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Evolutionary theory is driving forward our understanding of human behaviour like never before. Yet, many of us lack a firm grasp of the basics of the theory of evolution - a clear picture of what evolution is, and how and why it operates. But such clarity is essential if we are to fully understand and explore the fascinating behavioural questions that lie before us.

Evolution and Genetics for Psychology lays out the conceptual toolkit one needs in order to think in evolutionary terms - and to apply this thinking to any subject. With the toolkit firmly in place, it goes on to show how these key concepts are applied to issues of human behaviour, from sex to social relationships, to learning.

Evolution and Genetics for Psychology does not set out to teach evolutionary psychology or behavioural genetics, but explores the key fundamental principles on which such disciplines are based. If you need to understand what heritability really means, what the difference is between a gene and an allele, or whether evolutionary and social explanations are compatible, this book is the survival guide you need.


Online Resource Centre
The Online Resource Centre to accompany Evolution and Genetics for Psychology features

For registered adopters of the text:
Figures from the book in electronic form, ready to download
A test bank of questions, with feedback linked to the book, for both formative and summative assessment

For students:
Topical updates: the latest on key topics covered in the book
Answers to end of chapter questions ... Read more

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"What I am offering is a critical overview of ideas about depression, some new, some old, which fall under the discipline of 'evolutionary psychology'(EP). Do most types of depression represent an adaptation - an evolved mechanism which has improved our survival and reproductive value in our ancestral environment? Has depression been selected? Could it still be useful to us today? This book makes a contribution to the field while communicating the issues to a wider audience than EP currently receives and deserves. There are important implications for how we should prevent or treat an increasingly common condition, and how we might view the condition in a more constructive way." - Paul Keedwell, in the Preface. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

shallow
Someday there will be a book written about the appropriateness of sadness as a response to the very nasty aspects of nature.

This book makes progress in that direction, but does not develop it.

The sixteen per cent of the population who remain sad after a year are pretty much written off as hopeless.

That sixteen per cent includes me. I don't see that as being my fault.

The world really does have aspects one should be sad about.

I found The Pleasure Instinct: Why We Crave Adventure, Chocolate, Pheromones, and Music to be infinitely more constructive. ... Read more

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Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Development, Second Edition considers the role of evolutionary theory in the field of developmental psychology to examine key topics of individual human development. This unique book fills an important gap in the literature, applying evolutionary models to human development by focusing on central development issues. The book emphasizes both domain-general evolved psychological mechanisms and domain-specific processes. The text also integrates behavior-genetic research with evolutionary and developmental principles. Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Development provides state-of-the-art groundwork in evolutionary theory as viewed by leading thinkers in the field.

Customer Reviews (1)

A mixed bag of essays, some excellent
The 14 chapters of this book are loosely grouped within the general area of evolutionary psychology. They range from the pedestrian to the genuinely insightful. Here are some personal highlights.

In chapter 4, 'Evolution and Cognitive Development', David Gearytalks about the evolution of `fluid intelligence' and the evidence for this as a generic facility.

In Chapter 8, 'Personality, Evolution and Development', Kevin MacDonald undertakes an extremely interesting evolutionarily-motivated reappraisal of the currently-orthodox Five-Factor Model of personality.

Chapter 9, 'An Evolutionary Reconceptualisation of Kohlberg's Model of Moral Development' gives Dennis Krebs an opportunity to show how an influential typology of morality makes a lot more sense when viewed through the paradigm of selection for social capability.

Chapter 12 'Further Observations on Adolescence' (Weisfeld & Coleman) is a plea for viewing much adolescent (and adult) behaviour through the framework of contention within a dominance hierarchy. Obvious enough, you might think, but many social scientists don't seem to recognise it. There is scope for looking additionally at other hierarchies, such as intelligence, `charisma' and even spirituality. We, and our social groupings, are a little more cognitively-complex than barnyard fowl!

Linda Mealey's 'Evolutionary Psychopathology and Abnormal Development', the last chapter (14), is a brief survey of the adaptive underpinnings of `disorders' such as depression, anxiety, anorexia, antisocial personality and schizophrenia.

