Origins Of Human Behavior Research Articles

Diversity and representation in infant research: Barriers and bridges toward a globalized science of infant development.

Psychological researchers have become increasingly concerned with generalized accounts of human behavior based on narrow participant representation. This concern is particularly germane to infant research as findings from infant studies are often invoked to theorize broadly about the origins of human behavior. In this article, we examined participant diversity and representation in research published on infant development in four journals over the past decade. Sociodemographic data were coded for all articles reporting infant data published in Child Development, Developmental Science, Developmental Psychology, and Infancy between 2011 and 2022. Analyses of 1682 empirical articles, sampling approximately 1 million participants, revealed consistent under-reporting of sociodemographic information. For studies that reported sociodemographic characteristics, there was an unwavering skew toward White infants from North America/Western Europe. To address a lack of diversity in infant studies and its scientific impact, a set of principles and practices are proposed to advance toward a more globally representative science.

Dog Faces Are Faster than Wolf Faces

Humans domesticated dogs with attention to the facial expressions that dogs produce, selecting for a suite of facial movement. Domestic dogs and humans are adept at accurately understanding one another’s facial expressions and movement around the eyes in dogs is highly valued by humans. This unique, mutual ability to accurately process facial expressions is part of the dog‐human bond. An accurate understanding of how dog and wolf faces differ from one another is fundamental to understanding the processes of animal domestication, evolution of the dog, and the origins of human behavior since the Upper Paleolithic. While we know that dogs have facial musculature that wolves do not regularly possess, our understanding of evolutionary muscle physiology between these two species is incomplete. The present study was designed to assess differential distribution of slow‐twitch (type I) and fast‐twitch (type II) myosin fibers in select facial muscles of dogs and wolves. We tested the hypothesis that dog facial muscle physiology would be more similar to humans than to wolves in terms of myosin fiber type distribution. We used samples from the orbicularis oris muscle (OOM) and the zygomaticus major muscle (ZM) from a range of domestic dog breeds (Canis familiaris) and gray wolves (Canis lupus) that were part of previous studies. Samples were processed for myosin immunohistochemistry (IHC) and we selected 3‐5 sections from each specimen stained for identification of each fiber type in both the OOM and ZM muscles. We created composite images of stained sections and assessed fiber type percentages using ImageJ. Percentage of fast‐twitch fibers in dog samples ranged from 66%‐95% and wolves averaged around 25%. Slow‐twitch fiber percentages in dogs averaged only 10% while wolves averaged 29%. The dog range of type II fibers mirrors the range found in human facial muscles, indicating that the domestication process in dogs also involved selection for rapid facial movement, similar to the movement seen in human faces.

Knocking on Acheulean’s door. DK revisited (Bed I, Olduvai, Tanzania)

The Douglas Korongo (DK) holds the earliest archaeological evidence documented in Olduvai Gorge to date. This ~1.9 Mya site, excavated by M. Leakey during the early 1960s, has become an iconic site within studies on the origins of human behaviour. The objective of the present paper is to test the hypothetical presence of derived techno-typological traits in this later Oldowan assemblage. We have undertaken an exhaustive technological and statistical analysis and the results confirm the presence of the following derived traits: flaked cores with platform preparation; discrete technological processes geared to producing tools with different size, shape and mass; a high frequency and diversity of retouched flakes; the production and shaping of large blanks (ca. 10 cm); and the emergence of morpho-types. We conclude that the DK knappers displayed the necessary technological know-how from which the Acheulean could emerge and, therefore, the transition from the Oldowan to the Acheulean was more gradual and complex than previously thought.

Vicissitudes in Winnicottian Theory on the Origins of Aggression: Between Dualism and Monism and from Back to Front

Reading Winnicott’s writings in reverse order reveals a major unacknowledged turning-point in his thinking. Based on the unveiling of this development it is proposed that: 1) It is only in his late writings that Winnicott makes a wholehearted shift to a monistic view of psychic energy, 2) The paradoxical joining of two opposing forces, taken together with the unification of “primitive love” and “motility” into a single energy source, as suggested in “The use of an object,” was the missing step that enabled Winnicott’s final shift to monistic thinking, 3) This shift allows to identify motility as the energetic origin of human behavior, and 4) Restoring the connection between aggression and motility is a major curative factor.

Do chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) console a bereaved mother?

