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Selfish Gene Theory Explains Oedipus Complex

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Decision Making Under Uncertainty and Constraints

Part of the book series: Studies in Systems, Decision and Control ((SSDC,volume 217))

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Abstract

Sigmund Freud famously placed what he called Oedipus complex at the center of his explanation of psychological and psychiatric problems. Freund’s analysis was based on anecdotal evidence and intuition, not on solid experiments—as a result, for a long time, many psychologists dismissed the universality of Freud’s findings. However, lately, experiments seem to confirm that indeed men, on average, select wives who resemble their mothers, and women select husbands who resemble their fathers. In this paper, we provide a possible biological explanation for this observational phenomenon.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation grants 1623190 (A Model of Change for Preparing a New Generation for Professional Practice in Computer Science), and HRD-1834620 and HRD-2034030 (CAHSI Includes).

It was also supported by the program of the development of the Scientific-Educational Mathematical Center of Volga Federal District No. 075-02-2020-1478.

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Correspondence to Vladik Kreinovich .

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Kosheleva, O., Kreinovich, V. (2023). Selfish Gene Theory Explains Oedipus Complex. In: Ceberio, M., Kreinovich, V. (eds) Decision Making Under Uncertainty and Constraints. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol 217. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16415-6_2

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