Field Of Evolutionary Psychology Research Articles

Thriving with Stone Age Minds: Evolutionary Psychology, Christian Faith, and the Quest for Human Flourishing

Thriving with Stone Age Minds: Evolutionary Psychology, Christian Faith, and the Quest for Human Flourishing

Polygamy, State Racism, and the Return of Barbarism: The Coloniality of Evolutionary Psychology

This article examines the race-thinking and colonial reasoning circulating in two recent developments in Canadian law with respect to polygamous marriage: the Polygamy Reference (2011) that upheld the Criminal Code provision on polygamy and the Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act (2015). This legislation introduced changes to Canada’s immigration regulations, which include the practice of polygamy as a basis for refusing foreign applicants and deporting foreign nationals. I address how insights from the field of evolutionary psychology were applied in the Polygamy Reference and what discursive and material resonances they had in the Zero Tolerance Act. Drawing on the work of Sylvia Wynter, I situate these judicial and legal developments in relation to violence, within colonial formations of state power, and as forces supporting white supremacy through the continuing valorization of monogamy as a foundational aspect of social and sexual citizenship in Canada.

Sociobiology Against Globalization: Hypothetical Battle in the Field of Evolutionary Psychology

As like as the well-known dichotomy of ‘nature vs. nurture’, factually, always a continuous dialectic has been manifest in relation to different rules and guidelines for management of social, political and economic concerns of societies through history; possibly, because every epoch demands its specific strategy, which is dependent on different causes like mass of people, quantity of demands, quality of necessities, educational position, social expectations, public toleration, availability of resources, system of distribution, domestic happenings, class struggles, volume of investments, etc. The impact of sociopolitical or socio-economic conditions on social courses in an indisputable fact, which deserve enough attention by decision makers if they are in search of finding better systems for advancement of their societies. In the present paper, globalization, as the most important contemporary socioeconomic philosophy, has been contrasted with sociobiology, or according to some critics pop sociobiology, as the greatest organic scheme about social behavior of human being, which has been supposed in the last century, to see that, really and based on the former hypothetical or practical endeavors or aspirations, with a variety of outcomes, can the innermost self-centered drives of human being, including national egocentricity and independence, compromise with the said new plans, including globalism and worldwide economical collaboration, for making a better life and surroundings. On the other hand, while globalization and sociobiology have faith in contradictory outlines for social development and interaction, with definite proximate and ultimate mechanisms, is their coexistence possible, at any rate.

Sociobiology Against Globalization: Hypothetical Battle in the Field of Evolutionary Psychology

As like as the well-known dichotomy of ‘nature vs. nurture’, factually, always a continuous dialectic has been manifest in relation to different rules and guidelines for management of social, political and economic concerns of societies through history; possibly, because every epoch demands its specific strategy, which is dependent on different causes like mass of people, quantity of demands, quality of necessities, educational position, social expectations, public toleration, availability of resources, system of distribution, domestic happenings, class struggles, volume of investments, etc. The impact of sociopolitical or socio-economic conditions on social courses in an indisputable fact, which deserve enough attention by decision makers if they are in search of finding better systems for advancement of their societies. In the present paper, globalization, as the most important contemporary socioeconomic philosophy, has been contrasted with sociobiology, or according to some critics pop sociobiology, as the greatest organic scheme about social behavior of human being, which has been supposed in the last century, to see that, really and based on the former hypothetical or practical endeavors or aspirations, with a variety of outcomes, can the innermost self-centered drives of human being, including national egocentricity and independence, compromise with the said new plans, including globalism and worldwide economical collaboration, for making a better life and surroundings. On the other hand, while globalization and sociobiology have faith in contradictory outlines for social development and interaction, with definite proximate and ultimate mechanisms, is their coexistence possible, at any rate.

An Evolutionary Perspective on Appearance Enhancement Behavior.

