W3 Evolutionary Psychology

Question 1

What is the tenet of EP (Evolutionary Psychology)?

Answer 1

1. Massive modularity
2. Adaptationism
3. EEA
4. Psychic Unity
5. Evoked culture

Question 2

What does Massive Modularity mean?

Answer 2

The human mind consists of “hundreds or

thousands” of evolved modules.

Question 3

What does Adaptationism mean?

Answer 3

These “hundreds or thousands” of modules are
adaptations – that is, they were designed by natural selection for their
specific information-processing functions.

Question 4

What what EEA mean?

Answer 4

Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness.

These adaptations are designed to solve the problems of survival
and reproduction that were faced by Pleistocene hunter-gatherer populations.

Question 5

What does Psychic Unity mean?

Answer 5

Since selection typically makes complex adaptations
universal in a species, evolved human psychology consists in “a single,
universal panhuman design,” which is human nature.

Question 6

What does evoked culture mean?

Answer 6

Differences between individuals and across cultures are not produced by different psychological adaptations, but by a universal psychology responding to different developmental and occurrent
circumstances.

Question 7

What are the general issues for EP?

Answer 7

1. Genetic determinism?
   - is EP a nativist approach to the human mind?
2. Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness?
3. Problems with “adaptationism”
4. limited possibilities for comparative tests
5. Monomorphic?
6. Massively modular?
7. Novel insights?

Question 8

What are the problems with Genetic determinism?

Answer 8

You are your genes, and that’s that.

On chromosome 15 SNP rs16969968 changes the amino
acid from aspartate to asparagine in the α5 subunit of the
nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (CHRNA5)
A genetic variant in a nicotinic receptor increases risk for
nicotine dependence, which then causes individuals to
purchase more cigarettes and repeatedly inhale the
smoke into their lungs, thereby increasing their risk for
lung cancer!

Question 9

What’s wrong with Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness?

Answer 9

It wasn’t just one constant scenery.

Question 10

What’s wrong with Problems with “adaptationism”?

Answer 10

Not all features are adaptations. Some features are spandrels, due to chance, lag, historical and developmental constraints

Question 11

What’s wrong with Monomorphic?

Answer 11

Psychic unity claimed but

evolution by natural selection requires variation

Question 12

What’s wrong with Massively modular?

Answer 12

Brain tissue expensive

Informational encapsulation can be costly

Brain structure not modular

Evolution incremental, co-opting existing structures into new.

Flexibility important

Question 13

How could EP do better?

Answer 13

1. Take development seriously
2. Test alternative hypotheses
3. Do comparative tests
4. Take neuroscience seriously
5. Take culture & cultural evolution seriously
6. Take niche construction seriously
7. Incremental evolutionary scenarios