Definition
Neurological and biological causality maps behaviour to inspectable mechanisms across time scales rather than treating acts as opaque moral failures.
Origin
Systems neuroscience and psychobiology document how seconds-before brain state, hours-before hormones, and years-before development prime today’s choices — central frame in Behave.
Mechanism
Each layer constrains the next: amygdala load, sleep debt, adolescent pruning, cultural priors. Intervention at the wrong layer (willpower lecture for sleep debt) fails predictably.
Multi-scale biology explains predisposition and context — it does not replace ethics, law, or the one chosen move once layers are named.
Applications
Restructuring behaviour starts with which layer is live — adjust infrastructure (sleep, safety, exposure) before identity verdict. Pairs with Judgment vs causality.
Sources
Cite
- Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Press.