Critical Approaches to Evolutionary Psychology.pptx (original) (raw)

Evolutionary psychology: Controversies, questions, prospects, and limitations.

2010

Abstract 1. Evolutionary psychology has emerged over the past 15 years as a major theoretical perspective, generating an increasing volume of empirical studies and assuming a larger presence within psychological science. At the same time, it has generated critiques and remains controversial among some psychologists.

HUneman P, Machery M. Evolutionary Psychology: Issues, Results, Debates

T. Heams et al. (eds.), Handbook of Evolutionary Thinking in the Sciences, Dordrecht: Springer, 2014

This chapter, supposed to introduce to the next four chapters devoted to evolutionary psychology, defines and explains the program of “evolutionary psychology” as it has been initiated in the 80s and then developed. It sketches the main explananda of this project, specifies the major assumptions, sketches some major points of methodological and philosophical controversy that arose in the last decade, and indicates some applications to specific questions.

Evolutionary psychology: An exchange

1997

Evolutionary psychology is the attempt to understand our mental faculties in light of the evolutionary processes that shaped them. Stephen Jay Gould [NYR, June 12 and June 26] calls its ideas and their proponents" foolish,"" fatuous,"" pathetic,"" egregiously simplistic," and some twenty-five synonyms for" fanatical." Such language is not just discourteous; it is misguided, for the ideas of evolutionary psychology are not as stupid as Gould makes them out to be. Indeed, they are nothing like what Gould makes them out to be.

Philosophical Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology

The aim and purpose of the manuscript is to summarize the common links between early schools of philosophy with contemporary topics in modern psychology (i.e., aggression, cooperative and prosocial behaviors) and to show how these disciplines have both converged and have established an exciting new discipline that is now referred to as evolutionary psychology. The text could be used in introductory courses in higher education courses including psychology, evolutionary psychology, and philosophy. There are 3 primary components of the text: 1. Part I of the monograph (chapters 1 and 2) will discuss the early philosophical arguments of human nature and the primary developments leading to modern psychology. Ancient Greek (Socrates and Plato) philosophy is discussed addressing some of the classic problems of human nature, including mind – body duality, Materialism, zeitgeist and the substance of knowledge. The topics address the questions that have long plagued both philosophers and psychologists, such as the distinction between mind / body, determining the substance, purpose and meaning of our thoughts, and finally distinguishing the role of spirituality from the mortal body. Chapter two will explore specific schools of thought in philosophy that have had a major influence in modern psychology, including British Empiricism (John Locke and Thomas Hobbes), Rationalism (Rene Descartes), Positivism (Auguste Comte), Romanticism (Jean Jacques Rousseau) and Idealism (George Berkeley). Part II of the monograph (chapters 3 and 4) will explore how philosophical theory has shaped and defined modern psychology that gradually led to the development of evolutionary psychology. Chapter 3 will explore how early schools of modern psychology (Structuralism and Functionalism) explained human behavior from understanding the basic nature of conscious experiences through our own perceptions and experiences in the environment. Chapter 4 will explore three primary behavioral influences in the development of evolutionary psychology (i.e., Wilhelm Wundt, Edward Titchener, and John Watson) with environmental experiences. This part will explore the relationship between evolutionary psychology and cooperative behaviors and provide an argument how cooperation and altruism coexisted with opportunistic and egoistic behaviors early in human evolutionary history. Part III (chapters 5 – 10) of the monograph will address the evolutionary components of natural selection and specifically explore how evolutionary psychology has influenced current important topics in the field of psychology. Chapter 6 will explore a specific emotion (aggression) and discuss the adaptive (and destructive) role of this emotion including causal influences. Chapter 7 will explore the role of evolutionary psychology with gender differences as they relate to reproductive fitness. Chapter 8 addresses the relationship between language and evolutionary theory and how cooperative learning is directly linked to the human capacity of learning languages. Chapter 9 explores the fundamental and evolutionary basis of cooperative behaviors, including “tit – for – tat” principles, empathy, revenge and forgiveness. Chapter 10 concludes the monograph with discussions about the future development of evolutionary psychology with related topics such as teaching basic principles of cooperative behaviors, social media, individualistic cultures and the role of human behavior with interdependency.

An introduction to evolutionary developmental psychology

Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behavior, 2014

Evolutionary developmental psychology represents a synthesis of modern evolutionary theory and developmental psychology. Here we introduce the special issue on evolutionary developmental psychology by briefly discussing the history of this field and then summarizing the variety of topics that are covered. In this special issue, leading researchers provide a collection of theoretical and empirical articles that highlight recent findings and propose promising areas for future research.

Evolutionary Psychology: A How-To Guide

Researchers in the social and behavioral sciences are increasingly using evolutionary insights to test novel hypotheses about human psychology. Because evolutionary perspectives are relatively new to psychology and most researchers do not receive formal training in this endeavor, there remains ambiguity about " best practices " for implementing evolutionary principles. This article provides researchers with a practical guide for using evolutionary perspectives in their research programs and for avoiding common pitfalls in doing so. We outline essential elements of an evolutionarily informed research program at 3 central phases: (a) generating testable hypotheses, (b) testing empirical predictions, and (c) interpreting results. We elaborate key conceptual tools, including task analysis, psychological mechanisms , design features, universality, and cost-benefit analysis. Researchers can use these tools to generate hypotheses about universal psychological mechanisms, social and cultural inputs that amplify or attenuate the activation of these mechanisms, and cross-culturally variable behavior that these mechanisms can produce. We hope that this guide inspires theoretically and methodologically rigorous research that more cogently integrates knowledge from the psychological and life sciences.