Humans and all living systems are purposive actors in evolution

What is it about?

For more than 100 years the most common view of evolution has been that it is determined by random genetic mutations that happen to lead to adaptive traits. Genes have been understood to be “selfish replicators” insulated from their environments. On the other hand, organisms exist as inert “vehicles” designed to safely transport their “immortal” genes across generations. From this perspective, humans, like all living systems, play no active role in evolutionary changes. But there is an emerging perspective among evolutionary biologists. This extended evolutionary synthesis proposes that living systems have been and are, by nature, purposeful agents in the course of evolution. This article presents biochemical research that refutes the separation between genes, organisms and environments. The standard view has been that there are microbiological barriers that sequester selfish genes. The more recent research leads to some alternative conclusions: Genes are not precise self-replicators. Their structure and function can be altered by the organism's experiences. Experiences during an organism's lifetime can be transmitted across generations. Microbiologists are discovering multiple mechanisms by which an organism’s experiences change gene structure and function. Transposable units, DNA methylation, histone modification and non-coding RNA are molecular mechanisms by which organisms and their experiences change DNA. Researchers have already begun to use changes in these mechanisms as molecular indices for outcomes of psychological interventions. There is a wide range of purposive agencies across species: from sensorimotor actions with little executive input in reptiles to the socially normative agency of humans. For humans, cooperation around shared purposes and values has been crucial to our survival and thriving as a species. This article describes current psychological interventions for individuals and groups that are based on shared purpose, cooperation, and agency. . The purposive agency and developmental systems that are now understood to change phenotypes and thus evolution, are psychological processes to be studied and used as the basis for psychological intervention. In this sense, psychological interventions become “applied evolutionary science”. Individual development, personal values, and the shared purpose of groups are already being used by psychologists as factors that can help shape a more promising evolutionary future. In addition to understanding how our ancestors constructed our psychological inheritances, the extended evolutionary synthesis focuses on how purposive psychological activities in the present can shape the future of individuals, groups and species.

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Photo by Duy Pham on Unsplash

Photo by Duy Pham on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This new understanding of the relationship between genes and living systems has important implications for psychologists' research and practice as well as for the public at large. Psychological research can be based on the biological premise that the behavior of all living systems stems from their particular inherent purposes and agencies. What are the particular purposes and agencies of different species? What role did they play in evolution? How do they manifest in the behaviors we see? For psychological practitioners the emerging perspective means that purpose and values are not only abstract humanistic, existential concepts. They are biological realities based on how our species evolved in groups. The transcendent need for connection to others in rooted in evolution. Shared purpose can be used as the basis for group interventions. For the general public the new synthesis implies a different relationship with the past, present and future of our species. In addition to understanding how our ancestors purposively constructed our psychological inheritances, the extended evolutionary synthesis focuses on how our purposive psychological activities in the present can shape the future of individuals, groups and species.

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