213,517 research outputs found

    Evolutionary Psychology

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    Evolutionary psychology (EP) is an approach to the study of the mind that is founded on Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. It assumes that our mental abilities, emotions and preferences are adapted specifically for solving problems of survival and reproduction in humanity’s ancestral environment, and derives testable predictions from this assumption. This has important implications for our understanding of the conditions for human well-being

    Evolutionary Psychology

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    Session 5: Development, Neuroscience and Evolutionary Psychology

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    Proceedings of the Pittsburgh Workshop in History and Philosophy of Biology, Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, March 23-24 2001 Session 5: Development, Neuroscience and Evolutionary Psycholog

    Functionality, Parsimony, Discovery, Avoiding Hamartia: How Evolutionary Perspectives are Changing Psychology

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    Evolutionary psychology offers an important perspective to scientific psychology. Evolutionary psychology, in its short existence, has added an abundance of knowledge to the social sciences, let alone psychology. The study of human cognition and behavior remains incomplete without an evolutionary perspective. Here, we argue that evolutionary psychology uniquely provides a complete understanding of scientific psychology because it explains the functions of our psychological traits, provides us with the most parsimonious explanation of many psychological phenomena, predicts undocumented phenomena, and possibly allows us to avoid the downfalls of some of our contemptible evolved psychological mechanisms

    Evolutionary Psychology is Not Evil! (
 and Here’s Why 
)

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    Evolutionary psychology has faced ‘implacable hostility’ (Dawkins, 2005) from a number of intellectual fronts. Critics of evolutionary psychology have tried to paint this perspective variously as reductionist and overly deterministic, at best, and as sexist, racist, and downright evil at worst. The current paper argues that all psychological frameworks which assume that human beings are the result of the organic evolutionary forces of natural and sexual selection are, essentially, evolutionary in nature (regardless of whether they traditionally fall under the label of evolutionary psychology). In other words, the perspective presented here argues that all psychology is evolutionary psychology. Two specific mis-characterizations of evolutionary psychology ((a) that it is eugenicist in nature and (b) that it is a fully non-situationist, immutable perspective on behavior) are addressed here with an eye toward elaborating on how these distorted conceptions of evolutionary psychology are non-constructive and non-progressive. A final section focuses on how the social sciences in general could benefit from being evolutionized. well that it is actually a bit unsettling

    Review of Paradox and Platitude in Wittgenstein's Philosophy by David Pears (2006)(review revised 2019)

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    Pears is an eminent philosopher, notable among W scholars for his “The False Prison: a study of the development of Wittgenstein’s philosophy” in 2 volumes published 20 years ago. Based on these facts I expected some deep insights into W in the current volume. There were certainly some good points but overall it was profoundly disappointing. All of behavioral science is about our innate human nature and since W was the first to elucidate the axioms of our universal psychology, I expected this to be front and center in a work written during the golden age of evolutionary and cognitive psychology and with much good recent work on W appearing. However, one would never guess from this book that W or philosophy had any connection with psychology or indeed that there is such a thing as evolutionary psychology. Hence, I cannot recommend Pears works and instead provide a framework for rationality totally lacking in Pears (and most writing on human behavior). Those wishing a comprehensive up to date framework for human behavior from the modern two systems view may consult my book ‘The Logical Structure of Philosophy, Psychology, Mind and Language in Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Searle’ 2nd ed (2019). Those interested in more of my writings may see ‘Talking Monkeys--Philosophy, Psychology, Science, Religion and Politics on a Doomed Planet--Articles and Reviews 2006-2019 3rd ed (2019), The Logical Structure of Human Behavior (2019), and Suicidal Utopian Delusions in the 21st Century 4th ed (2019

    Cuando el desarrollo importa: de la psicologĂ­a evolucionista a la

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    This article presents evolutionary developmental psychology (EDP) as an emerging field of evolutionary psychology (EP). In describing the core tenets of both approaches and the differences between them, we emphasize the important roles that evolution and development have in understanding human behaviour. We suggest that developmental psychologists should pay more attention to evolutionary issues and, conversely, evolutionary psychologists should take development seriously. Key words: evolutionary developmental psychology, evolutionary psychology, developmental psychology, evolutionary theory.Este artĂ­culo presenta la psicologĂ­a evolucionista del desarrollo (PED) como una perspectiva que emerge de la psicologĂ­a evolucionista (PE). Al describir las asunciones principales de ambos enfoques, asĂ­ como sus diferencias, se enfatiza la importancia que la evoluciĂłn y el desarrollo tienen para la comprensiĂłn del comportamiento humano. Se sugiere que los psicĂłlogos del desarrollo deberĂ­an prestar mĂĄs atenciĂłn a las cuestiones evolucionistas y, a la inversa, los psicĂłlogos evolucionistas deberĂ­an tomar el desarrollo en serio. Palabras clave: psicologĂ­a evolucionista del desarrollo, psicologĂ­a evolucionista, psicologĂ­a del desarrollo, teorĂ­a de la evoluciĂłn

    Austrian Economics, Evolutionary Psychology and Methodological Dualism: Subjectivism Reconsidered

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    The methodological individualism and subjectivism of the Austrian tradition in economics is often associated with a methodological dualism, i.e. the claim that the nature of its subject matter, namely purposeful and intentional human action, requires economics to adopt a methodology that is fundamentally different from the causal explanatory approach of the natural sciences. This paper critically examines this claim and advocates an alternative, explicitly naturalistic and empiricist outlook at human action, exemplified, in particular, by the research program of evolutionary psychology. It is argued that, within the Austrian tradition, a decidedly naturalistic approach to subjectivism can be found in F.A. Hayek's work. --Austrian economics,evolutionary psychology,methodological dualism,subjectivism

