title: Rethinking Oedipus: an evolutionary perspective of incest avoidance.
abstract: The author presents a biological hypothesis of incest avoidance. Pertinent literature from evolutionary biology, ethology, anthropology, and clinical research is reviewed. Secure early bonding to immediate kin predicts later adaptive kin-directed behaviors, including preferential altruism (kin selection) and incest avoidance. Impaired bonding predicts aberrant kin-directed behavior, including diminished altruism, neglect, and an increased incidence of incest. Failed bonding predicts the highest frequency of incest. Secure bonding to kin may function to establish adaptive kin-directed behaviors, including incest avoidance. Bonding is conceived of as the developmental foundation of a form of social attraction, here called "familial attraction," which is evolutionarily distinct from sexual attraction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Erickson
mesh_terms: D000533:Altruism; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005010:Ethology; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007179:Incest / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009769:Object Attachment; D009813:Oedipus Complex