Book Description

Book Description
Evolutionary Thought in Psychology: A Brief History traces the history of evolutionary thought in psychology in an accessible and lively fashion and examines the complex and changing relations between psychology and evolutionary theory.

• First book to trace the history of evolutionary thinking in psychology from its beginnings to the present day in an accessible and lively fashion.
  
• Focuses on the rise of evolutionary theories begun by Lamarck and Darwin and the creation of the science of psychology.
  
• Explains evolutionary thought’s banishment by behaviorism and cultural anthropology in the early 20th century, along with its eventual re-emergence through ethology and sociobiology.
  
• Examines the complex and changing relations between psychology and evolutionary theory.

Customer Reviews (2)

Pithy acount of how psychology dealt with evolutionary theory
This is an amazingly compact summary of how psychology has alternately embraced and ignored developments in evolutionary theory over the past two centuries. The compactness is largely due to the superb writing, which often effortlessly compresses three points into a single short sentence. So good is the writing that when I tried to isolate extracts to illustrate this they started running into one another! Uncompressed, from another pen, I think this book could easily have run to 400 pages.

Ifound this book unusual in focusing on psychology alone. The familiar stages in its history took on a wholly new coloring when seen as either the embrace, or more interestingly the denial, of evolutionary theory. I've not seen the two stitched so tightly together, distinct from social science in general and social issues such as racism and eugenics.

The author boldly brings his account up close to the present, facilitating the weighing of how new developments in evolutionary theory such as evolutionary psychology contribute to psychology itself.

Brief yet helpful survey of the history and prospects for an enlightened synthesis
This book presents a brief review of the relationship between evolutionary thought and psychology, along with an assessment of the current state of evolutionary psychology and its prospects of providing an enlightened melding of the two disciplines.

After identifying precursors, Plotkin begins his survey in earnest with the start of both disciplines in the latter half of the 19th century.He traces initial interest expressed by psychologists in evolutionary thought to James and Freud.He considers their projects to have be dead-ends with respect to integrating evolution into psychology because they failed to meet Plotkin's "principle of specific action.Evolutionary theory only effectively enters psychology when specific aspects of the theory drive empirical studies and frame causal explanations."James came from a Darwinian core, but did not develop a research program based on that core.Freud posited evolved mechanisms of the unconscious mind that were without adequate empirical foundation.

The rise of behaviorism by the middle of the 20th century led to the banishment of speculations regarding mentalistic mechanisms, and suppressed evolutionary contributions to psychology for decades.During this period, the study of culture developed in cultural anthropology under the primary influence of Franz Boas, who built on a foundation asserting the near complete independence of culture from biology.

This separation of evolutionary biology from the study of mind, behavior, and culture was breached in the 1970's with attempts to extend insights from ethology and then sociobiology from non-human animal studies to humans.A firestorm resulted. Some attacks were without merit. Others reinforced the need to heed the "principle of specific application" if research is to stand up to the heat which continues to greet forays across the divide.

Plotkin wraps up with a tentative yet sympathetic look at contemporary evolutionary psychology.He offers a balanced view that accepts insights from critics and cautions about presumptions to inheritance when developmental or other explanations might be invoked.His call is for research, conducted with civility, motivated by a resolve to develop the research programs needed to tease out the evolutionary structures that underlie our mental faculties.

Plotkin provides a useful survey of this subject, although the brevity presupposes a reader with some familiarity with the history of psychology.To the newer student embracing an evolutionary perspective to investigate human behavior and culture, the book can serve as a head-up to why this is such a sensitive approach to take.

The book could have used a bit more editing to simplify recurrences of convoluted sentence structure.At times, you need to slow down and reread passages to get the author's meaning.In the end, your patience will be rewarded
... Read more

Book Description
Written in a lively and engaging manner, this new work places evolutionary psychology within the broad sweep of our primate heritage and the full scope of our evolutionary story. Beginning with the basics of evolution, the book first unpacks the far-ranging saga of human evolution, then moves on to examine motor behavior and emotions, sexual behavior and mate selection, and higher cognition. ... Read more