Comparative thanatology encompasses the study of death-related responses in non-human animals and aspires to elucidate the evolutionary origins of human behavior in the context of death. Many reports have revealed that humans are not the only species affected by the death of group members. Non-human primates in particular show behaviors such as congregating around the deceased, carrying the corpse for prolonged periods of time (predominantly mothers carrying dead infants), and inspecting the corpse for signs of life. Here, we extend the focus on death-related responses in non-human animals by exploring whether chimpanzees are inclined to console the bereaved: the individual(s) most closely associated with the deceased. We report a case in which a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) mother experienced the loss of her fully developed infant (presumed stillborn). Using observational data to compare the group members’ behavior before and after the death, we found that a substantial number of group members selectively increased their affiliative expressions toward the bereaved mother. Moreover, on the day of the death, we observed heightened expressions of species-typical reassurance behaviors toward the bereaved mother. After ruling out several alternative explanations, we propose that many of the chimpanzees consoled the bereaved mother by means of affiliative and selective empathetic expressions.

IDENTIFICATION THEORY AND ITS ROLE IN COPYCAT CRIMES

The reasons for the copycat crimes at the moment are a “white spot” in criminology. Theories explaining the origins of human behaviour can help in filling it out. Skinner’s and Bandura’s behavioristic theories explain the copycat process with the action of operant conditioning and the learning of aggression, respectively. Confronting the escape process from freedom is one of the reasons why a person can go against social norms and laws. These theories conclude in the cognitive theory of identification, which currently most extensively explains the mechanism of imitation, as well as is taking into concideration the influence of the media, an important actor in the mechanism of copycat crimes, on a person and vice versa.

Who ate OH80 (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania)? A geometric-morphometric analysis of surface bone modifications of a Paranthropus boisei skeleton

Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) is one of the key areas for the study of human origins, given the sheer abundance of archaeological and paleontological sites discovered. Several of these archaeological sites have yielded numerous hominin fossils and traces of their activities, thus offering invaluable insights into the nature and origins of human behavior. Nevertheless, certain taphonomic discussions that have been of great importance for the study of the South African cave sites have remained unnoticed in East Africa. One of these issues revolves around the interpretation of Paranthropus as a common prey of predators. In this paper, we analyze the postcranial remains of OH80, a partial skeleton of a Paranthropus boisei discovered at the BK site (Bell Korongo, Bed II of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania) in 2010. Some of the specimens of this skeleton have been reported to show surface modifications tentatively associated to the action of carnivores. Here, several pits observed on OH80-12, the Paranthropus boisei femur, were digitally reconstructed and analyzed through geometric morphometrics to determine the nature of the marks. The OH80-12 marks are compared with a modern sample of percussion marks and several carnivore tooth pits, since the action of both agents has previously been identified at the site and can sometimes result in equifinality problems. Alongside already published geometric morphometric tests, here we present a very newly developed approach based on the combination of geometric morphometric data and the training of machine learning algorithms. Both methodologies highlight that OH80 was consumed by carnivores, being a felid the most likely modifying agent.

Mother–infant attachment, musical idol worship, and the origins of human behaviour

Actors, sportspeople, and politicians may be idolised for their appearance, personality, skills, or ideals. The idolisation of musicians additionally involves transcendental musical emotions. Fans devote extraordinary amounts of time, energy and money to following, empathising with, identifying with and imitating their idols. During great performances, fans experience altered states of consciousness. Existing evolutionary approaches can explain social dominance hierarchies but not specific fan behaviours. Another approach involves the mother schema: the perceptions, cognitions, and emotions that the late foetus and early infant (3rd and 4th trimesters) associate with the mother and her changing behaviours and physical/emotional states. The mother schema was an evolutionary response to the fragility (altriciality) of human infants, born earlier due to a larger brain and upright gait. Active reciprocal interactions between infants and carers (e.g. motherese) involve both the carer’s infant schema and the infant’s mother schema. In later life, the typical emotions of the mother schema are evoked by stimulus patterns reminiscent of the mother as perceived by the infant. In ritual situations, where the focus is on shared subjectivity, similar patterns and emotions are created. Evolutionary by-products of the mother schema include musical behaviours, religious behaviours and musical idol worship. The theory can explain why musical idols are perceived as all-loving, all-knowing and/or all-powerful, and is consistent with psychosocial functions of music and religion such as social cohesion and identity, collective motivation, empathy and mood regulation, catharsis and coping, distraction and entertainment, conflict resolution, and skill transfer.

