Darwinian evolution of social behavior: implications for group psychotherapy

Medicine typically looks to biology for guidance in examining complexity. Application of biological principles to social processes has not been easy. Still, we need not abandon biology in the study of complex social phenomena. Biologists have come to view the study of proximate form and function (revealed by disciplines such as anatomy, psychology and physiology) versus the study of how the form and function ultimately "got to be" (revealed by disciplines such as ethology and sociobiology) as distinct and complementary levels of understanding (Lorenz 1981; Mayr 1982). Though we cannot undertake in this paper explication of the value of understanding the ultimate, as well as the proximate, in studying biological phenomena, interested readers will find a comprehensive discussion in Mayr. The evolutionary principles structuring social interactions are becoming understood and hold promise as a biologically valid system for organizing and guiding the study of complex social behaviors (Essock-Vitale and Fairbanks 1979; Kofoed and MacMillan 1987). Psychological processes have evolved in varying complexities as mechanisms to enable and guide social behavior, increasing the probability that such behavior will be adaptive in a wide variety of circumstances (Trivers 1971). Dynamic and social psychologies describe the proximate internal and interactive intricacies that have resulted from this process but cannot help us understand the goals evolution has "naturally designed" (Thompson 1986) these mechanisms to achieve. The hypothesized drives or instincts underlying most psychological models, often derived from a simplistic understanding of evolutionary theory, are usually simply taken for granted in the development of these models.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)