Predictability of behavior

Introduction

No curious person still lingers on the mystery of our bodies’ origins. Where once our best

explanation of the human form drew a line between the natural and the divine, we now

see a continuum of evolved creatures. But few of us, even many who accept our natural

origins, are ready to abandon all forms of the élan vital and see a human being as nothing

more than a bundle of mechanisms. Most still cling to a dualistic view in which, through

means unspecified, we somehow remain metaphysically autonomous agents. Galen

Strawson put it this way:

Almost all human beings believe that they are free to choose what to do in such a way

that they can be truly, genuinely responsible for their actions in the strongest possible

sense; responsible period; responsible without any qualification; responsible sans

phrase, responsible tout court, absolutely, radically, buck-stoppingly responsible;

ultimately responsible, in a word – and so ultimately morally responsible when moral

matters are at issue.

If human beings are not free in that way—if our brains are the purely biological machines

they give every evidence of being, built by genes, sculpted by development and life

history—then what are we doing when we assess a person’s status as a rational agent,

grade their competence to make important decisions, or hold them responsible for their

actions? How does our understanding of the brain bear on how we treat people and deal

with each other socially? Neuroscience is more than on its way to resolving the

conditional: it has arrived. We are not free agents. In this article, we will review some of

the evidence leading to that conclusion and begin to address some of the questions it

raises.

Behavior is Generally Predictable

Body: Such a casual or commonsense approach to reading others can often lead to erroneous

predictions. OB improves managers’ predictive ability by replacing intuitive opinions

with a more systematic approach. Behavior generally is predictable if we know how the

person perceived the situation and what is important to him or her. While people’s

behavior may not appear to be rational to an outsider, there is reason to believe it usually

is intended to be rational and it is seen as rational by them. There are certain fundamental

consistencies underlying the behavior of all individuals that can be identified and then

modified to reflect individual differences. These fundamental consistencies allow

predictability. When we use the phrase systematic study, we mean looking at

relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and basing our conclusions on

scientific evidence—that is, on data gathered under controlled conditions and measured

and interpreted in a reasonably rigorous manner.