THE SZONDI'S LEGACY: Innate Dispositions influence Our Choices. A sociobiological reinterpretation of the Szondi-theory. By Tams Bereczkei.

(1995, Szondiana, 15 Jahrgang, Heft 1). In the past decades, psychoanalysis has totally withdrawn from its previous natural scientific viewpoint because of the relatively undeveloped biology oriented behavioral disciplines and as a response to scientific and epistemological attacks. It has gradually been moving into hermeneutics, linguistics, literature and other humanistic studies, where it has achieved undeniable successes. The possibility that Szondi-theory can be placed in a testable theoretical framework and on supportive empirical ground, is followed by important consequences for psychopathologies in general. One of the most interesting theories in the psychoanalytical literature is the so-called "Fate-analysis" that was created by Leopold Szondi, half a century ago (Szondi 1941, 1947, 1952). According to Szondi, human instincts, as the products of the biological past of our species, are discrete, causal entities prescribing human behavior. There are specific genes underlying them, which he calls Instinct-genes,, (Triebgene) that are responsible for the repetition of unconscious actions serving some ancient goals (Szondi 1947, 1956). Although these instincts can be regarded as ultimate units of human behavior, they function in various and complicated ways. Szondi considered them not as static but rather as dynamic entities that constitute changing mixtures of various needs and tendencies. He posited that taking part in the shaping of almost all human activities from birth to death, the instinct-genes prescribe our "possibilities of fate" (Szondi 1956, 1971). These genetically influenced possibilities are open and give a wide variability for selfactivities. They constitute more or less determined developmental trajectories which can be modified, reinforced or avoided by conscious actions and that is what Szondi called guidable fatalism. It means that the most important function of human instincts is that they guide our choices of, above all, friend and our mates. The point is that people with similar variants of genes would prefer each other. It occurs even if the genes do not manifest themselves into observable behavioral traits but they exist in the form of latent recessive alleles. As a result of their influence, one chooses spontaneously the others carrying similar genes, without recognizing the necessity of that preference. According to Szondi, mainly the "gene-related people (Genverwandte) are able to marry successfully or establish stable friendships with each other. This is his famous theory of genotropism. The mechanism of genotropism was recognizable through his studies on his patient's family trees (Szondi 1937). He noticed that inherited diseases appear not only among the descendants but even among the couples of ill persons. He supposed that mutual preference among persons suffering similar mental disorders was a result of the "attractive force" (Anziehung) among the shared genes; the chosen persons should be genic-related persons. It is very rare that genes manifest themselves directly in the behavior of both participants; normally, they influence the choices in a hidden way. In both partners, they arouse needs and emotions connected with mating preferences, which tend to seek for their

way to realization. Szondi has described hundreds of similar cases in order to prove empirically his assumption that choice preferences of both healthy and ill persons are guided by their inherited characters (Szondi 1937, 1956). These theoretical assumptions led to the construction of the well-known Szondi-test that is comparable to other projective technics. It is an experimental diagnostic device revealing the instinctual tendencies and, thereby, the personality as a dynamic whole (Szondi 1947, 1963; Dri 1949). As well known, the test material consists of 48 photographs, each of which represents the face of a mentally ill patient. The subject selects the pictures according to the assumed mechanism of genotropism. The examiner records the choicereactions on a score sheet, the so-called "Instinctprofile", (Triebprofil). Analyzing it, the expert can form a notion of the patient's "Instinctual character". The technical procedure of that evaluation consists of very sophisticated theoretical and methodological devices which are included in some bulky handbooks. Using the Szondi test, psychiatrists can get information not only about mental disorders but also on all of the personality traits and behavioral characters (attachment, self-confidence, aggression etc.) linking to one of the eight factors. In accordance with the Szondi-theory the test is often completed with studies on the subject's relatives, mates, friends and other social relationships. The test, itself, has been used very successfully and efficiently in many psychiatric institutes and hospitals across the world. Many clinical experiences support its validity and usefulness in recognizing the different types of mental disorders. At the same time, the conceptual framework of the Szondi theory and test has not been supported. During the past decades, several investigations