Book Description
Theories of human evolution portray ancestral men as active individuals who shaped future generations by testosterone-driven competition, creating a critical gulf between reproductive winners and losers.But what role is left for women within such evolutionary thinking?Their role has been constricted to mere consumers of the fruits of male competitionaccepting the winning male genes to pass to their children.Allegedly devoid of the need and capacity for competition amongst themselves, women could be neither winners nor losers in the reproductive stakes and so could contribute nothing to the genetic variability that drives selection.Is it any wonder that feminists are dismissive of such evolutionary approaches? That many have sought to ignore the contribution that evolutionary theory can make to our understanding of women? But have women really just been bit part actors in the whole story of evolution? Have they not played their own role in ensuring their reproductive success? In this highly accessible and thought provoking new book, Anne Campbell challenges this passive role of women in evolutionary theory, and redresses the current bias within evolutionary writing. Guiding us through the basics of evolutionary theory, she proposes that women have forged their own strategic way forward, acting through their own forms of competition, rivalry, aggression, and sexuality, to shape their own destiny. Throwing down a challenge to feminist theories, Campbell argues that evolutionary theory can indeed teach us plenty about the development of the female mind - we just need to get it right.This is an important book that will force others to re-evaluate their own assumptions about the evolution of the female mind. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Solid Piece of Work
Anne Campbell looks at why females are too easily presumed to be merely passive receivers of winning males' sperm.

Considering the enormous burden of motherhood and a mothers need for resources for both herself and her limited number of potential offspring it should follow that females will compete with each other for resources and there will be differential reproductive success amongst females.

But it is also essential for females to preserve their own health throughout their reproductive lifetime so open, physical aggression is not normally an option. (It is an option for males who can maximise their number of offspring in a brief spell of copulatory access to a number of females.)

So female competition is indirect and low-level harrassment except when the mother needs to show full aggression to directly protect her offspring.

Campbell discusses hormone studies - particularly serotonin and dopamine - suggesting that different levels of these in the sexes provide a braking system on female emotions and impulsive behaviour but less so on males. Hence greater male impulsivity, risk-taking, violence and even suicide. Only the male had the potential for reproductive gains via this weaker braking system.

Campbell also makes many more points about females and males such as the rarity of male parental care in nature and the possible reasons for monogamy eg the female trades sex for the protection of one male against numerous other males who may also be infanticidal. She also discusses female crime and female friendship.

And regarding modern women she points out that there is nothing new about women working except that women have to leave their children to do so.

This is a solid, wide-ranging book providng sound evolutionary reasons for women's psychology and behaviour. She includes the important points about variation within the sexes and the overlap of the sexes. But by considering the reality of how males and females achieved reproductive success in different ways during evolution she explains much about the differences between the sexes today.

Highly recommended.

Very influential book about womens behaviors
Quite simply, I am impressed with the value and scope of this manuscript.It is the most influential piece of work written about the mind and behavior of women to appear in history (and yes that is a bold statement, read it you won't be disappointed).I say kudos for taking on a topic of such magnitude, and bringing to light the fact that women too have an evolutionary past.This book is loaded with insight about women's behaviors such as social aggression, friendship, love and marriage.And far from offering simple opinions, the ideas and explanations are backed up by a stagering mound of scientific data.Whether you are an academic or the average Jane, this book is bound to be a classic read for anyone interested in the unique behaviors of women. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Turf battles are always interesting and occasionally enlightening. Social scientists have been fairly slow in responding to the encroachment of biologically oriented evolutionary psychology, but they have come to mount a vigorous defense against what they perceive to be an oversimplified and dehumanizing theoretical scheme. Alas, Poor Darwin, edited by sociologist Hilary Rose and neuroscientist Steven P.R. Rose, collects essays from scientists and social critics united in their disdain for the extremes of such EP proponents as Richard Dawkins and Edward O. Wilson.Though many writers rely on arguments based on our seemingly innate revulsion for determinism, often enough they rise up out of their easy rhetoric to score more legitimate points. Evolutionary theorist Stephen Jay Gould, for example, reprises his spandrel metaphor to show that not all biological features were forged in the fires of natural selection.Unfortunately, the reader has to wait until the book's end for the only critique of evolutionary psychology that is both thorough and scientific; Steven Rose's piece is engaging and challenging, pursuing the invaders back to their own territory using the only arguments they're likely to take seriously. Alas, Poor Darwin won't fully satisfy any reader, but it will provoke thought, discussion, and probably more argument among all who areinterested in the nature of human nature. --Rob LightnerBook Description
In recent years, the claims of genetics and evolutionary psychology to explain and indeed legislate on the human condition have been loudly trumpeted in a host of popular books. Genes are said to account for almost every aspect of our lives. Evolution is supposed to explain alleged human universals, from male philandering and female coyness to children's dislike of spinach. There are even claimed to be genes that account for differences between people -- from sexual orientation to drug addiction, aggression, religiosity, and job satisfaction. It appears that Darwin, at least in the hands of his popularizers, has replaced Marx and Freud as the great interpreter of human existence.

