Psychology: Cognitive Neuroscience and Brain Function

Evolutionary Psychology

• Psychological adaptations are understood as information processing features of neural systems in the brain, which can be seen as a computational machine made up of mini-computers (circuits of neurons) shaped by evolution, development, and environment.

Early Influence of Evolution on Psychology

• Darwin predicted that psychology would be based on the concept of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradation.
• William James, in his book "Principles of Psychology", discussed "instincts" as specialized neural circuits common to every member of a species, shaped by evolutionary history.

Evolutionary Psychology Today

• The goal of evolutionary psychology is to discover and understand the design of the human mind, using knowledge and principles from evolutionary biology to research the structure of the human mind.
• Evolutionary psychology is an approach, not an area of study, that can be applied to any topic within psychology to understand the mind as a set of information-processing machines designed by natural selection.
• The approach emphasizes that psychology is a branch of biology, allowing the use of biological theories, principles, and observations to understand psychology.

Applications of Evolutionary Psychology

• Evolutionary psychologists have applied this approach to various topics, including emotion, intelligence and cognition, personality, language, social cognition, and other psychological processes.

Evolution as a Unifying Principle

• Evolution by natural selection is gaining acceptance as "a strong candidate for central inclusion in a unifying meta-theory of psychology".
• Evolution is the unifying principle for all of biology, and it is also crucial for understanding psychological traits, which also evolve.
• The importance of evolution to an understanding of mind and behavior is emphasized by the claim: "Nothing in psychology makes sense except in the light of evolution."