Researchers have highlighted numerous sociocultural factors that have been shown to underpin human appearance enhancement practices, including the influence of peers, family, the media, and sexual objectification. Fewer scholars have approached appearance enhancement from an evolutionary perspective or considered how sociocultural factors interact with evolved psychology to produce appearance enhancement behavior. Following others, we argue that evidence from the field of evolutionary psychology can complement existing sociocultural models by yielding unique insight into the historical and cross-cultural ubiquity of competition over aspects of physical appearance to embody what is desired by potential mates. An evolutionary lens can help to make sense of reliable sex and individual differences that impact appearance enhancement, as well as the context-dependent nature of putative adaptations that function to increase physical attractiveness. In the current review, appearance enhancement is described as a self-promotion strategy used to enhance reproductive success by rendering oneself more attractive than rivals to mates, thereby increasing one's mate value. The varied ways in which humans enhance their appearance are described, as well as the divergent tactics used by women and men to augment their appearance, which correspond to the preferences of opposite-sex mates in a heterosexual context. Evolutionarily relevant individual differences and contextual factors that vary predictably with appearance enhancement behavior are also discussed. The complementarity of sociocultural and evolutionary perspectives is emphasized and recommended avenues for future interdisciplinary research are provided for scholars interested in studying appearance enhancement behavior.

From romantic jealousy to sympathetic joy: Monogamy, polyamory, and beyond

This paper explores how the extension of contemplative qualities to intimate relationships can transform human sexual/emotional responses and relationship choices. The paper reviews contemporary findings from the field of evolutionary psychology on the twin origins of jealousy and monogamy, argues for the possibility to transform jealousy into sympathetic joy (or compersion), addresses the common objections against polyamory (or nonmonogamy), and challenges the culturally prevalent belief that the only spiritually correct sexual options are either celibacy or (lifelong or serial) monogamy. To conclude, it is suggested that the cultivation of sympathetic joy in intimate bonds can pave the way to overcome the problematic dichotomy between monogamy and polyamory, grounding individuals in a radical openness to the dynamic unfolding of life that eludes any fixed relational identity or structure.

An Evolutionary Perspective on Risk Taking in Tourism

Informed by recent developments in the field of evolutionary psychology, we elicit novel insights about the causal relationship between the activation of mating motives and gender-specific preferences for risk taking in tourism. In this endeavor, across four experimental studies, we illustrate that the effect of activating mating motives on the propensity for risk-taking tourism will be greater for men than it is for women. That is, when mating motives were salient, men consistently displayed a greater preference for the choice of high-risk travel activities (studies 1A and 1B), adventurous destination choices (study 2), and adventurous appeals in travel advertising (study 3). Our findings offer important theoretical contributions to research into the role of gender in risk-taking tourism behaviors from the perspectives both of evolution-based theorizing and managerial implications for tourism practice.

Education Level and Mating Success: Undercover on Tinder

In this study, we examine the impact of an individual’s education level on her/his mating success by means of a field experiment on the mobile dating app Tinder, using a sample of 3,600 profile evaluations. In line with previous studies from the field of evolutionary psychology, our results indicate a heterogeneous effect of education level by gender: while females strongly prefer a highly educated potential partner, we cannot accept this hypothesis for males. Additionally, in contrast with previous literature on partner choice in an offline context and on classic online dating websites, we do not find any evidence for educational assortative mating, i.e. preferring a partner with a similar education level, on mobile dating apps such as Tinder. We argue that this is due to our research design, which allows us to examine actual (instead of stated) mate preferences in a dating market without search frictions and social frictions.

Dobre i złe w ludzkiej mowie – o wartościowaniu utrwalonym w dawnych przezwiskach

The aim of the present paper is the analysis of old nicknames which relate to the way in which our ancestors communicated. The subject of the analysis are proprial items, which were formed in order to indicate if the speakers were telling the truth, or whether they were gossiping, or saying too much, as well as items which evaluated a person because of articulatory features. The present paper is also an attempt to propose research into axiologically marked appelative anthroponyms within the methodology of cultural linguistics, complemented with biological contexts, especially research from the field of evolutionary psychology and biological anthropology.

Exposure to Violence and Attitudes Towards Transitional Justice

Transitional justice has emerged to address victims' needs as a means of restoring relations broken by violence. Yet we know little about victims' attitudes towards different transitional justice mechanisms. Why do some victims prioritize retributive justice while others favor other forms of dealing with the violent past? What determines victims' attitudes towards transitional justice policies? To address these questions, we offer a new theoretical framework that draws upon recent insights from the field of evolutionary psychology and links both war exposure and postwar environments to transitional justice preferences. We argue that both past experiences of wartime violence and present‐day social interdependence with perpetrators impact transitional justice preferences, but in divergent ways (resulting in greater support for retributive vs. restorative justice measures, respectively). To test our framework, we rely upon a 2013 representative survey of 1,007 respondents focusing on general population attitudes towards transitional justice in Bosnia two decades after the implementation of the Dayton Accords. Specifically, we examine the impact of displacement, return to prewar homes, loss of property, loss of a loved one, physical injury, imprisonment, and torture on attitudes towards transitional justice. On the whole, our findings confirm our two main hypotheses: Exposure to direct violence and losses is associated with more support for retributive justice measures, while greater present‐day interdependence with perpetrators is associated with more support for restorative justice measures. While acknowledging the legacy of wartime violence, we highlight the importance of the postwar context and institutional mechanisms that support victims in reconstructing their lives.

