Evolutionary Psychology: Definition and Approach

Evolutionary Psychology (EP)

• Definition: Integrates evolutionary biology, biological anthropology, psychology, and cognitive neuroscience to study the evolutionary basis of mind and behavior.
• Focus: Ultimate (evolutionary) explanations over proximate (mechanistic) ones.
• Critique of SSSM: Challenges the Standard Social Science Model, which assumes a blank slate human mind shaped solely by culture and experience.

Gene-Environment Interaction

• Norm of Reaction: Describes how genes express traits in varying environments.
• Facultative Responses vs. Susceptibilities: Facultative adaptations are responses to environmental cues shaped by natural selection, while susceptibilities arise from mismatches with modern environments.
• Role of Culture: EP sees culture as both shaping and shaped by human nature, not arbitrary but constrained by evolved predispositions.

Controversies and Adaptations

• EP vs. SSSM: EP argues for a gene-environment interaction perspective, critiquing SSSM's emphasis on culture and experience as independent of biology.
• Psychological Adaptations: Traits evolved by natural selection to solve specific adaptive problems, emphasizing domain-specificity and fitness benefits.
• Sensory Systems: Examples like bat sonar illustrate sensory adaptations tailored to species-specific needs.

Language as an Adaptation

• Definition: Capacity to learn, produce, and understand language evolved through natural selection.
• Function: Communicate propositional information (e.g., who did what to whom, what is true of what).
• Evolutionary Context: Language evolved to solve problems relevant to survival and reproduction.
• Language Features: Phonemes, morphemes, morphophonemic rules, grammar, and universality.
• Evidence for Language as an Adaptation: Complexity, development, pidgins to creoles, dissociation with general intelligence, genetic evidence, and localization in the brain.

Evolution of Language and Social Learning

• Origins of Language: Language likely evolved cumulatively, starting with simple noun-verb relations.
• Evolutionary Psychology and Personality: Big Five Personality Traits are more differentiated in complex societies.
• Social Learning and Culture: Culture is interpersonally transmitted information essential for human survival.

Cognition

• Cognition: Mental processes for acquiring, processing, storing, and using information.
• Conscious vs. Unconscious: Much of cognition is unconscious (e.g., phoneme parsing, emotion detection).
• Categorical Thinking: Humans categorize to simplify responses and deduce properties from prior experiences.
• Evolution of Cognition: Minds evolved to understand natural kinds (biological entities) using fuzzy categories.

Heuristics and Rationality

• Rationality: Making judgments under uncertainty; influenced by heuristics (mental shortcuts).
• Base Rate Neglect: Tendency to ignore base rates in favor of vivid or available information.
• Evolutionary Perspective: Heuristics evolved to solve problems quickly and reliably in ancestral environments.

Evolution of Moral Intuitions

• Moral Intuitions: Evolved to navigate social interactions; influenced by reciprocity and reputation.
• In-group Bias: Tendency to favor one's group; influenced by minimal distinctions.
• Evolutionary Functions: Reputation management, cooperation, and conflict resolution.
• Ethical Decision-Making: Balancing individual and group interests for fitness benefits.

Family Dynamics and Evolution

• Kin Selection: Evolutionary perspective on family conflicts and cooperation.
• Parent-Offspring Conflict: Arises due to differing genetic relatedness and resource allocation.
• Impact of Mating Systems: Monogamy reduces conflicts; promiscuity intensifies conflicts (half-siblings).
• Parental Investment: Evolved motivations for parental care; risks in step-parenting contexts.