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evolutionary psychology
Also known as: evolutionary psychologists, evolved psychology
synthesized from dimensionsEvolutionary psychology is a multidisciplinary theoretical framework that seeks to integrate psychology into the natural sciences by examining human behavior, cognition, and culture through the lens of Darwinian evolutionary theory evolutionary psychology theoretical approach. The field posits that the human mind is not a general-purpose learning device, but rather a collection of specialized, domain-specific cognitive mechanisms—often described as "massive modularity"—that evolved to solve recurrent adaptive problems faced by our hunter-gatherer ancestors during the Pleistocene epoch massive modularity hypothesis. This perspective is frequently summarized by the assertion that "our modern skulls house a Stone Age mind," suggesting that contemporary human psychology remains adapted to ancestral environments rather than the conditions of modern industrial life relationship between modern humans and history.
The foundational identity of the field was solidified in the late 1980s and early 1992 with the publication of *The Adapted Mind*, edited by Jerome Barkow, Leda Cosmides, and John Tooby field gained significant attention. These scholars, alongside figures like Donald Symons and Steven Pinker, established a research program that contrasts with the "Standard Social Science Model," which evolutionary psychologists argue incorrectly assumes the mind is a "blank slate" shaped primarily by culture contrasting social science models. Instead, they propose that the mind is a confederation of task-specific instincts designed to enhance survival and reproductive success specialized cognitive architecture.
Methodologically, the field relies on adaptationist reasoning and functional analysis to hypothesize how specific traits enhanced the fitness of ancestors utilizing adaptationist reasoning. Researchers employ diverse strategies, including cross-cultural consistency studies, function-to-form analysis, and form-to-function reverse engineering, to map these cognitive mechanisms three primary research strategies. By using the computational theory of mind, they model mental operations as data-processing reactions to environmental triggers, viewing learning as a product of facultative adaptations computational mind theory.
The significance of evolutionary psychology lies in its attempt to discover a universal human nature, with applications spanning fields such as medicine, psychotherapy, law, and international politics potential for human nature discovery. It has provided frameworks for understanding phenomena ranging from mating strategies and gender differences to cheater detection and social exchange Buss mating strategies. Proponents maintain that these models are essential for a rigorous, scientific understanding of the human condition Tooby and Cosmides on determinism.
Despite its growth, the discipline faces substantial criticism. Critics, including David Buller and Stephen Jay Gould, have challenged the field's methodology, arguing that its claims are often speculative "just-so-stories" that lack robust empirical support Stephen Jay Gould's argument. Furthermore, the field is frequently accused of genetic determinism and of using adaptive arguments to justify existing social hierarchies charged with defending status quo. Other scholars, such as W. Tecumseh Fitch, have criticized "pan-adaptationism," while historians like Lynn Hunt have questioned the field's search for a universalizing ontology critiques of adaptationism. In response, proponents clarify that they do not posit cultural uniformity, but rather a universal cognitive architecture that interacts dynamically with diverse environmental factors genes and environment.
Model Perspectives (6)
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Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical framework that seeks to integrate psychology into the natural sciences by examining cognition and behavior through the lens of evolutionary theory evolutionary psychology theoretical approach. Modern efforts in this field, which gained significant traction in the late 1980s and early 1990s through the work of Leda Cosmides, John Tooby, and Donald Symons, aim to establish a unified research program for the behavioral and social sciences modern evolutionary psychology origins. Proponents suggest that understanding human psychology requires identifying the survival and reproductive functions that psychological mechanisms served in the 'environment of evolutionary adaptiveness' (EEA), typically associated with the Pleistocene epoch identifying survival reproductive functions.
According to the theoretical foundation outlined by John Tooby and Leda Cosmides, the human mind is viewed as a collection of domain-specific modules that evolved to solve recurrent adaptive problems theoretical framework five ideas. Researchers employ three primary methodologies to test these hypotheses: cross-cultural consistency, function-to-form analysis, and form-to-function reverse engineering three primary research strategies. While the field encompasses diverse approaches—including human behavioral ecology and memetics—it is often contrasted with the 'Standard Social Science Model,' which evolutionary psychologists argue incorrectly assumes the mind is a 'blank slate' shaped primarily by culture diverse evolutionary psychology approaches.
The field faces significant criticism regarding its methodology and ideological underpinnings. Critics, such as David Buller, contend that the psychological experiments used to support claims about cognitive adaptations—such as those regarding cheater detection or mating strategies—are flawed and inconclusive david buller critical view. Further critiques include accusations that the field relies on unfalsifiable 'just-so-stories,' promotes genetic determinism, and potentially justifies existing social hierarchies critics accuse evolutionary psychology. Additionally, historians like Lynn Hunt have challenged the field's interpretation of neuroscience and its search for a universalizing ontology historian lynn hunt critique. Despite these debates, proponents maintain that evolutionary psychology provides a necessary, rigorous framework for discovering a universal human nature potential for human nature discovery.
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Evolutionary psychology is a multidisciplinary field that applies Darwinian evolutionary theory to understand human behavior, cognition, and cultural traits evolutionary perspective on behavior. At its core, the discipline seeks to identify universal psychological adaptations—mechanisms evolved to solve specific ancestral problems faced by hunter-gatherers during the Pleistocene era identifying evolved adaptations. This approach contrasts with the "standard social science model," which suggests the mind is primarily a general-purpose device shaped by culture contrasting social science models. Instead, evolutionary psychologists, such as Leda Cosmides and John Tooby, argue that the human mind consists of a "confederation" of specialized, domain-specific modules—effectively a collection of task-specific instincts—designed for survival and reproductive success specialized cognitive architecture.
Methodologically, the field employs "functional analysis," which involves formulating hypotheses about ancestral adaptive challenges—such as mating, kinship, cheater detection, and social exchange—to predict and map cognitive mechanisms functional analysis method. Researchers utilize the computational theory of mind to model these processes, viewing mental operations as data-processing reactions to environmental triggers computational mind theory. The field gained significant traction following the 1992 publication of *The Adapted Mind*, edited by Barkow, Cosmides, and Tooby ushering modern era.
Despite its growth, the field faces substantial criticism. Some scholars, such as W. Tecumseh Fitch, challenge the "pan-adaptationist" view, while others, like Dorothy Nelkin, argue that the field implies a deterministic "genetic destiny" critiques of adaptationism. Additionally, critics have questioned specific findings, such as the interpretation of male sexual jealousy or the provider-protector model, and have pointed out that empirical support for certain theories, like the domain-specific theory, relies heavily on limited experimental tasks criticisms of specific claims. Evolutionary psychologists often respond by clarifying that they do not posit cultural uniformity, but rather a universal underlying cognitive architecture that interacts dynamically with diverse environmental factors genes and environment.
