Evolutionary Psychology: Alternative Approaches

by Steven J. Scher (Editor), Frederick Rauscher (Editor)

Overview

Evolutionary psychology has been dominated by one particular method for studying the mind and behavior. This is the first book to both question that monopoly and suggest a broad range of particular alternatives. Psychologists, philosophers, biologists, anthropologists, and others offer different methods for combining psychology and evolution. They recommend specific changes to evolutionary psychology using a wide variety of theoretical assumptions. In addition, some essays analyze the underpinnings of the dominant method, relate it to the context of evolutionary and psychological theory and to general philosophy of science, and discuss how to test approaches to evolutionary psychology. The aim of this collection is not to reject evolutionary psychology but to open up new vistas which students and researchers can use to ensure that evolutionary psychology continues to thrive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461502678
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	12/06/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

Table of Contents

Nature Read in Truth or Flaw: Locating Alternaties in Evolutionary Psychology.- The Evaluation of Competing Approaches within Human Evolutionary Psychology.- Evolution, Morality, and Human Potential.- Repeated Assembly: Prospects for Saying What We Mean.- Human Triangles: Genes, Sex and Economics in Human Evolution.- The Optimal Number of Fathers: Evolution, Demography, and History in the Shaping of Female Mate Preferences.- Dancing in the Dark: Evolutionary Psychology and the Argument from Design.- Adaptationism and Psychological Explanation.- Toward a Developmental Evolutionary Psychology: Genes, Development, and the Evolution of Cognitive Architecture.- Modules, Brain Parts, and Evolutionary Psychology.- Evolutionary Psychology and the Information-Processing Model of Cognition.- Evolutionary Psychology and Artificial Life.

Editorial Reviews

"[...]a welcome volume for those of us who have been concerned that evolutionary theorizing in human psychology has been too narrowly defined [...] This is a must reading for anyone interested in applying evolutionary approaches to the study of human social behavior."

(Marilynn B. Brewer, Ph.D., Ohio State Regents Professor of Social Psychology, Ohio State University)

"Scher & Rauscher are to be commended for taking the nascent field of evolutionary psychology to its next level of maturity. Between these covers are essays that challenge some of the more entrenched theoretical assumptions of evolutionary psychology while, at the same time, advancing new methods and ideas for examining the mind from an evolutionary perspective."

(Lawrence Shapiro, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, Madison)

"The field of evolutionary psychology is, as always, in ferment; this volume [...] takes a broad and thoughtful view of the issues. It helps clarify some of them and also raises provocative new themes that will be debated in the years to come."

(Gene Robinson, Dept. of Entomology/Director, Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

"This volume is both eminently readable and timely [...] it focuses on the breadth of evolutionary views, emphasizing the necessary components of the evolutionary approach with the flexibility of the ideas possible. No one who cares about the development of evolutionary psychology can go forward without knowing the ideas expressed here."

(Chris Crandall, Dept. of Psychology, University of Kansas)

From the Publisher