What Is Evolutionary Psychology?
Although there may not be a direct answer to how the human brain evolved, there exists theories and suggestions, such as Gavin de Beer’s suggestion on evolution, that could be explanations as to how this came to be. Beer says that it is the “lengthened infancy” that is credited to boosting evolution in the human brain, that has caused us to lose our “ hairy covering, our jaws and teeth were reduced in size, our sex life was postponed”. Therefore, it explains the path our body’s took in evolution, creating a feeling of awe and amazement because of the ability of our bodies to evolve in such a way, leading our brains to develop in such a way. Eiseley also creates a suspenseful feeling in his audience when he states “ Some neurologists…. Suggest that here may lie other potentialities which only the future of the race may reveal.”
Being engaged in constant conflict is never a good thing. In S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, it is no secret that the Greasers and the Socs do not like each other. Main character Ponyboy states, “I’m not saying that either Socs or Greasers are better; that's just the way things are.” (pg.3) This novel is all about two groups of teenagers, the Socs and the Greasers, who loathe each other.
According to an article on the website Psychology Today, “People are evolutionarily and
Although there are five approaches mentioned, there are three approaches in Chapter 3 of the Fuentes textbook that can be seen as being the most viable and useful approaches to studying the evolution of human behavior. These three approached include evolutionary psychology, human behavioral ecology, and dual inheritance. Evolutionary psychology as it suggests applies evolutionary reasoning to psychological phenomena. The goal of this approach, as told by Symons (1992:137), is to uncover the “the psychological mechanisms that underpin human…behavior, and…the selective forces that shaped these mechanisms”. EP embraces several key concepts including modularity, historicity, adaptive specificity, and environmental novelty.
The blank slate is one of the most polemic topics concerning the human mind. It is a theory that implies that at birth the human mind is unaltered and it gains knowledge through experiences and social interactions. The purpose of Steven Pinker’s panel discussion is to discuss the reasons of why he refutes the theory of the blank slate. His ideas are far more inclined towards nature rather than nurture. This is an argument that challenges whether human developed behavior is determined by environmental experiences also known as nurture or from one’s genetic DNA referred to nature.
Singer’s Solution Good or Not? Who wouldn’t want to find a solution to end or reduce poverty in the world? A utilitarian philosopher, Peter Singer stated his own solution in his essay called “The Singer Solution to World Poverty”. Singer’s solution is simple: people shouldn’t be spend their money on luxuries, instead they should donate their money to overseas aid organizations. Peter uses two characters in his essay in hope to get to the hearts and minds of the people, and encourage them to donate.
Two examples of what questions are trying to be answered are, “Why do certain neurons affect our biological clocks?” and “What could an imbalance in chemicals in our brains cause?”. Developmental psychology is the study of how people change and evolve over the course of time and why. Even though developmental psychology includes both the environment and genetics in its study, it has sparked the famous national debate of nature versus nurture. Over the years there has
For centuries, humans have evolved and developed complex familial systems, uses of tools for survival, and a sense of right and wrong. Humans, or Homo sapiens, are animals that have evolved from ancestors closely related to the nonhuman primates that are seen today. Several distinctive characteristics separate humans from other primate relatives and other vertebrates, such as possessing a bipedal gait and erect posture, as well as having the largest brain relative to body mass and a far more advanced cerebral cortex (Kim, Martinez, Choe, Lee, & Tomonaga 2015). However, an increasing number of studies and researchers suggest that prosocial behaviors that are seen in humans can be observed in nonhuman primates that live in complex social groups.
There is only one approach in psychology that studies thoughts, feelings and behaviour. The biological approach believes that the way we are is due to our genetics and physiology. They believe that the activity going on our nervous system’s is what affects the way we think, feel and behave (Sammons, 2009). The physiology in the biological approach looks into how the brain functions. The brain is a very complicated machine as such, the brain is what controls our every move, every feeling and every action.
It is undeniable that the foundation of Wilhelm Wundt’s Institute of Experimental Psychology and the introduction of Darwin’s new theory of evolution as descried in Origin of Species has had a huge impact on the development of the modern discipline of Psychology and on society today. In this essay I will examine Wilhelm Wundt’s Institute of Experimental Psychology and Darwin’s theory of evolution from Origin of Species. I will look at what they included and the effect they had on Psychology and society at the time they were published and their influence years after. Firstly I will assess the impact of the new theory of evolution as described in Darwin’s Origin of Species.
The Mating Mind by Geoffrey Miller Throughout “The Mating Mind”, Geoffrey Miller offers an original insight into the evolution of the human mind. I believe that the utility of his theory is not only limited to giving us a possible explanation of the intriguing brain evolution, but it can also be a source of inspiration while designing and building intelligent machines. Since artificial intelligence aims at imitating human intelligence, knowing the circumstances and mechanisms that led to the development of the human brain should be beneficial for the development of machine intelligence.
Richard Dawkins states in his book, The Selfish Gene that we are merely a product of our genes and our main purpose in life is to serve the genes, become distribution agents and ensure their continuance (Nye, Savage and Watts 273) . However, those on the side of nurture believe that human mind is a blank state which is gradually filled as a result of experience (Mc
Schachter and Singer were both agree with the James-Lange Theory and Cannon-Bard Theory. They agreed that people infer emotions when they experience physiological arousal and the same pattern of physiological arousal can give rise to different emotions. The last evolutionary theories were the cognitive theory. It says “several theories began to argue that cognitive activity in the form of judgments, evaluations, or thoughts were entirely necessary for an emotion to occur.”
brain is directed by the action of amygdala that is, the passionate reaction, and on the other hand, the neo-cortex drives it to experience, the reasoning for the responses, justification for that and the memory of the experience. Animals such as reptiles, don't have neo-cortex and therefore, cannot experience and learn anything such as maternal love; this is why baby snakes have to hide to avoid being eaten by their parents. However, Le Doux (1986) has explained that the instinctual and passionate responses of the primitive brain take priority over the thoughtful, considered responses of the neo-cortex and human beings are actually genetically programmed to be driven by the instinctual passions (due to amygdala's action). This is termed
Psychological Science, 3 (4), 251-255. Hamilton, W. D. (1964). The genetical evolution of social behaviour. I. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 7 (1), 1-16. doi: 10.1016 Kalat, J. W. (2007).
More about What Is Evolutionary Psychology?
Summary Of Excerpt By Loren Eiseley
923 Words | 4 PagesConstant Conflict In S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders
908 Words | 4 PagesLOTF Lord Of The Flies Research Paper
629 Words | 3 PagesSummary Of Chapter 3 Of The Fuentes
509 Words | 3 PagesSteven Pinker The Blank Slate Summary
506 Words | 3 PagesPeter Singer Solution To World Poverty Analysis
976 Words | 4 PagesPros And Cons Of Biological Psychology
847 Words | 4 PagesChimpanzees: Observational Study
1036 Words | 5 PagesCognitive Approach Vs Biological Approach
673 Words | 3 PagesDarwin And Darwin's Theory Of Evolution On Psychology And Society
1292 Words | 6 PagesReview Of Geoffrey Miller's The Mating Mind
1241 Words | 5 PagesNature Vs Nurture Gender
1387 Words | 6 PagesJames-Lange Theory And Cannon Bard Theory
1311 Words | 6 PagesEmotional Hijacking Analysis
1290 Words | 6 PagesPersonality Theory In Psychology
1338 Words | 6 Pages