Developing a widely accepted theory of behavior causation has been hampered by the lack of a rigorous approach to understanding the kinds of determinants at work. Interest in behavior change is also burgeoning, and requires a profound understanding of how personal and environmental determinants interact dynamically to predict changed behavioral outcomes. Behavior settings theory, a powerful naturalistic theory with a huge empirical underpinning, has long been available for describing the recurrent, everyday behavioral episodes in which many social and psychological scientists are interested. In this article, I review settings theory and update it in the light of a number of recent contributions from various quarters. I argue that this syncretic model should be seen as defining the proximate causal network surrounding these common behavioral episodes, which I call “situations.” I further propose that “contexts” should be thought of as the more distal, second-order causes circumscribing situations. I argue that these situational and contextual “spheres” of causation are a powerful way to understand behavior determination. I conclude by introducing a quasi-computational model of situations that is worthy of the further development necessary to make psychology a predictive science of behavioral causation and change.

由于缺乏了解工作中决定因素种类的严格方法，阻碍了行为因果关系理论的发展。对行为改变的兴趣也在迅速增长，并且需要深刻了解个人和环境决定因素如何动态交互以预测行为改变的结果。行为设置理论是一种强大的自然主义理论，具有巨大的经验基础，长期以来可用于描述许多社会和心理学家感兴趣的经常性的日常行为发作。在本文中，我将回顾设置理论并根据各个方面的最新成果进行更新。我认为，应该将这种合相模型定义为围绕这些常见行为情节（我称为“情境”）的最接近的因果网络。我进一步建议，“上下文”应被认为是限制情况的更远端的二阶原因。我认为，这些因果关系的情境和上下文是理解行为确定的有力方法。最后，我介绍了一种情况的准计算模型，该模型值得使心理学成为行为因果关系和变化的预测科学所必需的进一步发展。我认为，这些因果关系的情境和上下文是理解行为确定的有力方法。最后，我介绍了一种情况的准计算模型，该模型值得使心理学成为行为因果关系和变化的预测科学所必需的进一步发展。我认为，这些因果关系的情境和上下文是理解行为确定的有力方法。最后，我介绍了一种情况的准计算模型，该模型值得使心理学成为行为因果关系和变化的预测科学所必需的进一步发展。