TY - JOUR
T1 - Taking old ideas seriously
T2 - Evolution, development, and human behavior
AU - Robert, Jason
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper is dedicated to the memory of Gilbert Gottlieb, whose pioneering empirical and conceptual work remains an ongoing inspiration, and whose encouragement since we first corresponded has always been deeply appreciated. I thank David Moore for the invitation to write this piece, and for exceptionally helpful conversations and written comments along the way. I presented early versions of this material in 2004 to skeptical but generally accommodating audiences of psychologists (at the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology in Aix-en-Provence, France) and philosophers (in the Department of Philosophy at Texas A&M University, and at the Future Directions in History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology workshop in San Francisco, CA). I have also drawn on some more recent work with my colleague, Jane Maienschein, presented in 2006 at the Sackler Neurosciences Colloquium in Irvine, CA. Background research for this project was conducted with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, in the form of operating grants and a New Investigator Award. My philosophy of biology research is currently supported by the Center for Biology and Society, the Institute for Humanities Research, and the School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, and the James S. McDonnell Foundation.
PY - 2008/12
Y1 - 2008/12
N2 - I argue that the roots of an adequate integration of evolution into psychology are not to be found in evolutionary psychology, but rather in evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo). To this end, I provide an overview of evo-devo and explore the limited role that behavioral sciences have played in its genesis. I then motivate an evo-devo approach to psychobiology, and sketch desiderata for the success of this enterprise. In particular, I elucidate what it means to take both development and evolution seriously, and argue for the primacy of developmental analysis in the exploration of (human) behavior and its evolution.
AB - I argue that the roots of an adequate integration of evolution into psychology are not to be found in evolutionary psychology, but rather in evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo). To this end, I provide an overview of evo-devo and explore the limited role that behavioral sciences have played in its genesis. I then motivate an evo-devo approach to psychobiology, and sketch desiderata for the success of this enterprise. In particular, I elucidate what it means to take both development and evolution seriously, and argue for the primacy of developmental analysis in the exploration of (human) behavior and its evolution.
KW - Developmental psychobiology
KW - Developmental systems theory
KW - Epigenesis
KW - Evo-devo
KW - Evolutionary psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=50949113964&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=50949113964&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.newideapsych.2007.07.014
DO - 10.1016/j.newideapsych.2007.07.014
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:50949113964
SN - 0732-118X
VL - 26
SP - 387
EP - 404
JO - New Ideas in Psychology
JF - New Ideas in Psychology
IS - 3
ER -