I’m on a bit of a blogging hiatus at the moment (it would seem), but The Grok Project will continue soon! I’m just a tad overwhelmed at the moment.

I have often wondered how we get to the more complex behaviors. It’s possible that when a child learns that he shouldn’t do something he later associates his discomfort with the emotional pain of his mother berating him, which he associates with the physical sensation of her loud yelling or not getting some sweet he wanted.

At first, achievements probably are simply a way to get pleasure or avoid pain, but them as we are rewarded for achieving goals more and more, the achievement probably becomes the “pleasure response”, whether we know it or not.

In fact, it has to.

We get to a point in our development when mommy will no longer congratulate us for going to the bathroom on our own. This must be a big shock, actually. I think it’s the first time a child learns he has to do something without expecting praise or a treat.

I remember several such discussions with parents who are annoyed that their children will not do anything without expecting some positive feedback for it.

So, I think how I would break it down is this:

(yes, I realize this is simplistic, and that some of it has been said before…)

1) Level 1 Learning – I react to and perhaps learn from: Obvious physical feedback – burned hand. Spanked by a parent, Given extra treat by a parent. Why things happen is almost irrelevant to me. They just do. My body is built to make me avoid pain and reach towards pleasure.

2) Level 2 learning – I react to and learn from: Things I associate with level 1. Angry authority figure. Hot stove. Mommy praising me. I am able to separate what I want from the fact that others don’t want the same as me. I can connect pleasure to good feedback and pain to bad feedback, as long as the feedback is consistent, and does not take long to occur.

3) Level 3 – I react to and learn from: Things we associate with level 2. Being aware that someone would be angry or happy that I did something. Doing things to avoid getting caught or getting shunned by peers. Achievement of goals is, in general, good. They might be someone else’s goals or rules, but if I learn them and live by them, I will get what I want (or at least not get hurt). I am probably able to manipulate others to do what I want, but probably not smart enough to recognize there is something outside the patterns I am used to. I can probably comprehend symbols and language and that things stand for other things.

4) Level 4 – Initiative. I learn because I am now capable of setting my own high-level goals for what I want. I recognize patterns that have no obvious survival advantage for me and study them. I create models of how the universe works in my head. While I, of course, react to the lower levels because my survival demands it (and because I am used to it), I am no longer a complete slave to my impulses.

5) Level 6 – I learn because I recognize its intrinsic value, not just because it will bring me survival advantage or help me to achieve some specific goal. (Though it may do this, also).

Where I am slightly shaky is how 1 gets to 2. Once you get to two, the others follow as simply more complex neural connections. Associations with other associations.

Even birds know to look for “clues of aggression” or “clues of more food”. We do the same.

But we are somehow wired to be more discerning than most animals, who may or may not see the same things we do. Also, our vision is quite good. We pick up on subtle clues that help us survive because those of us who could see and make the connections were the ones who survived. Observation, both physical and metaphorical, I think, is what may have given us the edge.

I admit I am biased because I believe knowledge gathering is the ultimate purpose of humankind, but I don’t think I am far wrong in this.