Behavior vs Process

Lets analyze two entirely informal examples of instructions a mother may give to her little daughter.

1) How to make a sandwich:Take a loaf of bread. Cut two slices from it. Spread butter evenly on one side of each. Put a slice of ham on one buttered slice of bread. Put on the other. Add some sliced tomatoes. Fold the two together.
2) What to do in the afternoon: You may watch TV. If you get hungry make yourself a sandwich. When it gets dark switch on the lights.When your father calls tell him I went out shopping and should be back by 1 hour.

Now what are the essential differences between the two kinds of instructions?

Any process instruction is intrinsically sequential.Take this into account that its sequentiality is not merely a matter of the write-up, it cannot be separated from the "physics" of the process; one cannot butter the slices before they are cut from the loaf, and in a properly made sandwich, cheese is put on after the buttering is completed.
A behavior instruction has no intrinsic sequentiality in it (apart from "local" sequentiality in executing individual actions, such as making a sandwich). For a process, there is a well-defined initial state (explicit or implicit, does not matter), a progression of steps, each bringing an overall goal a little closer, and hopefully a final step in which the goal is achieved. Actions that constitute the process are expected to be executed in a state established by their predecessors. There is no clear cut initial state for a behavior, no goal. No action is expected to happen unless its "guarding" condition is established, but individual action need not be responsible for establishing the conditions propitious for other actions.

The individual actions are in fact reactions to certain conditions that may have arisen, rather than steps aimed at establishing conditions for possible future actions. A behavior is defined in terms of reactions to the "current" environment. The guarding conditions are evaluated in states which are not assumed to be the results of the "past" behavior. Indeed, the analysis of the "historical trace" hardly ever helps in the analysis of "current" behavior, the "past" need not influence the "present" at all, Thats where forecasting fails! The little girl may get hungry regardless of whether it gets dark out or not (On the other hand, the analysis of the collection of past events, i.e. associations of conditions with reactions, may be very helpful; it is the sequence of past events that is largely irrelevant and may be misleading).

To be continued....