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Evolutionary psychology is a field of inquiry that applies the principles of evolutionary biology to the study of the human mind human mind as adaptation. The discipline posits that the human mind is a collection of functionally distinct, domain-specific computational mechanisms—often described as the 'massive modularity' hypothesis—which evolved to solve recurrent adaptive problems faced by human ancestors massive modularity hypothesis, specialized mechanisms for ancestors.
Key figures such as Donald Symons, whose 1979 work helped launch the modern era of the field Donald Symons' 1979 book, and Steven Pinker, who has contributed extensively to the field's literature Steven Pinker's book, have shaped its development. The field utilizes 'functional analysis' to predict and empirically test for the existence of these cognitive mechanisms functional analysis method, predicting cognitive mechanisms. Researchers emphasize that these traits are either adaptations or by-products of other adaptive mechanisms functional products of selection.
Despite its growth, the field faces significant scrutiny. Critics, such as those referencing the 'No Time Machine Argument,' challenge the ability to determine ancestral adaptive pressures No Time Machine Argument. Other critiques include concerns regarding reductionism, the over-reliance on the 'Standard Social Science Model' as a rhetorical straw man, and the potential for political or ethical misuse of research findings criticisms of evolutionary psychology. Proponents, however, argue that evolutionary psychology is not inherently deterministic and that its models are essential for understanding human nature Tooby and Cosmides on determinism.
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Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical framework that seeks to explain contemporary human behavior by identifying cognitive mechanisms as adaptations—traits that evolved to solve recurrent adaptive problems faced by our ancestors the purpose of evolutionary psychology. The field is built upon three core pillars: a computational model of the mind, the thesis of adaptationism, and the assumption that the mind is comprised of specialized, modular cognitive mechanisms foundational ideas of evolutionary psychology. Proponents of this view often use the phrase “our modern skulls house a Stone Age mind,” arguing that because natural selection is a slow process, our psychology remains adapted to Pleistocene hunter-gatherer environments rather than modern industrial life relationship between modern humans and history.
Methodologically, the field utilizes adaptationist reasoning—a technique derived from evolutionary biology—to hypothesize that specific traits enhanced the fitness of ancestors utilizing adaptationist reasoning. Researchers employ diverse testing data, including archaeological records, neuroscience, and observations of great apes diverse data sources used. The field gained significant prominence following the 1992 publication of *The Adapted Mind*, edited by Jerome Barkow, Leda Cosmides, and John Tooby field gained significant attention.
Despite its applications in fields such as law, medicine, and politics theories and findings have applications, evolutionary psychology faces substantial criticism. Critics like David Buller have argued that the field’s doctrines are problematic and lack empirical results David Buller's arguments, while others, such as Stephen Jay Gould, have characterized the discipline as a speculative search for adaptive justifications for current behaviors Stephen Jay Gould's argument. Furthermore, the field is frequently accused of genetic determinism and of using adaptive arguments to defend the status quo regarding social hierarchies charged with defending status quo.
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Evolutionary psychology applies Darwinian reasoning to understand human behavior, cognition, and culture by positing that the mind consists of many specialized, evolved modular adaptations, akin to bodily organs, each responsive to specific environmental inputs to generate behavior. mind as modular adaptations specialized mechanisms According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, it broadly frames psychological traits as adaptations shaped in the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA), with environments acting as triggers for genetically encoded developmental instructions rather than primary drivers. evolutionary perspective definition environment as activator Key figures like Leda Cosmides and John Tooby, in works such as their 1989 Ethology and Sociobiology papers and 2005 chapter on conceptual foundations, established theoretical pillars including computational theories of social exchange. Cosmides/Tooby theoretical foundations social exchange theory David Buss advanced applications to mating strategies and edited the 2015 Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology. Buss mating strategies Buss handbook Steven Pinker popularized these ideas in books like The Blank Slate (2002). Pinker introduction Methods include studying current trait impacts to infer historical prevalence, as in evolutionary psychopathology, and recent tools like simulations and models; learning occurs via facultative adaptations. trait prevalence studies new research methods facultative adaptations It explains phenomena like gender differences in mating (greater male eagerness, female coyness) and applies to fields from psychotherapy to international politics. gender differences psychotherapy relevance international politics Journals like Evolutionary Psychological Science and societies such as the NorthEastern Evolutionary Psychology Society support interdisciplinary research. journal forum regional society Controversies persist, with critics like Panksepp and Panksepp (2000) targeting methodology and massive modularity (challenged by Samuels, 1998), while defenders like Hagen (2014), Murphy, and Kurzban argue for consistent evaluation across sciences. methodological critique modularity criticism
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Evolutionary psychology is defined as a discipline studying how universal patterns of behavior and cognitive processes evolved through natural selection, where variations influence reproductive success, per Washington State University and reiterated similarly in another WSU claim. Seminal work includes 'The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture' edited by Jerome Barkow, Leda Cosmides, and John Tooby in 1992, featuring chapters like Silverman and Eals on sex differences in spatial abilities and David Buss on mate preferences. Other key texts are Crawford and Krebs' 'Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology' 2008 edition and Buss' 'Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology' Volume 2, 2015. Proponents like Cosmides and Tooby explored multimodular mind, while Steven Pinker discussed evolutionary mind. Applications cover FOXP2 gene and language evolution, maternal weaning incentives, sleep as resource restoration, modular brain and supernatural beliefs, mate poaching tactics, and depression as potentially adaptive; several mid-level theories underpin it per Wikipedia. Critiques include Wallace's 'Getting Darwin Wrong' 2010 book, Caporael and Brewer's 1991 debates, and naturalistic fallacy concerns by Wilson et al..
