Gene-Culture Coevolution and the Unification of the Behavioral Sciences

Despite their distinct objects of study, the human behavioral sciences four distinct models of individual human behavior. Unity in the behavioral sciences requires that there be a common underlying model of individual human behavior, specialized and enriched to meet the particular needs of each discipline. Such unity does not exist, and cannot be easily attained, since the four existing models are incompatible. Yet recent theoretical and empirical developments have created the conditions for unity in the behavioral sciences, incorporating core principles from all fields, and based upon theoretical tools and data gathering techniques that transcend disciplinary boundaries. This paper sketches five principles aimed at fostering such a unity. These are (a) the theory of gene-culture coevolution [biology]; (b) epistemic, evolutionary, and behavioral game theory [biology, economics]; (c) the psychosocial theory of norms [sociology, social psychology]; (d) the beliefs, preferences and constraints model of individual choice [economics]; and (e) the theory of complex, dynamical, nonlinear system [computer science, mathematics, anthropology].

Return