Veblen’s Two Types of Instinct and the Cognitive Foundations of Evolutionary-Institutional Economics

:In this article, I provide a detailed examination of Thorstein Veblen’s conception of instincts, what he believed were the “prime movers in human behavior.” I outline the meaning of his division of instincts into simple and complex forms, and also document his account of their operational function and evolutionary origins. I then evaluate this understanding in relation to the new field of evolutionary psychology, and demonstrate how Veblen conceived of these instincts as interacting with habits and institutions. Finally, I illustrate one method of how the bio-cognitive level of behavioral reality could be integrated with the socio-institutional level of behavioral reality, and how an intermediate-interactive level between these two could have been generated. By doing so, I emphasize the need for scientifically accurate cognitive foundations to evolutionary-institutional economics (EIE)

Poetic Justice and Edith Wharton's “Xingu”: An Evolutionary Psychological Approach

Abstract Insights generated in the emerging field of evolutionary psychology offer a useful new framework for examining Edith Wharton's “Xingu.” The satiric wit energizing this well-known short story depends in large measure upon the obtuseness of its central characters, who embrace counterfactual estimations of their gifts and attainments: thwarting the operations of poetic justice in order to protect social reputation and self-image, they become objects of derision. Their behavior illustrates the workings of adaptive mechanisms for self-deception. Insofar as their comically exaggerated commitment to false self-presentation illustrates universal features of evolved human nature, the target of Wharton's scorn is accordingly enlarged. Her narrative spotlights the psychological processes that sustain self-deception and scapegoating, raising serious questions concerning human claims to rational thought and ethical principle.

‘Porn Trouble’

In this article, I explore the emergent relationship between feminist media studies/cultural studies and the field of Evolutionary Psychology (EP). EP scholars increasingly conduct research on media and popular culture. At the same time, media/ted texts are increasingly marked by EP discourses. I take as my focus commercial women's online magazines produced in the UK and in Spain and accessed globally. Specifically, I explore a recurrent thread in their discussion forums: women expressing confusion, concern, disappointment, hurt and/or self-doubt, and asking for advice on discovering that their male partners consume various pornographies. A feminist poststructuralist discursive analysis is developed to explore both peer-to-peer and editorial advice on such ‘porn trouble’. I show how pseudo-scientific discourses give support to a narrative of male immutability and female adaptation in heterosexual relationships, and examine how these constructions are informed by EP accounts of sexual difference. The article offers empirical insights into the penetration of EP logics and narratives into popular culture transnationally. Advancing the notion of ‘postfeminist biologism’, my analysis contributes to feminist interrogations of EP's ongoing popularity in the face of sound, longstanding and widespread criticism of it as scientifically flawed and culturally pernicious.

On accusations of exceptional male bias in evolutionary psychology: Placing sex differences in citation counts in proper evidentiary contexts.

The scientific field of evolutionary psychology has been characterized by some as particularly male-biased. For example, Meredith (2013) recently suggested a conspicuous undercitation of women exists in evolutionary psychology, and this exceptional male bias “has led to evolutionary psychology being better described as men’s psychology as it is men’s voices that are heard through their publication dominance” (p. 358). Evidence of biases in scholarly citation rates—whether in the form of sex, ethnicity, or national origin bias—have been recognized as problematic issues across many scholarly disciplines. Several sources of new evidence are used to more fully evaluate these claims regarding evolutionary psychology. It is concluded that compared with science generally, and high profile publishing in psychology specifically, evolutionary psychology is relatively unbiased in its citations of men and women. Many more women are needed in the field of evolutionary psychology to meet its full promise. As a field, evolutionary psychology (and psychology more generally) needs to go further and investigate how unconscious biases affect how men and women remember or seek out citations. Fortunately, an evolutionary understanding of psychological sex differences is likely to provide a compelling framework for studying these very issues.

Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold Clinton Machann (bio) 2012 was a productive year in Arnold studies. James Walter Caufield's monograph Overcoming Matthew Arnold (Ashgate) was already discussed in last year's essay, and now I want to emphasize substantive articles that feature some new readings of Arnold's poetry, including individual poems that are frequently studied by scholars: "Dover Beach," Empedocles on Etna, "Thyrsis," and "The Scholar-Gipsy." I will begin with Margaret H. Freeman's "The Aesthetics of Human Experience: Minding, Metaphor, and Icon in Poetic Expression" (Poetics Today 32, no. 4 [2011]: 717-752). This article (which appeared in 2012) has wide-ranging implications for the study of poetry that should be of interest to all readers of Victorian Poetry, but it focuses on her reading of Arnold's "Dover Beach." Freeman argues that cognitive scientists should incorporate aesthetic insights associated with intuition and imagination into their study of the arts. She cites the work of the philosopher Giambattista Vico (1668-1744), along with that of twentieth-century scholars Susanne K. Langer and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, but she wants to link this line of thought to developments in the cognitive sciences, and I think her arguments are consistent with recent work in the field of evolutionary psychology which associates the mental predispositions shaped by evolution with the arts. In her discussion of "Dover Beach," she deals with Arnold's use of metaphor in terms of "the interrelationship of physical sensory impressions and responses in the brain," and I am pleased to quote her reference to Arnold's poem as "one of the best-known poems in the English language" (p. 735). Freeman claims that her reading of the poem differs from those of earlier literary critics and cognitive psychologists and linguists because it focuses on the reader's experience of "felt life," and she emphasizes "domain crossing" as the reader imagines the sights and sounds portrayed in the poem. The poetic images are explored in depth as we approach the final stanza, in which the speaker "rejects the idea that endows the external world with human feeling" (p. 745). Freeman's main point is that a study of poetic expression in terms of human imagination should be central to scientists' study of the human mind and of course this is solidly in the Arnoldian tradition. In "'Poor Faun! Poor Faun!': A Nietzschean reading of Empedocles on Etna" (VP 50, no. 2. [2012]: 147-166), Roslyn Jolly focuses on the violent execution of the faun Marsyas as well as Empedocles' fatal leap into the crater of the volcano, as she offers new insights into this widely discussed but problematic [End Page 337] poem which in effect signals the end of Arnold's poetic career. She refers to Nietzsche's analysis of a struggle between Apollonian and Dionysian forces in The Birth of Tragedy (1872) as she explores Arnold's engagement with similar conflicts. Inspired by the songs of his youthful friend Callicles, Empedocles does momentarily recover a feeling of joy in union with nature, but this feeling is illusory. In her analysis Jolly emphasizes Arnold's insight into civilization's estrangement from nature, which he repressed in his critical writings: "In effect, the censoring of Arnold the poet by Arnold the critic was manifested as a silencing of Empedocles by Callicles" (p. 31) and Arnold's Culture and Anarchy (1869) "might be sub-titled 'The Triumph of Apollo'" (p. 32). But prior to that, the "nature-culture" conflict can be seen in other writings, including the poems "The Scholar Gypsy" (1853) and "Thyrsis" (1866), in which the remedy for the "disease of modern life" is sought in nature rather than culture, and in the essay "Maurice de Guérin" (1863), in which Arnold explores a sense of nature as sacred. Of course the split between Arnold's "two literary careers" has been discussed by various scholars. Philosophical pessimism in Arnold's poetry is stressed in Alan Grob's influential study A Longing Like Despair (2002), in which Arnold is compared to the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Grob argues that it is only Arnold the poet, not Arnold the cultural critic, who can be meaningfully labeled a philosophical pessimist; however, he suggests that...

Book Review: At the Crossroad of Evolutionary Psychology and Feminism

Evolutionary psychology a hybrid field that informed by diverse disciplines. In spite of the integration of an evolutionary psychology perspective into varied fields including, but not limited to, biology, psychology, anthropology, sociology, economics, and primatology, the assimilation of evolutionary paradigms into the realms of feminist research has seemed, at best, narrow, and at worst, misguided. Fisher, Garcia, and Chang have come together to produce Evolution's Empress , an edited volume that attempts to create a fresh dialogue between those in the field of evolutionary psychology and those in women's studies. The book's preface offers an excellent summary of the challenges that exist to bridge the two fields. This section written impartially and attributes misunderstandings among scholars in both camps to a lack of understanding of the basic tenets of the opponent's field. In doing so, the authors stress how theories of what is (empirically shown) from evolutionary psychology, and ideas of what ought to be (morally achieved) from women's studies, might one day resonate together in a unified framework. However, in parallel to this discussion, the authors note that their intent for compiling the book was to clarify the role of women in evolution. The desire to promote the theme of active women in evolution can lead to an equally misrepresentative view of male inactiveness. One way to alleviate this issue could have been to also integrate topics where both men and women had faced the same selection pressures throughout evolutionary history, thereby stressing the sameness of the sexes in these areas. Indeed, as the authors note, sex differences are one of the most contentious arenas for integration of the two fields. In stating this omission, we recognize more generally that the book far from comprehensive and acknowledge that the authors themselves grant this in the introduction. An important consideration about this book that it was intended for readers from both evolutionary psychology and women's studies backgrounds and therefore it seeks to combine theory from two fields rather than summarize it. Ultimately, the authors succeed in establishing a discussion on the integration of women's studies and

