Abstract
Many detractors of evolutionary psychology (EP) presume that adaptive arguments are nothing more than whimsical and unfalsifiable just-so stories. The reality though is that the epistemology of EP is precisely the opposite of this antiquated canard in that it fixes the evidentiary threshold much higher than is typically achieved by most scientists. EP amasses evidence across cultures, time periods, disciplines, paradigms, methodologies, and units of analyses in validating a given scientific explanation. These nomological networks of cumulative evidence stimulate greater interdisciplinarity, lesser methodological myopia, and increased consilience (unity of knowledge). A component in building such nomological networks is to examine phenomena that are cross-culturally invariant (human universals) versus those that vary cross-culturally as adaptive responses (the domain of behavioral ecologists and gene-culture coevolution modelers). The epistemological efficacy of this unique approach is highlighted using two cases studies, the sex-specificity of toy preferences and men’s preference for the hourglass figure.
Highlights
Many critics of evolutionary psychology (EP) wrongly presume that the field is largely focused on identifying human universals while ignoring cross-cultural differences (Saad, 2011, p. 27, claim 4)
This speaks to the fact that many social scientists remain bound to the false naturenurture dichotomy while evolutionary behavioral scientists have long recognized that culture does not exist outside of our biological heritage
I demonstrate this crucial point by highlighting the manner by which cultural expressions are often necessary elements when building a nomological network of cumulative evidence in support of an evolutionary argument
Summary
Reviewed by: Adam Safron, Indiana University, United States Paul Badcock, The University of Melbourne, Australia. The reality though is that the epistemology of EP is precisely the opposite of this antiquated canard in that it fixes the evidentiary threshold much higher than is typically achieved by most scientists. EP amasses evidence across cultures, time periods, disciplines, paradigms, methodologies, and units of analyses in validating a given scientific explanation. These nomological networks of cumulative evidence stimulate greater interdisciplinarity, lesser methodological myopia, and increased consilience (unity of knowledge). The epistemological efficacy of this unique approach is highlighted using two cases studies, the sex-specificity of toy preferences and men’s preference for the hourglass figure
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