Biologists, social scientists, and philosophers have begun to rebel against this undisciplined approach to their different understandings of the world, demonstrating that the claims of evolutionary psychology rest on shaky empirical evidence, flawed premises, and unexamined political presuppositions. In this groundbreaking book, Hilary Rose and Steven Rose have gathered the leading and outspoken critics of this fashionable ideology in a shared and uniquely cross-disciplinary project. Contributors range from biologists Stephen Jay Gould, Gabriel Dover, Patrick Bateson, and Anne Fausto-Sterling; to anthropologists and sociologists Dorothy Nelkin, Tim Ingold, Tom Shakespeare, and Ted Benton; to philosopher Mary Midgley and cultural critics Barbara Herrnstein Smith and Charles Jencks.

The result of this joint work, Alas Poor Darwin, is a sharply engaged, accessible, and highly entertaining critique of evolutionary psychology's tenets. What emerges is a new perspective that challenges the reductionism of evolutionary psychology and offers a richer understanding of the biosocial nature of the human condition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Alas, poor authors
As pretentious and vacuous as its title. Ideology trying to mimic science.

Alas - a collection of mostly poor contributions
This is a collection of 14 contributions by scientists and social scientists attempting to make arguments against evolutionary psychology. Many are instantly forgettable, others are only just worth reading and only four are actually worth reading - SJ Gould is always a pleasure to read, Annette Karmiloff-Smith presents some interesting research on the development of the brain in infancy and childhood, Patrick Bateson presents interesting points about instincts and Tom Shakespeare & Mark Erickson present the most reasonable sociologists' perspective arguing for both/and rather than either/or in the nature/nurture debate.

A number of essays paint EP as a new religion.
Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins and E O Wilson are among the usual targets, painted as biological determinists with views of human nature as selfish etc etc.
Editor Steven Rose in his introduction expresses his belief that EP is a transparent attack by the right-wing on collectivity, avoiding the fact that there are people from the left, feminists, etc who would disagree because they find at least some of the insights powerful and convincing. Indeed, it is clear from the essays themselves that the contributors are far from being in agreement about the impact of inherited biology in human life.

Apart from Shakespeare & Erickson's both/and argument the one point I would take from this book is made by both the Roses - EP tends to present human nature as fixed rather than as evolving as all life does.

Unless you are fearful of EP and simply need anything to buttress you against it this book as a whole is, alas, a poor one.

Important step againstevolutionary psychology
More books are needed like this - a response to the onslaught of evolutionary psychology, the conservatives' favorite flavor of Darwinism. If you don't think that is so, just read the negative reviews here on Amazon - all the tirades against feminism and all the rants about how men and women have essential, evolutionarily endowed natures. Some of the more policy-minded proponents of evolutionary psychology have suggested, for example, that there be a two-tiered system of employment, one for men and one for women (Helena Cronin) and rape counselling that suggests that young women who wear certain clothing were responsible for provoking rape (Thornhill and Palmer.)

The basic problem with the claims of evolutionary psychology is best represented by the work of David Buss - he sent out a SURVEY asking people about their attitudes towards sex, noted some cross-cultural similarities, and on that basis concluded that modern gender roles are the result of evolution.

As somebody else's review pointed out, the biggest problem with evolutionary psychology is that its theories are untestable (unless you consider a survey a test) and so its proponents are pretty much free to say that ANY human behavior is the result of evolution - and they do. And then they go ahead and write policy papers and mass-marketed books.

Which is why the funniest aspect of the pro-evolutionary psychology grumblings in these Amazon reviews are the charges that opponents of Darwinian fundamentalism have a political agenda, while the EPs are scientific purists.

Of course Stephen Jay Gould was the leader of the anti-evolutionary psychologists, and wrote many wonderful essays on the subject, some of which can be found in the New York Review of Books online. His essay here is good too, although contrary to many of the reviews, other essays in this book are also worthy, especially those by Dorothy Nelkin, Steven Rose, Hilary Rose and Anne Fausto-Sterling.

I admit that I was a bit dissatisfied because this book fails to ask the question that I would love to have asked of the EPs. The EPs are often quick to say that while evolutionary psychology tells us what men and women are fundamentally like, there is some variation in the personalities of individual men and women.

But they are either completely uninterested in, or incapable of addressing the question of exactly what percentage of men and women conform to their allegedly evolved natures. Which is a serious problem for their political agenda - because if they can't tell us that, then they can't tell us anything of worth about gender roles and evolved "natural" predilictions - much less offeradvice to governmental agencies on how to deal with employment policies or rape victims.

I've never seen EPs pressed on this point, and I'd love it if somebody would, and write it up in a book.

But in spite of that, this is a much needed introduction to both scientific and political objections to evolutionary psychology.

