Psychiatry has a new theory of genes and behavior: Genetic tug-of-war determines brain development

Darkfrog submitted, created time 2 weeks 5 days (www.nytimes.com)

In what the New York Times calls a "creative" interpretation of recent findings about the nature of DNA, two scientists, biologist Bernard Crespi of Fraser University and sociologist Christopher Badcock of the London school of economics, have come up with a new idea of how mental disorders develop and how genes fit into the whole thing:

"Their idea is, in broad outline, straightforward. Dr. Crespi and Dr. Badcock propose that an evolutionary tug of war between genes from the father’s sperm and the mother’s egg can, in effect, tip brain development in one of two ways

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: biological psychiatry genetic behaviorism genetics and behavior human behavior autism schizophrenia psychology genes epigenetics human reproduction evolutionary theory genetic theory Freudian theory brain development alternative theory

Mechanism and function of humor identified by new evolutionary theory

sea-maid submitted, created time 5 months 3 days (esciencenews.com)

A new publication answers centuries' old questions regarding the mechanism and function of humour, identifying the reason humour is common to all human societies, its fundamental role in the evolution of homo sapiens and its continuing importance in the cognitive...

1 comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: human behavior evolutionary theory cognition laughing humor