Emerging Biosocial Perspectives

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Emerging Biosocial Perspectives

• Troost, K. M., Filsinger, E. (1993).
  Emerging biosocial perspectives in the family.
  In P. G. Boss, W. J. Doherty, R. LaRossa, W. R.
  Schumm, S. K. Steinmetz (Eds.), Sourcebook of
  family theories and methods A contextual
  approach (pp. 677-710) New York Plenum Press.

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Introduction

• Biosocial Domain the connection between the
  biological and the social as
• independent causal agents, and
• as intertwined elements of human evolution and
  proximate life.
• Role of the Family
• Evolutionary or Historical Relevance (a/k/a
  ultimate cause) sexual and cooperative bond
  results in continuation of society.
• Proximate Cause
• families mediate the interplay of biological and
  social factors
• biological and social factors contribute to
  family phenomena.

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Core Assumptions

• Humans have an evolutionary origin.
• The family has played an important role in human
  evolution. Van de Berghe (1988) suggests that
  sociality can be reduced to three principles
• Nepotism organisms invest in their own kin.
• Reciprocity exchange of favors.
• Coercion the act of being forced to act against
  ones interests.
• The evolutionary origin of humans has an
  influence upon families today.
• Proximate biology has an influence on the family,
  and the family has an influence on primate
  biology and the health of its members.
• Genetic factors (e.g., predisposition to disease)
  influence family life.
• Families influence the health of members because
  they are health care providers.

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Core Assumptions(cont.)

• Biosocial influences are both biological and
  social in character.
• The biosocial domain is concerned with three
  factors the biological, biosocial, and social.
• Human biological and biosocial variables do not
  determine human conduct but pose limitations and
  constraints as well as possibilities and
  opportunities for families.
• A biosocial approach takes an intermediate
  position between those who emphasize the
  similarity between humans and other animals and
  those who emphasize the differences.
• Humans are animals with an evolutionary origin.
• Humans have a species history which distinguishes
  it from other animals the coevolution of biology
  and culture makes humans more complex than other
  animals.

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Core Assumptions(cont.)

• Adaptation is assumed to have taken place over a
  vast period of time. Adaptations in physiology or
  conduct vary by environment.
• Extant features of human biology can be used to
  reveal aspects of our adaptation in the past (see
  Troost, 1988a, Turke, 1988).
• Proximate, distal, and ultimate levels of
  interpretation can be approached separately
  ideally they will be integrated.

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Myths About Humans and the Biosocial

• Humans are unique.
• Although humans posses some unique traits, so do
  other species.
• Other species, for example,
• use tools,
• culturally transmit learned adaptations,
• communicate,
• demonstrate consciousness and thought.
• Biology mandates uniformity.
• Biological analyses are inherently only about
  individuals, not relationships. Evolutionary
  selection, for example, influences
• reproduction,
• food gathering,
• social facilitation,
• competetion management,
• division of labor,
• cultural transmission,
• socialization,
• and interpersonal communication.

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Model of the Human in the Family Context

• Introduction
• There is a complex interplay between proximate
  (immediate) and ultimate (evolutionary)
  influences.
• Ontogeny, an individuals life course
  development, is influenced by the interplay of
  biological makeup and social environment (p.
  685).
• Biological blueprints limit environmental input.
• Environmental constraints limit biological
  predispositions.
• Organisms, influenced by biological
  predispositions, actively select environments.
  This is known as niche building (Scarr
  Mcartney, 1983).

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Model of the Human in the Family Context (cont.)

• Extending the Model
• Life span development influences adaptability.
• Departure from normal developmental patterns
  can cause system breakdown (e.g., excessively
  early or late marriage and childbearing have
  long-term implications).
• Causation
• Proximate causation immediate influences.
• Distal causation intermediate causes (e.g.,
  affect of parent-infant bonding/attachment on
  later development).
• Ultimate causation evolutionary influences.

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Causation

• Ultimate Causation
• Fundamental question How has the family
  contributed to the success of humans?
• What was the character of our evolutionary past?
  . . . How has our evolutionary history affected
  the attributes of the family?
• What principles of sociobiology apply to humans?
• Cultural diversity issues Where and under what
  ecological circumstances does the biosocial . . .
  encourage variety in kinship formation?
• Why is the family a universal phenomenon?
• Proximate Causation
• Fundamental question How do biology and society
  interact to form the biosocial family of today?
• What are specific biosocial covariates what are
  self-selection or niche-building effects?
• What influences flexibility? What influences
  rigidity?

