ABSTRACT
We are highly evolved social animals. We have a large brain (relative to our body weight) which bears indelible traces of our long evolutionary history from the reptiles through the mammals to the primates. Encoded within this brain are core schemata which predispose us to think, feel, and behave in specific ways. These archetypal predispositions evolved in the same way as the anatomy and physiology of our bodies. As with all other animal species, our innate propensities (which together make up the human genome) are dependent on environmental variables for their expression. Since these basic archetypal units are responsible for typically human modes of behaviour and experience, they are inevitably a primary focus of study for psychologists and psychiatrists.
