DESIGN FOR A BRAIN 



5/10 



the examples of S. 5/6 have shown that some at least of man's 



activities may be judged properly by this criterion. 



In order to survey rapidly the types of behaviour of the more 



primitive animals, we may examine the classification of Holmes, 



who intended his list to be exhaustive but constructed it with 



no reference to the concept of stability. The reader will be able 



to judge how far our formulation (S. 5/8) is consistent with his 



scheme, which is given in Table 5/9/1. 



'Useless tropistic reaction. 

 Misdirected instinct. 

 Abnormal sex behaviour. 

 Non-adaptive ^ Pathological behaviour. 



Useless social activity. 

 Superfluous random 

 movements. 



'Capture, devouring of 



food. 

 Activities preparatory, as 



making snares, stalking. 

 Collection of food, digging. 

 Migration. 

 Caring for food, storing, 



burying, hiding. 

 Preparing of food. 



Behaviour - 



Adaptive 



Self- 

 maintaining 



Sustentative 



{Against enemies — fight, 

 flight. 

 Against inanimate forces. 

 Reactions to heat, gravity, 

 chemicals. 

 Against inanimate objects. 



Ameliorative Rest, sleep, play, basking. 



^maintaining { < With these c w , e Q a x re not concerned, 



Table 5/9/1 : All forms of animal behaviour, classified by Holmes. 



For the primitive organism, and excluding behaviour related to 

 racial survival, there seems to be little doubt that the ' adaptive- 

 ness ' of behaviour is properly measured by its tendency to 

 promote the organism's survival. 



5/10. A most impressive characteristic of living organisms is 

 their mobility, their tendency to change. McDougall expressed 

 this characteristic well in the example of S. 5/8. Yet our formula- 

 tion transfers the centre of interest to the state of equilibrium, 

 to the fact that the essential variables of the adapted organism 

 change less than they would if it were unadapted. Which is 

 important : constancy or change ? 



66 



