"Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective."
The study of how human cognition and behavior have been shaped by evolution, including the role of natural selection, sexual selection, and inclusive fitness.
The Theory of Evolution: The foundational scientific principle that is central to understanding evolutionary psychology. Key topics within this field include adaptation, fitness, natural selection, and the role of genetic variation in shaping characteristics.
The Human Brain: An understanding of the brain and how it contributes to behavior and cognition is essential to understanding the evolutionary basis of psychology. Key topics in this area include brain structure and function, neurochemistry, and neuroplasticity.
Genetics: Evolutionary psychology relies on an understanding of genetics and heredity in order to explain how certain traits and behaviors may have evolved over time. Topics within this field include genes, DNA, chromosomes, and genetic expression.
Behavioral Ecology: This field examines the behavior of animals in their natural environments, and how these behaviors have been shaped by evolutionary forces. Key topics in behavioral ecology include mating and reproductive strategies, aggression, and social organization.
Sociobiology: Sociobiology explores the social behavior of animals, including humans, and how these behaviors have evolved over time. Key topics within this field include cooperation, altruism, kinship, and group selection.
Human Evolution: An understanding of human evolution is key to understanding the specific ways in which evolutionary forces have shaped human psychology. Topics within this field include the origins of humans, the evolution of the brain, and the development of language and culture.
Evolutionary Psychology Today: Evolutionary psychology has become an important field of study in recent years, and this topic explores the current state of research in the field, as well as new approaches and areas of inquiry. Key areas of focus in contemporary evolutionary psychology include emotion, cognitive processes, and cultural evolution.
Language Evolution: Evolutionary linguistics, a subfield of evolutionary psychology, focuses on the origins and evolution of language. Key topics in this field include language acquisition, the development of syntax and grammar, and the role of social and cultural factors in shaping language use.
Evolutionary Medicine: This field explores how evolutionary forces have shaped human health and disease. Key topics within evolutionary medicine include the evolution of infectious diseases, the evolution of diet and nutrition, and the role of environmental factors in human health.
Evolutionary Anthropology: This interdisciplinary field of study examines the evolution of humans in the context of their cultural and social environments. Key topics within this field include the evolution of human societies, the relationship between culture and genetics, and the evolution of human cognition and language.
Adaptationist Models: This type of Evolutionary Psychology argues that different aspects of human behavior are adaptations that evolved to help our ancestors survive and reproduce in their environment.
Genetic Determinist Models: This type of Evolutionary Psychology suggests that genes determine human behavior, and our behavior is entirely influenced by our genetic makeup.
Domain-General Models: This type of Evolutionary Psychology posits that evolution has shaped general cognitive mechanisms, such as memory and attention, that allow humans to learn and adapt to different situations.
Domain-Specific Models: This type of Evolutionary Psychology suggests that specific cognitive mechanisms have evolved to solve particular problems, such as language acquisition.
Dual-Inheritance Theories: This type of Evolutionary Psychology posits that both genetic and cultural evolution have shaped human behavior and cognition.
Cultural Evolutionary Models: This type of Evolutionary Psychology focuses on the role that culture plays in shaping human behavior and cognition, and how cultural practices can evolve over time.
Gene-Culture Coevolution Models: This type of Evolutionary Psychology posits that genes and culture have coevolved over time, with cultural practices having an impact on the evolutionary trajectory of genes and vice versa.
"It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evolved to solve."
"Psychological traits and mechanisms are either functional products of natural and sexual selection or non-adaptive by-products of other adaptive traits."
"Evolutionary psychologists apply the same thinking in psychology, arguing that just as the heart evolved to pump blood, and the liver evolved to detoxify poisons, there is modularity of mind in that different psychological mechanisms evolved to solve different adaptive problems."
"Much of human behavior is the output of psychological adaptations that evolved to solve recurrent problems in human ancestral environments."
"Behaviors or traits that occur universally in all cultures are good candidates for evolutionary adaptations."
"Abilities to infer others' emotions, discern kin from non-kin, identify and prefer healthier mates, and cooperate with others."
"Economics, environment, health, law, management, psychiatry, politics, and literature."
"Questions of testability, cognitive and evolutionary assumptions, importance of non-genetic and non-adaptive explanations, as well as political and ethical issues due to interpretations of research results."
"Evolutionary psychologists frequently engage with and respond to such criticisms."
"Evolutionary theory can provide a foundational, metatheoretical framework that integrates the entire field of psychology in the same way evolutionary biology has for biology."
"There is modularity of mind in that different psychological mechanisms evolved to solve different adaptive problems."
"Findings have been made regarding human social behavior related to infanticide, intelligence, marriage patterns, promiscuity, perception of beauty, bride price, and parental investment."
"Economics, environment, health, law, management, psychiatry, politics, and literature."
"Psychological traits and mechanisms are either functional products of natural and sexual selection or non-adaptive by-products of other adaptive traits."
"Evolutionary psychology examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective."
"Psychological traits and mechanisms are either functional products of natural and sexual selection or non-adaptive by-products of other adaptive traits."
"Abilities to infer others' emotions, discern kin from non-kin, identify and prefer healthier mates, and cooperate with others."
"Economics, environment, health, law, management, psychiatry, politics, and literature."
"Questions of testability, cognitive and evolutionary assumptions, importance of non-genetic and non-adaptive explanations, as well as political and ethical issues due to interpretations of research results."