analyzed the validity and reliability of the test, the information content of its pictures and the discriminative nature of the Szondi-factors (Rabin 1950; Thoren 1971; Vargha 1979). Furthermore, these investigations provided new and useful knowledge about the visual cues and cultural factors of the pictures which are expected to influence the choices. However, they have left the theory's main idea, namely the principle of genotropism, untouched. This is understandable because of the failure so far of suitable biological theories and data that would have been necessary for supporting Szondi's assumption. Most psychologists and psychiatrists, however, have gone further and considered the genetheory even as a pseudoscientific speculation (Mrei 1947; Dri 1949; Vargha 1988). They refused, in accordance with the scientific atmosphere of the last decades, the acceptance of any conception about genetic determinism in human behavior. The actions and thoughts of humans were considered as mere cultural products and the pictures of the Szondi-test were supposed to represent the various cultural expectations and judgments. Most users of the test think that the recognition of a given face is mediated by visual-associative mechanisms that, however, should be explained without any reference to "hidden", instinctual tendencies. While the experts use the test successfully in the diagnosis of mental disorders, they are convinced that Szondi's instinct-theory is a mysterious epiphenomenon of his test that, in itself, works very well in the clinical practice. l am going to argue, however, that the conceptual assumptions of the Szonditheory can be confirmed. In the light of the new theories and evidence Szondi's original idea about genotropism seems to be scientifically valid. Evolutionary biology and human genetics provide new and promising approaches to the relationships described by "Fate analysis". The point is that the conjectures about genotropism can be transformed into testable hypotheses, which can be derived from the theoretical models of inclusive fitness, genetic

cost/benefit, kin selection theory, and others. Using them, the following four basic questions could be answered: l. What brings about the mutual preferences concerning marriage and friendship? 2. What are these genetic foundations of psychopathologies? 3. How do the mental disorders express themselves on the face? 4. What function does the mutual preferences of patients involve? Answering these questions, this psychoanalytical theory can be supported by means of both a wide explanatory framework and empirical evidence. The Genetic Similarity Theory According to modern Darwinism, the genetic foundations of social behavior, shaped by natural selection to promote the survival and reproduction of individuals, will be represented in later generations (Fisher 1930). However, the explanation of altruistic behavior has posed problems for natural selection theory. If an altruist performs an act that benefits a recipient but reduces his own chances of survival and reproduction, selection should tend to reduce the probability of altruist acts. Hamilton suggested that for measuring the reproductive success of an individual, the fate of all copies of his genes must be examined. lndividuals share a given part of their genome with their relatives. Therefore, the altruist is able to increase his own genetic representation if he favors and protects his relatives over the other conspecifics. According to the kin selection theory, natural selection has preferred behavioral forms which tend to maximize the individual's inclusive fitness (Hamilton 1964). The principle of inclusive fitness maximization has been extended beyond the relatives. Dawkins says that "kinship provide just one way in which genes can behave as if they recognized and favored copies of themselves in other individuals" (Dawkins 1982, 153). In his thought experiment he postulates a gene which has two pleiotropic effects. It makes the individual grow a green beard and, at the same time, causes a tendency to behave altruistically toward green-bearded individuals. The green beard serves as a phenotypic cue for the recognition of the altruistic gene. Altruism, therefore, must have been evolved without the need for the individuals to be directly related. Friends and spouses who are similar to each other in many ways can increase the number of genes shared by them through positive social affiliations. In other words, the intensity and direction of altruism are linked to the degree with which interacting individuals share homologous genes (Thiessen and Gregg 1980). Building on these ideas, Philip Rushton developed the "Genetic Similarity Theory (GST). GST states that there is an alternative means by which genes propagate themselves to those usually discussed in sociobiological theorizing. Rather than merely protecting kin at the expense of strangers, organisms have a tendency to detect other genetically similar organisms and to exhibit altruistic behavior toward these "strangers", as well toward its own relatives (Rushton, Russel and Wells 1984, 181). The two mechanisms, the detection of similar traits and the mutual preferences among their carriers, are interlinking.

