Process theory postulates the priority
of the simple and the supremacy of the complex. Complex processes are
created by simple processes. Simple processes appear earlier in physical and biological evolution, social history
and individual development appearance, they have greater extension, greater energy, and longer duration. Complex
processes have greater informational density (complexity), which is associated with greater control supremacy
In traditional formulations, either the simpler material processes are considered fundamental (e.g., social problems
have an economic origin, psychiatric dysfunctions are biological illnesses), or the higher psychosocial processes
are recognized as having primacy (e.g. war, poverty, crime, are due to moral or ideological deficits, emotional
dysfunctions as character defects, disruptions of interpersonal communications or defective cognitive/affective
structures). According to process theory, in every process there is a bidirectional hierarchy in which processes
are hierarchically ordered according to their complexity: physical :chemical : biological : social : psychological
such that entities at each level of organization include all those simpler; for instance, a social organism is
necessarily biological and hence physical.
The Central Nervous System is
organized in this fashion, as discovered by the nineteenth century British neurologist H. Jackson: The lower levels
regulate simpler and essential functions such as temperature, respiration, and posture; diencephalic and paleocortical
levels coordinate sociobiological functions such as emotions; neocortical levels are the substrate for personal
and creative functions. The simpler bulbar and spinal levels have priority in the evolution of species and the
development of the individual, as well as in mediating the input and output for the higher levels. The higher levels
control the function of the lower levels (cortical supremacy). Correspondingly, behaviors are organized in a dynamic
hierarchy such that simpler needs for oxygen, water, and defense have priority but are eventually dominated by
more complex wants for personal and interpersonal affection and creativity. Because evolution proceeds from the
biological to the social to the psychological, it is our view that this organization of the brain corresponds to
the actual relation between levels of organization in nature. A bidirectional, flexible order governs the relation
between levels of organization: Simpler processes (low density of information relative to the amount of energy
and matter) preexist, coexist with, and outlast complex processes. Complex processes are made of, and are surrounded
by, simple processes that are essential for their existence; hence, complex processes are more rare and transient.
Yet complex phenomena predominate locally, whenever present, because a higher density of information per unit of
matter/energy increases their efficacy and creativity; the power of energy is multiplied by the amount of information.
Simple processes have the power of prior existence, and complex ones have the power of greater control. Hence,
in every mental process, its biological aspects have priority, while social and psychological aspects have supremacy.
Biological processes are essential for psychological function (priority), contain less information, and are more
determined by causal factors and less by choice than the more complex social and psychological processes. The personal/psychological
level, being more complex in informational content, has supremacy for control and is more amenable to change by
conscious choice. Interventions can and often do attend to more than one level at once. We thus propose a method
of integrating the various levels of organization by attending to two simultaneous, opposite, and complementary
hierarchies, and we derive the following guideline:
Give priority to biological needs, supremacy to social and psychological processes, at the same time.
This guideline originates in psychiatry
but is equally applicable in medicine,
and in the social sciences.
