Fear is the vital response humans experience to certain physical and emotional stimuli, but how have humans developed fear responses to certain stimuli such as snakes. Fortunately evolutionary psychology can aid with this question. The discovery of research in evolutionary psychology is based on the behavior findings to humans. It is also an approach to psychology that researchers take in order to pursue the coordination of the minds of humans. Evolutionary psychology is a method of thinking about the topic of psychology so that it may applicable to an array of topics. Darwin presented his book Origin of Species in 1859. Darwin predicted, “In the distant future I see open fields for far more important researches. Psychology will be based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradation.” (Darwin, 1859). Shortly after Darwin published his book, William James attempted to proceed with Darwin’s idea. He wrote the seminal book Principles of Psychology in 1890. Within James’ seminal book, he spoke of …show more content…
William James took his own approach to this notion and claimed that the behaviors of humans are far more flexible which is why humans are more intelligent than animals. In his book he proposes the question, “To the metaphysician alone can such questions occur as: Why do we smile, when pleased and not scowl? (James, 1890). In order to understand human behavior we must first go back to our ancestors. Our ancestors spent their entire lives as hunters and gatherers. They resided in small residencies and lived nomadic lives. Evolutionary biology came in to play and the human brain began to develop differently. Day to day problems that arose such as finding mates, gathering food, hunting, negotiating, defense, raising children and etc. began to be easier to accomplish. Eventually fear responses began to