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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
Evolutionary Psychology: The Wheat and the Chaff
Contributor:
de Waal, Frans B.M.
imprint:
SAGE Publications, 2002
Published in:Current Directions in Psychological Science
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1111/1467-8721.00197
ISSN:
0963-7214;
1467-8721
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<jats:p>Evolutionary approaches are on the rise in the social sciences and have the potential to bring an all–encompassing conceptual framework to the study of human behavior. Together with neuroscience, which is digging the grave of mind–body dualism, evolutionary psychology is bound to undermine the still reigning human–animal dualism. If a Darwinian reshaping of the social sciences seems inevitable, even desirable, this should not be looked at as a hostile takeover. The underlying theme of this essay is that it is time for psychologists to join the Darwinian revolution, yet the essay also critically reviews current evolutionary psychology. It questions the loose application of adaptationist thinking and the fragmentation of the genome, behavior, and the brain. From biology we learn that not every species–typical trait is necessarily advantageous, and from neuroscience we learn that not every psychological ability or tendency necessarily needs to have its own specialized brain circuitry. But even if the concept of adaptation is hard to apply, psychologists would do well to start looking at human behavior in the light of evolution.</jats:p>