Evolutionary Psychology: Epistemological and conceptual foundations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34019/1982-1247.2024.v18.36467Keywords:
evolved psychological mechanisms, adaptive problems, environment of evolutionary adaptedness, functional specialization, learningAbstract
In a few decades Evolutionary Psychology emerged as a scientific discipline, diversifying its subjects of investigation, covering currently both classic and emerging topics in psychology. Despite this rapid expansion, Evolutionary Psychology’s theoretical bases remain virtually ignored. Therefore, I aim to analyze its epistemological and conceptual foundations, explaining how its theoretical bases cast a unique look at the human mind and behavior. I use empirical research to illustrate how the evolved psychological functioning is necessary for the understanding of diverse psychological phenomena in the modern environment. Finally, I present an interactionist perspective of this evolved psychology and learning.
Downloads
References
Al-Shawaf, L.; Lewis, D.; Barbaro, N. & Wehbe, Y. (2021). The Products of Evolution: Conceptual Distinctions, Evidentiary Criteria, and Empirical Examples. Em: T. Schackelford (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology. (pp. 70-95). London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Al-Shawaf, L., Lewis, D. M. G., Wehbe, Y. S., & Buss, D. M. (2019). Context, Environment, and Learning in Evolutionary Psychology. In T. K. Shackelford & V. A. Weekes-Shackelford (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science (p. 1–12). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_227-1
Barkow, J. H., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (1992). The Adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
van den Berg, P., Dewitte, S., & Wenseleers, T. (2021). Uncertainty causes humans to use social heuristics and to cooperate more: An experiment among Belgian university students. Evolution and Human Behavior, 42(3), 223-229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.10.003
Brase, G. (2021). Adaptive Problems. Em: T. Schackelford (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology. (pp. 34-55). London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Buss, D. (2015). The handbook of evolutionary psychology (vol. 1). New York, NY: Hoboken: Wiley.
Buss, D. M., & von Hippel, W. (2018). Psychological barriers to evolutionary psychology: Ideological bias and coalitional adaptations. Archives of Scientific Psychology, 6(1), 148–158. https://doi.org/10.1037/arc0000049
Bussab, V. S. H., & Ribeiro, F. J. L. (1998). Biologicamente cultural. In M. M. P. Rodrigues, L. Souza, & M. F. Q. Freitas (Eds.), Psicologia: reflexões (im)pertinentes (pp. 195-224). São Paulo: Casa do Psicólogo.
Calvi, J. L., Rankin, A. M., Clauss, N., & Byrd-Craven, J. (2020). The nuanced psychology of The Handmaid’s Tale: Commentary on power, feminism, and the patriarchy from four feminist evolutionary psychologists. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 14(1), 63–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000170
Carney, J., Dunbar, R., Machin, A., Dávid-Barrett, T., & Silva Júnior, M. D. (2014). Social Psychology and the Comic-Book Superhero: A Darwinian Approach. Philosophy and Literature, 38(1), A195–A215. https://doi.org/10.1353/phl.2014.0019
Carvalho, A. M. A. (1989). O lugar do biológico na psicologia: o ponto de vista da etologia. Biotemas, 2(2), 81-92.
Cohen, A. S., Chun, R., & Sznycer, D. (2020). Do pride and shame track the evaluative psychology of audiences? Preregistered replications of Sznycer et al. (2016, 2017). Royal Society Open Science, 7(5), 191922. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.191922
Confer, J. C., Easton, J. A., Fleischman, D. S., Goetz, C. D., Lewis, D. M. G., Perilloux, C., & Buss, D. M. (2010). Evolutionary psychology: Controversies, questions, prospects, and limitations. American Psychologist, 65(2), 110–126. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018413
Conroy-Beam, D., & Buss, D. M. (2016). How Are Mate Preferences Linked with Actual Mate Selection? Tests of Mate Preference Integration Algorithms Using Computer Simulations and Actual Mating Couples. PLOS ONE, 11(6), e0156078. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156078
Crawford, C., & Salmon, C. (Orgs.). (2004). Evolutionary psychology, public policy, and personal decisions. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Daly, M. (2020). Evolutionary psychology and inequality. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 14(4), 324. https://doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000209
Darwin, Charles. (1859). On the Origin of Species by means of natural selection. London: John Murray. http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1859_Origin_PC-Virginia-Francis-F373.pdf
Del Giudice, M. (2020). Rethinking the fast-slow continuum of individual differences. Evolution and Human Behavior, 41(6), 536–549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.05.004
Durkee, P. K., Lukaszewski, A. W., & Buss, D. M. (2019). Pride and shame: Key components of a culturally universal status management system. Evolution and Human Behavior, S109051381930042X. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2019.06.004
Ellis, B. J., Del Giudice, M., Dishion, T. J., Figueredo, A. J., Gray, P., Griskevicius, V., Hawley, P. H., Jacobs, W. J., James, J., Volk, A. A., & Wilson, D. S. (2012). The evolutionary basis of risky adolescent behavior: Implications for science, policy, and practice. Developmental Psychology, 48(3), 598–623. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026220
Eysenck, M. W., & Keane, M. (2017). Manual de Psicologia Cognitiva (7ª ed.). L. F. M. Dorvillé e S. M. M da Rosa (trad.). Porto Alegre: Artmed.
