Geni e Memi : una riflessione sui rapporti fra biologia e cultura in medicina e nella psicologia della salute

The authors examine the existing data regarding the relationship between behavior and physical pathologies considering this relationship one example of the more general relationship between biology and culture. Biology and culture can be considered as system of information, evolving in time. Biological information is transmitted in the genes through natural selection. The biological evolutionary process has produced the human brain which is able to generate a new system of information the cultural one which also reproduces itself in time: this is referred to as the cultural evolution. Various authors define the units of reproduction of cultural evolution as 'memes'. The authors describe three different types of relations between genes and memes alliance competition and conflict. The study of the conflict relationship is of particular interest to behavioral scientists. The state of conflict between genes and memes derives from the peculiarity of human brain: on the one hand it carries biological information stored in the neurons; on the other hand it carries and stores cultural information. This information derives from the various psychological selection processes and from the interneural storage of cultural information available to each individual in his daily life. The human brain thus is the bio-cultural structure 'par excellence'. For this reason it plays a central role in biological evolution cultural evolution and psychological selection. The authors conclude by examining the implications that this theoretical approach has on health psychology.