ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR IN LOWER ORGANISMS 313 



for change. In the same way a fitting reaction to a beneficial change, 

 or one releasing from interference, may be found. This fitting reaction 

 then tends to be preserved, by the law of the resolution of physiological 

 states, in accordance with which the physiological state inducing this 

 reaction is reached more readily after repetition. Thus the production 

 of varied movements by stimulation is the progressive factor in behavior, 

 while the law of the resolution of physiological states is the conservative 

 factor, tending to retain fitting reactions once attained. 



Through the law of the resolution of physiological states behavior 

 tends to pass from the pure "trial" condition to a more defined state. 

 The operation of this law tends to produce reactions precisely localized 

 with reference to the position of the stimulating agent ; increased appro- 

 priate reaction to the first weak effects of injurious or beneficial stimuli ; 

 and appropriate reactions to representative stimuli, according as they 

 are followed by injurious or beneficial stimuli. In higher organisms 

 such defining of the reactions has gone far ; much of the behavior con- 

 sists of derived reactions. There are in such organisms doubtless other 

 factors producing derived reactions, besides the law just mentioned. 

 These are treated in our chapter on the "Development of Behavior." 



Thus through the production of varied movements by stimulation 

 the organism finds the best method of behavior, and through the law 

 of the resolution of physiological states it tends to retain this method 

 as long as it is the best method. Through the same process it of course 

 tends to lose this method when it is no longer adapted to the conditions. 

 Thus behavior is regulatory in essential character; it is the process by 

 which the organism tends to find conditions favorable to its life processes 

 and to retain them, and it contains within itself the conditions for its 

 own more efficient development. 



