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Acta Geneticae Medicae Et Gemellologiae 1987Using symbols from population biology, a continuum of reproductive strategies can be distinguished ranging from r, the production of large numbers of offspring provided... (Review)
Review
Using symbols from population biology, a continuum of reproductive strategies can be distinguished ranging from r, the production of large numbers of offspring provided with minimal care, to K, the production of few offspring nurtured intensively. While all humans are at the K end of the continuum, some are proposed to be more so than others. If multiple egg production is part of an r-reproductive strategy, certain facts may be ordered. Compared to mothers of singletons, for example, mothers of DZ twins have a lower age of menarche, a shorter menstrual cycle, a higher number of marriages, a higher rate of coitus, more illegitimate children, a closer spacing of births, a greater fecundity, more wasted pregnancies, a larger family, an earlier menopause, and an earlier mortality. Further, all twins have a shorter gestation period, a lower birth weight, and a greater incidence of infant mortality, with DZ twins having a greater frequency of health disorders, a higher mortality rate, and a lower rate of enrollment in volunteer registries. Multiple birthing also occurs more frequently in families of lower than of higher social status, and in those of African than of European and especially than of Oriental descent.
Topics: Animals; Behavior; Behavior, Animal; Biological Evolution; Female; Fertility; Genetics, Behavioral; Growth; Humans; Litter Size; Physiology, Comparative; Pregnancy; Pregnancy, Multiple; Racial Groups; Reproduction
PubMed: 3330387
DOI: 10.1017/s0001566000006048 -
Science (New York, N.Y.) Apr 1976
PubMed: 17731068
DOI: 10.1126/science.192.4238.427 -
American Journal of Medical Genetics 1980
Topics: Animals; Humans; Insemination, Artificial; Insemination, Artificial, Heterologous; Male; Sexual Behavior; Sexual Behavior, Animal; Social Medicine
PubMed: 7395921
DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.1320060102 -
International Journal of Health... 1977
Topics: Biological Evolution; Biology; Genetics, Behavioral; Humans; Moral Obligations; Public Policy; Science; Social Change; Social Responsibility; Sociobiology; Socioeconomic Factors
PubMed: 11643387
DOI: 10.2190/ETXN-KL3Q-91PU-0GEN -
Theology Today (Princeton, N.J.) Jul 1979
Review
Topics: Biological Evolution; Biology; Decision Making; Ethics; Genetics, Behavioral; Humans; Motivation; Philosophy; Religion; Social Values; Sociobiology; Survival; Theology
PubMed: 11663326
DOI: 10.1177/004057367903600211 -
Behavioral Science Jan 1979
Topics: Adaptation, Physiological; Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; Biological Evolution; Biology; Gene Pool; Genetics, Behavioral; Genotype; Humans; Phenotype; Selection, Genetic; Social Adjustment; Sociology
PubMed: 435219
DOI: 10.1002/bs.3830240103 -
Biological Psychiatry Jun 1978
Topics: Biology; Ethology; Psychiatry
PubMed: 667232
DOI: No ID Found -
The Quarterly Review of Biology Sep 1982Is inclusive fitness theory, popularly called "sociobiology," necessarily conservative or reactionary? While this criticism is usually focused on the extension of... (Review)
Review
Is inclusive fitness theory, popularly called "sociobiology," necessarily conservative or reactionary? While this criticism is usually focused on the extension of evolutionary reasoning to human behavior, it implies that contemporary biological theory is ideologically biased. Historical, logical, and empirical evidence shows, however, that models of natural selection based on reproductive success--particularly when redefined in terms of inclusive fitness--are not incompatible with scientific objectivity. This approach is a cost-benefit analysis of social behavior, akin to "rational actor" models in economics, game theory, and public-choice theory. Derived from the "social-contract" tradition in Western political philosophy, epitomized by such varied thinkers as Thrasymachus, Hobbes, and Rousseau, such a calculus of individual advantage has had as broad a range of ideological overtones as the contrasting "'sociological" tradition of Aristotle, Marx, and Durkheim. Previous evolutionary explanations of human society have likewise suggested diverse political conclusions. Indeed, if inclusive-fitness models do have political implications, they could well challenge existing sociopolitical beliefs and institutions rather than support them.
Topics: Altruism; Biological Evolution; Humans; Models, Genetic; Models, Psychological; Social Behavior
PubMed: 6755531
DOI: 10.1086/412803 -
Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 2002This article explores the tension between the population genetics and sociobiological approaches to the study of evolution. Whereas population geneticists, like... (Review)
Review
This article explores the tension between the population genetics and sociobiological approaches to the study of evolution. Whereas population geneticists, like Stanford's Marc Feldman, insist that the genetic complexities of organisms cannot be overlooked, sociobiologists (many of whom now prefer to call themselves "behavioral ecologists") rely on optimization models that are based on the simplest possible genetics.These optimization approaches have their roots in the classical result known as the fundamental theorem of natural selection, formulated by R. A. Fisher in 1930. From the start there was great uncertainty over the proper interpretation of Fisher's theorem, which became confused with Sewall Wright's immensely influential adaptive landscape concept. In the 1960s, a new generation of mathematical biologists proved that Fisher's theorem did not hold when fitness depended on more than one locus. Similar reasoning was used to attack W. D. Hamilton's inclusive fitness theory. A new theory, known as the theory of long-term evolution, attempts to reconcile the rigorous population genetics approach with the long-standing sociobiological view that natural selection acts to increase the fitness of organisms.
Topics: Biological Evolution; Biology; Genetics, Population; Humans; Models, Genetic; Selection, Genetic
PubMed: 11919381
DOI: 10.1353/pbm.2002.0039 -
American Anthropologist Mar 1978
Topics: Altruism; Biological Evolution; Biology; Cultural Evolution; Ecology; Human Characteristics; Humans; Sociobiology
PubMed: 11649393
DOI: 10.1525/aa.1978.80.1.02a00010