Biosocial Approach Research Articles

Abordagens biossociais na sociologia: biossociologia ou sociologia evolucionista?

This article discusses the impact of the development of biosocial approaches, a recombination between specialties in the field of social sciences and evolutionary biology, with the sociological field. Contrary to the idea that biosocial approaches such as sociobiology has no place within sociology, we thus defend : (1) That although sociology in its most traditional and fundamental specialties is the most adamant social science to enlist in the second Darwinian revolution, in peripheral specialties the impact of sociobiology has been considerable; (2) That the institutionalization of an evolutionary sociology represents the triumph of sociobiology in the sociological field.

Stability of Delinquent Peer Associations

The study of delinquent peers has remained at the forefront of much criminological research and theorizing. One issue of particular importance involves the factors related to why people associate with and maintain a sustained involvement with delinquent peers. Although efforts have been made to address these questions, relatively little attempt has been made to understand these relationships from a biosocial perspective. This gap in the literature is addressed in an analysis of twins from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The results of the univariate behavioral genetic models reveal that genetic factors account for between 58% and 74% of the variance in the association with delinquent peers, with the remaining variance attributable to environmental factors. Bivariate Cholesky decomposition models reveal that genetic factors account for 58% of the variance in the stability in delinquent peers. The shared environment explains 34% of the variance in stability, and the remaining 8% is attributable to the nonshared environment. The importance of a biosocial approach in criminological research is discussed.

Asian flus in ethnographic and political context: A biosocial approach

This collection highlights some of the social, cultural, political and economic factors that must be considered in developing a biosocial approach to pandemic influenza control and prevention. To date, most discussions of the current spread of avian influenza and a predicted human influenza pandemic have lacked rigorous analysis of the local contexts in which flus arise and in which the effects of a pandemic would most strongly be felt. Such local engagement is necessary to the development of an effective and ethical programme of epidemic control. The papers in this special issue take a step towards filling this gap by exploring the local moral worlds associated with avian influenza in China, Indonesia and Thailand.

Avian and Pandemic Influenza: A Biosocial Approach

The Harvard University Asian Flus and Avian Influenza Workshop, held in December 2006, introduced a biosocial approach to the preparation for and control of pandemics. A biosocial approach brings together the biological and social sciences to develop an integrative, collaborative response to the threat of pandemic influenza. The articles in this supplement provide a representative sampling of some of the ways in which the workshop worked toward this biosocial vision. These articles address the historical "siting" of epidemics, political and structural pandemic preparedness in China, lessons to be taken from the 1976 "swine flu affair," possibilities for genetic engineering as an alternative to poultry vaccination, issues to be considered in the control of infectious disease in swine and avian species, the ecology of influenza in migratory birds, and issues of stigma and trust during the control of epidemics. The need to build public trust and public health infrastructure is one of the primary messages of this collection.

The social nature of natural childbirth

This paper aims to develop a better understanding of what proponents of natural childbirth mean by “natural.” Using a biosocial approach to birth that posits that all birth is both social and natural, the paper investigates how proponents represent the relationship between nature and society. The study asks about what kinds of nature–society relationships are expressed in proponents' representations of natural childbirth. The study examines how natural childbirth is represented by proponents in popular non-fictional English language books written for pregnant women. Claims in these books are not taken as reality, but are analyzed as ideas about nature–society relations. The central finding is that these authors simultaneously emphasize the naturalness of birth and showcase three types of social practices that they describe as being integral to natural childbirth: (1) activity during birth, (2) preparation before birth, and (3) social support, both in an individual and in a broader socio-cultural sense. At least for these authors, it is these social practices that allow natural childbirth to be natural. These findings on the social nature of natural childbirth challenge current social science scholarship, in which natural childbirth is characterized as an essentializing and nostalgic attempt to return to nature.

History and trajectory of PMS: towards a balanced adaptation and a biosocial homeostasis

For centuries, and still at present, the social history of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and phenomena is entangled with the social history of gender relations. At of the turn of the 20th century there have been two main approaches to PMS: a biomedical–hormonal school which emphasizes the reproductive‐related biological aspects of PMS, and several psychosocial schools initially influenced by psychoanalytically‐oriented interpretations of phenomena. During the last several decades several feminist writers incorporated PMS, or more precisely denial of its existence, into their agenda. Currently, a biosocial approach to PMS is being shaped integrating genetic preponderance with dynamically evolving vulnerability, internal and external environments, hormonal triggers, brain–body responses and culturally‐sensitive phenomena. Hopefully exponentially accumulating facts and knowledge will overcome opinions and lead to a balanced approach to PMS and women's reproductive‐related disorders in general.