Facts (231)
Sources
Evolutionary psychology - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 137 facts
quoteHistorian Lynn Hunt reported that historians criticized 1990s evolutionary psychology research for reading the wrong studies, misinterpreting experimental results, and seeking a universalizing, anti-representational, and anti-intentional ontology in neuroscience to support their claims.
claimEvolutionary psychology posits that understanding the functions of the brain requires understanding the properties of the environment in which the brain evolved, referred to as the 'environment of evolutionary adaptiveness.'
claimEvolutionary psychologists seek to understand psychological mechanisms by identifying the survival and reproductive functions those mechanisms served over the course of evolutionary history.
referenceR. Carmen et al. published 'Evolution Integrated Across All Islands of the Human Behavioral Archipelago: All Psychology as Evolutionary Psychology' in the EvoS Journal: The Journal of the Evolutionary Studies Consortium in 2013, which argues for the integration of all psychological study under the framework of evolutionary psychology.
referenceLinnda R. Caporael and Marilynn B. Brewer published 'The Quest for Human Nature: Social and Scientific Issues in Evolutionary Psychology' in the Journal of Social Issues in 1991, which addresses the social and scientific debates surrounding the field of evolutionary psychology.
claimEvolutionary psychology proposes that most human psychological mechanisms are adapted to reproductive problems frequently encountered in Pleistocene environments, as most human adaptations evolved or were maintained by stabilizing selection during the Pleistocene.
claimEvolutionary psychology posits that psychological traits have a genetic foundation and have developed through natural selection, similar to biological organs.
claimEvolutionary psychologists study the impact of psychological traits in the current environment to inform estimates of trait prevalence over time, a practice that has been informative in the study of evolutionary psychopathology.
claimHagen argues that the majority of evolutionary psychology research is based on the biological fact that females can become pregnant while males cannot, a condition that also existed in the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA).
referenceD.M. Buss authored the 2016 book 'The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating', published by Basic Books.
claimEvolutionary psychology posits that self-deception is an adaptation that can improve an individual's outcomes in social exchanges.
claimCritics argue that evolutionary psychology hypotheses are untestable and arbitrary because many current traits likely evolved for purposes other than their current ones, making it impossible to pinpoint the precise reason for a trait's evolution.
perspectiveCritics argue that the caution evolutionary psychologists express regarding the naturalistic fallacy is a means to stifle legitimate ethical discussions.
referenceSteven J. C. Gaulin and Donald McBurney authored 'Evolutionary Psychology', published by Pearson/Prentice Hall in 2004.
claimEvolutionary psychologists believe that humans learn language along an evolved program that includes critical periods.
claimEvolutionary psychology research has produced findings regarding human social behavior related to infanticide, intelligence, marriage patterns, promiscuity, perception of beauty, bride price, and parental investment.
referenceAnthony C. Lopez, Rose McDermott, and Michael Bang Petersen published 'States in Mind: Evolution, Coalitional Psychology, and International Politics' in the journal International Security in 2011, exploring the intersection of evolutionary psychology and international relations.
perspectiveMurphy argues that critics of evolutionary psychology must explain why the field is considered untestable when other historical disciplines are not, asserting that research methods should be evaluated consistently across all fields rather than singled out for ridicule in one context.
claimEvolutionary psychology theory posits that humans are not adapted to work in large, anonymous bureaucratic structures with formal hierarchies.
claimAnthropologist John Tooby and psychologist Leda Cosmides define evolutionary psychology as a scientific attempt to assemble a single, logically integrated research framework for the psychological, social, and behavioral sciences by incorporating evolutionary sciences and revising existing research practices.
procedureEvolutionary psychologists use three primary strategies to develop and test hypotheses about whether a psychological trait is an evolved adaptation: (1) Cross-cultural Consistency, which presumes that human universals like smiling and crying are adaptations; (2) Function to Form, which uses known problems like paternity uncertainty to predict solutions like male sexual jealousy; and (3) Form to Function, which uses reverse-engineering to identify the function of traits like morning sickness.
claimEvolutionary psychology hypothesizes that male aggressiveness stems from intense reproductive competition, as males of low status are more vulnerable to being childless.
claimEvolutionary psychologists contrast their field with the Standard Social Science Model (SSSM), which they characterize as a 'blank slate,' 'relativist,' 'social constructionist,' and 'cultural determinist' perspective that dominated 20th-century social sciences by assuming the mind is shaped almost entirely by culture.
claimEvolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective.
claimDominic Murphy argues that alternative explanations in evolutionary psychology require their own evidence and predictions, and that it is reasonable to have confidence in an explanation if it makes predictions that competing explanations cannot.
claimEvolutionary psychologists conceptualize personality traits as arising from normal variation around an optimum, due to frequency-dependent selection (behavioral polymorphisms), or as facultative adaptations.
perspectiveDavid Buller observed that the term "evolutionary psychology" is sometimes associated with the specific methodological and theoretical commitments of researchers from the Santa Barbara school at the University of California, leading some researchers to prefer terms like "human ecology," "human behavioural ecology," or "evolutionary anthropology."
perspectiveProponents of evolutionary psychology suggest that the field seeks to integrate psychology into the natural sciences by rooting it in evolutionary theory, thereby understanding psychology as a branch of biology.
referenceEvolutionary Psychological Science is an international, interdisciplinary forum for original research papers that address evolved psychology, spanning social and life sciences, anthropology, philosophy, criminology, law, and the humanities.
referenceC. A. Sims authored the 2001 article 'Revisiting evolutionary psychology and psychiatry', published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.
referenceJaime C. Confer, Judith A. Easton, Diana S. Fleischman, Cari D. Goetz, David M. G. Lewis, Carin Perilloux, and David M. Buss published 'Evolutionary psychology: Controversies, questions, prospects, and limitations' in American Psychologist in 2010.
perspectiveCritics of evolutionary psychology accuse the field of promoting genetic determinism, pan-adaptationism, unfalsifiable hypotheses, prioritizing distal or ultimate explanations over proximate ones, and advancing malevolent political or moral ideas.
perspectiveCritics argue that evolutionary psychology might be used to justify existing social hierarchies and reactionary policies.
perspectiveCritics suggest that the theories and interpretations of empirical data provided by evolutionary psychologists rely heavily on ideological assumptions about race and gender.
claimCritics argue that the evolutionary psychology model of a provider male bartering food for protection is flawed because the most valuable food sources, defined by rare essential nutrients, vary by ecology.
referenceEdward H. Hagen published 'Invariant world, invariant mind: Evolutionary psychology and its critics' in the journal Evolutionary Psychology in 2014.
claimEvolutionary psychologists operate within a nature-nurture interactionist framework that acknowledges that many psychological adaptations are facultative, meaning they are sensitive to environmental variations during individual development.
claimCritics point to contradictions in evolutionary psychology, such as the claim that extended social groups selected for modern human brains, which conflicts with the fact that the synaptic function of modern human brains requires high amounts of specific essential nutrients.
referenceNils Seethaler authored 'Discrepant Explanatory Approaches in Anthropology and Evolutionary Psychology to the Phenomenon of Visual Art' in 2015, comparing anthropological and evolutionary psychological explanations for visual art.
