A Framework for Teaching Psychology: the “Adaptive Behavior Loop” (ABeL)

Abstract

Introductory psychology texts do not usually offer a theoretical articulation of the subject matter. Instead, they are limited to juxtaposing the relevant topics of the discipline, typically going from the most biological topics to the most cultural ones. This approach hinders the new students’ understanding of psychology. In the first part of this article we propose a general model to pedagogically articulate the introductory content. This model, which postulates that all behavior can be read psychologically as an “Adaptive Behavior Loop” (ABeL). The ABeL operates in two steps: a) an emotional evaluation process that identifies what is needed in the situation in which people find themselves; and b) a decision-making process concerning the behavior to emit to meet that need. To generate this loop, the mind has to manage three types of information: cognitive information (where I am), motivational information (what I want), and information on equipment (what resources do I have). These have to be combined into viable behavior. These loops can be nested and occur at three different levels: physical-biological, social-abstract, and the cultural-conscious, of which only the latter is accessible to the phenomenal consciousness of the individual. In the second part of this article, we propose a strategy for teaching psy- chology. We begin with a metaphor, the functioning of a company (The Myself Limited Company), to describe the psychological processes from the natural perspective of the phenomenal consciousness of the people. Specifically, the conscious level would be the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the company, the abstract-social level would be the company executives, and the biological level would be the workers. Finally, we propose a pedagogical reorganization of the content of introductory psychology programs.