RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Adaptation: a contemporary view, revisiting Crichton-Miller's 1925 paper
JF Postgraduate Medical Journal
JO Postgrad Med J
FD The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine
SP 128
OP 133
DO 10.1136/postgradmedj-2015-133708
VO 92
IS 1085
A1 Music, Graham
YR 2016
UL http://pmj.bmj.com/content/92/1085/128.abstract
AB In this paper I discuss a contemporary ‘take’ on the concept of adaptation in light of Crichton-Miller's original 1926 paper. I look briefly at some of the ways that contemporary thinking is both similar to and different from ideas of 90 years ago. In particular I think about how recent neurobiological findings, epigenetic research and attachment theory have cast new light on our understanding of the ways humans adapt to social and emotional environments. It looks at how psychiatric presentations which are seen as maladaptive might well have an adaptive origin in early life. In this account I emphasise how a more modern version of evolutionary theory can be developed, particularly one influenced by life history theory, and suggest that such ideas have powerful explanatory power as well as being based solidly in good research.