claimFoundational research in evolutionary psychology is categorized by adaptive problems including survival, mating, parenting, family and kinship, interactions with non-kin, and cultural evolution.
claimEvolutionary psychology suggests that it may have been evolutionarily advantageous for males to engage in highly risky, violent behavior to increase their social status and reproductive success.
claimCritics argue that the evolutionary psychology claim that male sexual jealousy guards against infidelity is flawed because a male would need to assess the risk of a nearby jealous male rather than just female fertility.
claimEvolutionary psychology researchers have explored human social behaviors such as infanticide, intelligence, marriage patterns, promiscuity, perception of beauty, bride price, altruism, and the allocation of parental care by testing predictions derived from the idea that conscious and unconscious behaviors have evolved to maximize inclusive fitness.
referenceLeda Cosmides and John Tooby authored the chapter 'Cognitive Adaptations for Social Exchange' in the book 'The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture', published by Oxford University Press in 1992.
perspectiveW. Tecumseh Fitch criticizes certain strands of evolutionary psychology for promoting a pan-adaptationist view of evolution and considers the question posed by Steven Pinker and Paul Bloom regarding whether language evolved as an adaptation to be misleading.
claimEvolutionary psychologists investigate human mating to identify evolved mechanisms for attracting and securing mates.
referenceJ. Tooby and L. Cosmides published 'Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture, part I. Theoretical considerations' in the journal Ethology and Sociobiology in 1989.
referenceIn evolutionary psychology, an adaptation is defined as an organismic trait designed to solve an ancestral problem, characterized by complexity, special design, and functionality, with bones and the umbilical cord serving as physiological examples and toddlers' ability to learn to talk with minimal instruction serving as a psychological example.
perspectiveEvolutionary psychologists contrast their approach with the 'standard social science model,' which posits that the human mind is a general-purpose cognition device shaped almost entirely by culture.
referencePaul H. Rubin published 'Folk economics' in the Southern Economic Journal in 2003, applying evolutionary psychology concepts to economic behavior.
claimEvolutionary psychologists argue that they possess knowledge about the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptation (EEA), specifically that the ancestors of present-day humans were hunter-gatherers who generally lived in small tribes.
claimPotential psychological mechanisms studied in evolutionary psychology include the abilities to infer others' emotions, discern kin from non-kin, identify and prefer healthier mates, cooperate with others, and follow leaders.
referenceAnthony Ryle published 'THE RELEVANCE OF EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY FOR PSYCHOTHERAPY' in the British Journal of Psychotherapy in 2005, examining how evolutionary concepts apply to clinical practice.
referenceIn evolutionary psychology, random variation is defined as random variations in an adaptation or byproduct, with bumps on the skull and convex or concave belly button shapes serving as physiological examples and variations in verbal intelligence serving as a psychological example.
claimEvolutionary psychologists believe the human brain is composed of innate modules, such as an anxiety module, which are present before an organism develops and are activated by environmental events.
claimEvolutionary psychology focuses on the study of distal or ultimate causality, specifically the evolution of psychological adaptations, rather than proximate analyses of behavior.
referenceBrendan Wallace published 'Getting Darwin Wrong: Why Evolutionary Psychology Won't Work' in 2010.
claimEvolutionary psychologists acknowledge that hypotheses regarding the adaptive functions of language are speculative and require further evidence to understand how language might have been selectively adapted.
referenceIn evolutionary psychology, an exaptation is defined as an adaptation that has been re-purposed to solve a different adaptive problem, with the small bones of the inner ear serving as a physiological example and voluntary attention serving as a psychological example.
claimEvolutionary psychology draws from cognitive psychology, evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, artificial intelligence, genetics, ethology, anthropology, archaeology, biology, ecopsychology, and zoology.
perspectiveEvolutionary psychologists argue that the primary purpose of perception is to guide action, contrasting with the view held by experts like Jerry Fodor that the purpose of perception is to provide knowledge.
claimThe evolutionary psychology model of males as both providers and protectors is criticized because males cannot simultaneously protect their family at home and hunt for food.
claimFrom an evolutionary psychology perspective, cognition is not 'general purpose' but uses heuristics or strategies that increase the likelihood of solving problems that the ancestors of present-day humans routinely faced.
claimRobert Trivers' 1972 theories on reciprocity and parental investment helped re-establish evolutionary thinking in psychology and social sciences.
claimEmpirical support for the domain-specific theory in evolutionary psychology stems almost entirely from performance on variations of the Wason selection task, which tests only one subtype of deductive reasoning.
perspectiveEvolutionary psychologists have addressed critics in books by authors such as Segerstråle, Barlow, and Alcock, arguing that some criticisms are straw men, based on an incorrect nature versus nurture dichotomy, or based on basic misunderstandings of the discipline.
claimEvolutionary psychology is primarily interested in identifying commonalities between people, or the basic human psychological nature.
claimThe purpose of evolutionary psychology is to identify evolved emotional and cognitive adaptations that represent 'human psychological nature,' analogous to how evolutionary physiology identifies physical adaptations of the body.
claimEvolutionary psychologists view the human psyche and physiology as genetic products, assuming that genes contain the information for the development and control of the organism and that this information is transmitted across generations.
claimEvolutionary psychology adopts the computational theory of mind, which describes mental processes as computational operations where perceptual data is processed to output specific reactions.
claimEvolutionary psychologists have conducted studies on topics including infanticide, intelligence, marriage patterns, promiscuity, perception of beauty, bride price, and parental investment.
claimEvolutionary psychology has its historical roots in Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection.
referenceJohn Tooby and Leda Cosmides authored the 1990 article 'The past explains the present', published in Ethology and Sociobiology.
claimModern evolutionary psychology is based on theories originating from Charles Darwin's work, including his speculations regarding the evolutionary origins of human social instincts.
claimEvolutionary psychologists remain divided on whether religious belief is a consequence of evolved psychological adaptations or a byproduct of other cognitive adaptations.
claimLeda Cosmides and John Tooby's 1992 book, The Adapted Mind, helped usher in the modern era of evolutionary psychology.
referenceThe BBC Radio 4 program 'In Our Time' hosted a discussion titled 'Evolutionary Psychology' on November 2, 2000, featuring participants Janet Radcliffe Richards, Nicholas Humphrey, and Steven Rose.
claimDonald Symons' 1979 book, The Evolution of Human Sexuality, helped usher in the modern era of evolutionary psychology.
claimEvolutionary psychologists argue that much of human behavior is the output of psychological adaptations that evolved to solve recurrent problems in human ancestral environments.
