Figure 1

Contrasting analyses of biological phenomena. (A) Fisher developed a mathematical approach to analyze the distribution of traits (analysis of variance). This deconstructed phenotypic variability using a linear model into two main effects (Variables 1 and 2) and their interaction with the goal of understanding the relative contributions of each variable. (B) Hogben proposed that any analysis of biological variance would require consideration of genetics, environment, and development simultaneously. In particular, under certain circumstances where “the combination of a particular hereditary constitution with a particular kind of environment” (Hogben, 1932), as is the case when variables that occur generations apart, may create novel phenotypes. This principle is termed ‘synchronicity’ and focuses on the experience of two or more events that are unlikely to occur together by chance, yet when experienced together are meaningful. Thus, the combined effects transcend a simple interaction of two independent and unrelated events.