Therefore, the choice and assistance of genetically similar individuals (as Szondi called them: "gene-related individuals" are adaptive because they increase the genetic representation of the participants. Obviously, in order to pursue this general strategy, an individual has to be able to detect copies of the shared genes in conspecifics. The so-called phenotype matching can occur if there is a high correlation between genetic similarity and phenotypic similarity on traits that actors use to distinguish individuals (Sherman and Holmes 1985). The individual equipped with innate learning rules uses his own phenotype as a template to match new, unfamiliar phenotypes. Much experimental evidence shows that both lower and higher animals are able to recognize genetic similarity (Greenberg 1979; Blaustein and O'Hara 1982). For example, in an experiment, monkeys had to choose to sit next to one of two conspecifics. One was a half sibling, related through the unfamiliar father but not the mother, and the other was an unrelated control. The result was a statistically significant tendency for individuals to choose their half siblings. The phenotypic cues, which the monkeys recognized must come from the shared father and they are able to detect the shared genes by recognizing resemblances of relatives through perceived features of themselves (Wu et al. 1980 . As for Homo Sapiens, it is known that concern about kinship is significant in all preindustrial cultures and kinship discrimination corresponds to a large degree to the genetic relatedness (Chagnon and lrons 1979). People form kinship alliances by means of familiarity and in-group membership; the positive and negative imprinting and learning mechanisms in the early phase of development bring about the system of affiliations and aversions among the relatives living together (Alexander 1979). However, people were found to be able to recognize their relatives without familiarity and coeducation. The well-known ethnological studies have shown that infants of same days old are able to identify their mother's face (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1988). Similarly, mothers who have had limited contact with their babies, could recognize them by olfactory cues alone (Porter 1987). In an other experiment, adult subjects were positively tested for their ability to match females and their newborn infants photographs (Porter 1987). In these investigations, the chosen relatives share similar detectable features that facilitate kin recognition, given a correlation between genotypic and phenotypic similarity. However, the preferences and assortments in human populations are not restricted to close relatives. The genetic similarity theory predicts that spouses and friends tend to choose each other by means of genetically given cues. Spouses and friends The studies of so-called assortative mating (or homogamy) show that the majority of mates resemble each other in a higher number of traits. Positive correlations were found between their race, socioeconomic status, intellectual ability, education, personality variables, physical attractiveness, vocational interests and anthropometric measures (for a review, see Thiessen and Gregg 1980). Although assortative mating appears to be under the influence of many cultural factors, it seems ultimately to be based on an evolutionary strategy. Mating with individuals who have a greater than average genetic relationship increases the number of genes in the offspring. Two individuals with shared genes will add

50 per cent of their genes to the offspring plus portions of genes that are held in common by two parents. Strikingly, Szondis instinct-theory is very close to that evolutionary approach. The latter postulates that genes prescribe those behavioral choices by means of which they are able to increase their representation in the next generation. According to Szondi, love and marriage of two partners are controlled by shared latent recessive instinct-genes which tend to double themselves in the offspring and, as a result, manifest themselves. The evolutionary hypotheses concerning the origin of homogamy has been supported by several studies. Since the mating preferences may be considered to be adaptive behavioral strategies, couples who resemble each other in more morphological and behavioral traits, can be expected to be reproductively more successful than the couples who share less such congruencies. Indeed, assortative mating was found to enhance marital stability: couples who had been married four or more years were more positively assorted in the number of traits than couples who had been divorced earlier (Bentier and Newcomb 1978). Likewise, there is some evidence in a direct relationship as found to exist between fertility and homogamy for 19 traits including anthropometric variables, intelligence, educational level etc.; the greater the assortment on these traits, the more children the couples had (Thiessen and Gregg 1980). It is important to note that Szondi referred to a stable marriage with many children as a realization of genotropism par excellence. Obviously, the enhancement of genetic representation through assortative mating can reach a limit beyond which this strategy becomes reproductively negative because of inbreeding depression. Many investigations show that the greater the coefficient of the relatedness between the sexual partners, the higher the probability of the severe physical and mental disorders in offspring (van den Berghe 1983). Therefore, there is an optimum degree of homogamy which involves a maximum difference between the reproductive costs and