow, two fundamental questions arise: (a) What is an organism? and (b) What is behavior? An organism is a process that stays intact by constantly exchanging energy with the environment. It takes in resources and puts out waste. The behavior of an organism consists of those process parts of the organism process that make up the exchange. These activities serve the function of reproducing, which generally depends on surviving. Surviving and reproducing depend on responding to phylogenetically important events (PIEs). A PIE induces activities that enhance or mitigate the PIE. Organisms respond not only to a PIE but also to events that covary with the PIE. Both activities and environmental features may covary with a PIE. When either type of covariance is introduced to an organism, behavior adapts over time. The early stages of adaptation constitute what researchers call “goal direction,” and the later stages constitute what researchers call “habit.” Behavior and environment constitute a dynamic system, and manipulations of the covariances and environmental features of the system allow many experimental interventions. This molar approach allows experiments on goal direction and habit to be understood without appeal to everyday mentalistic terms.

中文翻译：

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目标方向和习惯的摩尔视图

当我们在进化框架内将行为视为时间上延伸的流动时，就会出现两个基本问题：（a）什么是有机体？(b) 什么是行为？有机体是一个通过不断与环境交换能量而保持完整的过程。它吸收资源并排出废物。有机体的行为由有机体过程中构成交换的过程部分组成。这些活动服务于繁殖功能，而繁殖通常依赖于生存。生存和繁殖取决于对系统发育重要事件（PIE）的反应。PIE 引发增强或减轻 PIE 的活动。生物体不仅对 PIE 做出反应，而且对与 PIE 相关的事件做出反应。活动和环境特征都可能随 PIE 变化。当任何一种类型的协方差被引入生物体时，行为都会随着时间的推移而适应。适应的早期阶段构成了研究人员所说的“目标方向”，而后期阶段则构成了研究人员所说的“习惯”。行为和环境构成了一个动态系统，对系统的协方差和环境特征的操纵允许进行许多实验干预。这种摩尔方法可以让人们理解目标方向和习惯的实验，而无需求助于日常的心理术语。