What concept suggests that all life evolves through selection, according to behavior analysis?

Selectionism is the concept that suggests all life evolves through a process of selection. In the framework of behavior analysis, it emphasizes that behaviors, like biological traits, change and develop over time through selective pressures. This principle implies that behaviors that lead to successful outcomes are more likely to be repeated and therefore passed down through generations, analogous to natural selection in biological evolution.

In applied behavior analysis, selectionism is foundational as it relates to how we understand behavior change and the development of new skills. It frames the idea that, just as physical traits are selected for their adaptive value in varying environments, behaviors are also molded and shaped by their consequences in a given context, leading to an evolution of behavior patterns.

In contrast, the other concepts such as determinism, functionalism, and behaviorism relate to specific philosophical viewpoints or paradigms within psychology and behavior analysis but do not encapsulate the comprehensive idea of evolution through selection in the same way that selectionism does.