Shifting balance theory Shifting balance theory The shifting balance theory is a theory of evolution proposed in 1932 by Sewall Wright, suggesting that adaptive evolution may proceed most quickly when a population divides into subpopulations with restricted gene flow. The name of the theory is borrowed from Wright's metaphor of fitness landscapes (evolutionary landscapes), attempting to explain how a population may move across an adaptive valley to a higher adaptive peak. According to the theory, this movement occurs in three steps: Although shifting balance theory has been influential in evolutionary biology, inspiring the theories of quantum evolution and punctuated equilibrium, little empirical evidence
Evolutionary theory of the self systems are characteristic of the brain. Organisms need to identify itself from others in many complex ways, thus many areas of the brain are used when distinguishes self from other. We need to understand that the brain is full of distributed mechanisms, thus creating an expectation that the self will be too. With this understanding, the Evolutionary Theory of the Self avoids all the difficulties about the unified and central mechanisms that traditional conceptions hold. In addition, the brain-based model of the evolutionary theory recognizes that the majority of the mental tasks highly complex organisms do are unconscious. Simply put,