The family tree provides important information about individuals and their social relationships based on the multigenerational functioning of their family. With the genealogical tree you can know the genetic relationship between people; that is, who is whose father or son, grandfather, cousin, husband, wife, etc.
The genealogical tree has been used in different fields of knowledge to obtain information on aspects as varied as the ancestral relationships of an individual, biological predispositions to diseases, and is even used in therapies and self-improvement processes.
Example of a Game of Thrones character family tree
The information contained in the genealogical tree is presented graphically as a tree or a concept map with different branches that represent different individuals belonging to specific generations.
Family trees can be associated with the social relationships of individuals of the human species, or used to obtain valuable information from any living organism.
They can also provide important information in other fields such as politics, history, and linguistics.
The family tree in human society
The most well-known family tree is the family tree that provides information about the social aspects of family functioning.
A family tree reflects the history of a family over several generations. Because of this, family trees in society are commonly used to determine kinship and confirm lineages.
Other uses that have been given to genealogical trees in human society are related to medicine in the diagnosis of hereditary diseases, anthropology in the study of the origins of peoples, and sociology in research on international relations.
The most common family tree schemes allow monitoring of individual activities such as marriages, reproductive activities, education, migration, among others.
Since each individual can perform these activities differently, family trees vary greatly in form.
The genealogical tree in other species
In life science studies, family trees have been widely used in areas such as taxonomy, microbiology, evolutionary biology, and even genetic engineering.
Family trees in this case provide information of special importance for the identification of new species, the study of evolutionary relationships between organisms and the monitoring of genetic variations over time.
Another common use of the genealogical tree in biology is the tracking of the ancestry and descent of animals of interest (such as dogs or horses) to which you want to demonstrate a pedigree.
Other family trees
Family tree studies have not been applied exclusively to living things. Since the family tree allows you to easily observe information to compare and find relationships and origins, its use has been extended to many other branches.
This type of scheme has found utility in identifying the origins of languages, their similarities with other languages, and their changes over time.
From the information that can be obtained from family trees, they have also been useful in politics and history.
Representations with genealogical trees have been used in these fields especially to study the origins and observe the development of political parties and social and ideological movements.
References
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- Cop, E. The Formulation of the Natural Sciences. The American Naturalist. 1896; 30 (350): 101–112.
- Martínez Jiménez V. Ramos Carrasco F. Alcázar Fajardo C. Cabezuelo Romero, JB Utility of a consultation on hereditary kidney diseases: A different approach based on the family tree. Nephrology. 2016; 36 (3): 217–221.
- Niven A. Álvarez M. CUTTING THE TREE. Asian and African Studies. 1989; 24 (1): 8–16.
- Sevil V. Genealogic Tree and Social and Psychological Aspects of Family Functioning. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 2013; 86: 236–241.
- Vucetic S. Genealogy as a Research Tool in International Relations. Review of International Studies. 2011; 3: 1295-1312.