10,352 research outputs found
Dismantling Lamarckism: why descriptions of socio-economic evolution as Lamarckian are misleading
“The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com”. Copyright Springer.This paper addresses the widespread tendency to describe socio-economic evolution as Lamarckian. The difference between Lamarckian and Darwinian replication is clarified. It is shown that a phenotype-genotype distinction must first be established before we can identify Lamarckian transmission. To qualify as Lamarckian inheritance, acquired properties at the phenotypic level must be encoded in a genotype that is passed on to the next generation. Some possible social replicators (or genotypes) are identified, with a view to exploring possible distinctions between genotype and phenotype at the social level. It is concluded that the Lamarckian label does not readily transfer to socio-economic evolution, despite the fact that social genotypes (such as routines) may adapt within any given phenotype (such as an organisation). By contrast, no such problems exist with the description of socio-economic evolution as Darwinian.Peer reviewe
Giving subjects the eye and showing them the finger: socio-biological cues and saccade generation in the anti-saccade task.
Pointing with the eyes or the finger occurs frequently in social interaction to indicate
direction of attention and one's intentions. Research with a voluntary saccade task (where saccade
direction is instructed by the colour of a fixation point) suggested that gaze cues automatically
activate the oculomotor system, but non-biological cues, like arrows, do not. However, other work
has failed to support the claim that gaze cues are special. In the current research we introduced
biological and non-biological cues into the anti-saccade task, using a range of stimulus onset
asynchronies (SOAs). The anti-saccade task recruits both top ^ down and bottom^ up attentional
mechanisms, as occurs in naturalistic saccadic behaviour. In experiment 1 gaze, but not arrows,
facilitated saccadic reaction times (SRTs) in the opposite direction to the cues over all SOAs,
whereas in experiment 2 directional word cues had no effect on saccades. In experiment 3 finger
pointing cues caused reduced SRTs in the opposite direction to the cues at short SOAs. These
findings suggest that biological cues automatically recruit the oculomotor system whereas non-
biological cues do not. Furthermore, the anti-saccade task set appears to facilitate saccadic responses in the opposite direction to the cues
Review of Birth in the Age of AIDS: Women, Reproduction, and HIV/AIDS in India, by Cecelia Van Hollen.
Christian Worldview and Scientific World Pictures: A Response to Howard J. Van Till
This article is a response to a paper presented at the conference Christian Worldview and a View of Science: The Evolution Debate, held at Dordt College on September 27-28, 1988
Review of Human Development Report 2013: The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World, by UNDP.
Book Review: Political Descent: Malthus, Mutualism, and the Politics of Evolution in Victorian England by Piers J. Hale
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