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Evolutionary Biology: a Basic Science for Psychiatry?

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Evolutionary Biology: a Basic Science for Psychiatry? Review article Evolutionary biology: a basic science for psychiatry? McGuire MT, Marks I, Nesse RM, Troisi A. Evolutionary biology: a M. T. McGuire’, I, Marks’, R. M. Nesse3, basic science for psychiatry? A. Troisi4 Acta Psychiatr Scand 1992: 86: 89-96. ’ Department of Psychiatry-Biobehavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, USA, Institute of Psychiatry, DeCrispigny Park, London, United Kingdom, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, Clinica Psychiatrica, Universita di Roma, Italy Evolutionary biology has much to offer psychiatry. It distinguishes between Key words: evolutionary biology: psfchiatric ultimate and proximate explanations of behavior and addresses the theory; psychiatric research functional significance of behavior. Subtheories, frequently voiced Michael T. McGuire, Department of misconceptions, specific applications, testable hypotheses and limitations Psychiatry-Biobehavioral Sciences, School of of evolutionary theory are reviewed. An evolutionary perspective is likely to Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, improve understanding of psychopathology, refocus some clinical 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA research, influence treatment and help integrate seemingly unrelated 90024, USA findings and theoretical explanations. Accepted for publication February 29, 1992 ory can be found in Williams (l), Wilson (2) and Introduction Alexander (3). Recent advances in evolutionary biology have im- plications for psychiatric theory, research and clin- Overview of the evolutionary approach to psychiatry ical practice. Evolutionary theory introduces a broad Behavior and much needed deductive framework; it facilitates the functional analysis of behavior; it identifies im- Consider behaviors such as acquiring a mate, sexual portant differences between ultimate causes and intercourse, having offspring, parent-offspring bond- proximate mechanisms; it promotes a reassessment ing, stranger anxiety, infant and juvenile play, sibling of current views about etiology and pathogenesis; rivalry, competition over resources, preferential in- and it alters treatment strategies and options. Evo- vestment of resources in kin, reciprocal exchanges lutionists acknowledge that much human behavior is among nonkin, competition for social status, recog- a product of personal and cultural experience, but nition and rejection of cheaters, deception of others argue that mind and culture themselves are products and self-deception. Natural selection has shaped of evolution and are better understood when ana- predispositions (strong biases) to engage in such be- lyzed within the evolutionary framework. haviors. Predispositions range from strong (such as Our assessment of the contributions that an evo- withdrawal from a painful stimulus) to weak (such lutionary point of view can make to psychiatry be- as preference for particular styles of music). gins with an analysis of its theoretical contributions The strengths of predispositions vary across indi- followed by a discussion of common misconcep- viduals. Experience and learning, which is also an tions. Possible applications to psychiatry are then evolved capacity, modify predispositions. Environ- evaluated. Finally, the limitations of the theory are mental options and constraints interact with evolved reviewed. and prioritized behavior strategies to affect the prob- Only selected parts of evolutionary theory are dis- ability of immediate and long-term behavior. Psy- cussed. More comprehensive discussion of the the- chological mechanisms (such as cognitive and psy- 89 McGuire et al. chodynamic ones) filter, modify, organize and focus responsible for that predisposition. Kin-selection information that influences behavior. Behaviors to theory explains how altruistic behavior among kin which most persons are not predisposed (such as facilitates the replication of genes shared by kin. The playing the piano) can be mastered, but usually after theory predicts, for example: that parents will invest considerable effort. Nonetheless, the general behav- more in their orspring than vice versa; that such ior profiles and patterns of human behavior are set investment is greater with higher parental assess- by the species’ genome and, within limits, unfold in ment of the offspring’s reproductive potential; and predictable ways. that stepchildren are more likely to be abused that The above and other behaviors are of special in- biological offspring. These predictions are well sup- terest to psychiatry for several reasons: 1) mental ported by evidence (17-19). disorders are associated with detectable abnormal- ities in the expression of