Document Type
Article
Journal Title
International Journal of Comparative Psychology
Publication Date
2014
Abstract
The study of behavioral variability continues to grow in importance and gather interest. A thorough understanding of the fundamental processes by which variation is generated and by which it is adaptive is potentially important to our understandings of a whole host of phenomena, including all types of learning, from basic skills to language and thought (Bateson & Martin, 2013) as well as the antifragility of complex systems (Taleb, 2012). This issue represents a brief look into an important scientific enterprise, extraordinarily vast in scope and implications (Brembs, 2010). Even if we accept a fundamental unpredictability to animal behavior, this does not preclude us from studying the nature of that unpredictability. Please enjoy the issue, and may it inspire your own creative variations.
Publisher Statement
This journal provides immediate open access to its content, free of charge, on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Currently, no processing or publication fees are assessed to authors for publishing in the journal.
Recommended Citation
Stahlman, W. David, and Aaron Blaisdell. “Selections on the Empirical and Theoretical Investigations of Behavioral Variability: An Introduction to the Special Issue.” International Journal of Comparative Psychology 27, no. 2 (2014): 187–89. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/21m8h2qp.