The relationship between universal psychological foundations and individual developmental trajectories remains a central challenge in contemporary psychology and social sciences. While species-level traits such as empathy, cooperation, and cognitive flexibility are widely recognized as evolutionary universals, the mechanisms through which these shared predispositions are transformed into socially situated forms of individuality remain insufficiently conceptualized. This article proposes social thinking as a key mediating mechanism between species-level traits and individual development within sociocultural contexts. Social thinking is conceptualized as an integrative and reflexive capacity that enables individuals to interpret social reality, navigate normative expectations, and position themselves meaningfully within relational and institutional systems. Drawing on evolutionary psychology, sociocultural theory, personality psychology, and narrative approaches, the article demonstrates how social thinking translates universal psychological potentials into individualized developmental trajectories. Particular attention is given to the role of cultural norms, institutional recognition, and contextual plasticity in shaping diverse forms of social thinking, including both visible and quiet modes of social presence. The proposed framework contributes to integrative models of personality development and offers implications for education, talent development, and psychosocial support systems by highlighting social thinking as a core developmental resource that sustains both personal distinctiveness and social embeddedness.

Abstract Two research branches in evolutionary psychology can make similar predictions about treatment expectations in contexts of conflict of interest, where, for those involved, costs and benefits are at stake. Recalibrational Theory of Anger suggests that evolved psychological mechanisms operate at the cognitive level and regulate human behavior. The Dark Triad Personality posits that traits of Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy confer adaptive advantages, leading individuals to prioritize their interests over those of others. This study aimed to replicate the results of Sell et al. (2017) in a Brazilian sample (Replication Analysis) and investigated whether dark triad traits predict the magnitude of anger in conflict-of-interest situations (Extension Analysis). Replication Analysis consistently replicated previous findings, with effect sizes from moderate to large magnitudes. Extension Analysis revealed that only Narcissism was a significant predictor when victims were intentionally targeted by offenders. While the Recalibrational Theory of Anger predictions were largely confirmed, the dark triad personality traits, except for Narcissism, were generally poor predictors of anger magnitude. The results suggest that the universality of the information processing is robust and is little influenced by antisocial personality characteristics.

ABSTRACT This essay critically examines whether ethical naturalization – understood as the grounding of moral inquiry in empirical sciences – can resolve enduring normative disputes. Focusing specifically on the conflict between retributivist and consequentialist justifications of punishment, we investigate whether naturalistic approaches (drawing on evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics), in addition to explaining the origins and persistence of moral intuitions and practices, can also justify their normative authority. Scientific naturalists seek to reduce or replace normative ethics with descriptive accounts, often deploying evolutionary debunking arguments to challenge moral realism. Liberal naturalists, by contrast, integrate empirical insights without eliminating irreducible normativity. Through analysis of punishment theories, this article argues that, while naturalization sheds light on the evolutionary roots of retributive intuitions (e.g. adaptive cooperation mechanisms) and highlights neuroscientific challenges to free will, thus reinforcing consequentialist explanations, it nevertheless fails to adjudicate which theory is morally superior, since empirical explanations do not bridge the is-ought gap (Hume’s problem). The resulting stalemate highlights naturalization’s explanatory adequacy but normative insufficiency. The essay concludes by advocating a pluralistic integration in line with liberal naturalism, where science informs, but does not replace, philosophical reflection on ethical justification.

With AI agents increasingly deployed, their failures demand strategies to sustain user forgiveness. While post-failure remedies are well-studied, there is still limited literature on how kindchenschema cuteness facilitate user forgiveness to ensure an opportunity for system improvement and user maintenance. Grounded in evolutionary psychology, this study examines how kindchenschema cuteness affects forgiveness toward failing AI agents. Using multi-method approach (behavioral experiments, eye-tracking, ECG), we reveal: (1) kindchenschema cuteness triggers dual forgiveness pathways: enhancing emotional empathy via perceived warmth while boosting cognitive tolerance via perceived competence; (2) novice personality framing strengthens this effect, particularly for high severity failures; and (3) physiological evidence confirms users' attentional bias toward kindchenschema features (prolonged fixation) and increased emotional arousal (higher ECG changes). These findings bridge evolutionary psychology with human-AI interaction by validating biologically rooted kindchenschema cute response mechanisms. For practitioners, we offer insights for designing failure resistant AI agents through strategic anthropomorphism and personality framing.

