Homology in
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
, as
in biology, refers to a relationship between characteristics that reflects the characteristics' origins in either evolution or development. Homologous behaviors can theoretically be of at least two different varieties. As with
homologous anatomical characteristics, behaviors present in different species can be considered homologous if they are likely present in those species because the behaviors were present in a common ancestor of the two species. Alternatively, in much the same way as reproductive structures (e.g., the penis and the clitoris) are considered homologous because they share a common origin in embryonic tissues, behaviors—or the
neural substrate
A neural substrate is a term used in neuroscience to indicate the part of the central nervous system (i.e., brain and spinal cord) that underlies a specific behavior, cognitive process, or psychological state. ''Neural'' is an adjective relating t ...
s associated with those behaviors—can also be considered homologous if they share common origins in development.
Behavioral homologies have been considered since at least 1958, when
Konrad Lorenz
Konrad Zacharias Lorenz (; 7 November 1903 – 27 February 1989) was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch. He is often regarded ...
studied the evolution of behavior. More recently, the question of behavioral homologies has been addressed by
philosophers of science
Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...
such as
Marc Ereshefsky
Marc Ereshefsky is a professor of philosophy at the University of Calgary, specializing in the philosophy of science and the philosophy of biology. His research focuses on issues on the intersection of philosophy and biology. Ereshefsky is speci ...
, psychologists such as Drew Rendall, and
neuroscientist
A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, Biological neural network, n ...
s such as Georg Striedter and Glenn Northcutt. It is debatable whether the concept of homology is useful in
developmental psychology
Developmental psychology is the science, scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult deve ...
.
For example, D. W. Rajecki and Randall C. Flanery, using data on humans and on nonhuman
primates
Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...
, argue that patterns of behaviour in
dominance hierarchies are homologous across the primates.
References
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Developmental psychology
Behavior
Evolutionary biology
Behavioural sciences