Understanding "What Could Be": A Call for 'Experimental Behavioral Genetics'.

Behavioral genetic (BG) research has yielded many important discoveries about the origins of human behavior, but offers little insight into how we might improve outcomes. We posit that this gap in our knowledge base stems in part from the epidemiologic nature of BG research questions. Namely, BG studies focus on understanding etiology as it currently exists, rather than etiology in environments that could exist but do not as of yet (e.g., etiology following an intervention). Put another way, they focus exclusively on the etiology of "what is" rather than "what could be". The current paper discusses various aspects of this field-wide methodological reality, and offers a way to overcome it by demonstrating how behavioral geneticists can incorporate an experimental approach into their work. We outline an ongoing study that embeds a randomized intervention within a twin design, connecting "what is" and "what could be" for the first time. We then lay out a more general framework for a new field-experimental BGs-which has the potential to advance both scientific inquiry and related philosophical discussions.

Peter Jordan . Technology as human social tradition: cultural transmission among hunter-gatherers (Origins of Human Behavior and Culture 7). 2015. xi+412 pages, numerous b&w illustrations, and tables. Oakland: University of California Press; 978-0-520-27693-2 paperback $34.95.

Peter Jordan . Technology as human social tradition: cultural transmission among hunter-gatherers (Origins of Human Behavior and Culture 7). 2015. xi+412 pages, numerous b&w illustrations, and tables. Oakland: University of California Press; 978-0-520-27693-2 paperback $34.95.

Ethics in Medical Research: Critical Steps For Researchers

©2013 Galen Medical Journal Fax: +98 731 2227091 PO Box 7461686688 Email:info@gmj.ir  Correspondence to: Yekta Parsa, Young Researchers and Elite Club, Islamic Azad University, Tehran Medical Sciences Branch, Tehran, Iran. Telephone Number: (+98) 21-22006660 Email Address :yektaparsa@gmj.ir E human nature and inherent characteristics of the origin of human behavior have the most profound influence and impact on the field of human behavior. Ethics is divided into several branches including medical ethics, bioethics and research ethics. Medical ethics is a subdivision of philosophy or moral that attempts to elaborate the correct and incorrect performance in the field of medicine and health care through philosophical analysis. Bioethics is a part of applied science which uses ethical principles for solving present and foreseeable problems in medicine and biology. However, in this debate we are concerned with ethics in medical research [1]. Regarding the development of medical research in various fields such as human and animal research, special thought in these areas will be necessary. Medical world has a painful history because of disregard for ethical issues. Unfortunately, much evidence of this can be found in all countries of the world. For example, transfusions of infected blood to 40 patients in Robert Koch Institute to investigate their effect or implanting sand and glass into the wounds of patients to evaluate the effects of sulfonamides on wound infection [2,3]. Following the disclosure of immoral activities of the Nazi physicians at the end of World War II, all research centers adopted ethical research criteria along with training and organizational preparations to prevent a repetition of similar catastrophes [4]. Prosecution of those doctors who participated in immoral acts showed that the researchers especially in the medical field should be bound to respect the governing conventions. This led to the adoption of the “Nurember Declaration” in 1947. At the XVIIIth meeting of the World Medical Association (WMA) in Helsinki, a set of rules known as the ‘First Helsinki Declaration’ was adopted for the guidance of all professionals in this field [5]. At its twenty-ninth session, WMA amended the previous rules and introduced the ‘Second Helsinki Declaration’ to be followed in medical research [6]. Given a brief attention to the research process, we need to pay attention to ethical issues in all steps that are described below:

One-bedroom solo (review)