A Biosocial Approach for Analyzing Environmental Conflicts: A Case Study of Horseshoe Crab Allocation

Ambiguous legislation, insufficient science, jurisdictional disputes, and conflicting values of stakeholders have contributed to the increasing frequency of natural resource conflicts. The allocation of horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay and Cape Cod Bay can serve as a model system for understanding resource conflicts, because relationships among biophysical and human systems in this example typify many environmental controversies. Herein, we use an interaction web to build a conceptual framework for identifying potential conflicts. Specifically, we identify four subconflicts involving horseshoe crabs, human shellfishers, commercial fishers, the biomedical industry, birdwatchers, and environmental interest groups. Stakeholders hold different attitudes concerning the horseshoe crab and thus advocate competing policy preferences in the political process. An important step in understanding environmental conflicts is to clarify differences in social meanings, attitudes, and values. The integrated approach described here, by depicting and graphically displaying biosocial relationships, can provide a generalized approach for understanding a broad range of environmental conflicts.

Consideraciones bioéticas de la ingeniería genética

Recombinant DNA technology, popularly known as genetic engineering, has numerous applications which have both fascinated and alarmed the public. Since the mid-70s, the benefits of this technology, generally speaking, outnumber the risks. These benefits, which take the shape of an increase in knowledge and in the improvement of diagnostic and therapeutic products, have had widespread repercussions, not only in the laboratory but also in our day-to-day lives. Scientific progress and the new scientific directions in Biology make it necessary for scientists to have an advanced philosophical concept of the world so as to be able to properly evaluate the results and perspectives of any biological science, including those of genetic engineering. It is very important for it to have a biosocial approach: there must be an unrelenting battle against pseudoscientific ideas and attempts to use the recent advances in Biology for reactionary, antihuman purposes.

A cross-cultural analysis of the behavior of women and men: implications for the origins of sex differences.

This article evaluates theories of the origins of sex differences in human behavior. It reviews the cross-cultural evidence on the behavior of women and men in nonindustrial societies, especially the activities that contribute to the sex-typed division of labor and patriarchy. To explain the cross-cultural findings, the authors consider social constructionism, evolutionary psychology, and their own biosocial theory. Supporting the biosocial analysis, sex differences derive from the interaction between the physical specialization of the sexes, especially female reproductive capacity, and the economic and social structural aspects of societies. This biosocial approach treats the psychological attributes of women and men as emergent given the evolved characteristics of the sexes, their developmental experiences, and their situated activity in society.

Biosocial Perspectives on the Family

New theoretical models conceptualize families as systems affected by, and effecting change in, reciprocal influences among social, behavioral, and biological processes. Technological breakthroughs make noninvasive assessment of many biological processes available to family researchers. These theoretical and measurement advances have resulted in significant increases in research on family processes and relationships that integrate knowledge from the fields of behavioral endocrinology, behavior genetics, and, to a lesser degree, evolutionary psychology. This review covers a broad spectrum, including the topics of parenthood, early child development, adolescent and middle child development, parent‐child relations, courtship and mate selection, and the quality and stability of marital and intimate relations. Our intention is to introduce, by example, the relevance of the biosocial approach, encourage family researchers to consider the application of these ideas to their interests, and increase the participation of family researchers in the next generation of studies.

The Limits to Low Fertility: A Biosocial Approach

In light of 30 years of below‐replacement fertility in many industrialized societies, demographers are asking whether fertility could drop even further, or whether there is a “floor” below which it will not fall. A key unanswered question is whether there may be a variable biological component to fertility motivation which ensures that we continue to reproduce. Drawing on evidence from evolutionary biology, ethology, quantitative genetics, developmental psychobiology, and psychology, the article argues that our evolved biological predisposition is toward nurturing behaviors, rather than having children per se. Humans have the unique ability to be aware of such biological predispositions and translate them into conscious, but nevertheless biologically based, fertility motivation. It is likely that we have already reached the limits to low fertility since this “need to nurture,” in conjunction with normative pressures, ensures that the majority of women will want to bear at least one child. A sketch for a biosocial model of fertility motivation is outlined.

Extending arousal theory and reflecting on biosocial approaches to social science

AbstractThis commentary extends arousal theory to suggest an explanation for the well-established inverse correlation between church attendance and involvement in crime. In addition, the results of two surveys of social scientists are reviewed to reveal just how little impact the biosocial/sociobiological perspective has had thus far on “mainstream” social science.