Simply Rubbish
While there certainly are valid critiques to be made of EP--outside of the esssay by Gould--one will not find them here. One gets the idea that the only reason this collection was put together was not to advance any real debate on the scientific merits of EP but rather to serve as a vehicle for the editors to register their moral and political misgivings about the consequences of EP. It must be pointed out, however, that the fact that you may not like something for moral reasons does not make it any less true. EP certainly has a long way to go before reaching truly scientific status, but it is already much closer to knowledge than the whining found here.

Title misleads and so do the polemics!
I like Darwin, Dawkins and Dennett just fine. The problem I've always had is the claims made by memetics and evolutionary psychology as sciences. Speculations that can not be tested are not sciences no matter how you slice it, so I was looking forward to a book that contributes to this great, important discussion. In all the frenzy of excitement about memes and EP, criticism is too easily dismissed.

This book seriously dropped the ball. Most of the essays here were whiny and irrelavent tot the topic at hand. The first essay tries to find commonality between EP and religion for no apparent reason than to tell us "Since EP uses religious metaphors like 'revelation,' and since religion is bad, EP is bad, too." Unfortunately, the book is chock full of hasty non-sequitors like that one. Hilary Rose's chapter, by way of another unfortunate example, laments EP because it is threatening to take the fun out of social science by threatening to intoduce the empirical method into the otherwise free-flowing humanities. Gasp, what a concept!

The best essay is far and away that of Steven Jay Gould who distrusts EP not because its un-PC or because it uses religious metaphors, but because it assumes that any observable behavior must have an adaptationary explanation. Not true, says Gould. There are such things as spandrels, or neutral traits that get selected for, incidentally, with more useful traits. Also, punctuated equlibrium (all Dawkinites should check this out, it's really not as bad as you think) and environmental flukes (like metoer-caused mass-extinctions also give us reason to suppose that EP's faith in incremental linear adaptation is a chimera.

I'm quite suprised that no one but Gould touched on the extremely speculative, theoretical and by extension, untestable nature of EP which is the biggest argument I could think of against it. The problem, can anyone think of any one trait that could disprove EP? No! It's explantations are and always will be post hoc. This book ignores that. I guess I'm not really suprised as it would ruin the books intellectually light-weight theme. But if you do read this one, read Steven Pinkers "The Blank Slate" as an accompaniment so you aren't fooled when certain authors incorrectly demonize EP. ... Read more

Book Description

"Bridgemans Psychology and Evolution is a superb textbook in evolutionary psychologyI see it as a landmark in the emergence of evolutionary psychology as no longer a controversial minority current but as a central aspect of the mainstream. The book reflects the state of the art in current work in evolutionary psychologythe reader is brought up-to-date about evolutionary theory, modern genetics, human prehistory, and relevant issues in modern linguistics."

--M. Brewster Smith, Emeritus, University of California, Santa Cruz and Past President, American Psychological Association

"This is an important book. Readers partial to evolutionary psychology, as well as those who remain skeptical, will benefit from a careful reading of this reader-friendly bookThe author endorses the core assumptions of evolutionary psychologybut, refreshingly, he includes, often with a new slant, relevant material usually overlooked by both believers and skeptics."

-- Andrew Neher, Emeritus, Cabrillo College

In recent years, evolutionary theory has been offering a framework that more and more psychologists are finding increasingly relevant to address one critical question: Why? Why do we behave, develop, and interact the way we do?

Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Humanist, published by Thomson Gale on September 1, 2006. The length of the article is 4340 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The evolutionary psychology of religion.(Cover story)
Author: Steven Pinker
Publication: The Humanist (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 66Issue: 5Page: 10(6)

Article Type: Cover story

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description
In recent years, a new discipline has arisen that argues human behaviour can be understood in terms of evolutionary processes.Evolutionary Explanation of Human Behaviour is an introductory level book covering EvolutionaryPsychology, this new and controversial field. The book deals with three main areas: human reproductive behaviour, evolutionary explanations of mentaldisorders and the evolution of intelligence and the brain. The book is particularlysuitable for the AQA-A A2 syllabus, but will also be of interest to undergraduates studyingevolutionary psychology for the first time and anyone with a general interest in this new discipline.Download Description
Evolutionary Explanation of Human Behaviour is a unique introductory level book covering evolutionary psychology, a relatively new and controversial area of psychology. ... Read more

Book Description
A short, broad introduction to the emerging field of evolutionary psychology (the study of adaptive significance of behavior). 10 short chapters introduce the reader to the major topics within the field of evolutionary psychology (from "Social Order and Disorder" to "Mating and Reproduction" to "The Creative Impulse: The Origins of Technology and Art"). For psychologists, students, or anyone interested in evolutionary psychology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Very informative
Comprehensive and easy to read and full of useful information. Ample reference material and evidence to back up the findings and theories. I especiall liked the explanations of psychpathologies from evolutionary perspectives and the effects of different brain damages on personality and behavior.