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Main Problems Addressed by the Theory

• Reproduction and Fertility
• What are the mechanisms directly affecting
  reproduction?
• What are some of the reproductive questions
  facing humans?
• Parental Investment
• What are the mechanisms that support parental
  investment and how are they likely to be
  interpreted?
• Who will do the investment and will it be through
  care, food, defense, or some other means?
• Why is there such a heavy burden on parents
  would it not make them and their offspring
  vulnerable?
• How does the family today foster selection and
  reproduction of its members?

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Main Problems Addressed by the Theory (cont.)

• Adult and Co-parental Bond
• What are the mechanisms that promote adult,
  co-parental bonds and marriage?
• How do these bonds differ and is this difference
  supported biosocially?
• Do married individuals of childbearing age who
  have infertile partners suffer lower marital
  quality and higher marital dissolution rates?
• Does marital stability vary after menopause
  independently of children?
• What accounts for initial and enduring attraction
  and what is the role of the biosocial in
  comparison to psychological or social-only
  effects?

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Main Problems Addressed by the Theory (cont.)

• Sexuality
• What are the mechanisms regulating sexuality?
• How is sexuality linked to reproduction, adult
  bonding, and parental investment?
• How are fidelity, parental certainty, and the
  kinship system related to parental investment?
• How do male and female sexuality mesh?
• Are human beings more sex driven than
  reproductively driven is this age dependent?
• What role is played by the human capacity for
  trust and deception?

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Main Problems (cont.)

• Family Life Course Timing Windows and Breakdowns
• What are the biosocial pathways over the
  individual life course and at what points are
  they particularly subject to breakdown what
  mechanisms support these pathways and timing
  periods?
• What are the time periods in individual
  development when a person is vulnerable to
  particular negative events?
• Are there windows of opportunity during which a
  person is unusually sensitive to a positive
  influence e.g., imprinting?
• If a person wants to be a grandparent, when
  should they begin attraction, bonding, sexual
  activity, and childbearing?
• Is miscarriage influenced by family life course,
  relational context, and availability of
  resources?
• How does individual development fit together with
  family development?
• How are individual and family development
  influenced by parent-child bonding, parental
  investment, reproduction, and sexuality?

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Examples of Research

• Family Medicine
• Biopsychosocial model illnesses are influenced
  by several interacting systems.
• Family members tend to share risk factors,
  influenced by both environmental and genetic
  factors.
• Stress has a negative impact on health family
  dynamics influence stress.
• Four perspectives on families and illness (based
  on Steinglass Horn, 1988)
• The family can be a resource that provides social
  support and acts as a buffer.
• The family can be a deficit, inducing illness.
• The family can affect the course of the illness
  and influence recurrences.
• The illness can have a major impact on the family.

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Examples of Research (cont.)

• Family Violence
• Spousal abuse
• Men are more likely to try to control their
  partner because paternity is more difficult to
  ascertain.
• This controlling behavior is associated with
  violence.
• Abuse is also associated with investment women
  who were trying to end relationships were at
  greater risk for abuse.
• Child abuse
• Conflict is highest when parental investment is
  low.
• Risk factors infancy, paternal uncertainty,
  stepparenting, scarce resources (Daly Wilson,
  1987, 1988a,b).

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Research and Theories on Interaction between
Biology and Society

• Odor Communication
• Kin recognition and attachment
• Infants respond differently to their mothers
  odors than to odors from other mothers. This has
  evolutionary utility.
• Reaction to odors affects caregiving.
• Mate selection and sexual attraction odors
  influence attraction.
• Physiological Indications of Family Phenomena
• Marital satisfaction physiological indicators
  can predict current and future marital
  satisfaction (Gottman, 1983 Levenson Gottman,
  1985).
• Adolescent sexuality androgen levels are
  associated with masturbation and sexual
  motivation in adolescent boys.

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Research and Theories on Interaction between
Biology and Society (cont.)

• Physiological Indications of Family Phenomena
  (cont.)
• Sexual differentiation
• Gender differentiation of the brain and nervous
  system appears to reflect some physical brain
  structure differences.
• Gender differentiation is linked to gender
  differences in
• cognitive style,
• brain lateralization,
• spatial ability.
• Aggression in men is associated with testosterone.

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Limitations of the Theory

• Overstatement of biological forces.
• Scientific studies of natural differences
  have been used to exploit or oppress (e.g., The
  Bell Curve).
• Biological explanations are reductionistic.