benefits. Living beings have been selected for such inclinations that prefer the genetically similar partners, supposing they are not close relatives. In the vernacular "an individual male may avoid mating with his mother but he wants a girl just like the girl that married dear old dad" (Thiessen and Gregg 1980, 123). The genetically prescribed mating strategies associated with homogamy have been investigated by several recent studies. Positive correlations between spouses were found in a variety of physical features including height, weight, hair and eye color, interpupillary breadth etc. (Rushton, Russel and Wells 1985). These studies about anthropometric data are very important for the Szondi-test. Since the majority of the anthropometric features have been found to be heritable, it follows that spouses genetically should be more similar to each other than two random members of the population. This has, in fact, been established in a recent study by Philip Rushton (Rushton 1988). He calculated genetic similarity using blood antigenes as genetic markers from 1 000 pairs of sexually interacting couples. Those couples with one child were more genetically similar than either randomly paired individuals or couples in which the male was not the father. These results show that successful human mating occurs along the genetic similarity mechanism. However, the mating preferences are very different for various traits. "Positive assortative mating might be expected to occur on the basis of more heritable rather than less heritable traits because the more genetically influenced traits reflect the underlying genotype better and provide a more accurate cue for matching" (Rushton 1989a, 507). Certain studies support that hypothesis. Estimating the genetic influence on a number of physical and

personality variables and examining the degree of assortative mating in these variables, positive correlations were found between the two sets of measures (Russel et al. 1985). Other studies have also shown that a rather good prediction of mate similarity can be inferred from the estimation of genetic influence on various mental traits. Correlations between spouses tended to be higher for general, more heritable abilities (e.g: "g"-factor), than for the less heritable, specific abilities (e.g. arithmetic ability) (Rushton and Russel 1985; Rushton and Nicholson 1988). "The fact that similarity is greater for the genetically influenced components of traits than for environmentally ones suggests that positive assortment is genetically mediated,, (Rushton 1989a, 512). That result supports Szondi's hypothesis on genotropism. According to sociobiological theory, mating preferences underlying homogamy should be universal in Homo sapiens and occur all over the world. That would not be true if they were controlled by cultural factors alone. The investigators, mentioned above, have collected data from various samples including American, European, North African, Korean and other families and reached the same results that support the ultimate evolutionary explanation. Moreover, a study on cross-cultural marriages in Hawaii found more similarities in personality traits among the couples who had married across ethnic groups than among those marrying within them (Ahern et al. 1981; cf. Rushton 1989). Szondi also stated that instinctive factors underlying mate choice independent of race, ethnic and cultural character. That makes his test an universal method. It was also predicted on the basis of the genetic similarity theory that stable friendship, like occurs in mates, has an evolutionary root (Rushton 1989b). In that case, mutual assistance and altruism between friends should increase the shared genes by the enhancement of their survival and reproductive success. A lot of psychological and anthropological studies show that the perceived similarities in attitudes and personalities increase the probability of forming strong friendships and this, in turn, leads to enhanced altruism between them (Krebs 1975; Berscheid 1985). The data show that, in fact, the tendency to choose friends is genetically influenced. In a sample consisting of 76 non-related, non-homosexual male pairs that were friends, Rushton found positive correlations between them in anthropometric, personality and social attitude parameters, the majority of which was found to be heritable (Rushton 1989b). The evidence of blood antigen data has clearly shown that friendship dyads were genetically more similar to each other than random pairs from the same sample. Moreover, their resemblance was most marked in the more heritable components of shared traits. To be sure, these similarities appeared to be small, but they were significantly outspoken than would be expected by chance. It can thus be postulated that this derives from the nature of genetic determination; the innate biases do not prescribe rigid instructions but they channel the probable directions of choices which are subsequently constrained by environmental factors (Lumsden and Wilson 1981). Szondi argues in a similar way; the instinctive factors impose some "possibilities of fate" on our choices which can be modified by conscious or unconscious actions of Ego. He considered it as a "guidable fatalism". To summarize, the evidence shows that both spouses and friends choose each other partly on the basis of genetic similarity. That gives a strong empirical foundation for the Szondis theory on the social affiliations among "gene-related people". Genes and psychopathology