claimIn evolutionary psychology, learning is accomplished through evolved capacities known as facultative adaptations, which manifest differently in response to environmental input.
claimJohn Alcock identifies the 'No Time Machine Argument' as a critique of evolutionary psychology, which posits that because researchers cannot travel back to the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA), they cannot determine what was adaptive in that environment.
referenceDavid Sloan Wilson, Eric Dietrich, and Anne B. Clark authored the 2003 article 'On the inappropriate use of the naturalistic fallacy in evolutionary psychology', published in Biology and Philosophy.
perspectiveRobert Kurzban suggested that critics of evolutionary psychology who err are not just slightly missing the mark, but that their confusion is profound.
referenceSteven Pinker published 'How the Mind Works' in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences in 1999, discussing the evolutionary nature of the human mind.
claimCritics argue that evolutionary psychologists created a false dichotomy between their own view and the caricature of the Standard Social Science Model.
claimEvolutionary psychologists contend that perception demonstrates the principle of modularity, where specialized mechanisms handle particular perception tasks.
claimEvolutionary psychologists consider the environment to be an activator or trigger for the developmental instructions encoded in genes, rather than a primary driver of development.
claimEvolutionary psychologists have recently introduced research methods and tools based on fictional scenarios, mathematical models, and multi-agent computer simulations.
perspectiveCritics of evolutionary psychology argue that the view of innate, genetically programmed modules is reductionist and that cognitive specialization arises through the interaction of humans with their real environment, rather than the environment of distant ancestors.
referenceG. Geher published 'Evolutionary psychology is not evil! ... and here's why ...' in the journal Psihologijske Teme (Psychological Topics) in 2006.
claimProsopagnosia, a condition where individuals cannot recognize faces, is linked to damage in a specific part of the brain, which evolutionary psychologists suggest indicates the existence of a face-reading module.
claimEvolutionary psychologists often caution against committing the naturalistic fallacy, which is the assumption that what is natural is necessarily a moral good.
claimEvolutionary psychologists generally presume that the human mind is composed of many evolved modular adaptations, similar to the human body.
referenceLance Workman and Will Reader published 'Evolutionary Psychology: An Introduction' in 2004 and a subsequent edition in 2008.
claimEvolutionary psychologists explain basic gender differences, such as greater sexual eagerness in men and greater coyness in women, as sexually dimorphic psychological adaptations reflecting different reproductive strategies.
claimEvolutionary psychology posits that females are more selective of their partners than males because females contribute significantly more effort to pregnancy and child-rearing.
claimEvolutionary psychology posits that domain-general learning is impossible due to the combinatorial explosion, and instead specifies that psychological mechanisms are focused on problems of survival and reproduction.
claimCritics of evolutionary psychology regard the Standard Social Science Model (SSSM) as a rhetorical device or a straw man, suggesting that the scientists associated with the SSSM did not believe the human mind was a blank slate devoid of natural predispositions.
claimEvolutionary psychology and cognitive neuropsychology are mutually compatible fields, where evolutionary psychology identifies psychological adaptations and their ultimate evolutionary functions, while cognitive neuropsychology identifies the proximate manifestations of those adaptations.
referenceIn evolutionary psychology, a byproduct is defined as a trait that is a byproduct of an adaptive mechanism with no current or ancestral function, with the white color of bones and the belly button serving as physiological examples and the ability to learn to read and write serving as a psychological example.
claimHuman psychology comprises many specialized mechanisms, each sensitive to different classes of information or inputs, which combine to produce manifest behavior.
claimEvolutionary psychologists consider behaviors or traits that occur universally in all cultures as strong candidates for evolutionary adaptations, such as the abilities to infer others' emotions, discern kin from non-kin, identify and prefer healthier mates, and cooperate with others.
referenceR. Kurzban published 'This One Goes to Eleven, PZ Myers, and Other Punch Lines – Evolutionary Psychology Blog Archive' on the University of Pennsylvania website on July 11, 2013.
claimEvolutionary psychology seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regard to the ancestral problems they evolved to solve.
claimSteven Pinker describes evolutionary psychology not as a single theory, but as a large set of hypotheses and a specific way of applying evolutionary theory to the mind, emphasizing adaptation, gene-level selection, and modularity.
claim20th-century evolutionary psychology draws from biological sciences, paleoanthropology, ethology, and cognitive psychology, often bypassing Charles Darwin's original treatments of human psychology.
referenceJoshua D. Duntley and David M. Buss published 'Evolutionary Psychology Is a Metatheory for Psychology' in Psychological Inquiry on January 16, 2008.
claimCriticism of evolutionary psychology focuses on questions of testability, cognitive and evolutionary assumptions (such as modular functioning of the brain and uncertainty about the ancestral environment), the importance of non-genetic and non-adaptive explanations, and the political and ethical implications of research interpretations.
claimIn the evolutionary psychology framework, psychological traits and mechanisms are either functional products of natural and sexual selection or non-adaptive by-products of other adaptive traits.
claimEvolutionary psychology research includes studies on mate selection, mate poaching, mate retention, mating preferences, and conflict between the sexes.
referenceDavid J. Buller and Valerie Gray Hardcastle authored the chapter 'Modularity' in the book 'Adapting Minds: Evolutionary Psychology And The Persistent Quest For Human Nature', published by MIT Press in 2005.
claimEvolutionary psychologists hold that the FOXP2 gene may be associated with the evolution of human language.
claimEvolutionary psychology identifies kin selection and reciprocity as key factors in the evolution of prosocial traits like altruism.
referenceThe NorthEastern Evolutionary Psychology Society is a regional society dedicated to encouraging scholarship and dialogue on the topic of evolutionary psychology.
claimThe central assumption of evolutionary psychology is that the human brain is composed of many specialized mechanisms shaped by natural selection over a vast period of time to solve recurrent information-processing problems faced by ancestors, such as food choices, social hierarchies, resource distribution to offspring, and mate selection.
claimEvolutionary psychologists assert that behaviors or traits occurring universally across all cultures are likely candidates for evolutionary adaptations.
claimEvolutionary psychology focuses primarily on 'why' questions regarding evolutionary origins, whereas traditional psychology focuses on 'how' questions regarding proximate mechanisms.
claimEvolutionary psychologists study chimpanzees, bonobos, and other great apes to gain insights into human ancestral behavior.
referenceOmar Tonsi Eldakar, David Sloan Wilson, and Rick O'Gorman published 'Emotions and Actions Associated with Altruistic Helping and Punishment' in the journal Evolutionary Psychology on January 1, 2006.