Fawcett, T. W., Hamblin, S., & Giraldeau, L.-A. (2013). Exposing the behavioral gambit: The evolution of learning and decision rules. Behavioral Ecology, 24(1), 2–11. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ars085
Fisher, M. L., & Bourgeois, C. (2020). Beyond the ingénue: Current evolutionary perspectives of women. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 14(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000182
Gerdemann, S. C., & Wertz, A. E. (2021). 18-month-olds use different cues to categorize plants and artifacts. Evolution and Human Behavior, 42(4), 304–315. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.12.003
Giosan, C., Cobeanu, O., Wyka, K., Muresan, V., Mogoase, C., Szentagotai, A., Malta, L. S., & Moldovan, R. (2020). Cognitive evolutionary therapy versus standard cognitive therapy for depression: A single‐blinded randomized clinical trial. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 76(10), 1818–1831. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22991
Hetherington, C., Hendrickson, C., & Koenig, M. (2014). Reducing an in-group bias in preschool children: The impact of moral behavior. Developmental Science, 17(6), 1042–1049. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12192
Hutchinson, J. M. C., & Gigerenzer, G. (2005). Simple heuristics and rules of thumb: Where psychologists and behavioural biologists might meet. Behavioural Processes, 69(2), 97–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2005.02.019
Jankowiak, W., & Diderich, M. (2000). Sibling solidarity in a polygamous community in the USA unpacking inclusive fitness. Evolution and Human Behavior, 21(2), 125–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-5138(00)00027-1
Kenrick, D. T., Griskevicius, V., Neuberg, S. L., & Schaller, M. (2010). Renovating the Pyramid of Needs: Contemporary Extensions Built Upon Ancient Foundations. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(3), 292–314. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610369469
Lewis, D. M. G., Al-Shawaf, L., Conroy-Beam, D., Asao, K., & Buss, D. M. (2017). Evolutionary psychology: A how-to guide. American Psychologist, 72(4), 353–373. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0040409
Lewis, D.; Al-Shawaf, L., Thompson, M. & Buss, D. (2021). Evolved Psychological Mechanisms. Em: T. Schackelford (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology (pp. 70-95). London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Li, N. P., Van Vugt, M., & Colarelli, S. M. (2017). The Evolutionary Mismatch Hypothesis: Implications for Psychological Science. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(1), 38–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417731378
Lieberman, D. (2009). Rethinking the Taiwanese minor marriage data: Evidence the mind uses multiple kinship cues to regulate inbreeding avoidance. Evolution and Human Behavior, 30(3), 153–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2008.11.003
Lieberman, D., & Lobel, T. (2012). Kinship on the Kibbutz: Coresidence duration predicts altruism, personal sexual aversions and moral attitudes among communally reared peers. Evolution and Human Behavior, 33(1), 26–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.05.002
Lieberman, D., Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (2007). The architecture of human kin detection. Nature, 445(7129), 727–731. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05510
Lordelo, E. R. (2010). A Psicologia Evolucionista e o conceito de cultura. Estudos de Psicologia (Natal), 15(1), 55–62. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1413-294X2010000100008
Luoto, S., Prokosch, M. L., Varella, M. A. C., Krams, I., & Fincher, C. L. (2021). Editorial: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and Its Psychobehavioral Consequences. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 723282. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.723282
Mayr, E. (2004). What makes biology unique. Considerations on the autonomy of a scientific discipline. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
McNamara, J. M., & Houston, A. I. (2009). Integrating function and mechanism. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 24(12), 670–675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2009.05.011
McNamara, R. A., & Wertz, A. E. (2021). Early Plant Learning in Fiji. Human Nature, 32(1), 115–149. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-021-09389-6
Nettle, D. (2009). Beyond nature versus culture: Cultural variation as an evolved characteristic. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 15(2), 223–240. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2009.01561.x
Oliva, A. D. (2018). Modularidade mental. Em M. E. Yamamoto & J. V. Valentova (Eds.), Manual de Psicologia Evolucionista (pp. 98-119). Natal, RN: EdUFRN.