In order to establish the Szondi-theory, an essential step is to show the origin of psychopathologies. According to the so-called antipsychiatric schools, spread all over the world in the past decades, neither the diseases of the nervous system nor the genetic deficiencies are responsible for the development of psychopathologies and deviances, but rather the social environment and the prejudices and the stigmas dominating in it (Szasz 1961). However, recent evidence, confirming the previous observations at the beginning of this century, have shown that there is strong genetic influence on the occurrence of mental illnesses. Of course, that does not deny any contribution of social factors but it confirms that human mental disorders cannot be adequately understood without considering genetic factors. Szondi suggested that the specific human behavioral forms - including psychopathologies - are shaped by the variants (alleles) of one or two genes. A special form of genes, the so-called (latent) recessive genes play an important role in determining our choices. It turned out, however, that complex behaviors are linked to more than one or two locuses on a chromosome. Modern genetics has revealed that the development of behavioral traits are influenced by a lot of genes working together that are, additionally, interacting with environmental influences (Lewontin 1982). Although this finding modifies certain components of the Szondi's theory, its basic meaning remains the same: human behavior is, to some degree, prescribed by genetic programs. Taking modern genetics into account, the Szondi's instinct-theory should be more elaborated without the necessity of being given up. On the other hand, genotropism works and influences our choices, regardless how many genes are involved in shaping a particular trait that the choice refers to. In fact, a lot of recent studies have revealed the inheritance of psychopathologies. Several large twin studies have confirmed a strong genetic component of schizophrenia, finding its heritability greater than for diabetes, hypertension, ulcer etc. (Kendier and Robinette 1983). Individuals taken from schizophrenic parents in infancy and adopted by normal parents subsequently developed schizophrenic symptoms at a much higher percent age than those adopted children who derived from unafflicted parents. Additionally, there were significantly more schizotypic personality disorders in relatives, even of the same subtype (for a review, see Loehlin et al. 1988). Biochemical factors play an important role in the susceptibility of schizophrenia; the higher densities of dopamine receptors or higher concentration of dopamine are responsible for making the brain sensitive to its own signals (Horowitz and Derdal 1983). Although the attempts to discover a single major dominant or recessive "schizogene", has so far not been successful, several studies have suggested that the A9 locus of the HLA complex on chromosome 6 is weakly associated with paranoid schizophrenia (McGuffin and Sturt 1986). These results show conclusively that the tendency to become schizophrenic is inherited; certain persons are genetically biased to these disorders. Obviously, a schizophrenia producing family arrangement from which individuals try to escape by creating a private, inner world, plays also an important role in the development of symptoms. Recently, many experts have recognized that schizophrenia is a heterogeneous disease which can arise from a multiple mechanism, including both genetic and nongenetic factors. Genes predispose certain individuals toward schizophrenia that can be amplified by certain environmental influences. Szondi thought similarly about the genetic influences on psychopathologies. On the one hand, he was convinced that by only examining the genetic factors, the real roots of our behavior could be understood. On the other hand, however, according to him, what the

instinctive tendencies determine is the wide possibilities for choices. The effects of mental and social environments can modify or reorganize that sequence of potentialities and, finally, the Ego - although general unconsciously - adopts or rejects some of them. Recent studies have confirmed Szondi's and others' earlier reflections that capacities or vulnerability to other psychopathologies is also inherited. Several adoption studies revealed significant evidence for genetic transmission of affective disorders. In spite of its genetic heterogeneity, manic-depressive illness has been linked to a region on the 11th chromosome. Admittedly, a study about antisocial personality suggests that most of juvenile delinquency arises from environmental factors, but that a subgroup of juvenile delinquents who go on to become adult criminals, may apparently have a genetic liability. Infantile autism is 50 or 1 00 times more frequent in relatives than in the general population. Both the twin-studies and adoption studies have proved genetic properties to have an important role in the inheritance of alcoholism. Similarly, much evidence shows that there are strong genetic biases for anorexia nervosa, Briquet's syndrome etc. (for a review, see Loehlin et al. 1988). Detection of Psychopathology One of the most essential questions is how the genes underlying all these psychopathologies bring about their own recognition. It is expected that there are morphological or behavioral cues making the detection of persons liable to or suffering from the same illness possible. In other words, it is thought that phenotypic traits in mental disorders play the role of Dawkin's "green beard". There has been no correct answer. It is possible that special personality traits induce the daily choices among potential mates, including patients, which