Evolutionary Psychology A Clinical Introduction

by Badcock, Christopher

• ISBN13: 9780745622064
• ISBN10: 0745622062
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-10-19
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

According to evolutionary biologists, we are the minders of our genes. But, as Christopher Badcock points out in this book, it is only recently that evolutionists have realized that minders need minds, and that evolution needs psychology to fill the yawning gap between genes and behaviour. Evolutionary Psychology assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, and concentrates on the fundamental issues raised by the application of modern Darwinism to psychology. Basic concepts of evolution are explained carefully, so that the reader has a sound grasp of them before their often controversial application to psychology is discussed. The approach is a critical one, and the author does not hide the many difficulties that evolutionary psychology raises. Examples include the strange neglect of Darwin's own writings on psychology, and the fact that no existing theory has succeeded in explaining why the human brain evolved in the first place. The book is the first to give a non-technical account of remarkable new findings about the roles that conflicting genes play in building different parts of the brain. It is also the first to consider the consequences of this for controversies like those over nature/nurture, IQ, brain lateralization and consciousness. Evolutionary Psychology is based on many years experience of teaching evolution and psychology to social science students, and is intended for all who wish to get to grips with the basic issues of one of the most exciting and rapidly growing areas of modern science.

Author Biography

Christopher Badcock is Reader in Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	viii
List of Boxes	ix
Preface	xi
Acknowledgements	xiv
Selection and Adaptation	1	(37)
The concept of evolution	1	(2)
Natural selection	3	(3)
Survival of the fittest	6	(3)
Three assumptions about adaptations	9	(2)
The EEA	11	(5)
Designer Darwinism	16	(3)
Design flaws in evolution	19	(3)
The Swiss army knife model of the mind	22	(2)
The triune brain	24	(5)
The benefits of human brain evolution	29	(4)
The costs of human brain evolution	33	(3)
The evolutionary psychology of evolutionary psychology	36	(2)
Suggestions for further reading	37	(1)
Genetics and Epigenetics	38	(34)
Inheritance of acquired characteristics	39	(3)
Blending inheritance and mutation	42	(3)
Mendel	45	(4)
The discovery of DNA	49	(4)
The genetic code	53	(2)
Development and preformation	55	(3)
Epigenesis	58	(3)
The role of the single gene	61	(2)
Genetic and environmental determinism	63	(2)
The problem with programming behaviour	65	(4)
Epigenetic agents	69	(3)
Suggestions for further reading	71	(1)
The Evolution and Psychology of Co-operation	72	(39)
Super-organisms and group selection	72	(4)
Individualism in groups	76	(2)
The problem of altruism	78	(1)
Hamilton's inequality	79	(6)
Kin altruism	85	(3)
Inclusive fitness	88	(1)
Prisoner's dilemma	88	(4)
Iterated prisoner's dilemma	92	(6)
Familiarity and reputation	98	(4)
The evolved psychology of reciprocity	102	(4)
Cognitive adaptations for social exchange	106	(5)
Suggestions for further reading	110	(1)
Mind, Emotion and Consciousness	111	(38)
Anti-mentalism	111	(2)
Autism and theory of mind	113	(2)
Darwin's three principles of the expression of the emotions	115	(8)
Evolutionary psychology and The Expression of the Emotions	123	(2)
The pleasure principle	125	(4)
Freud and Darwin	129	(3)
Trivers's evolutionary psychodynamics of consciousness	132	(2)
Divided consciousness	134	(10)
Mental topography and brain lateralization	144	(5)
Suggestions for further reading	148	(1)
Sex, Mating and Parental Investment	149	(40)
Sex and parental investment	149	(3)
Variance of reproductive success	152	(3)
Mating systems	155	(3)
Divorce and remarriage	158	(2)
Human sexual adaptations	160	(13)
Mating preferences	173	(2)
Sex, scent and the selfish gene	175	(3)
Sex ratios	178	(4)
Sex discrimination, abortion and infanticide in humans	182	(7)
Suggestions for further reading	188	(1)
Growth, Development and Conflict	189	(38)
Parent-offspring conflict	189	(3)
Genomic imprinting	192	(6)
Conflict in pregnancy	198	(6)
Imprinted genes and brain development	204	(4)
Postnatal depression	208	(4)
Weaning conflicts	212	(5)
Psychological conflict between parent and child	217	(3)
Genetic conflict and Freudian psychodynamics	220	(2)
The evolution of ambivalence	222	(5)
Suggestions for further reading	226	(1)
Nature, Nurture, Language and Culture	227	(42)
Evolutionary psychology and the SSSM	228	(6)
Memes	234	(4)
Conditioning	238	(5)
The nurture assumption	243	(1)
Language	244	(9)
Turner's syndrome	253	(9)
The nature of nurture	262	(7)
Suggestions for further reading	268	(1)
Glossary of Technical Terms	269	(5)
Notes	274	(3)
References	277	(19)
Index	296