The uniquely predictive power of evolutionary approaches to mind and behavior

Abstract

Barrett et al. (2014) argue that the primary contribution of evolutionary psychology (EP), as defined by the Santa Barbara school (Cosmides and Tooby, 1987; see also Laland and Brown, 2011) is the conception of the mind as a collection of separate, domain-specific mental modules that evolved to solve specific adaptive problems. This, they argue, means that EP does not represent a true alternative to computational models of mind and is therefore not a significant advance on more traditional cognitive approaches. Instead, they recommend that e-cognition, and in particular the concept of the extended mind, can best enhance our understanding of human mind and behavior. While we appreciate Barrett et al.'s enthusiasm for an interesting and relatively new approach to understanding mind and behavior, we argue here that, independent of the veracity of the concept of massive modularity (which is an empirical question; Barrett et al., 2014; Burke, 2014; Stephen, 2014), an evolutionary approach provides a substantial advance in the understanding of mind and behavior. Here, we make two main arguments. First, we argue that a full understanding of mind, brain and behavior requires the consideration of all four of Tinbergen's levels of explanation, which can only be achieved by approaching the problem through the lens of evolution (independent of the assumption of massive, domain-specific modularity, or of any other model). Second, we argue that the embodied cognition approach advocated by Barrett et al. (2014) is actually better understood as an extension of traditional causal (mechanistic), and ontogenetic (developmental) approaches than as a revolutionary approach in its own right, and therefore is best examined through the lens of evolution.