A Behavior Analyst Talks About Climate Change And Long-Term Contingencies: webinar aired 11/07/23

Abstract

A. Charles Catania, Ph.D. will discuss how long-term and short-term contingencies can support or oppose each other at any level of selection. For example, in biological or phylogenic selection, the short-term benefits of finding a mate (as when peahen is most attracted by the peacock with the most spectacular tail) may in the long term drive the species to an evolutionary dead-end. In the selection of behavior (ontogenic selection), we can pit the short-term consequences of impulsivity against the long-term consequences of self-control. We will use the crisis of climate change to examine similar contrasts operating at the level of cultural practices (sociogenic selection).