An overview of evolutionary psychology. (PDF file) From
Durrant, R., & Ellis, B.J. (2003). Evolutionary Psychology. In M. Gallagher &
R.J. Nelson (Eds.), Comprehensive Handbook
of Psychology, Volume Three: Biological Psychology (pp. 1-33).
New York: Wiley & Sons.
Speak, Darwinists
-- Brief interviews with some important researchers in
the field, including
Robert Trivers, William Hamilton, Richard Dawkins, Martin
Daly & MargoWilson, Richard Alexander,
George Williams, Edward O. Wilson, Randolph
Nesse, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Napoleon Chagnon,
Randy Thornhill and GlennWeisfeld.
2. The Selfish Gene
by Richard Dawkins -- essential, foundational reading.
This classic and influential book
provides a superbly written, intriguing,
and accessible introduction to modern evolutionary concepts.
4. The Blank Slate,
by Steven Pinker
-- an review of what human nature is, and why the "blank slate"
a
approach to human behavior has misguided the social sciences, the humanities,
and politics for close to a century.
Why We
Feel: The Science of Human Emotionsby Victor S. Johnston
-- why we live in a "virtual reality" of consciousness created by our brain,
why feelings and emotions are functional, and how they evolved to serve our
inclusive fitness.
The Descent of Man.
A four part series on Australian radio (click on the program number),
including interviews with David Buss, William Hamilton, Sarah Hrdy,
Stephen Pinker, Matt Ridley, John Tooby and others...
An
interview with
Richard Dawkinsdiscussing evolution ("Ideas and
Issues" program, WETS-FM with Hugh LaFollettee).
A Brief Overview of Some
Classic Ideas in Evolutionary Theory:
System Level /
Problem
Investigator /
Year of
Publication
Basic ideas
Example
Adaptations
System Level:Individual
Problem:
How to survive?
Charles
Darwin (1859)
Natural Selection (or “survival
selection”)
The bodies and minds of organisms are
made up of
evolved adaptations designed to help the
organism survive in a particular ecology
(for example, the white fur of polar bears).
Bones, skin, vision,
pain perception, etc.
System Level:
Dyad
Problem:How to attract
a mate and/or compete with members of one's own sex for access to the
opposite sex?
Charles
Darwin (1859)
Sexual selection
Organisms can evolve physical and
mental traits designed specifically to attract mates (e.g., the
Peacock’s tail) or to compete with members of one’s own sex for access to
the opposite sex (e.g., antlers).
In most species, the effects of
sexual selection are seen in males since they typically
have a faster reproductive rate than do females.
Peacock’s
tail, antlers, courtship behavior, etc
System Level:
Family & Kin
Problem: Gene replication.
How to help those with whom we share genes survive and reproduce?
William
Hamilton (1964)
Inclusive fitness
(or a "gene’s eye view" of selection,
"kin
selection") / The
evolution of sexual reproduction
Selection occurs most robustly at thelevel of the gene, not the individual,
group, or species.Reproductive success
can thus be indirect,via
shared genes in kin. Being
altruistic toward kin can thus have genetic payoffs.
Also, Hamilton argued that sexual reproduction evolved primarily as a defense against pathogens (bacteria &
viruses) to "shuffle genes" to create greater diversity, especially
immunological variability, in offspring.
Altruism toward kin, parental
investment, the behavior of the social insects with sterile
workers (e.g., ants).
System Level:
Dyad /
Family & Kin
Problem: How to allocate resources among
offspring to maximize reproductive output?
Robert Trivers (1972)
Parental Investment Theory / Parent - Offspring
Conflict / Reproductive Value
The two sexes often have conflicting
strategies regarding how much to invest in offspring, and how many
offspring to have.
Parents allocate more resources to their offspring with
higher reproductive value (e.g., "mom always liked you best").
Parents and offspring may have conflicting interests (e.g., when to
wean, allocation of resources among offspring, etc.).
Sexually dimorphic adaptations that
result in a "battle of the sexes," parental favoritism, timing of
reproduction, parent-offspring conflict, sibling rivalry, etc.
System Level: Non-Kin Small Group
Problem:How to succeed in competitive interactions with non-kin?
How to select the best strategy given the strategies being used by
competitors?
von Neumann and Morgenstern (1944);
Maynard Smith (1982)
Game Theory / Evolutionary Game Theory
Organisms adapt, or respond, to competitors depending
on the strategies used by competitors. Strategies are
evaluated by the probable payoffs of alternatives. In a
population, this typically results in an "evolutionary stable strategy,"
or "evolutionary stable equilibrium" -- strategies that, on average,
cannot be bettered by alternative strategies.
Facultative, or frequency-dependent, adaptations.
Examples: hawks vs. doves, cooperate vs. defect, fast vs. coy courtship,
etc.
System Level: Non-Kin Small Group
Problem:How to maintain mutually beneficial relationships with non-kin in
repeated interactions?
Robert
Trivers (1971)
"Tit for Tat"
Reciprocity
One can play nice with non-kin ifa mutually beneficially reciprocal relationship is maintained
across multiple social interactions, and
cheating is punished.
Cheater
detection, emotions of revenge and guilt, etc.
System Level: Non-Kin, Large Groups Governed by Rules / Laws
Problem:How to maintain mutually beneficial relationships with strangers
with whom one may interact only once?
Herbert Gintis (2000, 2003); and others.
Generalized
Reciprocity
(Also called "strong reciprocity").
One can play nice with non-kin
strangers even in single interactions if
social rules against cheating are maintained by neutral third parties (e.g.,
other individuals, governments, institutions, etc.), a majority group members
cooperate by generally adhering to social rules, and social interactions
create a positive sum game (i.e., a bigger overall "pie" results from group
cooperation).
Generalized reciprocity may
be a set of adaptations that were designed for small in-group cohesion
during times of high inter-tribal warfare with out-groups.
Today the capacity to be altruistic to in-group strangers may
result from a serendipitous generalization (or "mismatch") between
ancestral tribal living in small groups and
today's large societies that entail many single interactions with
anonymous strangers. (The dark side of generalized reciprocity may be
that these adaptations may also underlie aggression toward out-groups.)
To in-group members:
Capacity for generalized altruism, acting like a
"good Samaritan," cognitive concepts of justice, ethics and human
rights.
To out-group members:
Capacity for xenophobia, racism, warfare,
genocide.
System Level:
Large groups / culture.
Problem:
How to transfer information across distance and time?
Richard
Dawkins (1976)
Memetic Selection
Genes are not the only replicators subject to
evolutionary change. “Memes” (e.g., ideas,
rituals, tunes, cultural fads, etc.) can replicate
and spread from brain to brain, and many of the same evolutionary principles that apply to
genes apply to memes as well. Genes and memes may at
times co-evolve ("gene-culture co-evolution").
Language,
music, evoked culture, etc. Some possible by-products, or "exaptations,"
of language may include writing, reading, mathematics, etc.
System Level / Problem
Investigator
/ Year of
Publication
Basic ideas
Example
Adaptations
Table from
Mills, M.E. (2004).
Evolution and motivation. Symposium paper presented at the Western
Psychological Association Conference,
Phoenix, AZ. April, 2004.
