Evolutionary Psychology: An Introduction

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Figures......Page 8
Tables......Page 11
The origins of evolutionary psychology......Page 13
Evolution before Darwin......Page 14
Mendel and the birth of genetics......Page 17
From evolution to evolutionary psychology......Page 19
Francis Galton......Page 20
William James and the concept of instinct......Page 23
The rise of culture as a causal force in human behaviour......Page 24
Cultural relativity......Page 26
E. O. Wilson and sociobiology......Page 28
From sociobiology to evolutionary psychology......Page 31
Methods for evaluating evolutionary theories......Page 33
Everything is an adaptation......Page 36
Evolutionary psychology is reductionist......Page 37
Evolutionary psychology is politically incorrect......Page 38
Summary......Page 39
Further reading......Page 40
Artificial selection......Page 41
Natural selection......Page 42
Mendel and post-Mendelian genetics......Page 43
Mendel’s findings......Page 44
Genes and chromosomes......Page 46
Factors affecting the transmission of genes......Page 48
Other exceptions to Mendel’s laws......Page 49
Genes and the structure of DNA......Page 52
Heritability of characteristics......Page 55
Gene flow and genetic drift......Page 59
Group selection......Page 62
Inclusive fitness......Page 63
Reciprocal altruism......Page 64
The selfish gene......Page 65
Summary......Page 67
Further reading......Page 68
Darwin and sexual selection......Page 70
Intrasexual and intersexual selection......Page 71
Sexy males and parental investment......Page 72
Parental investment......Page 73
Female choice and male adornment......Page 75
The parasite theory and honest signalling......Page 76
Evaluating theories on female choice and male adornment......Page 77
What’s so good about sex?......Page 79
Why bother with sex?......Page 80
Ratchets, raffles and tangles......Page 81
The Red Queen......Page 82
Sex, evolution and behaviour......Page 84
Competitive males – and female behaviour......Page 88
Female choice and male reproductive success......Page 86
Summary......Page 90
Further reading......Page 92
Testing the claims of evolutionary psychologists......Page 93
Chimpanzees......Page 94
Baboons......Page 96
Meat-eating ancestors......Page 97
The provisioning hypothesis......Page 98
Why only men?......Page 99
Cryptic oestrus......Page 101
Science or speculation?......Page 102
Human mating strategies......Page 103
Long-term mate choice preferences......Page 105
Preference for good looks......Page 106
Preference for love and dependability......Page 108
Preference for chastity......Page 109
Emotional stability and pleasing disposition......Page 110
Size of testes and mating strategy......Page 111
Costs and benefits of short-term relationships to men and women......Page 113
What is in casual sex for women?......Page 114
Do women have a self-knowledge of their market value?......Page 117
Monogamous or polygamous?......Page 118
Cultural variability and developmental flexibility......Page 119
Summary......Page 120
Further reading......Page 122
Innate similarities and innate differences......Page 123
What does ‘innate’ really mean?......Page 124
What is the evidence for innate modules?......Page 125
Piaget’s developmental theory......Page 126
The epigenetic landscape......Page 127
Learning about the physical world......Page 128
Does out of sight really mean out of mind?......Page 129
Recent studies on object permanence......Page 130
Recognising conspecifics: a comparative perspective......Page 133
Infants’ preferences for faces in general......Page 135
Recognising specific people......Page 137
Mind-reading: the development of a theory of mind......Page 138
Theory of mind and false beliefs......Page 139
How does theory of mind develop?......Page 140
The role of experience in developing a theory of mind......Page 141
Is theory of mind the result of an innate module – the case of autism......Page 142
Williams syndrome......Page 143
The cause of Williams syndrome......Page 144
Williams syndrome: a modular account......Page 145
Evidence against a modular account of Williams syndrome......Page 146
Neuroconstructivism and domain relevant learning......Page 147
Evolutionary theory, modularity and neuroconstructivism......Page 148
Summary......Page 149
Further reading......Page 150
What is development for?......Page 151
Life history theory......Page 152
Parents’ choices: offspring quality versus offspring quantity......Page 154
Maximising fitness from the point of view of offspring......Page 156
Attachment theory......Page 158
Applying life history theory to attachment......Page 160
Secure attachment......Page 161
Insecure-resistant attachment......Page 162
James Chisholm’s life history theory of attachment......Page 163
Evaluation of life history explanations of attachment......Page 164
Sex differences in the development of personality......Page 165
Behavioural genetics: separating nature from nurture......Page 169
Group socialisation theory and environmental influence......Page 172
Group socialisation and evolutionary psychology......Page 173
Evaluation of group socialisation theory......Page 174
Moral development......Page 176
What is the evolutionary function of morality?......Page 177
The origins of morality......Page 179
Why are morals so variable?......Page 180
Summary......Page 181
Further reading......Page 182
Social psychology and evolutionary theory......Page 184
Charity begins at home – inclusive fitness theory and kin altruism......Page 185
Can kin altruism explain human acts of self-sacrifice?......Page 189
Adoption and fractions – Sahlins’ criticisms of kin altruism......Page 190
Adoption in the West today – all you need is love......Page 191
How much should parents invest?......Page 194
Parents help to mould the social and moral behaviour of their offspring......Page 197
Parent–offspring conflict......Page 198
Conflict at times other than weaning......Page 200
Conflict at puberty – who should reproduce?......Page 202
Do families exist to maximise inclusive fitness?......Page 203