referenceNeil Levy published 'Evolutionary Psychology, Human Universals, and the Standard Social Science Model' in the journal Biology and Philosophy in 2004.
referenceDylan Evan authored the 2000 book 'Introducing Evolutionary Psychology', published by Totem Books USA.
claimThere is disagreement within the field of evolutionary psychology regarding the degree of general plasticity or 'generality' of some mental modules.
claimCritics often characterize evolutionary psychology as a form of genetic reductionism and genetic determinism, arguing that the field fails to address the complexity of individual development and experience or explain the influence of genes on behavior in individual cases.
referenceJohn A. Johnson published 'What Anti-Evolutionary Psychologists are Really Worried About' in Psychology Today on October 22, 2011.
claimCoalitional psychology is an approach within evolutionary psychology that explains political behaviors among different coalitions and the conditionality of those behaviors.
claimEvolutionary psychology posits that mothers may have an evolutionary incentive to wean offspring from breastfeeding earlier than the infant desires, as this allows the mother to invest resources in additional offspring.
claimEvolutionary psychology is closely linked to sociobiology, but differs in its emphasis on domain-specific mechanisms, the relevance of measures of current fitness, the importance of mismatch theory, and a focus on psychology rather than behavior.
claimEvolutionary psychologists utilize diverse data sources for testing, including experiments, archaeological records, data from hunter-gatherer societies, observational studies, neuroscience data, self-reports, surveys, public records, and human products.
claimEvolutionary psychologists maintain that verification of their hypotheses is possible, despite the challenges involved in testing ideas about the evolutionary origins of psychological phenomena.
referenceR. Durrant and B.J. Ellis authored the chapter 'Evolutionary Psychology' in the 'Comprehensive Handbook of Psychology, Volume Three: Biological Psychology', published by Wiley & Sons in 2003.
claimEvolutionary psychologists argue that the mind possesses modularity, meaning different psychological mechanisms evolved to solve distinct adaptive problems, similar to how physiological organs like the heart, liver, and kidneys evolved to perform specific functions.
claimThe theories and findings of evolutionary psychology have applications in economics, environment, health, law, management, psychiatry, politics, and literature.
claimClinical depression is viewed as maladaptive, and evolutionary approaches seek to understand how it might have functioned as an adaptive mechanism.
claimEvolutionary psychology views humans as often being in conflict with others, including mates and relatives, which is consistent with the theory of natural selection.
referenceDavid P. Schmitt and David M. Buss published 'Human mate poaching: Tactics and temptations for infiltrating existing mateships' in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2001, analyzing mating strategies from an evolutionary perspective.
claimEvolutionary psychologists describe evolved psychological mechanisms as cognitive modules, which are specialized functions shaped by natural selection that focus on specific issues like catching cheaters or choosing mates.
claimSeveral mid-level evolutionary theories inform the field of evolutionary psychology.
Evolutionary Psychology | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy iep.utm.edu 77 facts
claimThe field of evolutionary psychology encompasses diverse approaches including human behavioral ecology, memetics, dual-inheritance theory, and Evolutionary Psychology in the narrow sense.
referenceAaron Sell, Edward Hagen, Leda Cosmides, and John Tooby published 'Evolutionary Psychology: Applications and Criticisms' in the 2003 'Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science', edited by Lynn Nadel.
claimDavid Buller argues that psychological experiments used to establish hypothesized cognitive mechanisms in current Homo sapiens are flawed because the data are exiguous, inconclusive, and do not support the claims made by Evolutionary Psychologists, specifically citing studies by Cosmides and Tooby, Buss, and Daly and Wilson on cheater detection, mating strategies, jealousy, and discriminative parenthood.
claimModern Evolutionary Psychology originated in the late 1980s and early 1990s through the collaboration of psychologist Leda Cosmides, anthropologist John Tooby, and anthropologist Donald Symons at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).
claimThe task of psychology, within the framework of evolutionary psychology, is to establish that current humans actually possess the cognitive mechanisms that evolutionary theory predicts were shaped by natural selection.
referenceMargie Profet published 'Pregnancy Sickness as Adaptation: A Deterrent to Maternal Ingestion of Teratogens' in the 1992 book 'The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture', edited by Jerome Barkow, Leda Cosmides, and John Tooby.
referenceLeda Cosmides and John Tooby published 'Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture, Part II. Case Study: A Computational Theory of Social Exchange' in the journal Ethology and Sociobiology in 1989.
referenceDavid Buller (2005) argues in 'Adapting Minds: Evolutionary Psychology and the Persistent Quest for Human Nature' that the empirical tests used by Evolutionary Psychologists to establish cognitive adaptations in areas like cheater detection, mating, marriage, and parenthood are flawed.
claimA significant challenge for Evolutionary Psychologists is demonstrating that their adaptationist explanations are genuine scientific explanations rather than 'just-so-stories' that lack historical evidence.
referenceRussil Durrant and Brian Ellis authored 'Evolutionary Psychology: Core Assumptions and Methodology,' published in the Comprehensive Handbook of Psychology, Volume Three: Biological Psychology in 2003.
claimEvolutionary psychologists seek human universals and posit that cognitive adaptations require humans to be genetically similar.
referenceSteven Pinker's book 'The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature' (2002) provides an accessible introduction to the ideas of evolutionary psychology.
referenceBarrett, Dunbar, and Lycett (2002) authored 'Human Evolutionary Psychology', a textbook covering both Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavioral Ecology.
referenceRobert Wright's book 'The Moral Animal: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology' (1994) is a simplifying introduction to evolutionary psychology written for a general audience.
referenceLeda Cosmides and John Tooby authored 'Evolutionary Psychology: Theoretical Foundations,' published in the Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science in 2003.
referencePanksepp and Panksepp (2000) provide a critique of evolutionary psychology at a methodological and conceptual level.
referenceThe chapter 'Conceptual Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology' (2005) by John Tooby and Leda Cosmides provides an overview of the theoretical background of evolutionary psychology.
claimEvolutionary psychology has the potential to discover a human nature that is everywhere the same.
referenceThe theoretical framework of Evolutionary Psychology is based on five key ideas: (1) cognitive mechanisms underlying behavior are adaptations; (2) these mechanisms must be discovered via functional analysis; (3) these mechanisms are adaptations for solving recurrent adaptive problems in the evolutionary environment of ancestors; (4) the human mind is a complex set of domain-specific modules; and (5) these modules define universal human nature.
procedureEvolutionary Psychology utilizes a 'functional analysis' method, which involves starting with hypotheses about adaptive problems faced by ancestors and inferring the cognitive adaptations that evolved to solve them.
