Resistance to evolutionary psychology as a continuation of conflicts over scientific integration

Abstract

The history of scientific progress is marked by a process of conceptual integration: Different fields of inquiry become intertwined and interconsistent as they grow. Evolutionary psychology is a continuation of this process and, like previous integrations, has generated substantial resistance from different social and political circles. Looking into the future, we can outline the nature of the resistance from socio-political conservative and socio-political progressive forces. Such worldview conflicts can be particularly contentious on topics related to human behavior and human nature, as they tend to challenge the central tenants of these conflicting worldviews. There is also, however, a set of future conditions that would promote evolutionary psychology and the conceptual integration of behavioral science disciplines. These conditions include a strong understanding and value placed on scientific conceptual integration as well as support by science education that emphasizes critical thinking and inquiry. Evolutionary psychology would also be aided by hard protections (e.g., laws and regulations) against political interference in science. In addition to typical resistance to conceptual integrations, the success of evolutionary psychology depends on overcoming a number of counterintuitive aspects of how evolution by natural selection works. These include the difficulty of visualizing the evolutionary process, the long time scales involved in the evolution of complex adaptations, the seductiveness of mind/body dualism, and the human desire for immediate explanations of all phenomena.