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Abstract The notion that phenotypic traits, including behavior, can be predetermined has slowly given way in biology and psychology over the last two decades. This shift in thinking is due in large part to the growing evidence for the fundamental role of developmental processes in the generation of the stability and variations in phenotype that researchers in developmental and evolutionary sciences seek to understand. Here I review the tenets of a metatheoretical model of development called probabilistic epigenesis (PE) and explore its implications for furthering our understanding of developmental and evolutionary processes. The PE framework emphasizes the reciprocity of influences within and between levels of an organism's developmental manifold (genetic activity, neural activity, behavior, and the physical, social, and cultural influences of the external environment) and the ubiquity of gene–environment interaction in the realization of all phenotypes.

What will it take to make behavioral genetics truly developmental? In my opinion, the purely statistical population view will have to be abandoned in favor of the study of individuals: An analysis of the bi-directional relations from gene action to the external environment over the life course, including the prenatal period. I critically examine the somewhat vexed concept of 'gene-environment interaction', a crucial first step in correctly understanding the relational view of causality at the organism-environment level of analysis. I conclude by presenting a highly detailed psychobiological model for analyzing behavioral development, with special attention to the genetic level of analysis.

AbstractIn this article, the authors take a very conservative view of the contribution of animal models to an understanding of human development. We do not think that homologies can be readily documented with even our most closely related relatives' behavior and psychological functioning. The major contribution of animal models is their provision of food for thought (hypotheses, not facts) about human development and general principles of development, and we describe some of the more significant and interesting of these at length. We also briefly discuss the other applications of animal research toward understanding the development and evolution of behavior, more generally speaking.