was suggested by Szondi himself. The elementary patterns of the face may also trigger the identification of these persons. In general, facial information has been proved to play a very important role in social communication. Human ethnologists have shown that facial expressions denoting fear, anger, happiness or surprise and the nonverbal signals, including "yes", or "no", eyebrow flash, threat staring etc. are built on innate motor patterns as phylogenetic adaptations (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1979; Ekman 1979). During the recognition of a face one seeks for cues on the areas of the eyes, mouth and nose (Ellis 1975). It was found that one obtains more detailed and more exact information about faces perceived attractive or repulsive. Recently, using ethnological methods, schizophrenics could be distinguished from a control group; the former showed significantly fewer eyebrow flashes, lower facial movements and glances and less eye contact (Pitman et al. 1987). In another study, the depressiva patients showed "frozen mimics", particularly on the upper areas of their face. All these investigations contribute to the understanding of how and why the patients prefer the pictures of each other in the Szondi-test. German and Hungarian psychologists have shown that the open or closed mouth, the position of the head and the various social cues (dominance or dependency, activity or withdrawal, tenderness or aggressively) play an important role in the choices; these cues involve strong "calling up character (Fischer and Koch 1985; Vargha 1989). Psychopathology and adaptation Having established that spouses and friends choose each other at least partly on the basis

of genetic similarity and having shown the genetic influence of mental disorders, the genetic similarity theory could be extended to the area of psychopathology. However, there is a special problem which escaped Szondi's attention: mental disorders tend to decrease the survival and reproductive chances of these individuals. For instance, they show a decreased probability of marriage and fewer children. Owing to their worse social skill, individuals with poor mental health have a significantly smaller chance to remain married and raise children (Essock-Vitale and McGuire 1988). Moreover, when they have children, the genetic components of mental disorders are transmitted to the offspring, increasing the risk of manifestation of the diseases caused by recessive genes (Reed 1971). Therefore, the reproductive costs might overrule the reproductive benefits stemming from genetic similarity. As a consequence, during biological evolution, natural selection could be expected to have prevented the development of mutual preferences among mentally disordered persons. Strong selection pressures should have worked against the physiological and psychological mechanisms underlying the patients' detection. This means a serious challenge to the Szondi-theory. That difficulty would disappear if it could be demonstrated that psychopathologies are embedded in evolutionary strategies which have originally contributed to the enhancement of inclusive fitness. These strategies would be considered as inherent parts of complex adaptive systems that prescribe "normal" behavioral styles peculiar to human species, but crossing a certain trespass, they would lead to disorders. As a consequence, they can be seen as phenotypic variants of the common underlying genes which were positively selected during our evolution. That is what Szondi suggested: specific alleles of those genes are responsible for mental disorders and these genes would otherwise produce average behavioral forms. There are no sharp differences between healthy and pathologic types of behavior. Genes prescribe a set of behavioral tactics, the extreme values of which represent the abnormal alterations. The time has come to examine the evolutionary roots of psychopathologies within the framework of ethnology and sociobiology. Here are some examples. In the Szondi-theory, aggression, antisocial behavior and delinquency have an important role. Evolutionary biology considers certain forms of aggression as a consequence of sexual competition among males. Males have been selected for competitive abilities which allow them access to resources associated with reproductive benefits (status, wealth, female etc.) and to get rid of rival males (Dal and Wilson 1983; Betzig et al. 1988). ln general, struggling for status and prestige or risktaking behavior do no cross the borderline of normal social relationships. However, a few forms of competitive actions, particularly among males with strong vulnerability or inclination to criminality, may be classify as psychopathologies. For example, it was found that participants in homicidal conflicts were predominantly young single, unemployed men who were excluded from having resources and as a consequence, they took part heavily in sexual competition (Daly an Wilson 1985; 1988). Others consider human rape as a maladaptive effect of general male mating strategy. Evidence suggests that forced sexuality is associated with a low financial an social position of males and a high reproductive capacity of females a victims (Thornhill and Thornhill 1983 1987). Depression can be considered as form of submissive or yielding behavior that, in gregarious animals, saves a individual who would probably lose competition and maintains a hierarchy beneficial to the whole group (Sloma and Price 1987). The depressiva patient could be considered to be unable to admit defeat and accept loss therefore, to show a prolonged or ex tended submission. Clinical evidence confirms that

