Evolutionary Psychology As Maladapted Psychology

Author : Robert C. Richardson
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262261111
Total Pages : 227 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted Psychology written by Robert C. Richardson and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2010-01-22 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A philosopher subjects the claims of evolutionary psychology to the evidential and methodological requirements of evolutionary biology, concluding that evolutionary psychology's explanations amount to speculation disguised as results. Human beings, like other organisms, are the products of evolution. Like other organisms, we exhibit traits that are the product of natural selection. Our psychological capacities are evolved traits as much as are our gait and posture. This much few would dispute. Evolutionary psychology goes further than this, claiming that our psychological traits—including a wide variety of traits, from mate preference and jealousy to language and reason—can be understood as specific adaptations to ancestral Pleistocene conditions. In Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted Psychology, Robert Richardson takes a critical look at evolutionary psychology by subjecting its ambitious and controversial claims to the same sorts of methodological and evidential constraints that are broadly accepted within evolutionary biology. The claims of evolutionary psychology may pass muster as psychology; but what are their evolutionary credentials? Richardson considers three ways adaptive hypotheses can be evaluated, using examples from the biological literature to illustrate what sorts of evidence and methodology would be necessary to establish specific evolutionary and adaptive explanations of human psychological traits. He shows that existing explanations within evolutionary psychology fall woefully short of accepted biological standards. The theories offered by evolutionary psychologists may identify traits that are, or were, beneficial to humans. But gauged by biological standards, there is inadequate evidence: evolutionary psychologists are largely silent on the evolutionary evidence relevant to assessing their claims, including such matters as variation in ancestral populations, heritability, and the advantage offered to our ancestors. As evolutionary claims they are unsubstantiated. Evolutionary psychology, Richardson concludes, may offer a program of research, but it lacks the kind of evidence that is generally expected within evolutionary biology. It is speculation rather than sound science—and we should treat its claims with skepticism.

Author : Robert C. Richardson
Publisher : Bradford Book
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.85/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted Psychology written by Robert C. Richardson and published by Bradford Book. This book was released on 2007 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Takes a critical look at evolutionary psychology by subjecting its ambitious and controversial claims to the same sorts of methodological and evidential constraints that are broadly accepted within evolutionary biology.

Author : Simon Baron-Cohen
Publisher : Psychology Press
ISBN 13 : 1134836228
Total Pages : 301 pages
Book Rating : 4.22/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Maladapted Mind written by Simon Baron-Cohen and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2013-04-15 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Newly available in paperback, this is the first book to bring together classic and contemporary readings illustrating the new subdiscipline, evolutionary psychopathology. Each chapter demonstrates how evolutionary arguments are being brought to bear on the study of a different psychiatric condition or pathalogical behaviour. The Maladapted Mind is aimed primarily at primarily at advanced students and researchers in the fields of psychiatry, abnormal psychology, biological anthropology, evolutionary biology and cognitive science.

Author : Steven J. Scher
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9781402072796
Total Pages : 294 pages
Book Rating : 4.91/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evolutionary Psychology written by Steven J. Scher and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2003 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evolutionary psychology has been dominated by one particular method for studying the mind and behavior. This is the first book to both question that monopoly and suggest a broad range of particular alternatives. Psychologists, philosophers, biologists, anthropologists, and others offer different methods for combining psychology and evolution. They recommend specific changes to evolutionary psychology using a wide variety of theoretical assumptions. In addition, some essays analyze the underpinnings of the dominant method, relate it to the context of evolutionary and psychological theory and to general philosophy of science, and discuss how to test approaches to evolutionary psychology. The aim of this collection is not to reject evolutionary psychology but to open up new vistas which students and researchers can use to ensure that evolutionary psychology continues to thrive.

Author : David M. Buss
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118755979
Total Pages : 688 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, Volume 1 written by David M. Buss and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-10-01 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The indispensable reference tool for the groundbreaking science of evolutionary psychology Why is the mind designed the way it is? How does input from the environment interact with the mind to produce behavior? These are the big, unanswered questions that the field of evolutionary psychology seeks to explore. The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology is the seminal work in this vibrant, quickly-developing new discipline. In this thorough revision and expansion, luminaries in the field provide an in-depth exploration of the foundations of evolutionary psychology and explain the new empirical discoveries and theoretical developments that continue at a breathtaking pace. Evolutionary psychologists posit that the mind has a specialized and complex structure, just as the body has a specialized and complex structure. From this important theoretical concept arises the vast array of possibilities that are at the core of the field, which seeks to examine such traits as perception, language, and memory from an evolutionary perspective. This examination is intended to determine the human psychological traits that are the products of sexual and natural selection and, as such, to chart and understand human nature. Join the discussion of the big questions addressed by the burgeoning field of evolutionary psychology Explore the foundations of evolutionary psychology, from theory and methods to the thoughts of EP critics Discover the psychology of human survival, mating, parenting, cooperation and conflict, culture, and more Identify how evolutionary psychology is interwoven with other academic subjects and traditional psychological disciplines The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology is the definitive guide for every psychologist and student interested in keeping abreast of new ideas in this quickly-developing field.