Diagnostic of an area still in its early stages, there is a lot of material here trying to define the field, arguing for its right to exist, and repetitively bashing more orthodox non-evolutionary approaches. Nothing wrong with that apart from its tedium. On the more exciting side, there are a number of genuine insights which clearly suggest broad research programmes promising further exciting results in a few years time. For those of us who are not researchers, it's a real shame we can't fast-forward!
... Read more

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In this provocative and engaging book, Lee Kirkpatrick establishes a broad, comprehensive framework for approaching the psychology of religion from an evolutionary perspective. Within this framework, attachment theory provides a powerful lens through which to reconceptualize diverse aspects of religious belief and behavior. Rejecting the notion that humans possess religion-specific instincts or adaptations, Kirkpatrick argues that religion instead is a collection of byproducts of numerous psychological mechanisms and systems that evolved for other functions. This integrative work will spark discussion, debate, and future research among anyone interested in the psychology of religion, attachment theory, and evolutionary psychology, as well as religious studies. It will also serve as a text in advanced undergraduate- and graduate-level courses.
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Customer Reviews (4)

Very Interesting
Although I have read other theories with which I agree more (evolutionary theories elaborated upon by Atran and Boyer), the Attachment Theory perspective is a very interesting point of view on how people form and maintain relationships with supernatural beings. The book as a whole makes some pretty persuasive arguments for the Attachment Theory and does it with humor and facts combined. For a subject that has great potential to be dry and boring, Kirkpatrick leads the reader through the points in a very fluid and entertaining way. Again, I really enjoyed this book, both as a Psych major and as a Philosophy & Religion major.

An eminently readable and balanced approach to the psychology of religion
I began reading this book in the library of the college where I teach psychology, and after finishing Kirpatrick's introduction I knew I had to purchase the book for myself.

Kirpatrick provides a rigorously scientific approach to the psychology of religion.Couching religious belief, or at least parts of our religious belief, in the context of attachment theory is both intuitively appealing and empirically supported.Wrapping the whole in the metatheoretical framework of evolutionary psychology is the final piece that puts everything together, and Kirkpatrick does just that, in an eminently readable way.

Certainly there is much more research to be done in this area before we can even begin to provide potential answers to all questions about religious belief, but Kirkpatrick does an excellent job summarizing the state of the research at present, and drawing reasonable--and interesting--interpretations.

Finally, I was impressed by the intellectually balanced approach Kirkpatrick provides.There is no hint of an agenda or an axe to grind; theist and atheist alike can read this book and learn from it without having their sensibilities offended.I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I highly recommend it.

an intelligent look at religion
Kirkpatrick has given us a scholarly, comprehensive and comprehendable discussion of an extremly important part of human experience.This work is well and carefully documented for the scholar and clearly written for the casual (but curious) reader.It's too bad Dennett didn't read this before he wrote "Breaking the Spell."He could have saved hinself a couple of years and sent us to read "Attachment, Evolution, and the Psychology of Religion."

a marginal contribution, at best, to religious studies
My excitement upon purchasing this book did not last long.Kirkpatrick argues that a person's "attachment" style, shaped at an early age by his relationship with his primary caregiver, plays a role in his subsequent relationships with peers, lovers, spouses, and even God.I find the theory and evidence marshalled in support of this argument unpersuasive.

Suppose a mother is cold and avoidant in her relationship with her infant.According to Kirkpatrick, this environmental stimulus leads the infant to form an internal model of social interaction in which ALL agents are seen as cold and avoidant.Having learned not to trust or depend on others, the infant grows up to become a cold and avoidant himself.He doesn't hug his parents, he doesn't buy his wife flowers, he doesn't warm to the idea of a benevolent God.

I don't buy it.Some of the studies Kirkpatrick describes in support of his thesis are interesting, but most are so profoundly confounded with hereditary factors that they cannot possibly support the conclusions that Kirkpatrick forces upon them.The evidence from behavioral genetics shows that, typically, fifty percent of the variance in stable behavioral treats is caused by genetic variation in the population.Moreover, many behavioral geneticists now accept that NONE of the variance is attributable the environment that siblings in a household share (which assuredly includes parental childrearing style).With this data in hand, we see that the dogma of attachment theory dissolves.Yes, nurturant parents produce children who grow up to become nurturant adults.Yes, mean parents produce children who grow up to become mean adults.Yes, clingy parents produce children who grow up to become clingy adults.But this is all because children inherit the genes for these traits from their parents.Adopted children, who are objects of the same parental "attachment style" as the other children in their household, grow up to become as different from their adoptive siblings as can be.The theoretical arguments against attachment theory, based on evolutionary grounds, are also powerful; but in this case data suffices to cast it thoroughly in doubt.