The article aims to present and discuss the profound right-libertarian approach to marriage and the reasons for its dissolution. It also compares contemporary libertarian contributions to the subject with the achievements of evolutionary psychology, a recent development of the Darwinian approach, considering that early libertarianism has been associated with social Darwinism. The article underscores that most libertarians perceive marriage as a contract; however, more conservative right-libertarians emphasize the social value of this institution instead of the form of its arrangement, a perspective that holds significant implications for the issue under study. Evolutionary psychology investigates and explains human behaviors and attitudes as evolutionary adaptations, which concerns, e.g., differences in involvement in child-rearing between the two sexes. Both the libertarian and evolutionary approaches reach similar conclusions regarding the topic at hand. They view marriage as a means for spouses to support each other mutually and argue that this purpose is undermined if another entity can take on the role of one of the spouses. Libertarians believe that the state, particularly the welfare state, replaces spouses in their functions, leading to higher divorce rates. Advocates of evolutionary psychology can subscribe to this claim.

ABSTRACT In this short commentary I engage with Parnaby’s evolutionary account of stigma. Using the same examples of mental illness, homelessness, and bullying, I posit that while evolutionary explanation may describe a general capacity for exclusion, the expression and targets of stigma are largely shaped by cultural and social contexts.

Abstract: The burgeoning field of evolutionary psychiatry seeks to apply an evolutionary perspective to the study of mental disorders. Although this approach has already shown promise, it is replete with philosophical complexity. There is currently only a limited literature broaching this. To this end, in this paper we clarify the main five academic disciplines which can contribute to epistemology of EP, before focusing specifically on delineating four key theoretical contributions from evolutionary psychology which EP can draw upon. These are a weak adaptationist approach to the mind; the concept of the environment of evolutionary adaptedness; a description of the mind on a functional level of analysis, in terms of evolved functional mechanisms; and how to use the hypothetico-deductive method to test evolutionary hypotheses about minds. Throughout, we highlight how appreciating these epistemic insights from the evolutionary psychology literature is instructive for EP researchers in improving their hypothesizing about psychiatric conditions. We conclude by suggesting future directions for EP, based upon our philosophical analysis.

Are Saudi classrooms ready for an interdisciplinarity that utilizes evolutionary biology in teaching fiction?

Economic downturns typically depress aggregate consumption, yet a subset of affordable luxuries in beauty often displays counter-cyclical resiliencea pattern popularized as the lipstick effect. This paper synthesizes multi-disciplinary evidence to examine how and why beauty consumption preferences shift during recessions. Building on evolutionary psychology and affect-regulation accounts, we review experiments and spending data that document elevated demand for attractiveness-enhancing goods (e.g., color cosmetics) when recessionary cues are salient, as well as retail-therapy mechanisms whereby making purchase decisions restores perceived control and alleviates negative affect. We then triangulate these mechanisms with macro/industry observations from the UK (e.g., 2023 sector growth despite macro headwinds) and with pandemic-era disruptions that reweighted category mix (skincare up, color cosmetics down under masking, followed by a partial rebound). We detail consumer heterogeneity (gender, life-stage, pricevalue calculus) and channel dynamics (e-commerce acceleration), and we translate these insights into a set of evidence-based managerial recommendations on assortment, pricing architecture, pack sizes, claims, messaging, and measurement. We conclude by specifying boundary conditions, mixed findings, and priorities for future research. Throughout, we privilege peer-reviewed studies and authoritative industry reports, aligning the discussion with the terminological and rhetorical preferences of the cited literature.

Objectives: 26.4% and 26.2% of men and women respectively live with obesity in the United Kingdom. But more women with obesity in the United Kingdom seek care than men in similar condition. The reason for this gender disparity is unknown. This paper, therefore, is a call for scientific investigations to be carried out to find answers to the determinants of gender disparity in obesity care in the United Kingdom. Study design/Methods: This is a narrative review and by using the keywords “obesity in the United Kingdom”, “obesity care in the United Kingdom”, “gender disparity in obesity care” and “gender disparity in obesity care in the United Kingdom”, evidence was searched from the international literature to include 42 articles from 13 sources to this paper. Result: Determinants of gender disparity in the United Kingdom are unknown but there are possible reasons as discovered from other settings such as the psychological factors- Gender Role Conflict or the Drive for Muscularity. Other possible factors include, discrimination and stereotyping, or in the case of surgery, the relegation of its importance as “vanity” and/or “valueless”, and the fear of surgery which is considered too risky. Conclusion: A qualitative study is highly recommended that would be headed by the collaboration of an evolutionary psychologist with special interest in male psychology and health behaviour, and a patient-centred obesity and metabolic care clinician or surgeon to effectively identify and understand the determinants behind the gender disparity in obesity care in the United Kingdom.