quoteEvolutionary Psychologists derive hypotheses from their computational theory to devise experiments that enable the detection and mapping of mechanisms that would not have been tested otherwise.
claimEvolutionary psychology research covers diverse topics including language, morality, emotions, parental investment, homicide, social coercion, rape, psychopathologies, landscape preferences, spatial abilities, and pregnancy sickness.
perspectiveEvolutionary Psychologists argue that the assumption that the human mind is composed mainly of a few content-free cognitive processes is inadequate for explaining human thoughts and feelings.
claimEvolutionary psychologists, as described by John Tooby and Leda Cosmides in 1990, do not claim that human behavior or culture is uniform globally, but rather that the genes required for cognitive adaptations and the cognitive adaptations themselves are universal, even if resulting behaviors vary.
claimCosmides and Tooby’s research on cheater detection is considered a flagship example of Evolutionary Psychology.
referenceDavid Buss (1999) authored 'Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind', a textbook representing the perspective of Evolutionary Psychology.
referenceEvolutionary psychology, in its broad sense, attempts to adopt an evolutionary perspective on human behavior and psychology by applying Darwinian reasoning to behavioral, cognitive, social, or cultural characteristics of humans.
claimEvolutionary Psychology in the narrow sense is a circumscribed adaptationist research program that regards the human mind as an integrated collection of cognitive mechanisms that guide behavior and form universal human nature.
referenceJaak Panksepp and Jules Panksepp published 'The Seven Sins of Evolutionary Psychology' in the journal 'Evolution and Cognition' in 2000.
referenceSven Walter published a review of 'Richardson’s Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted Psychology' in the journal Mind in 2009.
perspectiveEvolutionary Psychologists argue that the social environment has remained largely unchanged, as ancestral humans faced similar challenges to modern humans, such as attracting mates, providing child care, and understanding the intentions and emotions of social partners.
quoteEvolutionary psychologists argue that the human cognitive architecture resembles a confederation of hundreds or thousands of functionally dedicated computers rather than a single general-purpose computer equipped with a small number of domain-general procedures.
claimEvolutionary psychology is defined as a general field of inquiry that attempts to adopt an evolutionary perspective on human behavior by supplementing psychology with the central tenets of evolutionary biology.
referenceIrwin Silverman and Marion Eals published 'Sex Differences in Spatial Abilities: Evolutionary Theory and Data' in the 1992 book 'The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture', edited by Jerome Barkow, Leda Cosmides, and John Tooby.
claimEvolutionary psychologists claim that the cognitive mechanisms underlying behavior are human universals, but they maintain that behavior results from the complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors.
claimDorothy Nelkin (2000) claims that evolutionary psychology implies "genetic destiny."
claimEvolutionary Psychology focuses on adaptations that evolved in response to characteristically human adaptive problems faced by hunter-gatherers during the Pleistocene, such as choosing a mate, recognizing emotional expressions, acquiring language, distinguishing kin, detecting cheaters, and remembering the location of edible plants.
claimEvolutionary Psychology posits that the human mind is not an all-purpose problem solver, but rather a collection of independent, task-specific cognitive mechanisms, or instincts, adapted for solving evolutionary significant problems.
claimEvolutionary psychologists propose the 'massive modularity' hypothesis, which posits that the human mind is composed of many different, functionally distinct programs designed to solve specific adaptive problems.
claimEvolutionary Psychology treats the human mind as a collection of computational machines or information-processing mechanisms that receive environmental input and produce behavioral or physiological output.
quoteEvolutionary psychologists posit that many psychological characteristics are adaptations, and that the principles of evolutionary biology used to explain physical bodies are equally applicable to the human mind.
referenceSteven Pinker's book 'How the Mind Works' (1997) provides an accessible introduction to evolutionary psychology and cognitive science.
claimEvolutionary Psychology posits that the human mind is a complex set of domain-specific cognitive modules that define universal human nature and override individual, cultural, or societal differences.
claimEvolutionary psychology defines the human mind as a set of cognitive adaptations, or modules, designed by natural selection to solve recurrent information processing problems that arose in the evolutionary environment of human ancestors.
claimEvolutionary psychologists argue that the human mind is a complex, functionally integrated collection of cognitive mechanisms shaped by evolution through natural selection.
claimEvolutionary psychology is a field of inquiry that encompasses various research strands, including sociobiology, evolutionary anthropology, human behavioral ecology, Darwinian psychology, and gene-culture coevolution.
perspectiveCritics of evolutionary psychology often argue that the field embraces genetic determinism, asserting that it views human behavior as determined by genetic make-up and immune to social learning or education.
claimEvolutionary psychologists rely on specific descriptions of past adaptive problems that are less certain than the general environmental facts known about the past.
referenceRobert Richardson's book 'Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted Psychology' (2008) offers a philosophical critique of evolutionary psychology from the perspective of evolutionary biology.
claimFunctional analysis in evolutionary psychology predicts the existence of unknown cognitive mechanisms based on evolutionary reasoning about potential adaptive problems in the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA), which are then empirically tested.
referenceRichard Samuels' paper 'Evolutionary Psychology and the Massive Modularity Hypothesis' (1998) criticizes the evolutionary psychology insistence on the domain-specificity of cognitive mechanisms, arguing that a domain-general architecture using domain-specific information would be equally effective.
claimEvolutionary psychologists distinguish between adaptive behavior and the cognitive mechanisms that are adaptations for producing adaptive behavior.
claimEvolutionary Psychology emphasizes that cognitive adaptations are highly flexible and contingent on environmental factors.
claimEvolutionary Psychologists argue that in their field, the evolutionary model or prediction typically precedes and causes the discovery of new facts, rather than being constructed post hoc to fit known facts.
claimEvolutionary psychologists assert that human universals exist at the level of functionally described psychological mechanisms because the modules of the human mind have been subject to constant selection over a vast stretch of time.
quoteTooby and Cosmides (1990a) state that evolutionary psychologists are not committed to "a form of ‘genetic determinism,’ if by that one means the idea that genes determine everything, immune from an environmental influence."
claimEvolutionary psychologists argue that because human bodies and minds are both products of evolution by natural selection, and because human bodies are universal, human minds should also be universal.
claimEvolutionary psychologists distinguish between whether a trait is an adaptation and whether it is currently adaptive, separating their approach from 'Darwinian anthropology' which focuses on the current adaptiveness of behavior.
