Persons and Genes. Is a Gene-Centered Evolutionary Psychology Compatible with a Person-Oriented Approach to Psychological Science?

Abstract

AbstractAccording to Zagaria et al. (2020), evolutionary psychology may be the meta-theory that is needed if psychological science is to enter a paradigmatic stage. Other writers have suggested that what is needed is a person-oriented approach, which focuses on the person as a complex system that needs to be studied (1) as a whole (holism), (2) as an intentional agent in interaction with its environment (interactionism), and (3) in terms of his or her individual characteristics and development (idiographic focus). The purpose of the present paper is to discuss the compatibility of these two suggestions. A brief analysis of some formulations central to Dawkins’ gene-centered approach (e.g., “the intricate interdependence of genes”, and the dependence of genes on their environment) suggests that it is quite compatible with holism and interactionism; and applications such as genetic genealogy illustrate the possibility of a person-oriented genetics. It is argued that these two perspectives are not only compatible, but also complementary. Without a complement in the form of a person-oriented perspective, a gene-centered evolutionary psychology will at best be able to produce a general understanding of the psychological potentials that inhere in the human gene pool. It will not, however, lead to any understanding of the unique profiles of psychological potentials that are produced by a re-combination of autosomal DNA at the origin of each specific individual person, and that develop over time in interaction with the environment. The latter requires that the gene-centered view is complemented with a person-oriented approach.