Evolutionary Psychology: The Ultimate Origins of Human Behavior
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Description: Online text by Jack and Linda Palmer on evolutionary aspects of human behavior in contexts such as mate selection and the development and maintenance of social hierarchies. Topics include human origins, evolution of the brain and mind, language, tool use and art, and challenges of the modern environment.
Evolutionary Psychology: The Ultimate Origins of Human Behavior This site and its contents are copyrighted and may not be reproduced in any form without written consent of Dr. Jack Palmer and the Department of Psychology at
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| Page title: | Evolutionary Psychology: The Ultimate Origins of Human Behavior |
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| Description: | Evolutionary psychology is the study of the adaptive significance of behavior and attempts to explain how certain behaviors developed over time in order to secure survival and increase the probability of survival of one's progeny. Darwin's words, penned over a century ago, make the point that each level of cognitive and behavioral complexity is acquired slowly, gradually, through generation upon generation, over eons of time. William James, author of the first psychology textbook, founded his subdiscipline of functionalism on Darwin's basic assertion that behavior, just like morphology, is shaped by selective pressure, and that traits such as consciousness and the ability to plan and to problem solve were highly adaptive traits that developed in the human species as a result of natural selection. What evolutionary psychology offers that is very different from other perspectives is the idea that many of the behaviors that we view as negative or harmful (e.g., jealousy, anger, greed) as well as those we view as positive and helpful (e.g., love, compassion, loyalty) are not the result of external forces such as punishment and reward, although external forces may bring these behaviors to fruition: These behaviors are the result of our intrinsic, biological human nature. Moreover, even the subtlest and most esoteric of human behaviors such as aesthetic sense, self-reflexive consciousness, and a striving for meaning are explainable as the result of the laws of natural selection. |
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| Date | activated: 26-Apr-1999 last updated: 03-Oct-2011 expires: 31-Jul-2014 |