Research into information behavior

Research into information behavior in information science has largely built
contemporary non-evolutionary models incorporating concepts related to contemporary
information behaviors (Case, 2002; Spink and Cole, 2005, 2006). Other fields, such as
social psychology, marketing and consumer buying, have also study contemporary
information behavior (Case, 2002. Information science has largely adopted a focus based
on solving the technological, psychological and social problems of the post-WWII
information explosion and fulfilling Vannevar Bush’s vision of the Memex machine (Bush,
1945; Saracevic, 1999), which foresaw the development of computers and techniques that
would allow the more effective organization and retrieval of information (Saracevic, 1999).
Yet information behavior is a basic human behavior that has aided us in our survival
from the beginning of human existence (Spink and Cole, 2005, 2006). Information science
has recently begun to be influenced by Evolutionary Psychology and exploring the central
role of information (Bates, 2005) and information behavior (Spink and Cole, 2006) as a
mechanism of human adaptation and survival. Like the human behaviors surrounding food
production, information behavior is a socio-cognitive ability facilitating adaptation and
survival.
The next section of the paper outlines the current Evolutionary Psychology
perspectives regarding information behavior.
Evolutionary psychology perspective
The evolutionary psychology approach to information behavior has focused on the
behavioral aspects of humans and information behavior. Evolutionary psychologists and
related researchers have written about information behaviors in an evolutionary sense. The
history of information behaviors within evolutionary psychology is seen as related to the
evolution of human behavior (Eibi-Eibesfeldt and Strachen, 1996).
The objective of evolutionary psychology is to explore functioning and
development of the human mind from a human evolutionary theoretical perspective,
including information behavior as a socio-cognitive ability (Barkow, Cosmides and Tooby,
1992; Mithen, 1988, 1996). Cognitive archeologist Mithen (1996) studied Upper
Paleolithic cultures, focusing on prehistoric cave art and the meaning that can be derived
from what he and other researchers interpret as a method and mechanism for information
storage. Mithen (1996) advocates an interdisciplinary approach to scientific inquiry and has
stated that “almost all disciplines can contribute towards an understanding of the human
mind” (p. 10).
Kaplan (1992) as an evolutionary psychologist has written about some of the issues
involved in a synthesis of humans, evolution and information. Kaplan (1992) states that
within a framework of “affective biases toward patterns of information” he states that,
“…not only information in its own right, but the concern for information is considered a
basic part of the human makeup” (p. 582). Kaplan (1992) sees “concern” as encompassing
a broad range of human affective relationships vis-à-vis information, such as “the
motivation to seek information” (p. 582) and asserts that a variety of “human affective
relationships to information…remain to be identified and conceptualized” (p. 582). Kaplan
(1992) proposes several questions related to the nexus of humans, information, and
evolution. He examines whether knowledge (i.e. information) has any relationship to
human evolution.
Information behavior: a socio-cognitive ability
Evolutionary Psychology – ISSN 1474-7049 – Volume 5(2). 2007. -264-
Interdisciplinary evolutionary psychologists Barkow, Cosmides and Tooby (1992)
and Mithen (1996) discuss conceptual integration that created anchor point links with other
fields. Tooby and Cosmides (1989) view cognitive psychology and evolutionary biology as
“sister disciplines” (p. 46). They assert that “the goal of evolutionary theory is to define the
adaptive problems that organisms must be able to solve. The goal of psychological theory
is to discover the information processing mechanisms that have evolved to solve them.
Alone, each is incomplete for the understanding of human nature. Together they are
powerful” (Tooby and Cosmides, 1989, p. 46-47).
In addition, other evolutionary psychologists are exploring cumulating information
building as a major human ability (Coe, 2003) and the extraordinary range of information
we use in comparison with other species. The famous Harvard linguist Steven Pinker
(1999, 2003) highlights the need to understand more about the extraordinary human ability
of information transfer abilities enabled by linguistic competency.
In summary, various evolutionary psychology scholars are exploring information behavior.
However, evolutionary psychology has not developed a coherent framework for
information behavior as a socio-cognitive ability. The next section of the paper examines
the evolutionary information behavior perspective emerging from information science that
is building a framework for information behavior as a socio-cognitive ability.
Evolutionary information behavior perspective
The evolutionary approach to understanding information behavior is exploring the
development of the information behaviors manifested and engaged in by humans and
exploring how evolution shaped information behavior (Spink and Currier, 2006a, b). This
approach is exploring how evolutionary changes in information behavior may mirror
cognitive and societal development as humans endeavored to fulfill needs and resolve
problems of everyday life and survival (Spink and Currier, 2006a, and b).
Consideration of evolutionary theory has recently emerged within the information
behavior perspective (Madden, Bryson and Palimi, 2006; Spink and Cole, 2005, 2006;
Spink and Currier, 2006a, b). The nature of information (Bates, 2005) and information
behavior is being increasingly understood as a product of biological evolution (Spink and
Cole, 2005, 2006) within a heuristic conceptualization and interdisciplinary framework for
examining the nexus of human beings, information behavior’s and human evolution. The
goal of this research is to understand how information behaviors may have changed and
evolved across the arc of human existence and human evolution (Spink and Currier, 2006a,
b).
Spink and Cole (2005, 2006) provide an overarching and evolutionary conceptual
framework which encompasses an information behavior model, including information
seeking, foraging, sense making, retrieving, organizing and use behaviors (Spink and Cole,
2005, 2006). They argue that viewing information behavior from only one perspective, e.g.,
that humans are foragers for information, provides a limited understanding of information
behavior. Spink and Cole (2005, 2006) argue that humans engage in information seeking,
foraging, sense making, retrieving, organizing and use behaviors at different times, and that
these behaviors often occur in parallel. For example, for different tasks that are being
processed by a person at different information processing levels within cognition (Spink,
Cole and Waller, in press), a person may initiate an information seeking behavior and then
switch to information foraging and then switch to making sense of the information
retrieved.