What is left of Kirkpatrick's book?The last hundred pages are useful in overviewing the theory of religion as spandrel that has been developed in recent years, but they fail to redeem the whole.The same ground has been already covered by Pascal Boyer and Scott Atran in much greater detail.In any case, Kirkpatrick is not a particularly compelling writer.

Individual differences in religiosity is a gold mine waiting to be tapped, but Kirkpatrick's approach is a dead end in my view.Save your money and pass on this one.

Recommended instead:THE NURTURE ASSUMPTION by Judith Rich Harris, RELIGION EXPLAINED by Pascal Boyer, THE BLANK SLATE by Steven Pinker, IN GODS WE TRUST by Scott Atran ... Read more

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Challenging existing claims concerning the functions of Rapid Eye Movement sleep and the purported meaninglessness of dreams, this text offers a complete and up-to-date survey on the anatomy, physiology, ontogeny, and phylogeny of REM sleep as well as the cognitive neuroscience of dream phenomonolgy and dream content. The text underlines the importance of looking at how REM interacts physiologically with NREM sleep, in order to understand the potential functions of REM. The findings support and extend clams that the functions of REM involve memory consolidation and regulation of emotional conflicts and expression.

Analyses of evolutionary relationships include sleep in reptiles, birds, marsupials, and mammals. Chapters explore interactions of REM and NREM and effects of these interactions on anabolic hormone release as well as the effects on dream content, the effects of genes and genomic imprinting on sleep, and theories of dream formation and content.

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Evolutionary approaches to the study of human beings have been able to explain the origin and maintenance of many of the features of our bodies. Many thinkers believe that an evolutionary approach will be equally fruitful when it comes to explaining the features of our minds. Since our behaviour is driven by our minds, our cognitive dispositions and processes are likely to have been a target of selection and adaptation. This volume collects recent prominent explorations of this theme, as well as the voices of dissenters who argue that our minds are far more significantly the product of culture than of evolution. ... Read more

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What a pity it would have been if biologists had refused to accept Darwin's theory of natural selection, which has been essential in helping biologists understand a wide range of phenomena in many animal species. These days, to study any animal species while refusing to consider the evolved adaptive significance of their behavior would be considered pure folly--unless, of course, the species is homo sapiens. Graduate students training to study this particular primate species may never take a single course in evolutionary theory, although they may take two undergraduate and up to four graduate courses in statistics. These methodologically sophisticated students then embark on a career studying human aggression, cooperation, mating behavior, family relationships, or altruism with little or no understanding of the general evolutionary forces and principles that shaped the behaviors they are investigating. This book hopes to redress that wrong.

It is one of the first to apply evolutionary theories to mainstream problems in personality and social psychology that are relevant to a wide range of important social phenomena, many of which have been shaped and molded by natural selection during the course of human evolution. These phenomena include selective biases that people have concerning how and why a variety of activities occur. For example:
* information exchanged during social encounters is initially perceived and interpreted;
* people are romantically attracted to some potential mates but not others;
* people often guard, protect, and work hard at maintaining their closest relationships;
* people form shifting and highly complicated coalitions with kin and close friends; and
* people terminate close, long-standing relationships.