How has human culture become so complex? We argue that a key process is social tinkering: the gradual accumulation of ad hoc innovations to the social rules that coordinate behavior in response to immediate challenges. Momentary innovations provide precedents that can be reused, entrenched, adapted and recombined to handle future challenges. Interactions between these social rules create rich cultural systems (languages, ethics, political organization) of increasing complexity through processes of spontaneous order, not deliberate design. To explain the historical emergence of cumulative cultural complexity, we distinguish between six overlapping and interacting stages: (1) non-social tinkering to solve problems in the natural world; (2) learning and copying from the tinkering of others; (3) social tinkering involving jointly agreeing on momentary conventions to coordinate interactions, typically for mutual benefit; (4) creating communicative conventions (language) to support more complex social interactions; (5) social tinkering of linguistically-formulated cultural rules leading to laws, organizations, institutions, etc.; and (6) tinkering with linguistically-formulated non-social knowledge, allowing for the creation of science and technology. The rich interplay of innovation across the six stages is crucial for explaining increasing cultural and organizational complexity and our collective mastery of the natural world. Because social and non-social tinkering requires two different kinds of learning, this analysis has important implications for the understanding of human learning and cognition, including moral and evolutionary psychology, theory of mind, and the view of the child-as-scientist. Social tinkering also has substantial implications for current theories of cultural evolution.

Height is a highly visible and socially significant physical characteristic that influences numerous psychosocial outcomes, yet height dissatisfaction - negative evaluation of one’s own height - remains an underexplored dimension of body image research. Our narrative review synthesizes the current scope of literature on height and height dissatisfaction, highlighting their associations with psychological correlates such as self-esteem, body image concerns, and mental health symptoms including anxiety and depression. Theoretical perspectives from evolutionary psychology and sociocultural frameworks, including the Tripartite Influence Model, were applied to elucidate potential origins and maintenance of height dissatisfaction. While empirical research remains limited, particularly, regarding clinical populations and female height dissatisfaction, emerging findings underscore the complex interplay between biological, psychological, and social factors of height. Recommendations for future research emphasize the need for more comprehensive and validated measures of height dissatisfaction that capture both desires to be taller or shorter, as well as related cognitive, affective, and behavioral components. Our review aims to advance understanding of height dissatisfaction as a unique aspect of body image, with important implications for clinical practice and psychosocial interventions.

A gender bias that disadvantages women is ubiquitous in academia. It has been demonstrated across a broad range of domains, including grant awards and peer review. Previous research has also found that this bias is reflected in textbooks. Here we evaluated seven books on evolutionary psychology, five of which were edited volumes. We assessed whether (1) women were less likely to be indexed than men and (2) women were less likely to be a contributor to edited volumes than men. In addition, we examined which women were featured in more than one book. Using descriptive statistics and meta-analytical techniques, we found that around 1 in 4 entries in the book indexes were women, and around 4 in 10 contributors to edited volumes were women. We discuss the potential mechanisms that could produce these findings. Finally, we offer suggestions on how the inclusion of women in citations could be improved.

Background: Human relationships, especially in the context of long-term romantic partnerships, are subject to various survival challenges. In All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover, the characters Quinn and Graham navigate the challenges of infertility through their evolving relationship. Literary Darwinism, inspired by evolutionary psychology, serves as the theoretical foundation to explore the resilience of human relationships. Aims: This study employs a literary Darwinian perspective on the resilience of human relationships in the novel All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover, focusing on the challenges of infertility. Methods: The research employs qualitative methods to analyze All Your Perfects through the lens of literary Darwinism. The study examines the characters' motives for mate selection and their use of imagination as a coping mechanism within the context of infertility. Primary data is drawn from the novel, while secondary data includes sources from evolutionary psychology and literary criticism. Result: The study reveals that Quinn and Graham’s relationship is anchored in mutual dependence, emotional support, and shared experiences. Despite their infertility, their commitment to each other remains strong, largely due to their ability to navigate challenges through imagination. The characters’ evolving perceptions of their relationship highlight how imagination fosters resilience and long-term survival in relationships. Implication: This research underscores the importance of understanding human mating preferences and the role of imagination in sustaining relationships, especially in the face of fertility challenges. It suggests that literary Darwinism offers valuable insights into human behaviors, providing a deeper understanding of relationship dynamics in literature. Further research could expand on the application of evolutionary psychology in contemporary romantic literature.