Textbook, but Worth a Look
This book, for all its faults, is surprisingly informative. Yes, the authors are poor writers (poor-to-bad punctuation, spelling, and run-ons abound); there's no question that the authors did not consult a style manual before writing some tortuous sentential structures. Even some key scientist's names are misspelled. But despite these obvious flaws, the authors explain evolutionary biology quite thoroughly, even if, or rather because, it is meant as a textbook.

But taking some of the chapter and section highlights, look what's covered under one set of binding:

Chapter One: The Roots of Evolutionary Psychology
--Darwin's Theory
--The Modern Synthesis
--Behavior as a Function of Evolution

Chapter Two: From Big Bang to Big Brain
--Life in the Universe
--The Beginning
--Vertebrate Life
--Hominid Evolution (Africa, Bipedalism, & First Humans)

Chapter Three:; Encephalization and the Emergence of Mind
--The rive Movers in Hominid Encephaization (Machiavellian Intelligence, Ice Ages, Ballistic Hunting, Language, & Intraspecific Competition
--The Modular Brain
--The Modular Mind (Fear Learning, Social Reasoning, Gender Differences

Chapter Four: Language
--The Nature of Language (Animal Communication, Animal Language Studies, & Feral Children)
--Language Acquisition (Developmental Stages, Critical Periods)
--Language Evolution (Universals, Ancient Origins, Conceptual Domains)

Chapter Five: Mating and Reproduction
--Sexual Selection (Sex Differences, Mate Slection Criteria)
--Aesthetics of Attraction (Symmetry, Waist-Hip Ratio, Masculine Ideal, Feminine Ideal)
--Human Pheronomes (Menstrual Synchronicity, Major Histocaptibility Complex Preferences, Male Pheromones, Female Pheromones)
--Jealousy and Mate-Guarding
--Sperm Wars
--Sexual Orientation
--Pair-bonding Strategies (Limerence and Long-term Pair Bonding)

Chapter Six: Ontogeny
--Prenatal Development
--Postnatal Development (A Priori Mind, Parent-Infant Conflicts, Incest Avoidance, Evolved Contingency Mechanisms, Optimizing Cognitive Potential, Adaptive Function of Menopause)

Chapter Seven: Social Order and Disorder
--Dominance Hierarchies (Affiliation and Aggression & Biochemical Status of Mood Disorders)
--Evolution of Compassion (Kin Selection, Reciprocal Altruism, & Universal Morality and Ethics)

Chapter Eight: Personality and Psychopathology
--Early Personality Theorists
--Contemporary Personality Theories (Case-Study, Trait, and Factor Analysis)
--The Three-Factor Model
--The Five-Factor Model
--Evolutionary Theory of Personality (Adaptive Significance & Phylogeny and Ontogeny of Personality)
--Personality and Abnormal Behavior (Axis I and Axis II Disorders)

Chapter Nine: The Creative Impulse
--Tool Use (In Nonhumans, Hominid Archeology, Tool-use as a Selective Force, Hominid Cognitive Ability)
--Aesthetic Manipulation (Pleistocene Art, Adaptive Art)
--Consciousness and the Symbolic Universe

Chapter Ten: Ancient Mammal in a Brave New World
--Mismatch Theory
--Stree: Then and Now
--Mental Health
--Indoctrination, Nationalism, & War
--Psychoparmacology (Substance Abuse & Pharmacology)
--The New Eugencis: Genetic Engineering

As one can see, almost every conceivable topic of evolutionary and psychological importance is covered in a single volume of about 250 pages. Admittedly, some features are not as well covered as I might have liked. For example: The distinction between altruism and reciprocal altruism is conflated, and the subsection on stress hormones identifies not a one. But these quibbles are minor compared to the magisterial accomplishment of having all these features in one, consolidated volume. And other than E. O. Wilson, this is the first volume I've encountered where sexual orientation from an evolutionary perspective is addressed, even if it's in paltry terms. Nothing is more counterintuitive to evolutionary biology than the persistence of homosexuality. The authors explanation may fail, but at least they don't avoid it.

And unlike some modern populizers of evolutionary biology and psychology, this book gives the facts and nothing but the facts. People used to other populizers' (Pinker for example) invasive and extemporaneous inputs might be bored by the lack of mindless interruptions, but I appreciated the straight-forwardness of this volume. As one who looks critically at evolutionary biology to explain human behavior, I appreciate this direct and unconvoluted approach. There are deficiencies, which I am sure the authors today would want to correct. But for explaining human behavior in terms of the Modern Synthesis, this one volume does it all without the extraneous.

