In the mid-1980s, the question of human beings’ tendency to act against their own interests and see reality in the light of their previous experiences seemed best answered by psychoanalysis. As a toolbox, I formulated a synthesis of the literature of the day, Dimension of Change in Psychohistory (1989). In the book, my critical focus is mainly French post-structural, constructivist and postmodern theories which, in my opinion, made people simply the sum of their present relationships and neglected natural limitations to flexibility and the weight of accumulated experience.

The search for a foundation for society’s assessment of human nature led me via developmental psychology to naturally accept evolutionary psychology and the results of both empirical social psychology and neuroscience. History was connected as a catalyst to species-typical or experienced-based behavioural frameworks with the situation and present relationships acting as mediating and moderating factors. The tension between constructivism and evolutionary psychology forced me to justify the foundations of my own work and at the same time the view of what it means to be human connected to each time.

In answer to these challenges, in a wide range of domestic publications and international articles I developed a synthesis of how conditions for life affect human development and typical psychological balance mechanisms, and how security is a precondition for flexibility.