Abstract
Recent reviews by prominent researchers in many fields have called for more interdisciplinary research on family functioning using approaches that integrate biological and social considerations. Gangestad (Chap. 9) provides an important introduction to the field of evolutionary psychology and presents an overview of how the discipline approaches the study of familial processes. Here, we documents the ways in which three broad research perspectives and methods have been influenced by and can influence evolutionary psychology: (a) social neuroscience research on mate selection, (b) quasi-experimental studies that test causal inferences concerning social influences, and (c) quantitative behavior genetic research that examines whether the heritability of traits has varied across historical context.
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Acknowledgments
Preparation of this chapter was supported in part by grants R01 HD061384, R01 HD056354, and R01 HD053550 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and NARSAD. Special thanks to Amber Singh, Claire Coyne, and all the members of, the FRSP Program at Indiana university, the Developmental Psychopathology Lab in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University for their help in preparing this manuscript.
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D’Onofrio, B.M., Langstrom, N., Lichtenstein, P. (2011). The Need for Family Research Using Multiple Approaches and Methods. In: Booth, A., McHale, S., Landale, N. (eds) Biosocial Foundations of Family Processes. National Symposium on Family Issues. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7361-0_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7361-0_10
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