It is claimed that certain processes of individual behaviour and of interaction between individuals run parallel. Such parallels are seen along three axes: antagonism-coordination, constriction-expansion and neutral-play-like.Characteristics of ritualized behaviour and play are analysed and the two categories of behaviour are compared in detail. They are shown to differ largely in degree of expansion. They also differ along the antagonism-coordination axis. Both are play-like.

This article addresses the emergence of human personality in evolution. The mechanisms of natural and sexual selection developed by Darwin are not sufficient to explain the sense of self. Therefore we attempt to trace the evolutionary process back to a form of selection termed “emotional selection.” This involves reconstructing selection out of subjective qualities and showing how emotions enable human forms of life that are relevant for the cultural level of cooperation that marks our species. We see a paradigm shift (...) in the concept of emotional selection that binds emotion and evolution closer together, thus closing the explanatory gap between classical ethology and modern evolutionary psychology. (shrink)