depression is a sort o hypertrophy of yielding behavior that otherwise would be an adaptive device for most individuals. Other author argue that women's depression is response to reproductive failure. (Suarez and Gallup 1985). Spontaneous abortion, neonatal birth, a spouse's death, menopause, even menstruation are often accompanied by severe depression, particularly if the female is in her thirties or forties, single and childless. The adaptive significance of depressive response to reproductive failure may be an improvement in subsequent parenting behavior and obtaining assistance and comfort from the family (Suares and Gallup 1984). Homosexuality is one of the eight main pathologies in Szondi-theory, too. According to Wilson and other sociobiologists, it has evolved as an important element of early human social arrangements. Released from their parental duties, the homosexual members of the descent group could have helped close relatives in hunting or domestic occupations including raising their children. Since the relatives' survival and reproductive chances increased this way, the genes they shared with homosexuals would have spread including the genes responsible for homophile preferences. Thus, the predispositions of homosexuality would have proliferated through collateral lines of kinship (Wilson 1978). However, their manifestations depend on the particular cultural factors and family arrangements. Similarly, the phobias and panic disorders could partly be interpreted by having evolutionary roots: they could have evolved in order to escape individuals from lifethreatening dangers. An innate aversion in the presence of strangers, commonly occurs in young children, which can be easily shift into fear or hostility, as an evolutionary outcome of living in small, closed groups (Eibi-Eibesfeldt 1979). Extreme fears and avoidances have evolved as a reaction to many dangers of mankind's ancient environment including closed space, snakes, thunderstorm, height etc. (Lumsden and Wilson 1981). These and some other aversions can be referred to as adaptive systems of defense which have promoted rapid escape from harmful and dangerous situations. Pathological phobias and panic disorders may result from the defects of these mechanism regulating the expression of defense. Patients overemphasize dangers and transform normal defensive responses into intensive anxiety and physical attacks (Nesse 1987). Anorexia nervsa is usually a concomitant of manic-depressive illness. It involves selfstarvation and leads, among others, to suppression of menstruation. Using clinical evidence, some authors described anorexia nervosa as a capacity for timing conception and they referred to it as an adaptive method which allows females to develop the necessary skills for the later successful reproduction, through delayed sexuality (Feierman 1984). It can alter the developmental trajectories of girls with poor social and reproductive prospects owing to their early postpubertal maturity (Surbey 1987). In summary, mental disorders can be considered as parts of adaptive behavioral strategies. They do no need to result simply from physiological defects but maybe also from evolved adaptive systems. In using them, human beings have been able to respond to the challenges of social circumstances which are unanswerable and unsolvable by other behavioral means. Each behavioral strategy should be seen as a wide continuum, the extreme values of which are psychopathologies. This statement meets the original suggestion of Szondi: mental disorders result from the specific forms of instinctive tendencies working in all people. In an evolutionary theoretical framework, it means that psychopathologies are embedded

in behavioral strategies designed by natural selection, which have contributed to the survival and reproductive success of ancestral individuals. Given the genetic similarity theory and the conception of the adaptivity of psychopathologies, it follows that people suffering from the similar mental disorders should prefer each other in their choices. lndeed, besides Szondi's analyses of family trees of his patients, there are some recent studies confirming that spouses and friends often resemble each other in socially undesirable characteristics and psychiatric disorders such as criminality, schizophrenia and affective disorders. It was found that both the wives and the sisters of criminals tended to exhibit the same psychopathology (Guze et al. 1970). Gerson and his colleagues reported that the lifetime prevalence of primary affective disorders in the wives is much higher than in the average population and "there has been a concentration of these disorders in a relatively limited number of families and that this concentration is being currently reported by assortative mating", (Gerson et al. 1973, 69). A recent study of delinquency among 530 adolescents revealed not only that antisocial behavior was about 50 per cent heritable, but that strong correlation between the delinquency of an individual and the delinquency of his friends was genetically mediated (Rowe and Osgood 1984; cf. Rushton 1989). That recent evolutionary approach seems to enrich the Szondi-theory with a new dimension. The patient's mutual preferences and choices do not violate the laws of biological evolution but even originate from them. Just that conception makes the Szonditheory acceptable and testable. Summary and conciusions 1 - The genotropism, constituting the core of the Szondi-theory is an attempt which Szondi could not support by the available evidence, although clinical experiences and