Papa and peers: A biosocial approach to conduct disorder

The authors seek to advance the profession's understanding of conduct disorders by illustrating that (a) inappropriate research design frequently results in faulty conclusions regarding etiology, (b) a biosocial approach is most helpful in identifying key interactive variables that place children/adolescents at risk, and (c) future treatment efficacy studies should focus on mitigating these primary risk factors as well as investigating separate intervention models for the two qualitatively distinct categories of delinquents (i.e., chronic vs. transient participation).

THE INFLUENCE OF TESTOSTERONE ON DEVIANCE IN ADULTHOOD: ASSESSING AND EXPLAINING THE RELATIONSHIP*

Using a large sample of men, we examine alternative models of the way in which testosterone may influence adult deviant behavior. The results indicate a significant and moderately strong relationship between testosterone and adult deviance, and this relationship between testosterone and adult deviance is largely mediated by the influence of testosterone on social integration and on prior involvement in juvenile delinquency. In addition, testosterone level moderates the relationship of social integration to adult deviance: The restraining influence of social integration is less necessary for men with lower levels of testosterone. Further, prior delinquency interacts with social integration in the same fashion, accounting for much of the moderating effect of testosterone. This pattern of results supports the conclusions that (1) testosterone is one of a larger constellation of factors contributing to a general latent propensity toward deviance and (2) the influence of testosterone on adult deviance is closely tied to social factors. Our findings show that there is considerable promise in a biosocial approach that integrates social and biological explanations, rather than playing them off against one another.

Sensitivity of psychiatric diagnosis based on the best estimate procedure.

A "best estimate" diagnosis is one made by expert clinicians on the basis of diagnostic information from direct interview conducted by another clinician plus information from medical records and from reports of family members. The authors address the question of whether the best estimate procedure can enhance the classification of psychiatric diagnoses of subjects who are interviewed directly. Four hundred seventy-five subjects were interviewed directly: 201 opiate-addicted probands who sought treatment from a university-based clinic and 274 of their spouses and/or first-degree relatives. Subjects were interviewed by trained clinical assessors using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia and classified according to Research Diagnostic Criteria. Two psychologists independently diagnosed the same subjects by applying the best estimate procedure. Lifetime rates of major and minor depressive disorder, antisocial personality, alcoholism, and drug abuse were calculated. The rates of diagnoses made on the basis of direct interviews alone were compared with the rates of diagnoses made according to the best estimate procedure. Higher rates of diagnoses of all four disorders were made when the best estimate procedure was applied than when direct interview alone was used; the best estimate procedure also resulted in a minimal rate of false positives. The higher rate of diagnoses based on the best estimate procedure may represent an enhancement in the accuracy of psychiatric diagnoses or an increase in erroneous diagnoses. The authors consider the second possibility less likely.

Observing Supreme Court Oral Argument: A Biosocial Approach

Supreme Court oral argument (OA) is one of many face-to-face settings of political interaction. This article describes a methodology for the systematic observation and measurement of behavior in OA developed in a study of over 300 randomly selected cases from the 1969-1981 terms of the U.S. Supreme Court. Five sources of observation are integrated into the OA database at the speaking turn level of analysis: the actual text of verbal behavior; categorical behavior codes; aspects of language use and speech behavior events; electro-acoustical measurement of voice quality; and content analysis of subject matter. Preliminary data are presented to illustrate the methodology and its application to theoretical concerns of the research project.

A Flawed Biosocial Approach to Criminality

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A human ecological assessment of air quality management: A convergence in economic and ecological thinking?

Traditional air pollution management practices are examined using the human ecological framework adopted by Boyden and others (1981) in their study of Hong Kong—the biohistorical or biosocial approach. The subsequent analysis of current air quality management practices assesses their effectiveness in protecting the overall health of both humans and the natural environment. The uncertainties inherent in air pollution management practices which emerge highlight the need to reduce emissions rather than rely on scientific knowledge to define “clean” air. The assessment also clearly defines roles for research in various areas such as atmospheric models, health effects, and environmental damage. The final recommendations emphasize the need for the introduction of such incentives to reduce emissions as economic instruments and warn against using health information to define clean air. Health and environmental damage information can, however, be used in risk assessment strategies together with atmospheric dispersion models.

Personality and Its Disorders: A Biosocial Learning Approach

Personality and Its Disorders: A Biosocial Learning Approach

Teaching Biopolitics to Humanities Students

The article describes a course entitled “Biosocial Approaches to Political Theory,” which is currently being taught at Griffith University. Course orientation, pedagogy, assessment strategy, teaching aids, and course bibliography are described. The humanities milieu of the course produced collegial friction whose management by the instructor is discussed. The legitimacy dispute arising from the friction led to a public controversy in the national media. The politics of that dispute are analyzed.