DOMINIC W. MASSARO, editor
University of California, Santa Cruz

Redefining Developmental Psychology: Pattern Formation From Genes to Behavior

Coming to Life: How Genes Drive Development
By Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard. Carlsbad, CA: Kales, 2006. 166 pp. Cloth, $29.95.

All levels of analysis in the life sciences—molecular, cellular, genetic, physiological, whole organism, group, species, and community—may be involved in the causation or outcomes of behavior, including cognition and emotion. Thus, all levels of biological analysis are potential targets of investigation for scientific psychologists. Since at least the 1930s, the gene and the discipline's status as a science have been particularly problematic for American psychology, in which vitalism and humanism continue to occupy positions of prominence, even in popular textbooks (e.g., Leahey, 2003). American psychology has attempted to avoid what can be called "the gene problem" by recourse to extreme environmentalism (Kirschenbaum & Henderson, 1989) or by nonreductionist formulations emphasizing the complex nature of humans (Gottesman & Hanson, 2005) and a few other species (e.g., chimpanzees, dolphins, elephants). It is not my intent to revive the nature–nurture controversy or argue in favor of reductionism. Rather, I intend to emphasize the scientist's obligation to respect the law of parsimony by assessing Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard's position that fate mapping of the organism is induced by genetic and epigenetic factors.