Summary......Page 204
Further reading......Page 205
Why are we kind to other people?......Page 206
Reciprocal altruism and human evolution......Page 207
Altruism in stone-age cultures......Page 210
The harmless people – the !Kung San......Page 211
The fierce people – the Yanomam¨o......Page 212
Prisoner’s dilemma and reciprocal altruism......Page 215
Mutual constraint in warfare......Page 218
Violence and xenophobia......Page 219
In-group loyalty and out-group hostility......Page 220
Natural group formation – The Robbers’ Cave experiment......Page 222
Group formation based on minimal information......Page 223
In conclusion......Page 225
Summary......Page 226
Further reading......Page 227
Cognition and the evolution of thought......Page 228
Vision......Page 231
Evolution and memory......Page 233
What is the function of memory?......Page 234
Different types of memory support different types of decision......Page 235
Memory, stereotypes and categorisation......Page 237
When our memories are fallible: an adaptive account......Page 238
Fallacies concerning representativeness......Page 242
Base-rate neglect......Page 244
Evolutionary explanations of reasoning under uncertainty......Page 247
Frequencies versus single-case probabilities......Page 248
Evaluation of evolutionary theories of reasoning under uncertainty......Page 249
Wason’s selection task......Page 250
Domain specific Darwinian algorithms......Page 252
Optimal data selection......Page 254
Foraging theory and adaptive decision making......Page 256
Foraging theory and decision making......Page 257
Summary......Page 258
Further reading......Page 259
Is language specific to human beings?......Page 260
Human language and the combinatorial power of grammar......Page 261
Pinker and Bloom – an evolutionary theory of language acquisition......Page 263
Learning the sounds of language......Page 264
Learning words......Page 265
Constraints on word learning......Page 266
Chomsky, innateness and the Universal Grammar......Page 267
The universal grammar......Page 269
Chomsky and evolution......Page 271
The search for language genes......Page 273
Specific language impairment as a problem with inflectional morphology......Page 275
Is specific language impairment really an impairment specific to language?......Page 277
Language learning and cultural transmission......Page 279
When did language evolve?......Page 280
The evolution of languages......Page 281
Why did language evolve?......Page 283
Gossip and language evolution......Page 284
The social contract hypothesis......Page 286
‘The mating mind’ and language evolution......Page 287
Evaluation: language and social interaction......Page 288
Further reading......Page 289
What are emotions?......Page 291
Why do we have emotions?......Page 292
The purpose of emotions in humans as seen by Darwin, James and Freud......Page 294
Twentieth-century rejection of universal emotions......Page 295
Emotional expression and emotional experience......Page 298
The amygdala......Page 301
The orbitofrontal cortex......Page 302
Phineas Gage – an early study of serious brain injury......Page 303
The chemistry of emotions – adrenalin, the sport commentator’s hormone......Page 306
Learning and cultural display rules can modify emotional response......Page 307
The function of specific emotions......Page 310
Negative core emotions – fear, anger and sadness......Page 311
Positive emotions – love and happiness......Page 313
Does the theory of universal human emotions stand up to scrutiny?......Page 315
Summary......Page 316
Further reading......Page 318
What are evolutionary psychopathology and Darwinian medicine?......Page 319
Infectious diseases and the evolutionary arms race......Page 320
Bacterial infections......Page 321
Fighting back – the immune system......Page 322
HIV and AIDS – the virus that cheats the system?......Page 323
Why can’t evolution rid us of psychiatric problems?......Page 326
Anxiety – why worry?......Page 327
The smoke detector principle......Page 328
Depression – an epidemic of modern times?......Page 330
The social competition hypothesis......Page 332
Machiavellians and moralists......Page 333
Is depression becoming more common?......Page 334
Creativity – the function of mania?......Page 336
The down-side of treatment......Page 337
Schizophrenia......Page 338
Schizophrenia runs in families – so is it transmitted genetically?......Page 339
The diathesis–stress model......Page 340
How do evolutionists explain schizophrenia?......Page 341
Abnormal lateralisation of language hypothesis......Page 342
Group-splitting hypothesis......Page 343
Personality disorders......Page 344
Can evolutionary psychology explain personality disorders?......Page 345
Antisocial personality disorder – are psychopaths using an adaptive strategy?......Page 346
Histrionic personality disorder......Page 348
Other personality disorders – social navigation with a leg in plaster......Page 349
Evolution and illness – explanation or speculation?......Page 350
Summary......Page 351
Further reading......Page 352
The importance of culture......Page 354
Culture as ‘superorganism’......Page 355
Cultural universals the ‘universal people’......Page 357
Dual inheritance theory and the evolution of culture......Page 359
Gene-culture co-evolution......Page 361
The future of culture-gene theories......Page 363
Cultural information as replicator: the memes-eye view......Page 364
What are memes?......Page 365
Memes and cultural evolution......Page 366
The relationship between memes and genes......Page 367
How useful is memetics?......Page 369
Why are humans such good imitators?......Page 370
Other forms of cultural learning......Page 374
Why is there such a difference in cultural wealth?......Page 375
The importance of culture in the development of culture......Page 377
The importance of horizontal transmission......Page 378
Striking a balance between horizontal and vertical transmission......Page 379
Conclusions......Page 380
Summary......Page 381
Further reading......Page 382
Glossary......Page 383
References......Page 391
Index......Page 417