I encourage the authors to consult a style manual, rewrite, and repunctuate many of their sentences. I also encourage them to add new information that has come to light since this volume was printed in 2002. And I beseech the authors to try harder to explain homosexuality in evolutionary terms (they explain it only in ontogenic terms). But with these few admonitions, a second edition would be a welcome event. The "Further Reading" List is extensive, while the notes are cryptic (no page references); and the index is comprehensive.

Read Pinker et al. for their hype, read and keep this volume for your reference. ... Read more

Book Description
This bk is a sequel to Crawford's LEA bk "Hndbk of Evolutionary Psych"'98.This new bk applies the tenets of evolutionary psych to a number of areas in the social & beh. sciences.This bk is intended for the informed layperson as well as for the senior und ... Read more

Book Description
According to evolutionary biologists, we are the minders of our genes. But, as Christopher Badcock points out in this book, it is only recently that evolutionists have realized that minders need minds, and that evolution needs psychology to fill the yawning gap between genes and behaviour.

Evolutionary Psychology assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, and concentrates on the fundamental issues raised by the application of modern Darwinism to psychology. Basic concepts of evolution are explained carefully, so that the reader has a sound grasp of them before their often controversial application to psychology is discussed. The approach is a critical one, and the author does not hide the many difficulties that evolutionary psychology raises. Examples include the strange neglect of Darwin's own writings on psychology, and the fact that no existing theory has succeeded in explaining why the human brain evolved in the first place.

The book is the first to give a non-technical account of remarkable new findings about the roles that conflicting genes play in building different parts of the brain. It is also the first to consider the consequences of this for controversies like those over nature/nurture, IQ, brain lateralization and consciousness.

Evolutionary Psychology is based on many years experience of teaching evolution and psychology to social science students, and is intended for all who wish to get to grips with the basic issues of one of the most exciting and rapidly growing areas of modern science. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent introduction that holds the attention
This was the first book on evolutionary psychology I read, and it was an easy-to-understand and engaging introduction that gave me the background I needed to tackle more difficult works such as _The Adapted Mind_. Badcock explains the history of the movement well, treats most issues with healthy skepticism, and explains natural selection in such a way that most readers, even those without preexisting knowledge of evolution, should find quite easy to understand.

That being said, I had a couple of problems towards the end of the book, Badcock's strange fascination with Freud being first among them. He takes some very interesting data on unconscious processing and treats it as evidence that Freud was right on about all the defense mechanisms and so forth. He also seemed too set on the goal of reframing the mother/fetus relationship as an "arms race", although this is a more minor criticism. If it weren't for the Freud apologetics, I'd give this book 5 stars. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
This reader demonstrates how evolutionary perspectives can shed the same light on human thought and behavior as they have shed on the behaviors of species from earthworms and chimpanzees.Reader-friendly and straightforward, readers will find this set of articles and shortened empirical studies engaging and relevant. It is a collection of readings that deal with all areas of evolutionary psychology.For anyone interested in evolutionary psychology. ... Read more

Book Description
Evolutionary psychology--a relatively new theoretical model of psychology--provides valuable and exciting insights on human violence and public policy issues related to human violence, from war and terrorism to rape and criminality. To this end, each chapter in this volume poses a public policy issues related to violence, describes aspects of evolutionary psychology that are relative and then posits public policy recommendations based on this psychological model. Topics covered also include psycopathy, despotism, and suicide bombings. This volume, designed as an accessible way for policymakers outside of academia to learn about new theoretical developments, also explodes the myths about evolutionary psychology, such as the false claim that it justifies immoral behavior or focuses only on humans' ugly underbelly. While appealing to policymakers across foundations and agencies, this collection will also interest scholars and teachers focused on evolutionary psychology, public policy, criminal justice, security, public affairs, sociology, and anthropology. ... Read more

Book Description

There is no question more fundamental to human existence than that posed by the nature-versus-nurture debate. For much of the past century, it was widely believed that there was no essential human nature and that people could be educated or socialized to thrive in almost any imaginable culture. Today, that orthodoxy is being directly and forcefully challenged by a new science of the mind: evolutionary psychology. Like the theory of evolution itself, the implications of evolutionary psychology are provocative and unsettling. Rather than viewing the human mind as a mysterious black box or a blank slate, evolutionary psychologists see it as a physical organ that has evolved to process certain types of information in certain ways that enables us to thrive only in certain types of cultures.

In On Our Minds, Eric M. Gander examines all sides of the public debate between evolutionary psychologists and their critics. Paying particularly close attention to the popular science writings of Steven Pinker, Edward O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, and Stephen Jay Gould, Gander traces the history of the controversy, succinctly summarizes the claims and theories of the evolutionary psychologists, dissects the various arguments deployed by each side, and considers in detail the far-reaching ramifications -- social, cultural, and political -- of this debate. Gander's lucid and highly readable account concludes that evolutionary psychology now holds the potential to answer our oldest and most profound moral and philosophical questions, fundamentally changing our self--perception as a species.