such behaviors, such as Reciprocal altruism. Although kin selection explains reduced frequency of reciprocation (4-6); 2) an ad- investment in kin, unrelated individuals also help equate understanding of some mental disorders (such each other (20). Such reciprocity exchanges are not as phobias, depression and somatoform disorders) confined to humans. Vampire bats, for example, requires an appreciation of the functional signifi- share their blood meals after returning to their roost cance of such behaviors and of the evolved mecha- at dawn (21). Such exchanges even occur between nisms that regulate them (7, 8); and 3) treatment species (22); alarm calls by one species alert mem- strategies may change (for example greater empha- bers of other species, and cleaner fish remove par- sis on functional outcomes and increased attention asites from inside the mouths and gills of larger fish to environmental variables) with increasing appre- who protect cleaners from predation (23). ciation of the evolutionary perspective. Reciprocal altruism theory predicts: 1) A will help Natural selection favors brain mechanisms that B (nonkin) if, in A’s view, the probability of recip- result in behaviors conferring a reproductive advan- rocation by B times the probable benefit of this re- tage. Generally, such behaviors are neither atypical ciprocation equals or exceeds the initial cost to A nor pathological. With few exceptions, however, (reciprocal behavior is distinguished for mutualism, mental disorders are atypical, pathological and mal- where both parties gain simultaneously); 2) failure to adaptive. Evolutionary theory provides a framework reciprocate evokes moralistic aggression; 3) nonre- for analyzing adaptive behavior, the mechanisms ciprocation will rise at the end of a period of asso- that regulate it and the circumstances interfering with ciation (24); and 4) nonreciprocators will have fewer its normal expression (9). Psychopathology can be allies. These predictions are also supported by avail- illuminated by insights into its normal adaptive pre- able evidence (25,26). cursors. Most phobias, for example, are exaggerated Evolutionary theory also explains why such emo- normal fears (10, 11); minor adaptive rituals such tions as pride, happiness, guilt and moralistic anger as perfectionism are precursors for obsessive-com- and such behaviors as guilt induction, intimidation pulsive disorder (10); normal mood swings can be and social ostracism have evolved. They facilitate viewed as precursors for manic-depressive illness reciprocal relationships (20, 25, 27, 28). Much of (12); and normal sadness and social withdrawal may development and learning deals with refining recip- be precursors to clinical depression (13-15). rocal behaviors, such as how to successfully manage reciprocity exchanges without being exploited or re- Subt heories jected - battles among children often focus on who owes what to whom (29). Deviations from expected Since the early 1960s, a number of testable subthe- patterns of early kin and non-kin social relationships ories have been developed to explain specific behav- may contribute to disordered reciprocity relation- iors. Examples include: inclusive fitness or kin se- ships later in life (30). lection, reciprocal altruism, parent-offspring conflict, and cognitive/feeling mechanisms. Parent-ofspring conyict and sibling rivilary. Although cooperation between parents, offspring and siblings Inclusive fitness. Preferential investment in kin is is promoted by the genes they share in common, prominent in humans, as it is in other species. The conflicts can be explained by the fact that many of tendency is to invest more in close than in distant their genes are not shared (31). Parental fitness (the kin, and for parents to invest more in offspring than number .of parental genes replicated among off- vice versa. Hamilton (16) postulated that certain spring) is enhanced by the reduction of investment kin-related behavior is selected because it favors in- in maturing offspring in order to sooner reproduce dividuals who share genes. A behavior costly to the again. Existing offspring try to counter this reduction self may nevertheless evolve if it increases the sur- and maximize their own fitness by delaying the birth vival and reproduction of kin who share the genes of new siblings and by extracting as much from par- 90 Evolutionary psychobiology ents as they can. The tendency in many species for such mechanisms may help to explain some anxiety offspring to object to weaning supports this view. disorders. In other disorders, deficits in mechanisms The conflict has a natural end-point when existing for reciprocity negotiation seem probable. Such def- offspring’s inclusive fitness is increased more by hav- icits may be a product of proximate mechanisms ing a sibling with
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