An Expanded Bio-Psycho-Social Model

Abstract

Overview: This chapter expands upon the ontogenetic bonding system construct introduced in the last chapter. The discussion is divided into five main sections. First, we consider other recent theoretical treatments of social bonding that run parallel to our own in their attempt to integrate across disciplines (i.e., levels of analysis) and/or across the life course. In the second section we introduce our individual-level organismic model, which we organize around the construct of a Perception-Central Processing-Behavior (P-CP-B) schema. There are seven central nervous system components to such a schema and we propose and discuss the processes through which these components are connected within a specific domain. We also discuss some general principles that underlie schema development and functioning. Third, we present a dyadic-level expansion of our organismic model, based on the interaction between two P-CP-B schemas. We also consider how their interaction represents the functioning of two coadapted systems. In the fourth section we discuss each of the seven P-CP-B schema components in detail. These components include affect/motivation, perception, behavior, arousal, cognition, memory, and executive function. Our discussions focus on the adaptive significance, neural underpinnings, and bonding function of each component. Finally, in the fifth section we consider how commonly used relationship concepts relate to and illuminate both the proposed individual-level P-CP-B schema with its seven components and the dyadic level expansion of this framework to include interacting schemas.