Chapter 39 Further Reading: Building an Integrated Model

Foundational Works on Integration and Levels of Analysis

Tinbergen, N. (1963). "On aims and methods of ethology." Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 20, 410–433. The original articulation of the four questions (causation, development, function, evolution) that underlie the BPSC model's level structure. Still essential reading for anyone thinking about multi-level biological explanation.

Engel, G. L. (1977). "The need for a new medical model: A challenge for biomedicine." Science, 196, 129–136. The foundational paper proposing the biopsychosocial model in medicine — the intellectual ancestor of the BPSC framework. Engel's argument that purely biomedical models are inadequate remains relevant for attraction science.

Mayr, E. (1961). "Cause and effect in biology." Science, 134, 1501–1506. The classic paper distinguishing ultimate (evolutionary) from proximate (mechanistic) causation in biology.

Multi-Level Models of Human Behavior

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press. The original ecological systems framework for understanding human development across nested environmental levels — a key conceptual ancestor of the BPSC model's contextual level.

Cacioppo, J. T., & Berntson, G. G. (1992). "Social psychological contributions to the decade of the brain." American Psychologist, 47, 1019–1028. An early and influential argument for multi-level social-biological integration that influenced social neuroscience as a field.

Integration in Attraction and Relationship Science

Fletcher, G. J. O., Simpson, J. A., Campbell, L., & Overall, N. C. (2015). Pair-bonding, romantic love, and evolution: The curious case of Homo sapiens. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10, 20–36. A sophisticated attempt to integrate evolutionary, developmental, and social psychological frameworks in relationship science.

Hatfield, E., Bensman, L., Thornton, P. D., & Rapson, R. L. (2012). "New perspectives on emotional expression and emotion regulation." Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7, 699–700. A useful touchstone for how cultural context interacts with biological emotional experience — relevant to the contextual-proximate interaction in the BPSC model.

Philosophy of Science and Integration

Kitcher, P. (1981). "Explanatory unification." Philosophy of Science, 48, 507–531. The foundational account of "unified" versus "local" scientific understanding that the chapter draws on.

Fodor, J. A. (1974). "Special sciences." Synthese, 28, 97–115. The classic paper on why higher-level scientific explanations (psychology, sociology) cannot always be reduced to lower-level ones (physics, chemistry) — the philosophical foundation for insisting on genuinely distinct levels of analysis.