Evolutionary Social Psychology begins to disentangle the complex, interwoven patterns of interaction that define our social lives and relationships.
... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

How can a book about evolution avoid sex development?
Look.I admit I didn't buy or read this book.I'm sure there are some good things in it.But, as a practicing evolutionary psychologist, I understand the rightness of the thesis of Geoffrey Miller's classic, "The Mating Mind".Sex and mating are what shaped the mind.While this is not even debatable, yet the vast number of developmental specialists are irrationally afraid of the study of sexual development to the point of cowardice (yet, it is somewhat explained by the backwards cultural sontext:one can't even mention the words "children" and "sex" in the same sentence, these days, without the word "abuse" being present).From the larger historical context, this is astounding, given the fact that modern psychology came into being with the publication of Freud's first theoretical exercise:"The Theory of Infantile Sexuality".Freud knew children were sexual and, at least, tried to deal with the subject.Nowadays, this subject is embarrassingly "swept under the rug".I can understand a typical developmental textbook doing this, but when I do an Amazon book search and type in "sex", there are zero hits.This is supposed to be a book from the evolutionary standpoint.Given that evolution is all about sex and mating, what could be more important in an evolutionary text on development then the development of the human primate's capacity to mate??? ... Read more

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This heady illustrated collage is supposedly written by past and future "agents" but is actually authored by Leary himself. Memos addressed to "All Evolutionary Agents on Planet Earth" and Leary's theories of terrestrial and postterrestrial "circuits" guiding human destiny complete the picture. In Leary's view, DNA will evolve to take humankind from Earth to space, with a simultaneous advance in intelligence. This vision of a positive, paradisiacal future is one of the most challenging in countercultural thought. ... Read more

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Can evolutionary theory really help us to understand human behaviour? 'Sense and nonsense' provides an exciting, readable introduction to the science behind the works of Dawkins, Dennett, Wilson and Pinker. Including profiles of the major protagonists, the book provides the first balanced account of evolutionary theory, and all its faults. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Excellent journey into the history of human behavior studies
I recommend this book not just to human behavior researchers but also to any curious science reader.

Clear and lucid, but who's it for?
Sense and Nonsense is a clear, lucid explication of the current landscape of the research on how evolutionary theories are applied to the social sciences.By their own admission often oversimplifying for clarity's sake, they break down the different ways in which evolutionary ideas are used in the social sciences into four categories--human behaiourial ecology, evolutionary psychology, memetics and gene-culture coevolution--and show how these descended, with modification, from sociobiology, and from Darwinian evolution itself.

The book clearly and succinctly describes the methodologies and underlying assumptions that define each approach, and no less clearly do they identify their perceptions of the relevant strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches.Although, as another reviewer states, it might be more interesting in a dramatic sense to see them take a more polemical position, it is difficult to argue with them that each of the approaches has its merits and defects, and that, in a new religion, as it were, no one is served by internecine warfare.

I have two reservations, however.My first is something between a quibble and a small problem: Laland uses primarily gene-culture coevolution models himself, and although he is generally balanced in his assessments, one cannot but come out of the book feeling that gene-culture coevolution is first among equals in the authors' minds.They don't hide their sympathies, exactly, but if you don't know of them up front, you have to be paying pretty close attention to find them out.

My second concern has to do with audience.Whom is supposed to read this?If it is directed toward people in the field (that is, people who apply evolutionary models to the social sciences), another commenter is spot on in saying that it is written at too simple a level.If it is directed toward hostile social scientists who think the whole idea of evolutionary study of the social sciences to be debased, or worse, it isn't going to reach them; the book does not duck the fact that social scientists in general despise evolutionary models, but it makes no real effort to respond to those criticisms directly.As an introduction to the subject to someone outside the field entirely, it suits reasonably well.The authors say in the preface that they are going after all these audiences, but I don't think the same book can do all those things well; they would have been better to narrow down whom they were really speaking to.

Sorting out the Issues
Kevin Laland is a prominent researcher in gene-culture coevolution, niche construction (the study of how organisms modify their social and physical environment, and thereby modify their own gene pool) and animal social learning. Gillian Brown is a primatologist who studies parenting behavior. Their book is a study of six strands of evolutionary theory as applied to human behavior: (a) Darwin and his pre-sociobiology followers (including Galton, Spencer, Lorenz, Tinbergen, von Frisch, and Ardrey); (b) the founders of sociobiology, including Dawkins, Trivers, Hamilton, Maynard Smith, and E. O. Wilson; and three offshoots of sociobiology, (c) behavioral ecology (including Hill, Kaplan, Hawkes, and Chagnon); (d) evolutionary psychology (including Cosmides, Tooby, Daly, Margo Wilson, Pinker, Buss); (e) memetics; and (f) gene-culture coevolution (including Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman, Boyd and Richerson, and Laland himself).