Evolutionary Psychology, Cognitive Function, and Deterrence

For decades deterrence has been understood to depend largely on psychology—convincing an adversary that certain actions are not in the adversary's best interests. However, beyond a token mention, contemporary discussions of deterrence seldom examine further the role of psychology and brain function in human decision making in matters of war and violence. Instead, deterrence planners typically rely on the rational actor model as a convenient simplifying assumption. The rational actor model itself is comprised of corollary assumptions that do not comport with scientific findings or empirical evidence from historical studies. This article examines the development of the human brain, human cognition (the process of knowing), and relevant findings from the field of evolutionary psychology, as well as various factors that affect brain function and decision making. The discussion herein of psychology, human cognition, and deterrence suggests the inadequacy of the rational actor model for deterrence planning and offers a few useful guidelines as an alternative.

Survival of the Depressed: The Discourse of Darwinian Psychiatry

Evolution by natural selection has provided one of the grand narratives of the modern era and a way to build stories about the origin and features of organic life. Biologizing aspects of human behavior and society has been a recurrent theme and, although recognized as having led to abuses like eugenics, it has never disappeared. It exists today in the field of evolutionary psychology and its offshoot, Darwinian psychiatry. This fledgling discipline posits the mind as developing during the long period of hunter-gatherer existence, with some emotional states and behaviors now maladapted to modern society. The texts that employ this mismatch theory to explain phobias and depression contain an unstable mixture of narrative techniques and metaphoric uses of computers, electronic technology, the discourse of economics, of architecture, among others. A frequent technique is to make literal jumps between defense mechanisms of lower-order animals and fearful emotional states in humans. The origins of depression thus become a subject discussed with rhetorical naïveté that interweaves figurative language with sometimes contradictory images. Darwin would not be pleased.

Evolutionary selection and variation in family businesses

PurposeThis qualitative study attempts to understand what kinds of evolutionary selection and variation occur in family businesses during the preparation of a managerial and ownership succession.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted by interviewing members of one family business in Louisiana, USA and one in Finland in order to contribute to the understanding of succession preparation in small family businesses with two generations. Evolutionary economics was adapted for this interdisciplinary study to explain evolutionary changes in a family business succession.FindingsThe findings indicate that both selection and variation can take place through different routes during the preparatory phase of a family business succession. Selection is influenced both by the founder and next generations. However, it does not occur in company A due to the reluctance of the younger generation. In company B selection is processed through joint thinking and visioning. This will lead to variation which is shaped by both generations.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is based on qualitative interpretation. Limitations of the study are the small number of informants and the lack of generalization of the results.Practical implicationsThis study shows that selection and variation are intertwined. If selection does not occur in a family business, it leads to no variation between the generations. However, exits are possible; death and birth of companies are part of the life cycle of family businesses.Originality/valueEvolutionary thinking has not been studied recently among family firms except in the field of evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary thinking offers a variety of topics to study in the future.

Darwin, God, and the meaning of life: how evolutionary theory undermines everything you thought you knew

If you accept evolutionary theory, can you also believe in God? Are human beings superior to other animals, or is this just a human prejudice? Does Darwin have implications for heated issues like euthanasia and animal rights? Does evolution tell us the purpose of life, or does it imply that life has no ultimate purpose? Does evolution tell us what is morally right and wrong, or does it imply that ultimately 'nothing' is right or wrong? In this fascinating and intriguing book, Steve Stewart-Williams addresses these and other fundamental philosophical questions raised by evolutionary theory and the exciting new field of evolutionary psychology. Drawing on biology, psychology and philosophy, he argues that Darwinian science supports a view of a godless universe devoid of ultimate purpose or moral structure, but that we can still live a good life and a happy life within the confines of this view.