Open AccessTranslation of epigenetic rules of individual behavior into ethnographic patterns
Author(s) -
Charles J. Lumsden,
Edward O. Wilson
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.77.7.4382
Subject(s) - enculturation , epigenesis , ethnography , variation (astronomy) , coevolution , translation (biology) , evolutionary biology , biology , epistemology , psychology , sociology , genetics , anthropology , philosophy , gene , gene expression , physics , messenger rna , astrophysics , dna methylation
The pivotal process in gene-culture coevolution is envisaged to be the evolution of behavioral epigenesis. From premises based on the known properties of enculturation and usage diffusion within societies, a probabilistic model is constructed to estimate the degree to which rules governing individual development canalize ethnographic curves (the probability density distributions of societies engaged in varying patterns of usage). The results indicate that under most conceivable conditions the translation from individual epigenesis to social pattern is amplified, to an extent that differences in bias too faint to be detected in ordinary developmental studies can generate conspicuous variation in the ethnographic curves. Examples are cited of sufficiently biased epigenesis in human behavior.