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Evolutionary Basis of Adaptation in Resilience and Vulnerability
Author(s) -
HOFER MYRON A.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1196/annals.1376.030
Subject(s) - vulnerability (computing) , adaptation (eye) , resilience (materials science) , selection (genetic algorithm) , psychological resilience , event (particle physics) , psychology , cognitive psychology , cognitive science , computer science , social psychology , computer security , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , physics , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics
Abstract: This masterful and wide‐ranging paper gives us a clear picture of the need for interdisciplinary studies of resilience and vulnerability. We need to go beyond the interacting events at the different levels to see clearly that multiple levels of analysis and concept do not themselves interact, but instead give us different aspects of a biological, psychological, or behavioral event. Thus, no levels are reducible to any of the others. In the rest of my discussion, I raise the likelihood that the multiple level responses of “resilience” are no more adaptive in their evolutionary history than the very different responses we call “vulnerability.” Keeping in mind the evolved functions of these responses, and the circumstances of their selection during evolution, will provide us with new ideas and approaches for understanding and intervention.