The title is inspired by the authors' impression that, despite the fact that the academic social sciences have virtually ignored evolutionary approaches, the public finds them very sexy and provocative, to the point where evolutionary research is continually influenced by political and journalistic concerns, and the science tends to be overwhelmed by the junk and the hype. I fully share this impression, and I think they have done a fine job in extracting the "sense" from the "nonsense." They even manage to treat memetics seriously, despite the fact that memetics' attempt to detach culture from reproduction, production, cooperation, conflict, and the other basic activities of social life cannot possibly succeed.

Laland and Brown vigorously defend the early Darwinists and sociobiologists against the many politically motivated attacks against them (they do not deal with religious critiques). While the authors recognize that their ideas have often eclipsed by more contemporary research, they find no major fault in the constitution of these two schools. I think this is a bad mistake. In the century from Darwin to E. O. Wilson, evolutionary researchers managed to isolate themselves from every mainstream social science, including economics, sociology, psychology, political science, and to a lesser extent, anthropology. It is futile to blame this on the mainstream. The fault lies squarely with the evolutionary theorists, who failed to make a convincing case for the position.

This is quite unforgivable, because mainstream social science has made many central contributions that must be integrated into evolutionary theory to provide a solid, scientific body of knowledge concerning human behavior. Laland and Brown give no reason for this isolation of evolutionary theory, except the trivial commonplaces mouthed by virtually everyone in this tradition (traditional social science is ideology, the mainstream is afraid of being tainted with the sins of eugenics and racist genetic determinism, and so on). The major problem facing evolutionary theory today is not to shuck the nonsense, but to account for its failure to become part of the mainstream, I believe, and Laland and Brown do not recognize this.

The very idea of forming schools of thought, such as behavioral ecology, evolutionary psychology, and gene-culture coevolution is an indication of the inability of evolutionary theory to consider itself a science. Scientists seek integration, not fragmentation. Behavioral ecologists, for instance, are anthropologists who study simple societies, while evolutionary psychologists are psychologists who study commonalities in human behavior across all societies. How could they possibly consider themselves "alternative" theories? They very idea is absurd, a capitulation to the natural human tendency to congregate in small groups of "insiders" whose major motivation is to triumph over the many groups of "outsiders" whose strange ways are threatening and unsettling.

This one issue aside, I find Laland and Brown very convincing in adjudicating among the various approaches, and in their plea for tolerance and exchange of information among them. Like the authors, I believe that gene-culture coevolution is the overarching principle that includes the others as subclasses. I also believe that gene-culture coevolution is the most promising basis for the integration of evolutionary with mainstream social science. The authors' only critique of gene-culture coevolution is that it tends to be highly mathematical and does not generate many empirical studies. I do not agree with this critique. Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman, as well as Boyd and Richerson, have done admirable empirical work, and with the use of experimental game theory in recent years, we will have much more such research in the near future. The true critique of gene-culture coevolutionary theory, in my view, is its ignorance of and contempt for traditional social science. Unless this is overcome, evolutionary social theory will remain marginalized for the foreseeable future.

Of course, most potential readers of this book will have the same prejudices concerning the traditional disciplines as do the authors, and they should find this book a welcome and incisive corrective to the disarray within evolutionary social theory.

God sense, not nonsense
The final chapter of E O Wilson's Sociobiology was a bombshell whose shockwaves reverberate today. Kevin Laland and Gillian Brown set out to sift through the morass of evolutionary approaches to human nature that is has spawned.

This is a useful review of the various schools of research, although I would have liked a firmer conclusion than 'a pluralistic approach is best'. Sometimes the authors could be a little less polite and have a little more bite.

Good stuff overall though, probably most helpful for those new to the area, or for students looking for an introduction. The book is a little light in content, concentrating on methodology, but the emphasis on cultural processes, absent from many evolutionary discussions, is most refreshing.

Do Laland and Brown successfully separate the sense from the nonsense? No. But they do equip the reader with some of the tools to do it for herself.

