Introduction to evolutionary psychology

Abstract

Key concepts the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptation (EEA), proximate and ultimate levels of explanation, the inheritance of acquired characteristics, particulate inheritance, eugenics, Standard Social Science Model (SSSM), the Great Chain of Being ( scala naturae ), sociobiology, modularity Evolutionary psychology is a relatively new discipline that applies the principles of Darwinian natural selection to the study of the human mind. A central claim is that the brain (and therefore the mind) evolved to solve problems encountered by our hunter-gatherer ancestors during the upper Pleistocene period over 10,000 years ago, a time known as the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptation (EEA). The mind, therefore, is seen as equipped with species-specific ‘instincts’ that enabled our ancestors to survive and reproduce and which give rise to a universal human nature. This idea is in sharp contrast to that adhered to by many other social scientists who see the mind as originally a ‘blank slate’ that is moulded into shape by a process of learning and socialisation. In this chapter we trace the origins of evolutionary psychology, and present some of the arguments between those who hold that the mind is a blank slate and those who believe that human behaviour, like that of other animals, is the product of a long history of evolution. The origins of evolutionary psychology The fundamental assumption of evolutionary psychology is that the human mind is the product of evolution just like any other bodily organ, and that we can gain a better understanding of the mind by examining evolutionary pressures that shaped it.