Author : Marco Del Giudice
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190670142
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evolutionary Psychopathology written by Marco Del Giudice and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-07-06 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mental disorders arise from neural and psychological mechanisms that have been built and shaped by natural selection across our evolutionary history. Looking at psychopathology through the lens of evolution is the only way to understand the deeper nature of mental disorders and turn a mass of behavioral, genetic, and neurobiological findings into a coherent, theoretically grounded discipline. The rise of evolutionary psychopathology is part of an exciting scientific movement in psychology and medicine -- a movement that is fundamentally transforming the way we think about health and disease. Evolutionary Psychopathology takes steps toward a unified approach to psychopathology, using the concepts of life history theory -- a biological account of how individual differences in development, physiology and behavior arise from tradeoffs in survival and reproduction -- to build an integrative framework for mental disorders. This book reviews existing evolutionary models of specific conditions and connects them in a broader perspective, with the goal of explaining the large-scale patterns of risk and comorbidity that characterize psychopathology. Using the life history framework allows for a seamless integration of mental disorders with normative individual differences in personality and cognition, and offers new conceptual tools for the analysis of developmental, genetic, and neurobiological data. The concepts presented in Evolutionary Psychopathology are used to derive a new taxonomy of mental disorders, the Fast-Slow-Defense (FSD) model. The FSD model is the first classification system explicitly based on evolutionary concepts, a biologically grounded alternative to transdiagnostic models. The book reviews a wide range of common mental disorders, discusses their classification in the FSD model, and identifies functional subtypes within existing diagnostic categories.

Author : Glenn Geher
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190647140
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.48/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Positive Evolutionary Psychology written by Glenn Geher and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-08-12 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Positive psychologists focus on ways that we can advance the lives of individuals and communities by studying the factors that increase positive outcomes such as life satisfaction and happiness. Evolutionary psychologists use the principles of evolution, based on Darwin's understanding of life, to help shed light on any and all kinds of psychological phenomena. This book brings together both fields to explore positive evolutionary psychology: the use of evolutionary psychology principles to help people and communities experience more positive and fulfilling lives. Across eleven chapters, this book describes the basic ideas of both evolutionary and positive psychology, elaborates on the integration of these two fields as a way to help advance the human condition, discusses several domains of human functioning from the perspective of positive evolutionary psychology, and finally, looks with an eye toward the future of work in this emerging and dynamic field. Over the past few decades, evolutionary psychologists have begun to crack the code on such phenomena as happiness, gratitude, resilience, community, and love. This book describes these facets of the human experience in terms of their evolutionary origins and proposes how we might guide people to optimally experience such positive phenomena in their everyday lives.

Author : Charles Crawford
Publisher : Psychology Press
ISBN 13 : 113562917X
Total Pages : 503 pages
Book Rating : 4.75/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evolutionary Psychology, Public Policy and Personal Decisions written by Charles Crawford and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2004-05-20 with total page 503 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the last 15 years, human sociobiology has metamorphosed into evolutionary psychology. It is concerned with the social problems and stresses hominid and primate ancestors encountered, the psychological mechanisms natural selection shaped to deal with these stresses, and the way those ancient mechanisms work now. Evolutionary psychologists are making great progress in expanding the understanding of human nature, however, this knowledge has had little impact on policymakers and legislators. Supreme Court justices and managers seldom consult evolutionary psychologists to help with their deliberations. When faced with private decisions few individuals ask themselves how a Darwinian perspective might help them. This volume's aim is to start the process of using theory and findings of evolutionary psychology to help make the world a better place to live. This book takes evolutionary psychology explicitly into applied areas in a way no other book has. It includes a reasonable scope of applications from pornography to psychopaths and from morality to sex differences in the workplace. An applications section provides concrete ideas for dealing with social and policy issues, including chapters on women in the workplace, rape, and child support. Providing good coverage of basic issues and theory of the field, this book gives lay people and law/policymakers appropriate background to fully understand the applications chapters. Part II provides information on basic psychological mechanisms for group living--including chapters on emotions, reciprocity and legal reasoning, and self deception--that impact on how well public policy and law function. The material in the first two sections provide an intellectual basis for the chapters in the third part of the book which deals with the application of evolutionary psychology to a variety of substantive areas related to public policy and personal decisions. A political scientist concludes the book with a commentary on evolutionary psychology and public policy. The book is designed to serve as a stand-alone text in evolutionary psychology and public policy that can be used in a variety of disciplines, such as psychology, social work, law and psychology, and public policy.

Author : David Livingstone Smith
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 9780312310400
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.04/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Why We Lie written by David Livingstone Smith and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2007-08-07 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Readers of Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker will find much to intrigue them in this fascinating book, which declares that our extraordinary ability to deceive others - and even our selves - 'lies' at the heart of our humanity.

Author : Jeroen C. J. M. van den Bergh
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108470971
Total Pages : 575 pages
Book Rating : 4.71/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Human Evolution Beyond Biology and Culture written by Jeroen C. J. M. van den Bergh and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-18 with total page 575 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A complete account of evolutionary thought in the social, environmental and policy sciences, creating bridges with biology.