The new "Evolutionary Developmental Biology": From Freud to epigenetics

Journal title PSICOTERAPIA E SCIENZE UMANE
Author/s Myron Hofer
Publishing Year 2014 Issue 2014/3
Language Italian Pages 14 P. 395-408 File size 63 KB
DOI 10.3280/PU2014-003002
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

At the end of the 19th century, evolution and development seemed closely related; at that time, the ideas of Charles Darwin, Ernst Haeckel and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck played a prominent role in Freud’s creation of psychoanalysis. But during the 20th century, as biological research reached the molecular level, evolution and development veered further from each other and further away from psychoanalysis. In the last two decades, however, developmental and evolutionary biology have come together in the creation of a new field, Evolutionary Developmental Biology ("Evo-Devo"). Recent discoveries on transgenerational effects have returned biological concepts to a closer alignment with psychoanalytic principles regarding the importance of early parent-infant interactions in the long-term development of children and of their own children. These changes are discussed through the history of the Author’s psychobiological research in the development of a relatively simple model organism, the laboratory rat.

Keywords: Developmental theory, early separation, evolution, mother-infant interaction, epigenetics

  1. Alexander F. (1950). Psychosomatic Medicine. Its Principles and Applications. New York: Norton (trad. it.: Medicina psicosomatica. Firenze: Giunti Barbera, 1951).
  2. Bowlby J. (1958). The nature of the child’s tie to its mother. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 39: 350-373.
  3. Bowlby J. (1960a). Grief and mourning in infancy and early childhood. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 15: 9-52.
  4. Bowlby J. (1960b). Separation anxiety. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 41: 89-113.
  5. Bowlby J. (1969). Attachment and Loss. Vol. 1: Attachment. London: Hogarth Press (2nd edition: New York: Basic Books, 1982) (trad. it.: Attaccamento e perdita. Vol. 1: L’attaccamento alla madre. Torino: Boringhieri, 1972 [1a ediz.], 1989 [2a ediz.]).
  6. Bowlby J. (1988). A Secure Base. London: Routledge (trad. it.: Una base sicura. Milano: Raffaello Cortina, 1989).
  7. Bowlby J. & Robertson J. (1953). A Two-Year-Old Goes to Hospital. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 46, 6: 425-427.
  8. Cameron N.M., Champagne F.A., Parent C., Fish E.W., Ozaki-Kuroda K. & Meaney M.J. (2005). The programming of individual differences in defensive responses and reproductive strategies in the rat through variations in maternal care. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 29: 843-865. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2005.03.022
  9. Carey N. (2012). The Epigenetics Revolution. London: Icon Books.
  10. Carroll R. (2002). Evolution of the capacity to evolve. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 15, 6: 911-921. DOI: 10.1046/j.1420-9101.2002.00455.x
  11. Champagne F.A. (2010). Epigenetic influence of social experiences across the lifespan. Developmental Psychobiology, 52: 299-311. DOI: 10.1002/dev.20436
  12. Champagne F.A. (2013). Effects of stress across generations: Why sex matters. Biological Psychiatry, 73, 1: 2-4. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.10.004
  13. Champagne F.A. & Meaney M.J. (2006). Stress during gestation alters postpartum maternal care and the development of the offspring in a rodent model. Biological Psychiatry, 59, 12: 1227-1235. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.10.016
  14. Champagne F., Diorio J., Sharma S. & Meaney M.J. (2001). Naturally occurring variations in maternal behavior in the rat are associated with differences in estrogen-inducible central oxytocin receptors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 98, 22: 12736-12741. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.221224598
  15. Darwin C. (1859). On the Origin of Species. London: John Murray (trad. it.: L’origine delle specie. Modena: Zanichelli, 1864; Torino: Einaudi e Boringhieri, 1959).
