The meaning and measurement of behavior

From aformal point of view, all behavior involves thechoice orselection of one from among a set of behavioral options. While this commits us to a probabilistic and quantitative approach to behavioral inquiry, it tells us neither whatbehavioral probabilities are, nor how we should measure them. From a material point of view, however, behavior essentially involveseffort, that is, the expenditure of materialresources. For it is this which makes behavior bring about any observable effect on the state of the agent or its environment. This article analyzes the relationship between these two viewpoints. In particular, it explores the possibility and implications of interpreting and measuring behavioral probabilities in terms of the relative amounts of resources spent or invested in behavior, an issue which turns out to be a good deal more complex than it might initially seem to be.