Customer Reviews (1)

A general review of evolutionnary psychology trends
The book is a critical review of the ideas around evol. psychology.

The first chapters of the book try to convince the reader that the mind is divided into modules, genetically shaped during the human evolution some 100,000 years ago. Then the last chapters discuss some "modules" specifically, such as the "altruism" module and "mate selection module".

But the very first chapters are devoted to the polemics between the pros and cons of sociobiology in general and the heritability of intelligence.

The author has much sympathy for Stephen Pinker and Herrnstein (the author of The Bell Curve) and much less for Stephen J. Gould and his followers ( treating them as "communists"). But very honestly, he displays all sides of the debate whitout derogatory deformations.

Over all, the author has an easy stlye. I found it instructive. ... Read more

Book Description
Research on Altruism and Love is a compendium of annotated bibliographies reviewing literature and research studies on the nature of love. An essay introduces each of the annotated bibliographies.

A variety of literature either directly related to science-and-love issues or supporting literature for those issues is covered in the Religious Love Interfaces with Science section. This annotated bibliography is unique in that it approaches the field from a decidedly religious perspective. It includes classical expositions of love that continue to influence contemporary scholars, including Platos' work on eros, the work and words of Jesus, Aristotle, Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, Kierkegaard, and Ghandi, among others. The contemporary discussion includes Anders Nygren's theological arguments in his classic, Agape and Eros; Pitirim Sorokin; and others. An issue that often emerges in this literature is the question of the nature and definition of love.

A second annotated bibliography features current empirical research in the field of Personality and Altruism, with a focus on social psychology. Among the topics covered are the altruistic personality, altruistic behavior, empathy, helping behavior, social responsibility, and volunteerism. Methodologies are diverse, and studies include experiments, local and national surveys, naturalistic observation, and combinations of these.

The Evolutionary Biology annotated bibliography covers the most significant works on altruism and love in the field of biology and evolutionary psychology.

The fourth and final annotated bibliography in this volume is entitled Sociology of Faith-Based Volunteerism. Here the focus is on literature on the interface of helping behavior and religious organizations, as well as major pieces on voluntary associations. ... Read more

Book Description

We aren't very strong, nor very fast, we have insufficient body hair to keep us warm and dry, and we will never eat bananas with our feet. But like our chimpanzee cousins, we, the naked apes, have evolved to flourish in our surroundings--a cultural environment largely of our own creation. For the human race, the critical evolution of the past million years has been the evolution of our minds.

Yet psychology, the very science that purports to understand us, has long been deeply ambivalent about Darwin's unsettling discoveries. In an accessible, level-headed overview, Henry Plotkin describes the new rapprochement called 'evolutionary psychology.' He examines how such a powerful theory as Darwinism could have been disregarded by much academic psychology and shows why the relationship between the two must be readdressed. The theory and data of evolutionary biology and animal behavior can illuminate many of our most basic mental processes and activities: language learning, perception, social understanding, and most controversially, culture and the sharing of knowledge and beliefs.

Ranging from the nature-nurture question, which has bedeviled philosophers and scientists for thousands of years, to recent debates about the mind's structure, Evolution in Mind vividly demonstrates how an evolutionary perspective helps us understand what we are, and how we got that way.

Customer Reviews (3)

Intellectually challenging--not for wimps or softies!
This stimulating and intellectually challenging book is not for everyone, and in particular not for those who are looking for entertaining anecdotes and an effortless read.Plotkin himself is a true scholar who reads widelyand with a profound understanding.He knows which pieces are relevant tothe puzzles he is solving, and he lets you look over his shoulder as heputs all the pieces together.Give him a C+ for entertainment, if youmust, but give him an A for enlightenment.

A rare balanced critical review of a complex new field
Psychology is a discipline that has always struggled to convince the `hard' sciences that it is actually a member of the same club. It has taken many years of emphasis on precise methodology, careful statistics, multiplereplications - and the exacting application of the Popperian principles offalsification and the hypothetico-deductive method - to make its point.Finally, and perhaps with some residual reluctance, psychology has (mostly)been admitted to the science club.

However, this hard-gained reputationis at risk. Evolutionary psychology is the latest application of thecompelling logic of Darwinism to a new field. Writers and researchers suchas Pinker, Dawkins and Buss put forward an unending stream of theorising,some interesting, some frankly `so what'. But is it science?

Scientificmethod post-Popper depends significantly upon the principle offalsification. Many books explain the principle, but in essence, thepredictions derived from hypotheses must be subject not only toconfirmation but also to disproof.

