Evolutionary Psychology
Ev Psych is more than just another topic of study in Psychology. Unlike traditional topics such as learning, perception, or social behavior, it can serve as a framework, a construct for approaching all the topics that lie under the body of knowledge we have of the human mind that we call " psychology". It is a way of thinking about psychology that can be applied to any topic. For this reason, we will address this and the entire concept of biopsychology first. In that way we can apply these ideas to other topics as we address them during the year. This mirrors the general trend in the field, and the significant advances being made in neuroscience.
As the name implies, this discipline is based on the work of Charles Darwin. So let's address a common misunderstanding about evolution. The term "theory" is used differently in science than it is in popular culture, as in "I have a theory about why Angela won't go out with me." This confusion exists because most people confuse the term "theory" with the term "hypothesis." Evolution is as firmly grounded in reality (and scientific testing) as is Newton's theory of gravitation.
If you find yourself feeling uncomfortable about evolution from a religious perspective, that is a perfectly valid viewpoint which I will respect in this class. To quote my own physician, "evolution is God's greatest miracle." I find this a reasonable compromise. If you still have concerns, allow me to recommend two excellent books on the topic:
Roughgarden, Evolution and Christian Faith: Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist, Island Press, 2006
Collins, The Language of God: a Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, Free Press, 2007
However, regardless of your opinion about evolution, we will proceed in this class stipulating that as a discipline, psychology recognizes the value of evolution in understanding the human organism.
In the last pages of Origin of the Species, Darwin predicted the advent of modern psychology. "In the distant future I see open fields for far more important researches. Psychology will be based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradiation." At the time of these words (1859), psychology and philosophy were, for all practical purposes, synonymous. As we'll see as we explore the history of psychology, the separation of those terms was a troubled, and at times, contentious process. But Darwin was once again correct. Within 30 years, William James was making the same connection. In his 1890 book Principals, James talks a lot about "instincts." He was referring more or less, to specialized neural circuits that are common to every member of our species that are the result of our evolutionary history. Together, these circuits make up what we often refer to as "human nature".
As the name implies, this discipline is based on the work of Charles Darwin. So let's address a common misunderstanding about evolution. The term "theory" is used differently in science than it is in popular culture, as in "I have a theory about why Angela won't go out with me." This confusion exists because most people confuse the term "theory" with the term "hypothesis." Evolution is as firmly grounded in reality (and scientific testing) as is Newton's theory of gravitation.
If you find yourself feeling uncomfortable about evolution from a religious perspective, that is a perfectly valid viewpoint which I will respect in this class. To quote my own physician, "evolution is God's greatest miracle." I find this a reasonable compromise. If you still have concerns, allow me to recommend two excellent books on the topic:
Roughgarden, Evolution and Christian Faith: Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist, Island Press, 2006
Collins, The Language of God: a Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, Free Press, 2007
However, regardless of your opinion about evolution, we will proceed in this class stipulating that as a discipline, psychology recognizes the value of evolution in understanding the human organism.
In the last pages of Origin of the Species, Darwin predicted the advent of modern psychology. "In the distant future I see open fields for far more important researches. Psychology will be based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradiation." At the time of these words (1859), psychology and philosophy were, for all practical purposes, synonymous. As we'll see as we explore the history of psychology, the separation of those terms was a troubled, and at times, contentious process. But Darwin was once again correct. Within 30 years, William James was making the same connection. In his 1890 book Principals, James talks a lot about "instincts." He was referring more or less, to specialized neural circuits that are common to every member of our species that are the result of our evolutionary history. Together, these circuits make up what we often refer to as "human nature".
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Now one doesn't usually apply the term "instincts" to human beings. Instincts are what animals have. We have reached the top of the evolutionary totem pole exactly because we have resisted our instincts and learned to apply "reason." James argued the opposite. We are more intellectually flexible because we have more instincts. We are simply unaware of them because they work so well - because they process information so easily and automatically. They drive our thought so powerfully, it's hard for us to imagine things being otherwise. We don't realize "normal" behavior needs to be explained at all. |
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So, with all that preliminary throat clearing out of the way, here are the main tenets of Evolutionary Psychology as defined by David Buss at UT Austin.
1. All manifest (observable) behavior is a function of psychological mechanisms, in conjunction with environmental inputs to those mechanisms;
2. All psychological mechanisms owe their existence, at some basic level of description, to evolutionary processes (since scientifically, no other causal processes exist for creating complex organic mechanisms);
3. Natural selections, and sexual selection (Darwin) are the most important evolutionary process responsible for creating psychological adaptations;
4. Evolved psychological processes can be described as information processing devices (input, decision rules or other transformation procedures, and outputs);
5. The output of psychological adaptations can be psychological activity, information that serves as input to other psychological mechanisms, or manifest behavior;
6. Psychological adaptations are housed in the brain, and
7. Psychological adaptations are functional, that is "designed" to solve statistically recurrent adaptive problems confronted by our ancestors over deep evolutionary time.
1. All manifest (observable) behavior is a function of psychological mechanisms, in conjunction with environmental inputs to those mechanisms;
2. All psychological mechanisms owe their existence, at some basic level of description, to evolutionary processes (since scientifically, no other causal processes exist for creating complex organic mechanisms);
3. Natural selections, and sexual selection (Darwin) are the most important evolutionary process responsible for creating psychological adaptations;
4. Evolved psychological processes can be described as information processing devices (input, decision rules or other transformation procedures, and outputs);
5. The output of psychological adaptations can be psychological activity, information that serves as input to other psychological mechanisms, or manifest behavior;
6. Psychological adaptations are housed in the brain, and
7. Psychological adaptations are functional, that is "designed" to solve statistically recurrent adaptive problems confronted by our ancestors over deep evolutionary time.