Evolutionary Psychology: A Critical Introduction [Paperback]

The last decade has witnessed an exciting change in our understanding of the way in which the mind operates and the reasons behind a myriad of human behaviours. The traditional idea that nurture trumps nature in explanations of human behaviour has been supplanted by the evolutionary argument that human beings share evolved mental architectures that govern their behaviour.

This volume is an introduction to evolutionary approaches to psychology, bringing together seminal work in the field and exploring the ways in which evolutionary psychological research can illuminate our understanding of human behaviours and nature. Together, the chapters in this volume present a fresh perspective on evolutionary approaches to psychology, critically evaluating the extant literature while maintaining the need for evolutionary psychologies.

1 Evolutionary approaches to behaviour 1

A brief introduction to evolutionary theory 5

Fitness, sociobiology and life history theory 16

Evolutionary psychology 21

Conclusion 25

Acknowledgements 27

References 27

2 The evolution of cognition 31

Why are we so smart? 33

How did we get so smart? 38

What, exactly, are we so good at? And when did we get it? 46

Conclusions 60

References 61

3 Cooperation as a classic problem in behavioural biology 73

Why has cooperation been such a biological puzzle? 74

Individual-level solutions to the puzzle: Selfish replicators, cooperative vehicles 76

Cooperation via genic self-favouritism (kin selection and greenbeard altruism) 77

Cooperation via return benefits (reciprocal altruism, indirel³F