Unfortunately, a look through theavailable textbooks in evolutionary psychology reveals scant emphasis onmethodology, and a generally uncritical approach to their own findings.Buss's `Evolutionary Psychology' in particular is an example; there is achapter on methodology, but little consideration of how theoreticalpredictions in evolutionary psychology might be falsified. Perhaps you,dear reader, would like to ponder how this could be done?

Plotkin'sexcellent short review introduces most areas of evolutionary psychology ina critical light. As such, it serves as a useful counterbalance to theenthusiastic but uncritical approach of many books in this field. Plotkinis very familiar with evolutionary psychology, and makes clear his viewthat sociobiology has proved its point in animal studies. The jury is stillout on the application of the theories to humans. There are otherformidable critics of sociobiology, such as Lewontin and Rose, but onlyPlotkin has the psychological background to directly address evolutionarypsychology.

A very good book. Buy it. If you are a student ofevolutionary psychology and need a balanced view, definitely buy it.There's nothing else.

A poor exposition of evolutionary psychology.
Evolutionary psychology has thus far been lucky to have exponents who are both comfortable and competent with current evolutionary theory (Daly & Wilson, Tooby & Cosmides, Buss, and Barkow). It was only a question of time until everyone started jumping on the bandwagon. Plotkin belongs to the 'yes, but' school of evolution. Yes, humans are the product of evolutionary forces, yes we are biological organisms and must obey biological principles but we are also super-wonderful, extra- special organisms. We have unique magical powers like intelligence, awareness and culture that other animals do not posses. This not only glorifies the abilities of humans but completely trivializes the wonder and magnificence of the rest of the kingdom Animalia. Plotkin has a very impressive command of the history of both biology and psychology. But that's about it. His attacks on sociobiology are both tired and pedestrian, revealing shallow insight. Then, he goes on to launch feeble assaults upon some of the most impressive empirical work of current evolutionary psychologists (Buss, Daly & Wilson) for the same trite reasons. Lastly, he tries to find a 'middle way'. This 'middle way' consists of fancifullypicking and choosing from the findings of modern biology in a flimsy attempt to maintain a position for humans at the pinnacle of some mythical evolutionary ladder. Plotkin has betrayed evolutionary psychology with the title of his work and is bound to mislead the public about what evolutionary psychology really is. Evolutionary psychologists believe that Darwinian principles can and should be applied to the study of the human mind, an agenda Plotkin only halfheartedly endorses. Even the bibliography is tragically wanting. Readers are referred to Barkow, Tooby & Cosmides masterly work, The Adapted Mind, anything else by them, or by Buss or Daly & Wilson. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, published by Institute for Evolutionary Psychology on August 1, 2001. The length of the article is 4040 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: La petite mort: sex equated to death Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.(Critical Essay)
Author: Patricia Williamson
Publication: Journal of Evolutionary Psychology (Refereed)
Date: August 1, 2001
Publisher: Institute for Evolutionary Psychology
Page: 165(7)

Article Type: Critical Essay

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

WARNING! Don't buy this until you know what you're getting.
If you pay and download this item, you will quickly find out that it is not a 17836 word article, but a 4040 word article. Perhaps it's still worth the price, but we should be correctly informed. I have emailed customer service about the incorrect information. ... Read more

Book Description
Evolutionary Aesthetics is the attempt to understand the aesthetic judgement of human beings and their spontaneous distinction between "beauty" and "ugliness" as a biologically adapted ability to make important decisions in life. The hypothesis is - both in the area of "natural beauty" and in sexuality, with regard to landscape preferences, but also in the area of "artificial beauty" (i.e. in art and design) - that beauty opens up fitness opportunities, while ugliness holds fitness risks. In this book, this adaptive view of aesthetics is developed theoretically, presented on the basis of numerous examples, and its consequences for evolutionary anthropology are illuminated. ... Read more

Book Description
This book offers a multi-disciplinary approach by scientistsand philosophers that reveals the stamp of evolution on everyday life:how kinship unravels nurture, how family life affects thepersonalities we acquire, how our minds develop to negotiate socialhierarchies, whether we decide to eat or not, what qualities we preferin our sexual and marriage patterns, how we name and raise ourchildren, how our thoughts and emotions are framed to make adaptivedecisions, and methods for identifying evolved adaptations of thehuman life-cycle. It serves as an advanced text for students andscholars that critiques the dominating work of Buss, Cosmides andTooby, Dennett, and Pinker. Taking the field beyond the narrow andcontentious innatist-adaptionist view of the mind, it suppliesa much sought-after interactional, `biopsycho-sociocultural' paradigmusing a variety of evidence to converge on carefully reasonedconclusions. ... Read more