Daniel G. Freedman (born 16 January 1927, died 10 June 2008 [1] ) was an American psychologist and Professor in Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago, who pioneered the use of biological and evolutionary viewpoints to understand differences of human behavior. His studies of behavioral differences in dogs and human infants were ground-breaking. [1] [2]
Freedman received his BA in psychology in 1949 from the University of California, Berkeley, his MA in 1953 from the University of Colorado, and his PhD in 1957 from Brandeis University. [2]
As a research fellow in the Division of Behavioral Studies at Jackson Memorial Laboratories from 1955 to 1957, he studied differences in behavior between four breeds of dogs. This formed the basis for his doctoral dissertation. [3]
From 1957-1959 he made a longitudinal study of infant twins at the Langley Porter Neuropsychiatry Institute. He was one of the first human ethologists, filming infants on 16mm film. [1] The resulting film, "Cross-cultural differences in newborn behavior: comparisons of Caucasian, Navajo, Japanese, African and Australian Aboriginal newborns, using the Brazelton-Freedman Newborn Examination", demonstrated differences in temperament between infants of different ethnic backgrounds immediately after birth. [4]
From 1963-1964 he studied at the Institute for Medical Genetics, Uppsala, Sweden, on an NIMH Special Fellowship. From 1964-1968 he was a member of the Biology faculty at the University of Chicago. From 1971-1972 he co-led (with Gregory Bateson) an observational study of different cultures at the International School of America. From 1977 until his death he was Professor of Human Development at the University of Chicago. He retired in 1995, becoming Professor Emeritus of Psychology. [1]
Freedman was married twice, first to Nina Chinn, and then to Jane Gorman. He had two sons.
Theodosius Grigorievich Dobzhansky was an American geneticist and evolutionary biologist. He was a central figure in the field of evolutionary biology for his work in shaping the modern synthesis. Born in the Russian Empire, Dobzhansky emigrated to the United States in 1927, aged 27.
Comparative psychology refers to the scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of non-human animals, especially as these relate to the phylogenetic history, adaptive significance, and development of behavior. The phrase comparative psychology may be employed in a narrow and a broad meaning. In its narrow meaning, it refers to the study of the similarities and differences in the psychology and behavior of different species. In a broader meaning, comparative psychology includes comparisons between different biological and socio-cultural groups, such as species, sexes, developmental stages, ages, and ethnicities. Research in this area addresses many different issues, uses many different methods and explores the behavior of many different species from insects to primates.
Thomas Berry Brazelton was an American pediatrician, author, and the developer of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS). Brazelton hosted the cable television program What Every Baby Knows, and wrote a syndicated newspaper column. He wrote more than two hundred scholarly papers and twenty-four books.
The Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), also known as the Brazelton Neonatal Assessment Scale (BNAS), was developed in 1973 by T. Berry Brazelton and his colleagues. This test purports to provide an index of a newborn's abilities, and is usually given to an infant somewhere between the age of 3 days to 4 weeks old. The test is designedf to describe the neonate's response to the environment after being born. This approach was innovative for recognizing that a baby is a highly developed organism, even when just newly born. The profile describes the baby's strengths, adaptive responses and possible vulnerabilities. This knowledge may help parents develop appropriate strategies for caring in intimate relationships to enhance their earliest relationship with the child.
Cuteness is a type of attractiveness commonly associated with youth and appearance, as well as a scientific concept and analytical model in ethology, first introduced by Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz. Lorenz proposed the concept of baby schema (Kindchenschema), a set of facial and body features that make a creature appear "cute" and activate ("release") in others the motivation to care for it. Cuteness may be ascribed to people as well as things that are regarded as attractive or charming.
Dual inheritance theory (DIT), also known as gene–culture coevolution or biocultural evolution, was developed in the 1960s through early 1980s to explain how human behavior is a product of two different and interacting evolutionary processes: genetic evolution and cultural evolution. Genes and culture continually interact in a feedback loop: changes in genes can lead to changes in culture which can then influence genetic selection, and vice versa. One of the theory's central claims is that culture evolves partly through a Darwinian selection process, which dual inheritance theorists often describe by analogy to genetic evolution.
Evolutionary developmental psychology (EDP) is a research paradigm that applies the basic principles of evolution by natural selection, to understand the development of human behavior and cognition. It involves the study of both the genetic and environmental mechanisms that underlie the development of social and cognitive competencies, as well as the epigenetic processes that adapt these competencies to local conditions.
