Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24826907›Full record

ReviewThe Behavioral and brain sciences2014

Evolving the future: toward a science of intentional change.

David Sloan Wilson, Steven C Hayes, Anthony Biglan, Dennis D Embry

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in The Behavioral and brain sciences, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
54citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

54 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Trial
  3. Review
  4. Analysis of Serotonin Transporter GeneInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Article
  5. Integrating evolutionary theory and social-ecological systems research to address the sustainability challenges of the Anthropocene.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024
    Review
  6. Evolution of the polycrisis: Anthropocene traps that challenge global sustainability.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024
    Article
  7. The Anthropocene condition: evolving through social-ecological transformations.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024
    Review
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Multilevel cultural evolution: From new theory to practical applications.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

David Sloan WilsonDepartments of Biology and Anthropology,Binghamton University,Binghamton,NY 13903dwilson@binghamton.eduhttp://evolution.binghamton.edu/dswilson/
Steven C HayesDepartment of Psychology,University of Nevada,Reno,NV 89557-0062stevenchayes@gmail.comhttp://stevenchayes.com/
Anthony BiglanOregon Research Institute,Eugene,OR 97403tony@ori.orghttp://promiseneighborhoods.org/about/people.html.
Dennis D EmbryPAXIS Institute,Tucson,AZ 85751dde@paxis.orghttp://www.paxis.org/content/DennisBio.aspx.

Funding

Creating the Scientific Infrastructure for the Promise Neighborhood InitiativeRC2DA028946 · NIDA · OREGON RESEARCH INSTITUTE · PI BIGLAN, ANTHONY, FLAY, BRIAN R. · 2009 to 2010
$3.4M
Reducing Teacher Stress and Building a More Effective School CultureR01HD060922 · NICHD · OREGON RESEARCH INSTITUTE · PI BIGLAN, ANTHONY · 2009 to 2013
$3.0M
NICHD NIH HHS HD60922NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD060922NIDA NIH HHS RC2 DA028946
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Humans possess great capacity for behavioral and cultural change, but our ability to manage change is still limited. This article has two major objectives: first, to sketch a basic science of intentional change centered on evolution; second, to provide examples of intentional behavioral and cultural change from the applied behavioral sciences, which are largely unknown to the basic sciences community. All species have evolved mechanisms of phenotypic plasticity that enable them to respond adaptively to their environments. Some mechanisms of phenotypic plasticity count as evolutionary processes in their own right. The human capacity for symbolic thought provides an inheritance system having the same kind of combinatorial diversity as does genetic recombination and antibody formation. Taking these propositions seriously allows an integration of major traditions within the basic behavioral sciences, such as behaviorism, social constructivism, social psychology, cognitive psychology, and evolutionary psychology, which are often isolated and even conceptualized as opposed to one another. The applied behavioral sciences include well-validated examples of successfully managing behavioral and cultural change at scales ranging from individuals to small groups to large populations. However, these examples are largely unknown beyond their disciplinary boundaries, for lack of a unifying theoretical framework. Viewed from an evolutionary perspective, they are examples of managing evolved mechanisms of phenotypic plasticity, including open-ended processes of variation and selection. Once the many branches of the basic and applied behavioral sciences become conceptually unified, we are closer to a science of intentional change than one might think.

Indexed as

Behavioral SciencesBehaviorismCultural EvolutionHumans

Identifiers

PMID24826907
PMCPMC4331065

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.