procedureEvolutionary Psychology utilizes a method known as 'functional analysis' to discover cognitive mechanisms, which involves starting with hypotheses about adaptive problems faced by ancestors and inferring the cognitive adaptations that evolved to solve them.
claimEvolutionary Psychology posits that cognitive mechanisms are adaptations for solving recurrent adaptive problems in the evolutionary environment of ancestors, rather than problems prevalent in the modern environment.
referenceHilary Rose and Steven Rose edited the 2000 book 'Alas Poor Darwin: Arguments Against Evolutionary Psychology'.
perspectiveDavid Buller argues in 'Adapting Minds: Evolutionary Psychology and the Persistent Quest for Human Nature' that the theoretical and methodological doctrines of Evolutionary Psychology are problematic and that the field has not produced any solid empirical results.
claimThe purpose of Evolutionary Psychology is to discover and explain cognitive mechanisms that guide current human behavior by identifying them as selected solutions to recurrent adaptive problems prevalent in the evolutionary environment of ancestors.
claimEvolutionary psychologists argue that natural selection is a slow process and there have not been enough generations since the Pleistocene for new cognitive mechanisms to evolve that are specifically adapted to post-agricultural industrial life.
claimThe controversial claim in evolutionary psychology is not that psychological faculties have evolved, but that they are adaptations specifically for solving particular adaptive problems.
quoteEvolutionary Psychologists summarize the relationship between modern humans and their evolutionary history with the phrase: “Our modern skulls house a Stone Age mind.”
quoteStephen Jay Gould argued that the sole task of Evolutionary Psychology has become a speculative search for reasons why a behavior that harms us now must once have originated for adaptive purposes.
referenceDavid Buss published 'Mate Preference Mechanisms: Consequences for Partner Choice and Intrasexual Competition' in 1992, which appears in the collection 'The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture'.
claimEvolutionary psychologists argue that complex cognitive adaptations are unlikely to vary substantially between individuals because they require hundreds or thousands of genes working in concert; if genes varied significantly, it would be improbable for all necessary genes for a complex adaptation to be present in the same individual during sexual reproduction.
claimEvolutionary psychologists argue that human psychological mechanisms are adapted to Pleistocene environments because the human species spent over 99% of its evolutionary history as hunter-gatherers in those conditions, rather than the brief period since the advent of agriculture or industrialization.
claimThe field of Evolutionary Psychology gained significant attention in 1992 with the publication of the book 'The Adapted Mind', edited by Jerome Barkow, Leda Cosmides, and John Tooby.
claimEvolutionary Psychology is built upon three foundational ideas: the computational model of the mind, the assumption of modularity, and the thesis of adaptationism.
claimEvolutionary psychologists utilize adaptationist reasoning, a method derived from evolutionary biology that explains the presence of a trait by asserting it is an adaptation that enhanced the fitness of an organism's ancestors.
referenceThe book 'Sense or Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behavior' (2002) by Kevin Laland and Gillian Brown serves as an introduction to sociobiology, evolutionary psychology, human behavioral ecology, memetics, and gene-culture coevolution.
claimIn Evolutionary Psychology, cognitive mechanisms are considered adaptations, which are traits present today because they helped ancestors solve recurrent adaptive problems in the past.
perspectiveRobin Dunbar (1988) argues that evolutionary psychology's search for universally valid, genetically determined characters is flawed because the number of genuinely universal human traits is likely very small.
claimEvolutionary Psychology is sometimes charged with defending the status quo regarding sex, race, and intelligence differences by arguing that these differences are the result of hard-wired cognitive mechanisms and are optimal solutions to adaptive problems.
The Mechanisms of Psychedelic Visionary Experiences - Frontiers frontiersin.org Sep 27, 2017 8 facts
referenceCummings and Allen (1998) edited 'The Evolution of Mind', published by Oxford University Press.
referenceConfer et al. (2010) discussed the controversy, questions, prospects, and limitations of evolutionary psychology in the American Psychologist journal.
referenceDavid Buss edited 'The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, Volume 1: Foundation', published by Wiley and Sons in 2015.
referenceCrawford and Krebs (2008) edited 'Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology', published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates/Taylor & Francis Group.
referenceDavid Buss edited 'The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, Volume 2: Integrations', published by Wiley and Sons in 2015.
referenceCarruthers and Chamberlain (2000) edited 'Evolution and the Human Mind: Modularity, Language, and Meta-Cognition', published by Cambridge University Press.
referenceBarkow, J., Cosmides, L., and Tooby, J. (eds.) (1992) published 'The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture' through Oxford University Press in New York, NY.
claimEvolutionary psychology presents models of the evolution of a modular structure to the human brain, which provide explanations for why humans naturally experience supernatural entities.
Psychedelics, Sociality, and Human Evolution frontiersin.org 4 facts
referenceMichael J. Winkelman authored the article 'The evolved psychology of psychedelic set and setting: inferences regarding the roles of shamanism and entheogenic ecopsychology', published in Frontiers in Pharmacology in 2021.
referenceCosmides and Tooby (2001) explored evolutionary psychology and the multimodular mind in their chapter 'Unravelling the enigma of human intelligence' within the book 'The Evolution of Intelligence'.
referenceMichael J. Winkelman authored the article 'An ontology of psychedelic entity experiences in evolutionary psychology and neurophenomenology', published in the Journal of Psychedelic Studies in 2018.
referenceMichael J. Winkelman authored the article 'The mechanisms of psychedelic visionary experiences: hypotheses from evolutionary psychology', published in Frontiers in Neuroscience in 2017.
4.2 Sleep & Why We Sleep – Introductory Psychology opentext.wsu.edu 3 facts
claimEvolutionary psychology is a discipline that studies how universal patterns of behavior and cognitive processes have evolved over time as a result of natural selection, where variations and adaptations in cognition and behavior influence an individual's success in reproducing and passing genes to offspring.
claimOne evolutionary psychology hypothesis suggests that sleep is essential to restore resources expended during the day, similar to how bears hibernate when resources are scarce, to reduce energy expenditures.
claimEvolutionary psychology is the discipline that studies how universal patterns of behavior and cognitive processes have evolved over time as a result of natural selection.
John Bowlby and Attachment Theory: Stages and Working Model attachmentproject.com 1 fact
claimJohn Bowlby expanded his concept of attachment by incorporating scientific contributions from developmental psychology, cognition, and evolutionary psychology.
Hormones & desire - American Psychological Association apa.org Mar 1, 2011 1 fact
claimSome evolutionary and biological psychologists theorize that the human 'loss of estrus' makes humans less driven by sex hormones compared to other animals.