A breath of fresh air
This book is both a great read, and an informative one, for anyone interested in human behavior, evolutionary theory, and the links between the two.The area of potential evolutionary bases to human behavior has traditionally been filled with much controversy, some fighting, scattered irresponsible speculations and pronouncements that at times have produced tragic effects, and quite often, more heat than light.Laland and Brown have produced a book that is truly a breath of fresh air.One of the things I liked most about Sense and Nonsense is that Laland and Brown had actually sat down to talk with--and listen to--many of the leading proponents of different "schools" of thought.They work hard in Sense and Nonsense to give a fair presentation of each different approach, before moving on in each chapter to provide their own analysis of the approach presented from their own perspective as working scientists.In the midst of an area in which some researchers have been prone to simply shout louder--often literally--at those they disagree with, Laland and Brown have truly taken the time to listen, reflect, and form considered and thoughtful judgements.This is a service to all of us: After reading their book, I know that I will always look reflect differently on researchers' claims of evolutionary bases of human behavior, whether that's hearing them at a conference, or reading a journal article, or the latest best-selling book or TV interview.If you want to improve your understanding of evolution and human behavior, get a guided tour through the area and its controversies by two thoughtful experts, and come out with a changed perspective that will likely always stay with you, then read Sense and Nonsense.Great book. ... Read more

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Information behavior has emerged as an important aspect of human life, however our knowledge and understanding of it is incomplete and underdeveloped scientifically. Research on the topic is largely contemporary in focus and has generally not incorporated results from other disciplines.

In this monograph Spink provides a new understanding of information behavior by incorporating related findings, theories and models from social sciences, psychology and cognition. In her presentation, she argues that information behavior is an important instinctive sociocognitive ability that can only be fully understood with a highly interdisciplinary approach. The leitmotivs of her examination are three important research questions: First, what is the evolutionary, biological and developmental nature of information behavior? Second, what is the role of instinct versus environment in shaping information behavior? And, third, how have information behavior capabilities evolved and developed over time?

Written for researchers in information science as well as social and cognitive sciences, Spink’s controversial text lays the foundation for a new interdisciplinary theoretical perspective on information behavior that will not only provide a more holistic framework for this field but will also impact those sciences, and thus also open up many new research directions.

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This text aims to provide psychology students with a comprehensive and accessible introduction to evolutionary psychology. Fully in line with the evolutionary psychology component of the revised AEB A Level syllabus, the work explores major aspects of evolutionary psychology and is divided into five parts which cover the evolutionary approach, sexual selection, pro- and anti-social behaviour, cognition and language and Darwinian medicine. It is aimed at AEB, NEAB and Oxford and Cambridge A and A/S Level students of psychology, as well as undergraduate students seeking an introduction to evolutionary psychology. ... Read more

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In this volume, David Geary provides a comprehensive theory that brings children's education into the 21st century, and provides directions for the development of a new discipline, evolutionary educational psychology. Geary presents the case that a scientifically grounded approach to children's schooling and, to a lesser degree, their later occupational interests can be informed by recent advances in the application of evolutionary theory to the understanding of the human brain, mind, and its development. He develops a taxonomy of evolved cognitive abilities and describes how, from an evolutionary perspective, these abilities are modified and refined during childhood. From there, he lays the framework for understanding the relation between evolved abilities, such as language, and the non-evolved competencies that are built from them with schooling, such as reading. Geary describes the mechanisms, such as working memory, that enable humans to transform evolved cognitive abilities into culturally important, school taught competencies. These are integrated with discussion of human intellectual history and cultural evolution, and the sources of children's motivation to learn inside and outside of the classroom. In all, this may well be the most revolutionary theory of children's schooling since Rousseau. ... Read more

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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.For the human race, the criticial evolution of the past million years has been the evolution of our minds.Yet psychology has long been deeply ambivalent aobut 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. ... Read more

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

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Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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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

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Covering a range of topics, from the evolution of language, theory of mind, and the mentality of apes, through to psychological disorders, human mating strategies and relationship processes, this volume makes a timely and significant contribution to what is fast becoming one of the most prominent and fruitful approaches to understanding the nature and psychology of the human mind. ... Read more