Reviewed by: one-bedroom solo Metta Sáma (bio) Sheila Maldonado . one-bedroom solo. Fly by Night Press. In the Afro Punk film The Triptych, visual artist Barron Claiborne provocatively urges listeners to throw out Richard Wright books because, to paraphrase, no [End Page 173] one's life is that bad. His distaste for Wright was in the utter sadness and depression present in the books, the lack of humor and, so to speak, Good Times. Sheila Maldonado's debut poetry collection, one-bedroom solo, would not disappoint the reader who seeks levity in tales of the New York City working class. Maldonado's poems are performance pieces; she sees the performance of daily interactions (yes, the world is a stage). Often the poet "maneuver[s]," "tip-toe[s]," "slide[s]" from one encounter to the next, negotiating her self-made world with the commotion around her. Finding a parking spot, for example, is a negotiation and ritual between herself and the "mighty beneficent Parking God," who blesses her with a car in a neighborhood that is "hundreds of thousands strong / each vicious resident with his own car" ("All Hail the Parking God"). Language, itself a performance, comes to humorous life when a Spanish language song plays on the radio, and the chanteur sings one thing and a girl hears another ("Bubbles of Love"): 1990, Juan Luis Guerra puts out his most famous song and it goes like this: . . . O-o-o-o-oPasar la noche en velaMojado en tiU-u-u-u-un pez A girl deep in the recesses of Brooklyn, hears this: . . . O-o-o-o-oTo spend the night Idon'tknowwhatthisphrasemeanswet inside youA-a-a-a-a fish In conventional written English rules, when a non-English language is written, it's performed in italics. In Maldonado's poems, she ignores those rules, truly blending Spanish language with English language. For example, in "Tube Ties," she writes: "We both correct her / quick, 'Todavía / está, a las dos / de la mañana."' This quiet political statement can be seen elsewhere in Maldonado's poems, a sleight of hand that subtly maximizes the politics in the poems. The poems are often simultaneously dependent on music, the visual world, and words to transform everyday experiences. "Pool," which begins, "Words have not held me up like the water does. I would like them / to try, acquire a density that changes gravity, changes how I think / of me, if I think of me," stages the tone for solo wanderings. The performance of language, music, and the visual world, a dynamic trio, becomes the locus for the metaphysical eye. Often the wandering philosopher is depicted as a grand sojourner who moves from one part of the country to the next, from one continent to the next, in order to understand human nature and the origins of human behavior. While the narrator [End Page 174] in Maldonado's poems certainly travels across the globe, her main travels are from one New York City borough to the next, and in these travels, she also seeks to understand the ways in which people behave and desire. She is able to locate then the beauty in, say, a park at night (which, in NYC, automatically becomes a battlefield at nightfall), which a potential mugger may see as a space ripe with opportunities. From "At the Meer in Harlem," she writes: It's me with me in the dark park hoping no one will be stabbing me. No one should be. It feels too cozy mellow for stabbing. If it were to happen it would be aesthetically inappropriate. That criminal would have done a disservice to his/her art. That's what I would tell him/her. It's not a night for that. Make out the ducks in the middle of the ripple, stabber. Avoid the raccoon silhouette on the garbage can. Count the orbs of traffic signal lamppost light, yellow, red, white in the bizarre water. Take in the green smoke. Cleverly painting a "wavy, impressionistic Monet world," the poem calls to mind W. H. Auden's "The Shield of Achilles" and "Museé des Beaux Arts." Maldonado's...

