Overview
Evolutionary psychology is a field that studies mental and psychological traits as a product of natural selection, and it draws upon ideas in evolutionary biology and cognitive psychology. It is based on the belief that humans have a “fixed and binary (male or female) set of genes that evolved during a stable era in a uniform environment” (Condit 2008, 500). Human behaviors were a result of psychological mechanisms that were selected for. As for animals, evolutionary psychology believes that the mind and body work together to increase the animals’ fitness within commonly encountered environments. Fitness refers to the ability to survive and pass on genes to the next generation.
Background
Evolutionary psychology has a history that traces back to mid 19th century and Charles Darwin. He developed the theory of natural selection and published his findings in the book On the Origin of Species in 1859. Darwin laid the groundwork that would later become the basis of evolutionary psychology. However, he did not use the term, but he postulated that human emotional expressions evolved in a similar manner. Darwin wrote two books related to evolutionary psychology: The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871) and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). In the first book, he introduced the concept of sexual selection and applied evolutionary theory to humans. Sexual selection refers to advantageous characteristics in organisms that allow it to mate and pass its genes. It involved same-sex competition, in which organisms of the same sex contest against each other, and mate preference, which involves the opposite sex selecting desirable characteristics. In the second book, he wanted to find the origin of human behavior such as blushing and emotional expressions. Facial expressions were useful for communication. For example, an angry face shows that the person is willing to fight but allows for the observer to retreat, so both parties do not have to use energy to fight another (Kenrick 2017).
Throughout the late 19th century and mid 20th century, the ideas and theories of evolutionary psychology developed. William James, named “Father of American psychology,” used the term ‘evolutionary psychology’ in his famous 1890 book The Principles of Psychology. He argued that many human behaviors reflect instincts. William McDougall furthered the ideas of evolutionary psychology. He saw social behavior as instinct-driven and discussed this concept in his 1908 textbook An Introduction to Social Psychology (Kenrick 2017). During this period of psychology, behaviorism became more popular, so McDougall’s ideas lost weight. Behaviorism referred to the study of psychology through outward, measurable characteristics and did not consider inner thoughts because they could be subjective. Famous behavioral psychologist John B. Watson believed that mind was a blank slate and all behaviors were determined through experiences. However, there were several critiques of behaviorism. It contradicted with Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Operant conditioning, which refers to the use of reinforcement to give the desired response, would support actions that would lead to the most pleasure. However, these actions are not always the best for survival. Other critiques mentioned that behaviorism failed to show generalizability in human behavior and development of human language.
More work on evolutionary psychology emerged in the mid to late 20th century. The influential book The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and The Generation of Culture (1992) popularized the term. The field has several core beliefs, and one of them is that the brain’s adaptive mechanisms have been shaped through natural and sexual selection. The brain has neural mechanisms that were developed to solve problems in the evolutionary past, but these may not be helpful in the present. For example, humans sought food high in fat, sugar, and salt in the past to help them during a period of cold or famine. The field believes that humans still look for these foods in modern times, but these neural wirings are not helpful because the world has an abundance of sugary, non-nutritious food and thus can lead to overeating or obesity. Evolutionary psychology is still a field studied today but it has several controversies.
Controversies regarding Evolutionary Psychology
Many psychologists and biologists use evolutionary psychology to explain modern-day behavior. Darwin’s theory of natural selection has generally been accepted by most scientists and applying it to human behavior seems like logical next steps. However, some biological scientists and many social scientists do not accept evolutionary psychology. Several biological researchers criticize the methods of evolutionary psychologists because ideas about selective pathways cannot be theoretically disproven. The field takes ideas about gender or sexual differences and applies an evolutionary lens to explain them. Many psychologists accept fundamental biological differences between sexes (e.g. women’s ability to bear children while men cannot), but they see the mind as largely affected by the environment. Some worry that if scientists show biological influences on men’s and women’s motivations, then these ideas can justify discriminatory treatment in the workplace.
Many social scientists would argue against ideas in evolutionary psychology because they view gender and sexuality as a result of socio-cultural factors rather than biology. One studied showed evidence that boys prefer blue while girls prefer pink through an evolutionary lens because pink would allow women to find berries better during a hunter-gatherer society (Hurlber and Yazhu 2007). However, it failed to account for fruit other that red or pink (such as blue berries) and that color preference vary from different places. Feminist psychologists have pointed out that evolutionary psychology fails to address intersectional aspects, such as race, ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation, that influence differences between male and females (Eagly 2011). Furthermore, the field assumes gender and sexuality as natural facts and mainly focus on the heteronormative relationship, which allows for the passage of genes to the next generation. Other relationships exist, such as homosexual, that does not confer any fitness, and evolutionary psychology does not fully explain it. Some researchers hypothesize that homosexuality has evolutionary benefits via kin selection. Homosexual individuals would be able to focus their energy on a close relative that has related genetic components rather than another person.
Politics of Health
Evolutionary psychology relates to the politics of health because to ties to the concept of a biased scientific production of knowledge and structural violence. While the field is presented as objective, it draws upon traditional views of genders roles and fails to include discourse about homosexual relationships from an evolutionary point of view. This subjective view within science perpetuates structural violence against minorities. Structural violence refers to the harm, which does not have to be physically violent, a social structure or institution inflicts on people. For example, men can justify cheating through using principles of evolution because it would enable them to have as many offspring as possible. Women have to carry developing babies in the womb for 9 months, so cheating would not be as evolutionary advantageous. Evolutionary psychology suggests the inferiority of women or other groups as a result of natural selection.
References
Condit, Celeste. “Feminist Biologies: Revising Feminist Strategies and Biological Science.” Sex Roles (2008) 59: 492-503. doi: 10.1007/s11199-008-9479-2.
Eagly, Alice and Wendy Wood. “Feminism and Evolutionary Psychology: Moving Forward.” Sex Roles (2013) 69: 549-556. doi: 10.1007/s11199-013-0315-y
Hurlber, Anya, and Yazhu Ling . “Biological components of sex differences in color preference.” Current Biology 17, no. 16 (2007): R623-R625. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2007.06.022
Kenrick, Douglas. “Evolutionary Psychology.” Britannica Academic. Accessed April 6, 2017. http://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/evolutionary-psychology/610234.
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