Learning autonomy in two or three steps: linking open-ended development, authority, and agency to motivation

Abstract

In this paper we connect open-ended development, authority, agency, and motivation through (1) an analysis of the demands of existing in a complex world and (2) environmental appraisal in terms of affordance content and the complexity to select appropriate behavior. We do this by identifying a coherent core from a wide range of contributing fields. Open-ended development is a structured three-step process in which the agent first learns to master the body and then aims to make the mind into a reliable tool. Preconditioned on success in step two, step three aims to effectively co-create an optimal living environment. We argue that these steps correspond to right-left-right hemispheric dominance, where the left hemisphere specializes in control and the right hemisphere in exploration. Control (e.g., problem solving) requires a closed and stable world that must be maintained by external authorities or, in step three, by the right hemisphere acting as internal authority. The three-step progression therefore corresponds to increasing autonomy and agency. Depending on how we appraise the environment, we formulate four qualitatively different motivational states: submission, control, exploration, and consolidation. Each of these four motivational states has associated reward signals of which the last three—successful control, discovery of novelty, and establishing new relations—form an open-ended development loop that, the more it is executed, helps the agent to become progressively more agentic and more able to co-create a pleasant-to-live-in world. We conclude that for autonomy to arise, the agent must exist in a (broad) transition region between order and disorder in which both danger and opportunity (and with that open-ended development and motivation) are defined. We conclude that a research agenda for artificial cognitive system research should include open-ended development through intrinsic motivations and ascribing more prominence to right hemispheric strengths.

Authorities' Coercive and Legitimate Power: The Impact on Cognitions Underlying Cooperation

“…Thereby, we define authorities as processes or individuals which organize the cooperation in a community by an assigned social position that allows to create and maintain environments and thereby influence the behavior of individuals (cf. Andringa et al, 2013). In the current article, we focus on formal authorities.…”

The neuroanatomical delineation of agentic and affiliative extraversion

“…These regions also support psychological processes that are relevant to the phenomenology of the trait. In adults, the personality trait of agentic extraversion is associated with a sensitivity to rewarding stimuli (Depue & Collins, 1999; Lucas, Diener, Grob, Suh, & Shao, 2000), the selection of action in response to reward (White et al, 2007), vigorous positive emotion in response to positive cues (Morrone, Depue, Scherer, & White, 2000), and the binding of rewards, action, and agentic extraversion (Aarts et al, 2012; Andringa, van den Bosch, & Vlaskamp, 2013). These behavioral, emotional, and cognitive features are consistent with elevated neuronal capacity in the above brain regions.…”

The Nature of Wisdom: People's Connection to Nature Reflects a Deep Understanding of Life

“…Learning counterproductive strategies and sticking to them (perhaps because the strategies provide some fleeting benefits) increases the inadequacy. Learned helplessness (Maier & Seligman, 1976) can be interpreted in terms of a coping trap since it only occurs for fairly difficult behaviors under the agentic control (Andringa, van den Bosch, & Vlaskamp, 2013). When agents have accepted that their behaviors are pointless in addressing their needs, they have locked themselves in a coping trap.…”

“…In a paper called "Learning autonomy in two or three steps: linking open-ended development, authority, and agency to motivation" (Andringa et al, 2013) we separated three growth phases. In Phase 1 the agent learns to bring its body under control as a suitable vessel for sense-making and purposeful interaction with the environment.…”

“…Overall, wisdom improves one's ability to work with the tendencies of the world as opposed to frantically controlling and curtailing it. In short, it is co-creation (Andringa et al, 2013).…”