evolutionary psychology

E5956

Evolutionary psychology is a field of psychology that explains human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as adaptations shaped by natural selection over our species’ evolutionary history.


Statements (65)

Predicate Object
instanceOf research program
scientific discipline
subfield of psychology
theoretical framework
basedOn Darwinian natural selection
adaptationism
evolutionary theory
gene-centered view of evolution
inclusive fitness theory
sexual selection
coreClaim human cognition contains domain-specific mechanisms shaped by natural selection
many human psychological traits are evolved adaptations
ultimate evolutionary explanations complement proximate psychological explanations
understanding ancestral environments helps explain modern behavior
criticizedFor adaptationist just-so stories
potential political and ethical implications
underestimating cultural and social influences
emergedIn late 20th century
fieldOfStudy aggression
cooperation
cultural phenomena
human behavior
human cognition
human emotion
human motivation
mating behavior
moral judgment
parenting behavior
personality
social behavior
hasKeyFigure David M. Buss
John Tooby
Leda Cosmides
Margo Wilson
Martin Daly
Steven Pinker
hasKeyText Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind
The Adapted Mind
The Blank Slate
influences research on cooperation and altruism
research on human mating strategies
research on jealousy and infidelity
research on language evolution
research on moral psychology
research on parental investment
research on risk-taking and aggression
relatedTo anthropology
behavioral ecology
behavioral genetics
cognitive psychology
social psychology
sociobiology
usesConcept domain-specific cognitive mechanisms
environment of evolutionary adaptedness
modularity of mind
proximate causes of behavior
psychological adaptation
ultimate causes of behavior
usesMethod behavioral genetics
comparative methods
computational modeling
cross-cultural studies
experimental psychology methods
hypothesis-driven research
survey research

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

The Adapted Mind discipline evolutionary psychology
Darwinism influenced evolutionary psychology
John Tooby movement evolutionary psychology