Evolutionary Psychology and the Crisis of Empirical Rigor in Feminist Studies

The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has led to the emergence of mimicomorphic, emotional products such as AI companions and emotional companion robots, forcing humans to consider for the first time whether nonliving organisms can replace traditional partners. Therefore, from both psychological and sociological perspectives, it is necessary to propose and explore, from an interdisciplinary perspective, how far AI products can replace traditional intimate interpersonal relationships. On the basis of theories of psychoanalysis and evolutionary psychology and in combination with the basic situation of the target users, a human‒machine mutual trust model is proposed and constructed, namely, the three foundations of human‒machine mutual trust, namely, ability, kindness and integrity. The risk of a crisis in the human‒machine relationship is further quantified as a model. Although AI products offer stable, controllable and low-risk emotional companionship and can better meet users' specific psychological needs and have good application prospects in assisting child-rearing, they lack genuine subjectivity, empathy and social embeddedness and are limited in the dimensions of “deep connection” and “common development”, which replace traditional relationships. Therefore, AI products should not be regarded as substitutes for existing intimate relationships but rather as supplements or even “fallbacks” to the original intimate relationships of people. In the future development of human‒machine interactions, people need to coordinate the relationship between technological development and humanistic orientation, build a new model of human‒machine coevolution, and form a “spiritual home”.

The social context for human social interactions between modern urban contexts and ancestral, small-scale contexts is different in many important ways. Before the advent of agriculture, all people lived in small-scale social contexts and were surrounded by kin and other familiar others. As these conditions characterized the lion’s share of human evolutionary history, we can expect much of our social psychology to be more designed for such small-scale contexts than for large-scale contexts. The study described here specifically predicted that informal forms of making an agreement (such as a handshake, which is more similar to how contracts are sealed in small-scale societies) would be weighted more heavily by people who are given an option to break a contract in a small-scale context. On the other hand, we predicted that people who are framed to think about large-scale social contexts will give more weight to written contracts. Using a 2*2 between-groups design (with 200 young adult participants), this interaction-based hypothesis was supported. We also found that, apart from experimental conditions, participants who reported coming from urban backgrounds were more likely to break a deal of any kind relative to others. Implications for cultivating prosocial outcomes against this backdrop are discussed.

IntroductionAs artificial intelligence (AI) technologies become increasingly integrated into organizational teamwork, managing communication breakdowns in human–AI collaboration has emerged as a significant managerial challenge. Although AI-empowered teams often achieve enhanced efficiency, misunderstandings—especially those caused by AI agents during information exchange—can undermine team trust and impair performance. The mechanisms underlying these effects remain insufficiently explored.MethodsGrounded in evolutionary psychology and trust theory, this study employed a 2 (team type: human–AI vs. human–human) × 2 (misunderstanding type: information omission vs. ambiguous expression) experimental design. A total of 126 valid participants were assigned to collaboratively complete a planning and writing task for a popular science social media column with their respective teammates.ResultsThe findings indicate that information omissions caused by AI agents significantly reduce team trust, which in turn hinders communication efficiency and overall performance. Conversely, the negative impact of ambiguous expressions is moderated by the level of team trust; teams with higher trust demonstrate greater adaptability and resilience. Moderated mediation analyses further reveal that team type influences the dynamic pathway from misunderstanding to trust and performance.DiscussionThis research advances theoretical understanding of misunderstanding management in human–AI teams and provides practical insights for optimizing AI systems and fostering effective human–machine collaboration.

Morality is a pervasive characteristic of human societies, with social norms and codes of conduct defining acceptable and unacceptable behaviors across cultures. Our evolved moral sense facilitates group living by regulating interpersonal interactions and promoting cooperation beyond the bounds of kinship ties. Moral beliefs that are held with high certainty and perceived as absolute and universally applicable can motivate a strong commitment to justice and benevolent collective action. They also have a darker side. Moral conviction can foster dogmatism, intolerance, and punitive actions, including vigilantism and violence. This article integrates theories and empirical evidence from evolutionary social psychology, cognitive science, political psychology, and neuroscience to examine both the ultimate and proximate mechanisms of moral conviction. This interdisciplinary approach clarifies the functional architecture and potential deleterious consequences of moral conviction.

Why do we hurt people in the name of morality? Here we elaborate on the theory that moral judgment is an evolutionary strategy for choosing sides in conflicts. Hurting wrongdoers is part of the strategy. Morality may seem like a guiding light for cooperation, but it is actually closely tied to aggression. As a result, moral condemnation is not always good: It is a gamble that risks punishing the innocent and inflaming hostilities between factions. These dangers are obscured by confusing morality with benevolence. Thus, we examine how moral judgment fundamentally differs from benevolence and goodness. The argument appeals to evolutionary psychology, moral psychology, and what we will call the method of natural language. Accordingly, we will minimize jargon and scholarly accounting to address a general audience across the many disciplines concerned with morality. The final section provides a concise review of the essential literatures for further reading.