Jerome Kagan was an American psychologist, who was the Daniel and Amy Starch Research Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, as well as, co-faculty at the New England Complex Systems Institute. He was one of the key pioneers of developmental psychology.
In physical attractiveness studies, averageness describes the physical beauty that results from averaging the facial features of people of the same gender and approximately the same age. The majority of averageness studies have focused on photographic overlay studies of human faces, in which images are morphed together. The term "average" is used strictly to denote the technical definition of the mathematical mean. An averaged face is not unremarkable, but is, in fact, quite good looking. Nor is it typical in the sense of common or frequently occurring in the population, though it appears familiar, and is typical in the sense that it is a good example of a face that is representative of the category of faces.
Gad Saad is a Canadian marketing professor at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University. He is known for applying evolutionary psychology to marketing and consumer behaviour. He wrote a blog for Psychology Today and hosts a YouTube channel titled "The Saad Truth".
Nancy L. Segal is an American evolutionary psychologist and behavioral geneticist, specializing in the study of twins. She is the Professor of Developmental Psychology and Director of the Twin Studies Center, at California State University, Fullerton. Segal was a recipient of the 2005 James Shields Award for Lifetime Contributions to Twin Research from the Behavior Genetics Association and International Society for Twin Studies.
Crying is the dropping of tears in response to an emotional state or pain. Emotions that can lead to crying include sadness, anger, excitement, and even happiness. The act of crying has been defined as "a complex secretomotor phenomenon characterized by the shedding of tears from the lacrimal apparatus, without any irritation of the ocular structures", instead, giving a relief which protects from conjunctivitis. A related medical term is lacrimation, which also refers to non-emotional shedding of tears. Various forms of crying are known as sobbing, weeping, wailing, whimpering, bawling, and blubbering.
Mary Main was an American psychologist notable for her work in the field of attachment. A Professor at the University of California Berkeley, Main is particularly known for her introduction of the 'disorganized' infant attachment classification and for development of the Adult Attachment Interview and coding system for assessing states of mind regarding attachment. This work has been described as 'revolutionary' and Main has been described as having 'unprecedented resonance and influence' in the field of psychology.
Human ethology is the study of human behavior. Ethology as a discipline is generally thought of as a sub-category of biology, though psychological theories have been developed based on ethological ideas. The bridging between biological sciences and social sciences creates an understanding of human ethology. The International Society for Human Ethology is dedicated to advancing the study and understanding of human ethology.
Mark Schaller is a psychological scientist who has made many contributions to the study of human psychology, particularly in areas of social cognition, stereotyping, evolutionary psychology, and cultural psychology. He is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia.
W. Russell Neuman is Professor of Media Technology, NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and Professor (Emeritus), Communication Studies, University of Michigan. From 2001 to 2013, Dr. Neuman was the John Derby Evans Professor of Media Technology at the University of Michigan. Neuman received a Ph.D. And M.A. At the University of California, Berkeley Department of Sociology as well as a B.A. from Cornell University's Department of Government. He has an extensive teaching and research career at Yale University, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Michigan. He is one of the founding faculty members at MIT Media Lab and with Ithiel de Sola Pool, MIT's Research Program on Communication Policy. From 2001-2003 he served as a Senior Policy Analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy working in the areas of information technology, broadband policy as well as biometrics and international security.
Dario Maestripieri is an Italian behavioral biologist who is known for his research and writings about biological aspects of behavior in nonhuman primates and humans. He is currently a professor of Comparative Human Development, Evolutionary Biology, and Neurobiology at The University of Chicago.
The Synactive Theory of Newborn Behavioral Organization and Development suggests that development of the human fetus, and later newborn, proceeds through the constant balancing of approach and avoidance behaviors, leading to: (1) a continuous interaction of the subsystems and their increasingly defined delineations within the organism and (2) the organism's interaction with the environment at large. This process is aimed at bringing about the increasingly well-defined species-unique developmental agenda.
Cultural evolution is an evolutionary theory of social change. It follows from the definition of culture as "information capable of affecting individuals' behavior that they acquire from other members of their species through teaching, imitation and other forms of social transmission". Cultural evolution is the change of this information over time.
Robert Alan Levine was an American anthropologist best known for his multidisciplinary and cross-cultural work on child development. He spent much of his academic career at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he had been an emeritus professor since 1998.