    Cuando el desarrollo importa: de la psicologĂ­a evolucionista a la

    Get PDF
    This article presents evolutionary developmental psychology (EDP) as an emerging field of evolutionary psychology (EP). In describing the core tenets of both approaches and the differences between them, we emphasize the important roles that evolution and development have in understanding human behaviour. We suggest that developmental psychologists should pay more attention to evolutionary issues and, conversely, evolutionary psychologists should take development seriously. Key words: evolutionary developmental psychology, evolutionary psychology, developmental psychology, evolutionary theory.Este artĂ­culo presenta la psicologĂ­a evolucionista del desarrollo (PED) como una perspectiva que emerge de la psicologĂ­a evolucionista (PE). Al describir las asunciones principales de ambos enfoques, asĂ­ como sus diferencias, se enfatiza la importancia que la evoluciĂłn y el desarrollo tienen para la comprensiĂłn del comportamiento humano. Se sugiere que los psicĂłlogos del desarrollo deberĂ­an prestar mĂĄs atenciĂłn a las cuestiones evolucionistas y, a la inversa, los psicĂłlogos evolucionistas deberĂ­an tomar el desarrollo en serio. Palabras clave: psicologĂ­a evolucionista del desarrollo, psicologĂ­a evolucionista, psicologĂ­a del desarrollo, teorĂ­a de la evoluciĂłn

    A Review of The Murderer Next Door by David Buss (2005)

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    Though this volume is a bit dated, there are few recent popular books dealing specifically with the psychology of murder and it’s a quick overview available for a few dollars, so still well worth the effort. It makes no attempt to be comprehensive and is somewhat superficial in places, with the reader expected to fill in the blanks from his many other books and the vast literature on violence. For an update see e.g., Buss, The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology 2nd ed. V1 (2016) p 265, 266, 270–282, 388–389, 545–546, 547, 566 and Buss, Evolutionary Psychology 5th ed. (2015) p 26, 96–97,223, 293-4, 300, 309–312, 410 and Shackelford and Hansen, The Evolution of Violence (2014) He has been among the top evolutionary psychologists for several decades and covers a wide range of behavior in his works, but here he concentrates almost entirely on the psychological mechanisms that cause individual people to murder and their possible evolutionary function in the EEA (Environment of Evolutionary Adaptation—i.e., the plains of Africa during the last million years or so). Buss starts by noting that as with other behaviors, ‘alternative’ explanations such as psychopathology, jealousy, social environment, group pressures, drugs and alcohol etc. do not really explain, since the question still remains as to why these produce homicidal impulses, i.e., they are the proximate causes and not the ultimate evolutionary (genetic) ones. As always, it inevitably boils down to inclusive fitness (kin selection), and so to the struggle for access to mates and resources, which is the ultimate explanation for all behavior in all organisms. Sociological data (and common sense) make it clear that younger poorer males are the most likely to kill. He presents his own and others homicide data from industrialized nations, and tribal cultures, conspecific killing in animals, archeology, FBI data and his own research into normal people's homicidal fantasies. Much archeological evidence continues to accumulate of murders, including that of whole groups, or of groups minus young females, in prehistoric times. After surveying Buss’s comments, I present a very brief summary of intentional psychology (the logical structure of rationality), which is covered extensively in my many other articles and books. Those with a lot of time who want a detailed history of homicidal violence from an evolutionary perspective may consult Steven Pinker’s ‘The Better Angels of Our Nature Why Violence Has Declined’(2012), and my review of it easily available on the net and in two of my recent ebooks. Briefly, Pinker notes that murder has decreased steadily and dramatically by a factor of about 30 since our days as foragers. So, even though guns now make it extremely easy for anyone to kill, homicide is much less common. Pinker thinks this is due to various social mechanisms that bring out our ‘better angels’, but I think it’s due mainly to the temporary abundance of resources from the merciless rape of our planet, coupled with increased police presence, with communication and surveillance and legal systems that make it far more likely to be punished. This becomes clear every time there is even a brief and local absence of the police. Those wishing a comprehensive up to date framework for human behavior from the modern two systems of thought viewpoint may consult my e-book ‘The Logical Structure of Philosophy, Psychology, Mind and Language in Wittgenstein and Searle 367p (2016). Those interested in more of my writings on psychology may see Suicidal Utopian Delusions in the 21st Century--Philosophy, Human Nature and the Collapse of Civilization 392p (2017). For all my writings in their most recent versions, please consult my e-book Philosophy, Human Nature and the Collapse of Civilization - Articles and Reviews 2006-2017 3rd Ed. 686p (2017). All of my papers and books have now been published in revised versions both in ebooks and in printed books. Talking Monkeys: Philosophy, Psychology, Science, Religion and Politics on a Doomed Planet - Articles and Reviews 2006-2017 (2017) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071HVC7YP. The Logical Structure of Philosophy, Psychology, Mind and Language in Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Searle--Articles and Reviews 2006-2016 (2017) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071P1RP1B. Suicidal Utopian Delusions in the 21st century: Philosophy, Human Nature and the Collapse of Civilization - Articles and Reviews 2006-2017 (2017) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0711R5LG
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