Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Rethinking Oedipus: an evolutionary perspective of incest avoidance

M T Erickson1

  • 1Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco.

The American Journal of Psychiatry
|March 1, 1993
PubMed
Summary

Secure early bonding with family promotes adaptive behaviors like altruism and incest avoidance. Impaired or failed bonding can lead to neglect and increased incest incidence, suggesting bonding is key to familial attraction.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Psychological adjustment of adolescents with sickle cell disease: relations with demographic, medical, and family competence variables.

Journal of pediatric psychology·1998
Same author

The relationship between defense styles and personality disorders.

Journal of personality disorders·1998
Same author

Genetics and developmental psychopathology: 1. Phenotypic assessment in the Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioral Development.

Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines·1997
Same author

Self and informant ratings of SCID-II Personality Disorder items for nonreferred college women: effects of item and participant characteristics.

Journal of clinical psychology·1997
Same author

The genetics of children's oral reading performance.

Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines·1996
Same author

The application of structural equation modeling to maternal ratings of twins' behavioral and emotional problems.

Journal of consulting and clinical psychology·1994

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Ethology
  • Anthropology
  • Clinical Psychology

Background:

  • Incest avoidance is a complex behavior with roots in biology and social development.
  • Early kin bonding is theorized to influence later social behaviors.
  • Existing research spans multiple disciplines, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of the topic.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To present a biological hypothesis for incest avoidance.
  • To review existing literature on kin bonding and its effects.
  • To propose a framework for understanding familial attraction.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review across evolutionary biology, ethology, anthropology, and clinical research.
  • Analysis of the relationship between early kin bonding and subsequent behaviors.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Development of a hypothesis based on integrated findings.

    • Main Results:

    • Secure early bonding to kin predicts adaptive kin-directed behaviors, including altruism and incest avoidance.
    • Impaired bonding is associated with aberrant behaviors like diminished altruism, neglect, and increased incest.
    • Failed bonding correlates with the highest frequency of incest.

    Conclusions:

    • Secure kin bonding may serve as the foundation for adaptive behaviors, notably incest avoidance.
    • Familial attraction, rooted in secure bonding, is proposed as an evolutionarily distinct mechanism from sexual attraction.
    • The hypothesis integrates biological and developmental perspectives on incest avoidance.