In Search of Complexity: Seeking to Integrate Feminist and Evolutionary Perspectives in Psychology

Abstract

This Special Section of Sex Roles, “Commentaries on the Special Issue: Feminist Reappraisals of Evolutionary Psychology” (Smith and Konik 2013), continues the interchange among researchers who are approaching psychology from evolutionary and/or feminist perspectives that began in the May 2011 issue. This introduction to the current Special Section focuses on two themes: (1) constraints caused by both disciplinarity and the researcher’s location need to be transcended, and (2) nature and nurture must be recognized as interrelated concepts when utilizing evolutionary and feminist frameworks. In addressing these themes, we highlight how they are apparent in the collection of works published in this Special Section. It is clear that both feminist and evolutionary scholarship has matured to the point where, given appropriate conceptual complexity, both can continue to develop.