Method of Regulation in Behavior and in Other Fields. 475 



favorable condition. The movements of the organism when 

 stimulated are such as to subject it to various conditions, one of 

 which is selected. 



This method of regulation is found in its purest form in 

 unicellular organisms, such as Paramoecium and Stentor. Yet it 

 occurs also in higher organisms, and indeed is found in a less 

 primitive form throughout the animal series, up to and including 

 man. When we ourselves, or other animals, are confronted with 

 a difficulty for which neither experience nor inherited tendency 

 has furnished us with a direct method of relief, the only recourse 

 is to this same method of regulation. We perform movements 

 which subject us to various conditions, till one is found that relieves 

 the difficulty. We call the process searching, testing, trial, and 

 the like. In the lowest and highest organisms the injurious con- 

 dition acts as a stimulus to produce many movements, subjecting 

 the organism to various conditions, one of which is selected. 



In connection with this method of behavior three questions 

 arise, which are fundamental for the theory of regulation. First, 

 How is it determined what shall cause the changes in behavior 

 that result in new conditions .f* Or why does the organism change 

 its behavior under certain conditions, not under others.^ Second, 

 How does it happen that such movements are produced as result 

 in more favorable conditions.? Third, How is the more favorable 

 condition selected; what is this selection and what does it imply.? 

 Our first and third questions may indeed be condensed into one, 

 which involves the essence of the regulatory process: Why does 

 the organism choose certain conditions and reject others.? This 

 selection of the favorable conditions and rejection of the unfavor- 

 able ones presented by the movements is perhaps the fundamental 

 point in regulation. 



It is often maintained that this selection is precisely personal 

 or conscious choice, and that behavior cannot be explained 

 without this factor. Personal choice it evidently is, and in man it 

 is often conscious choice; whether it is conscious in other animals 

 we do not know. But in any case this does not remove it from 

 the necessity for analysis. Whether conscious or unconscious, 

 choice must be determined in some way, and it is the province of 

 science to inquire as to how this determination occurs. To say 

 that rejection is due to pain, acceptance to pleasure, or to other con- 

 scious states, does not help us, for we are then forced to inquire 



