Variation for Variation's Sake.

According to the Stimulus-Response model, all behavioral modification is for an ulterior purpose, namely, modification is a response to a stimulus that aims to resolve the problem presented by the stimulus. For example, when a habitual smoker reaches for chewing gum instead of a cigarette, it is for the purpose of, for example, easing the stress that has hitherto habitually led to smoking a cigarette. But not all variation in habit has an ulterior motive. Most of us are familiar with personal situations in which we 'just want a change of pace, or a change of scenery'. So, to put on a hamburger, one might, just for the sake of change, try mustard instead of the usual ketchup. An example like this might be dismissed as trivial, but a much more significant one is musical composition, in which Theme-and-Variation is the essential structure of the activity. Variation in musical composition is always fundamentally for its own sake. Kant's characterization of artistic products as 'purposeless, but as if they had a purpose', stands as a refutation of the S-R model of behavior, which, if he had not been at an advanced age, he might have explored more thoroughly. For, perhaps the most the deeply ingrained human habit is to behave for some ulterior purpose, a habit which can be broken.