  16. Darwin C. (1868). The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. London: John Murray (trad. it.: Variazione degli animali e delle piante allo stato domestico. Torino: UTET, 1914; Torino: Einaudi, 2011).
  17. Hendrikse J.L., Parsons T. & Hallgrimsson B. (2007). Evolvability as the proper focus of evolutionary developmental biology. Evolution and Development, 9, 4: 393-401. DOI: 10.1111/j.1525-142X.2007.00176.x
  18. Freud S. (1905). Tre saggi sulla teoria sessuale. Opere, 4: 443-546. Torino: Boringhieri, 1970.
  19. Gilbert S.F. & Epel D. (2009). Ecological Developmental Biology: Integrating Epigenetics, Medicine and Evolution. Sunderland, MA: Siauer Associates.
  20. Hall B.K. & Olson W.M., editors (2003). Key Words and Concepts in Evolutionary Developmental Biology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  21. Harlow H.F. (1958). The nature of love. American Psychologist, 13, 12: 673-685. DOI: 10.1037/h0047884
  22. Haeckel E.H. (1874). Anthropogenie, oder, Entwickelungsgeschichte des Menschen: Keimesund Stammes-Geschichte. Leipzig: Engelmann (trad. it. in: Opere di Ernesto Haeckel. Torino: UTET, 1892).
  23. Hofer M.A. & Shair H. (1978). Ultrasonic vocalization during social interaction and isolation in 2-week-old rats. Developmental Psychobiology, 11, 5: 495-504. DOI: 10.1002/dev.420110513
  24. Kirschner M.W. & Gerhart J.C. (2005). The Plausibility of Life: Resolving Darwin’s Dilemma, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
  25. Lamarck J.-B. (1809). Philosophie zoologique ou exposition des considérations relatives à l'histoire naturelle des animaux. Paris: J.B. Bailliere, 1830 (trad. it.: Filosofia zoologica. Firenze: La Nuova Italia, 1976).
  26. Liu D., Diorio J., Tannenbaum B., Caldji C., Francis D., Freedman A., Sharma S., Pearson D., Plotsky P.M., Meaney M.J. (1997). Maternal care, hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors, and hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal responses to stress. Science, 277 (September 12, 1997): 1659-1662. DOI: 10.1126/science.277.5332.1659.Internetedition:http://www.psychology.mcmaster.ca/bennett/cp2008/schmidt/Lui_etal_1997.pdf
  27. Makari G. (2008). Revolution in Mind. The Creation of Psychoanalysis. New York: HarperCollins (trad. it. di una versione modificata della prefazione [pp. 1-6]: La rivoluzione nella mente: sulla storia della psicoanalisi, 1870-1945. Psicoterapia e Scienze Umane, 2009, XLIII, 4: 455-462. DOI: 10.3280/PU2009-004001)
  28. Mendel G. (1865). Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden. Verh. Naturforsch. Ver. Brünn, 1866, 4: 3-47 (trad. ingl.: Experiments in Plant Hybridization. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1958. Internet edition: http://www.mendelweb.org/Mendel.html).
  29. Robertson J., director (1952). A Two-year-old goes to Hospital. London: Robertson Films.
  30. Robertson J. (1970). Young Children in Hospital. London: Tavistock (trad. it.: Bambini in ospedale. Milano: Feltrinelli, 1973).
  31. Schiller C.H., editor (1957). Instinctive Behavior: The Development of a Modern Concept. New York: International Universities Press.
  32. Skolnick N.J., Ackerman S.H., Hofer M.A. & Weiner H. (1980). Vertical transmission of acquired ulcer susceptibility in the rat. Science, 208, 4448: 1161-1163. DOI: 10.1126/science.7189606
  33. Weismann A. (1894). The Effects of External Influences upon Development. London: Henry Frowde.

  • Frailty in Children Giovanna Perricone, pp.223 (ISBN:978-3-031-24306-6)
  • Perché abbiamo bisogno degli oggetti? Uno studio di psicoanalisi comparata Morris N. Eagle, in PSICOTERAPIA E SCIENZE UMANE 4/2014 pp.577
    DOI: 10.3280/PU2014-004002
  • Epigenetica e psiconeuroimmunoendocrinologia: una rivoluzione che integra psicologia e medicina Francesco Bottaccioli, in PSICOTERAPIA E SCIENZE UMANE 4/2014 pp.597
    DOI: 10.3280/PU2014-004003
  • Come gli stati psichici si traducono in molecole biologiche e come questo cambia la medicina e la psicologia Anna Giulia Bottaccioli, Francesco Bottaccioli, in PSICOTERAPIA E SCIENZE UMANE 1/2023 pp.107
    DOI: 10.3280/PU2023-001012

Myron Hofer, La nuova "biologia evoluzionistica dello sviluppo": da freud all’epigenetica in "PSICOTERAPIA E SCIENZE UMANE" 3/2014, pp 395-408, DOI: 10.3280/PU2014-003002