Integrating psychology research and behavioral management

I am grateful that about two years ago Dove Medical Press offered me the opportunity to edit the Journal of Psychology Research and Behavior Management. I find my work on the Journal to be a very gratifying experience and I particularly enjoy its eclectic multidisciplinary qualities that, by attracting contributions from a variety of perspectives and geographic locations, help to ease the artificial boundaries separating our field from other critical areas relevant to mental health, psychology, psychiatry, and to a genuinely broad understanding of human nature and behavior. Furthermore, integration of psychology and behavior is a huge and fascinatingly complex endeavor that has filled and will certainly continue to fill countless volumes of scientific and philosophical literature. Indeed, in the form of the body–mind conundrum, psychology and behavior has permeated human cognition for over 3000 years! While people attributed their behaviors and motivations to the will of Gods in Homer’s era, the term “psyche” only appeared about a millennium after the events described in The Iliad. Plato coined this term and, as did Freud, viewed behavior as a derivative of the conflict among the rational, instinctual, and emotional forces comprising the psyche. Aristotle, Plato’s student, further developed his teacher’s ideas by postulating the holistic and indivisible nature of the body–mind amalgamation. Such Aristotelian concepts survived mostly unchallenged until the 17th century when Descartes upheld the body–mind dualism, but denied the mind’s physical qualities and thus ascribed it to the entirely spiritual domain. Behaviorism is in contrast a purely materialistic school of thought that emerged two centuries thereafter and it rather successfully endeavors to explain all psychic and behavioral phenomena solely on the basis of biochemical and/or physical processes. The origins of human behavior and its management remains a subject of an intense and ongoing debate nowadays. The unprecedented progress in brain imaging technologies has undoubtedly helped to identify neural correlates of numerous cognitions, emotions, and behaviors. The obtained data are not entirely conclusive as we have not yet figured out the true meaning of the brain activity elicited with an astounding variety of stimuli employed on various neuroimaging projects. Following are a few instances of unanswered questions and challenges. Are activations of what is commonly referred as reward circuitry (eg, ventral striatum) equivalent to the perception of happiness? Does amygdala engagement by a stressful stimulus truly spell out negative emotions and fear? According to the same logic, blushing does not necessarily mean embarrassment whereas increased heart rate is not always the same as sexual arousal. These and multiple other physiological correlates of psychic output may well turn out to be an addition (albeit a more sophisticated and an improved one) to the four bodily humors (yellow and black bile, phlegm, and blood) so eloquently described by Plato’s contemporary, Hippocrates. Publication outlets like ours that strive to define behavioral and clinical meaning to psychological phenomena are becoming increasingly important. Rather than strictly adhering to a certain theoretical framework, we encourage a heuristic approach that seeks to apply recent advances from all relevant disciplines to improve outcomes in clinical, educational, sports, and business settings. Notwithstanding the Talmudic wisdom that prophecy is given to fools, I predict much success to this type of journal. In conclusion, I would like to convey my gratitude to our authors, reviewers, and readership along with the Dove Medical Press editorial staff for their support and nurture of the Journal of Psychology Research and Behavior Management. I hope that the upcoming 2011 will be a very happy and healthy year and wish you all to find joy, harmony, and elegance in your scientific discoveries and in personal life.

An Interview with Eric Kandel

An Interview with Eric Kandel

BehaviorPattern and Process in Cultural Evolution. Origins of Human Behavior and Culture, Volume 2. Edited by StephenShennan. Berkeley (California): University of California Press. $60.00. vii 341 p.; ill.; index. 9780520255999. 2009.

Previous articleNext article No AccessNew Biological BooksBehavior Pattern and Process in Cultural Evolution. Origins of Human Behavior and Culture, Volume 2. Edited by StephenShennan. Berkeley (California): University of California Press. $60.00. vii 341 p.; ill.; index. 9780520255999. 2009.R.LeeLymanR.LeeLymanAnthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri Search for more articles by this author Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MissouriPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Quarterly Review of Biology Volume 84, Number 3September 2009 Published in association with Stony Brook University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/644687 Views: 6Total views on this site 2009 by The University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

What Were They Doing in the Oldowan? an Ethnoarchaeological Perspective on the Origins of Human Behavior

There are diametrically opposed opinions on the cultural capacities of the hominins that produced Oldowan assemblages. At one extreme, these early hominins are considered incapable of hunting, language, foresight; or maintaining home bases. Oldowan technology is considered a rudimentary reduction sequence used only for the production of flakes. At the other extreme, the authors of Oldowan assemblages are considered to possess substantial capabilities in all these areas. Ethnographic information on technology from Australia, compared with Oldowan archaeological data, provide an additional perspective in the debate over early hominin abilities. I argue that the view of Oldowan reduction sequences as adopted only for the production of flakes is too limited. A more comprehensive toolkit probably existed, consisting of throwing sticks, digging sticks, spears, chopping implements, stone balls, and flake tools. Given such a toolkit, home bases would be an expectable part of Oldowan social Organization. These inferences seem borne out at some Oldowan sites.

Who Wants to be a Psychologist?

Every significant piece of public policy, every important generalization in history, economics, political science, and sociology depends on (largely unevaluated) assumptions about human nature. Personality psychology concerns the nature of human nature; it is, therefore, concerned with one of the most powerful and dangerous forces on earth. Developing adequate methods for conceptualizing human nature and forecasting significant components of social behavior—for example, integrity, creativity, leadership—would seem to be a matter of real urgency. Nonetheless, personality psychology has a minor and marginal status in academic psychology. I have spent my career trying to understand the origins of human behavior, trying to develop measurement models for capturing key elements of social performance, and trying to defend the study of personality against the complaints of a seemingly endless supply of academic critics.