data from the analyses of family trees proved its validity. His recent adherents and the users of his test consider the phenomenon of gene-relationship as an unscientific, even mystic part of a basically good working theory which seems to be useful for treating mentally iii patients. They assert that the Szondi-test is correct for diagnosis in spite of its wrong and unnecessary genetic foundations. In their opinion, patients select the pictures on the basis of their social experiences and cultural traditions independent of instinctive factors. Obviously, that explanation contradicts the origin theory and so far it could never be proved, nor could it be described in a testable form. It seems to have been created in order to expel the biological components from the Szondi-theory which - as the other biological explanations on human behavior - has been heavily attacked in the past decades. On the contrary, in this article an attempt is made to show that Szondi's theoretical assumptions are tenable and testable. That theory, along with its genetic foundations can be compatible with the wide theoretical framework of modern evolutionary biology. 2. The concept of genotropism is a product of a bold and brilliant spirit ahead of his age. When establishing social relations - first at all making friends and finding spouses - people prefer the genetically similar persons. Although people sometimes assort on the basis of complementary, and their choices are influenced by cultural reasoning, studies mentioned above provide strong support for the concept of "genetic attraction". According to sociobiology, preference for a genetically similar person has increased individual inclusive fitness during evolution and therefore natural selection has favored a complex psychological mechanism by means of which an individual can recognize and help others carrying the copies of his own genes.

3. Relying on the genetic similarity theory, a hypothesis is outlined stating that persons suffering from mental disorders also assort along the genetic similarity. That hypothesis presumes a connection among different notions of the innate character of psychopathologies, the detection of the patient's phenotype and the adaptability of Psychopathologies. Some mental disorders can be seen as parts of adaptive strategies that have allowed our hominid ancestors to respond to the environmental challenges which cannot be met by other behavioral means. Consequently, patients should prefer each other - among others - on the basis of genetic similarity. That hypothesis permits one to make testable predictions. For example, the assorting should be more pronounced and frequent in psychopathologies with relatively strong heritability than in those with weak heritability. 4. One can expect that the above hypothesis should have an effect on the acceptance of the Szondi-test. The recent interpretations of that test emphasize the patient's judgments about attraction or repulsiveness of the facial expressions in pictures. They examine visual and formative information of the pictures and the way of how they influence emotionally the assertions as a result of the cultural traditions and expectations. However, Szondi asserted another thing. For him, sympathy and antipathy are only proximate means which mediate the ultimate genetic interests underlying choices. His assumption can be tested, given the recent evolutionary models. One needs a simultaneous investigation of both genetic similarity and mental disorders. In the one part of the experimental procedure, the Szondi-test should be taken and, in the other part, a blood antigen analysis for genetic markers should be examined in the same patient. It is expected that subjects with higher genetic similarity tend to choose similar pictures which reflects the more similar type of psychopathologies shared by them compared to genetically different subjects. These investigations can be completed with pedigree analysis and family studies. According to the Szondi-theory, patients show genetically influenced preferences not only in picking pictures but in the choices of their daily life. 5. The possibility that Szondi-theory can be placed in a testable theoretical framework and on supportive empirical ground, is followed by important consequences for psychopathologies in general. In the past decades, psychoanalysis has almost totally withdrawn from its previous natural scientific viewpoint because of the relatively undeveloped biology-oriented behavioral disciplines and as a response to scientific and epistemological attacks. It has gradually been moving into hermeneutics, linguistics, literature and other humanistic studies, where it has achieved undeniable successes. However, one should not forget that the founders of psychoanalysis themselves were mostly physicians and natural scientists who were firmly convinced that they had laid the biological foundations of human behavior As Sullivan has shown, the research program of Freud, a "biologist of the mind", was extended gradually from the level of ontogeny (nervous system) to the level of phylogeny (biological evolution) (Sulloway 1983). The other German and Hungarian founders of the psychoanalysis (Rank, Jung, Ferenczy etc.) similarly insisted on the idea that the imperatives of the human psyche result from ancient structures evolved during our biological past. Psychoanalysis cannot ignore natural scientific approaches and forget its original goal: the understanding of human nature. The advances of evolutionary biology have proved that there are very strong conceptual

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