Gottlieb's (1991/2007) study on social malleability of ducking response to maternal calls is perhaps a paradigmatic example of research within the transactional approach to behavioral development--an approach which has fundamental links with the ecological approach to perception-action (Gibson, 1979). This commentary fleshes out these links…

Near the end of his illustrious career, Gottlieb lamented the continued dominance of heritability analysis in human psychology and the difficulties in winning support for the developmental point of view. Recent, spectacular progress in molecular genetic neuroscience and the genetic study of behavior, however, is rendering heritability analysis…

Gilbert Gottlieb's formative role in establishing a science of experimental behavioral embryology is described. His experimental program on the development of species identification served as a model for developmental psychobiologists seeking alternatives to the nature-nurture dichotomies prevalent in the 20th century. Two of the major concepts…

Currently, behavioral development is thought to result from the interplay among genetic inheritance, congenital characteristics, cultural contexts, and parental practices as they directly impact the individual. Evolutionary ecology points to another contributor, epigenetic inheritance, the transmission to offspring of parental phenotypic responses…

Discusses topics to aid in understanding animal behavior, including the value of the biological approach to psychology, functional systems, optimality and fitness, universality of environmental effects on behavior, and evolution of social behavior. (DS)