Perry, G., & Mace, R. (2010). The lack of acceptance of evolutionary approaches to human behaviour. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 8(2), 105–125. https://doi.org/10.1556/JEP.8.2010.2.2
Petersen, M. B. (2020). The Evolutionary Psychology of Mass Mobilization: How Disinformation and Demagogues Coordinate Rather Than Manipulate. Current Opinion in Psychology, S2352250X20300208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.02.003
Pietraszewski, D. (2021). The correct way to test the hypothesis that racial categorization is a byproduct of an evolved alliance-tracking capacity. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 3404. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82975x
Pietraszewski, D., & Wertz, A. E. (2021). Why Evolutionary Psychology Should Abandon Modularity. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691621997113
Roberts, S. C. (Org.). (2012). Applied evolutionary psychology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Rubenstein, D. R. & Alcock, J. (2019). Animal behavior. 11ª ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Schmid, L., Chatterjee, K., Hilbe, C., & Nowak, M. A. (2021). A unified framework of direct and indirect reciprocity. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(10), 1292–1302. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01114-8
Sell, A., Sznycer, D., Al-Shawaf, L., Lim, J., Krauss, A., Feldman, A., Rascanu, R., Sugiyama, L., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (2017). The grammar of anger: Mapping the computational architecture of a recalibrational emotion. Cognition, 168, 110–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2017.06.002
Shackelford, T. K. (2021). The SAGE Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology: Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology. London: SAGE Publications Inc.
Symons, D. (1989). A critique of Darwinian anthropology. Ethology and Sociobiology, 10(1–3), 131–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(89)90016-2
Stearns, S. C. & Hoekstra, R. F. (2005). Evolution: an introduction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Sznycer, D., De Smet, D., Billingsley, J., & Lieberman, D. (2016). Coresidence duration and cues of maternal investment regulate sibling altruism across cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111(2), 159–177. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000057
Sznycer, D., & Lukaszewski, A. W. (2019). The emotion–valuation constellation: Multiple emotions are governed by a common grammar of social valuation. Evolution and Human Behavior, 40(4), 395–404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2019.05.002
Sznycer, D., Xygalatas, D., Agey, E., Alami, S., An, X.-F., Ananyeva, K. I., Atkinson, Q. D., Broitman, B. R., Conte, T. J., Flores, C., Fukushima, S., Hitokoto, H., Kharitonov, A. N., Onyishi, C. N., Onyishi, I. E., Romero, P. P., Schrock, J. M., Snodgrass, J. J., Sugiyama, L. S., Tooby, J. (2018). Cross-cultural invariances in the architecture of shame. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(39), 9702–9707. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805016115
Sznycer, D., Xygalatas, D., Alami, S., An, X.-F., Ananyeva, K. I., Fukushima, S., Hitokoto, H., Kharitonov, A. N., Koster, J. M., Onyishi, C. N., Onyishi, I. E., Romero, P. P., Takemura, K., Zhuang, J.-Y., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (2018). Invariances in the architecture of pride across small-scale societies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(33), 8322–8327. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1808418115
Tanskanen, A. O., Danielsbacka, M., & Rotkirch, A. (2021). Kin detection cues and sibling relationship quality in adulthood: The role of childhood co-residence duration and maternal perinatal association. Evolution and Human Behavior, S1090513821000477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.05.004
Tinbergen, N. (1963). On aims and methods of ethology. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 20(4), 410–433.
Tooby, J. (2020). Evolutionary psychology as the crystalizing core of a unified modern social science. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 14(4), 390. https://doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000250
Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (2008). The Evolutionary Psychology of the Emotions and Their Relationship to Internal Regulatory Variables. In: M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones & L. F. Barrett, The Handbook of Emotions (3ª. ed, p. 114–137). New York, NY: The Guildford Press.
Tooby, J. & Cosmides, L. (2015). The theoretical foundations of evolutionary psychology. In: D. M. Buss (Eds.), The handbook of evolutionary psychology (pp. 3–87). New York, NY: Hoboken, Wiley.
Tybur, J. M., Miller, G. F., & Gangestad, S. W. (2007). Testing the Controversy: An Empirical Examination of Adaptationists’ Attitudes Toward Politics and Science. Human Nature, 18(4), 313–328. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-007-9024-y
Varella, M. A. C. (2018). Mal-entendidos sobre a Psicologia Evolucionista. In: M. E. Yamamoto & J. V. Valentova (Eds.), Manual de Psicologia Evolucionista (pp. 142-166). Natal, RN: EdUFRN.
Winegard, B. M., Winegard, B. M., & Deaner, R. O. (2014). Misrepresentations of Evolutionary Psychology in Sex and Gender Textbooks. Evolutionary Psychology, 12(3), 147470491401200. https://doi.org/10.1177/147470491401200301
Yamamoto, M. E., & Seidl-de-Moura, M. L. (2010). A Psicologia Evolucionista no Brasil. Estudos de Psicologia (Natal), 15(1), 53–54. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1413-294X2010000100007
Yamamoto, M. E. & Valentova, V. J. (2018). Manual de Psicologia Evolucionista. Natal, RN: EdUFRN.
Yang, F., Choi, Y.-J., Misch, A., Yang, X., & Dunham, Y. (2018). In Defense of the Commons: Young Children Negatively Evaluate and Sanction Free Riders. Psychological Science, 29(10), 1598–1611. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618779061
