Adapting Minds: Evolutionary Psychology and the Persistent Quest for Human Nature. By David J  Buller. A Bradford Book. Cambridge (Massachusetts): MIT Press. $34.95. xiii + 550 p; ill.; index. ISBN: 0–262–02579–5. 2005.

2006 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaak Panksepp
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Nature

Graphing Jane Austen

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Carroll ◽  
John A. Johnson ◽  
Jonathan Gottschall ◽  
Daniel Kruger
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Victorian Literature ◽  
Jane Austen ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Dominance Behavior ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
The Web

Building on findings in evolutionary psychology, we constructed a model of human nature and used it to illuminate the evolved psychology that shapes the organization of characters in nineteenth-century British novels. Characters were rated on the web by 519 scholars and students of Victorian literature. Rated categories include motives, criteria for selecting marital partners, personality traits, and the emotional responses of readers. Respondents assigned characters to roles as protagonists, antagonists, or associates of protagonists or antagonists. We conclude that protagonists and their associates form communities of cooperative endeavor. Antagonists exemplify dominance behavior that threatens community cohesion. We summarize results from the whole body of novels and use them to identify distinctive features in the novels of Jane Austen.

“Not Much to Praise in Such Seeking and Finding”: Evolutionary Psychology, the Biological Turn in the Humanities, and the Epistemology of Ignorance

Hypatia ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Q. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
The Body

This paper critiques the rise of scientific approaches to central questions in the humanities, specifically questions about human nature, ethics, identity, and experience. In particular, I look at how an increasing number of philosophers are turning to evolutionary psychology and neuroscience as sources of answers to philosophical problems. This approach constitutes what I term a biological turn in the humanities. I argue that the biological turn, especially its reliance on evolutionary psychology, is best understood as an epistemology of ignorance that contributes to a climate of hostility and intolerance regarding feminist insights about gender, identity, and the body.

scholarly journals Structural Realism, Classical Realism and Human Nature

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Brown
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Structural Realism ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Classical Realism ◽  
The Way

Kenneth Waltz's Theory of International Politics is a modern classic, and deserves to be read the way classic texts ought to be read, i.e. in context and in its own terms. Recovering the context in this case is difficult because of the changes in the discourse since 1979, but one difference between the contemporary and the current reception of the text does seem clear — Waltzian structural realism (or neorealism) is now, but was not then, seen as breaking with the traditions of classical realism. How is this discontinuity to be understood? Part of the answer lies in the rhetoric employed by participants in this debate, but, more substantively, there is a genuine disagreement between neorealism and classical realism over the role played by human nature in international relations. Waltzian neorealism appears, contrary to the tradition, to reject any major role for human nature, describing theories that emphasise this notion as `reductionist'; however, on closer examination, the picture is less clear-cut. Waltz's account of human nature can be related quite closely to the major strands in the realist genealogy, but at a tangent to them. Interestingly, and perhaps unexpectedly, it is also compatible with at least some of the findings of contemporary evolutionary psychology.

Knowing Thyself

ruffin_darden ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 93-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leda Cosmides ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
The Third ◽  
Cheater Detection ◽  
True Diversity ◽  
Cognitive Foundations ◽  
Diversity In The Workplace

“Ought” cannot be derived from “is,” so why should facts about human nature be of interest to business ethicists? In this article, we discuss why the nature of human nature is relevant to anyone wishing to create a more just and humane workplace and society. We begin by presenting evolutionary psychology as a research framework, and then present three examples of research that illuminate various evolved cognitive programs. The first involves the cognitive foundations of trade, including a neurocognitive mechanism specialized for a form of moral reasoning: cheater detection. The second involves the moral sentiments triggered by participating in collective actions, which are relevant to organizational behavior. The third involves the evolved programs whereby our minds socially construct groups, and how these can be harnessed to reduce racism and foster true diversity in the workplace. In each case, we discuss how what has been learned about these evolved programs might inform the study and practice of business ethics.

Evolutionary Psychologists can't practice what they don't preach: A response to Gallup (2020)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecka Hahnel ◽  
Nina N. Rodriguez ◽  
Angela Polito ◽  
Aaron Taylor Goetz ◽  
Cari Goetz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Adaptive Design ◽  
Human Intelligence ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Privileged Position ◽  
Opinion Piece ◽  
Definition Of

We respond to Gallup’s (2020) opinion piece by indicating that psychologists have yet to agree on an operationalized definition of “intelligence.” We argue that the literature investigating an overall decline in human intelligence is mixed at best; additionally, if a decline in human intelligence was supported, evolutionary scholars are not in a position to change the course of such decline. We clarify what evolutionary psychology is, i.e. the study of human nature by empirical examination of evidence for adaptive design hypotheses, and what it is not, i.e. a privileged position from which to preach the appropriate ways to solve problems associated with evolutionary challenges. Finally, we dispute Gallup’s (2020) suggested prescription for evolutionary psychologists.

Introduction to “What can evolution tell us about the healthy mind?”

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josef Parnas
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Systems Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Process Philosophy ◽  
Developmental Systems Theory ◽  
Developmental Systems ◽  
Evolutionary Psychiatry

Chapter 28 is an introduction to Chapter 29, which covers explores the application of evolutionary ideas to psychiatry, including evolutionary psychiatry, evolutionary psychology, neo-Darwinism, developmental systems theory, developmental plasticity, human nature, and process philosophy.

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