"Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective."
Mental processes and structures that have been shaped by natural selection to efficiently solve recurrent problems in the environment.
Evolutionary Psychology: Evolutionary psychology is the study of how the human mind has evolved over time, and how this evolution has affected the way we think and behave.
Cognitive Adaptations: Cognitive adaptations refer to the psychological mechanisms that have evolved to handle specific problems or challenges in our environment. Examples of these adaptations include language acquisition, visual processing, and social cognition.
Human Evolution: Human evolution refers to the process of how humans have evolved over time. This includes the development of various cognitive adaptations such as the ability to learn languages, use tools and plan.
Natural Selection: Natural selection is the process by which genetic traits that provide an advantage for survival and reproduction are passed down from generation to generation.
Sexual Selection: Sexual selection is the process by which certain traits become more prevalent in a population because they are considered attractive to potential mates.
Gene-Culture Coevolution: Gene culture coevolution is a process in which the evolution of our psychology and behavior is influenced by changes in our social and cultural environment.
Adaptationist Approach: The adaptationist approach is a theoretical framework in evolutionary psychology that views all psychological phenomena as adaptive solutions to problems that humans have faced throughout their evolutionary history.
Domain-Specificity Hypothesis: The domain-specificity hypothesis suggests that our cognitive adaptations are designed to handle specific problems or challenges in our environment, rather than general cognitive processes that can be applied to any task.
Mismatch Hypothesis: The mismatch hypothesis suggests that many of our cognitive adaptations were designed for a different environment than the one we currently live in, and as a result, we are experiencing a mismatch between our evolved psychology and our modern environment.
Emotion: Emotions are complex psychological states that are triggered by specific events or stimuli, and are thought to have evolved to help us deal with important issues such as survival, reproduction, and social interaction.
Theory of mind (ToM): This ability allows humans to understand that other individuals have their own thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and intentions which may differ from their own. This ability helps comprehend why people behave the way they do in different situations.
Recall and Recognition: Memory is an important cognitive adaptation as it helps in recalling information from past experiences and recognizing it when encountered again in the future.
Visual Perception: It is the ability to perceive and interpret visual information from the environment. This can be useful in spotting predators or prey, recognizing foods or scientific material, etc.
Language acquisition: Humans have an innate capacity for language acquisition, which helps us communicate with others and convey our thoughts.
Attentional bias: It is the tendency to perceive or attend to some stimuli in the environment more than others, based on their relevance for meeting our needs.
Social Cognition: It is the ability to understand the social dynamics such as cooperation, strategic thinking, and long-term thinking for survival.
Abstract Reasoning: It's the ability to use symbols, analogies, math, and hypotheses to deduce possible outcomes based on the stored knowledge.
Cognitive Biases: These distortions in thinking that can skew decision-making are also known as heuristics. They are necessary faster thinking, but also come with trade-offs in the form of errors and inflexibility.
Spatial reasoning: It is the ability to visualize objects and understand their position in relation to one another. This allows us to navigate through unfamiliar environments.
Motor skills: It is a cognitive adaptation that involves the coordination of the brain and the musculoskeletal system. This allows us to perform skilled movements, such as throwing a ball or typing on a keyboard.
Emotional Intelligence: This refers to the ability to understand and manage one's emotions and those of others, which can come handy in social contexts.
"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."