The Hunting Apes: Meat Eating and the Origins of Human Behavior:The Hunting Apes: Meat Eating and the Origins of Human Behavior.

The Hunting Apes: Meat Eating and the Origins of Human Behavior. Craig B. Stanford. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 1999. 254 pp.

Virtues of the Will: The Transformation of Ethics in the Late Thirteenth Century by Bonnie Kent

BOOK REVIEWS 473 the "character traits" of God and the pattern of salvation. When asked from outside of faith whether the notion of divine action in history makes sense, or why these narratives are to be accorded the status of divine self-revelation, Placher suggests that we heed the wisdom of the past, and balance our assertions of trust in God with a frank recognition that our explanations will never match the firmness of our convictions. He makes the same point with respect to all efforts to explain the presence of evil in creation. If God has revealed himself, there is no question more decisive than how human beings ought to respond in word and action. Placher does the theologians grappling with this question service by demonstrating the existence of a premodern ecumenical consensus based on the character of divine transcendence . The premoderns teach, he argues, that theology must begin and end by trusting a self-revealing deity who remains beyond comprehension, and forego any hopes of explaining its assertions to the satisfaction of outsiders . The implication, of course, is that all such efforts inevitably confuse God with more familiar realities and ensnare God in systems of human thought. The danger is real, and Placher has shown the sorry results. However, I wonder whether the danger stems not solely from a desire to domesticate the transcendent, but also from the jarring claim of Christianity's universal significance. After all, it was the identification of the God of Jesus Christ with the one, true God that first led theologians to enter into dialogue with philosophy. Placher does not make this task his own, and thereby limits the effectiveness of his otherwise excellent book. St. Mary College Leavenworth, Kansas }AMES F. KEATING Virtues of the Will: The Transformation of Ethics in the Late Thirteenth Century. By BONNIE KENT. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1995. Pp. viii+ 270. $44.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-81320829 -7. Today, the person enquiring in a bookstore about where to find scientific information on the origins of human behavior would most likely be directed to one of two sections. First, she may be sent to the shelves labeled "evolutionary psychology." There an interested researcher may choose among titles such as Robert Frank's Passions within Reason (1988) or Matt Ridley's more recent The Origins of Virtue (1996). Authors writing in the area of evolutionary psychology proceed on the assumption that, since physical matter in the form 474 BOOK REVIEWS of genes controls our emotional and motivational tendencies, biology not only provides the most reliable explanations for what human beings do but also constitutes the principal explanatory conception behind moral systems. If, however, our enquirer finds the thought repugnant that material causes should provide the exclusive explanation of such apparently distinctive features of the human person as love, honesty, fidelity, and gratitude in the same way that genes are said, with due scientific evidence, both to produce a person's general physiognomy and to determine such features as hair color and cholesterol level, she can move to the sections marked anthropology and sociology. There the one interested in learning what makes human beings tick will encounter a massive collection of organized data on the practices ofhomo sapiens, accompanied by carefully annotated theories that explain human actions as the product of social construction. Can cultural diversity account for the inescapably present desire for a life beyond this life that Christian theology tells us arises in every member of the race? If not, then our enquirer needs to search elsewhere in order to attain complete information about human behavior. Virtues ofthe Will also reports on the efforts of significant scholars to give an account of the causes at work in the comportment of human beings everywhere . But it is highly unlikely that the potential buyer interested in studying its subject matter will discover a volume like this in sections of most bookstores labeled human behavior. Bonnie Kent examines medieval authors who, despite the spectrum of opinions that their Scholastic debates generated, shared the view that specifically human actions flow from a spiritual principle, which informs every human person. In other words, these authors assume, in the...

Biology and Behaviour in Human Evolution

Of the diverse approaches to understanding patterns and processes in human evolution, a focus on the biology of behaviour using principles derived from the non-human primates may have some utility for archaeologists. This article seeks to outline some biologically-based areas that could prove fruitful in exploring the origins of human behaviour within the archaeological record. It attempts to initiate a dialogue between biologists, even with their limited understanding of the problems facing those working with human origins, and archaeologists, in the hope that this dialogue will move beyond a simple reductionist approach towards the goal of integrating behaviour into a more sophisticated biological perspective.