Evolutionary Psychology, Public Policy, and Personal Decisions

by Crawford, Charles; Salmon, Catherine

• ISBN13: 9780805849462
• ISBN10: 0805849467
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-02-10
• Publisher: Lawrence Erlbau

Summary

During the last 15 years, human sociobiology has metamorphosed into evolutionary psychology. It is concerned with the social problems and stresses hominid and primate ancestors encountered, the psychological mechanisms natural selection shaped to deal with these stresses, and the way those ancient mechanisms work now. Evolutionary psychologists are making great progress in expanding the understanding of human nature, however, this knowledge has had little impact on policymakers and legislators. Supreme Court justices and managers seldom consult evolutionary psychologists to help with their deliberations. When faced with private decisions few individuals ask themselves how a Darwinian perspective might help them. This volume's aim is to start the process of using theory and findings of evolutionary psychology to help make the world a better place to live. This book takes evolutionary psychology explicitly into applied areas in a way no other book has. It includes a reasonable scope of applications from pornography to psychopaths and from morality to sex differences in the workplace. An applications section provides concrete ideas for dealing with social and policy issues, including chapters on women in the workplace, rape, and child support. Providing good coverage of basic issues and theory of the field, this book gives lay people and law/policymakers appropriate background to fully understand the applications chapters. Part II provides information on basic psychological mechanisms for group living--including chapters on emotions, reciprocity and legal reasoning, and self deception--that impact on how well public policy and law function. The material in the first two sections provide an intellectual basis for the chapters in the third part of the book which deals with the application of evolutionary psychology to a variety of substantive areas related to public policy and personal decisions. A political scientist concludes the book with a commentary on evolutionary psychology and public policy. The book is designed to serve as a stand-alone text in evolutionary psychology and public policy that can be used in a variety of disciplines, such as psychology, social work, law and psychology, and public policy.

Author Biography

Charles Crawford is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Simon Fraser University where he is also a member of the Biological Sciences Department. He was educated at the University of Alberta, where he completed a master's degree in psychology and the philosophy of science and at McGill University, where he completed a Ph.D. in measurement and statistics. Since completing his Ph.D. he has done research at the Institute of Behavior Genetics at the University of Colorado, the Evolution and Human Behavior Program at the University of Michigan, and the philosophy of science at the Center for the Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences at the London School of Economics. He is a fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association the American Psychological Society, and past-president of the International Society for Human Ethology. In 2002, he won the Sterling Prize for Controversy.
Catherine Salmon is currently an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Redlands. She received her Ph.D. in 1997 in Experimental Psychology from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and from there went on to Simon Fraser University where she completed post-doctoral research funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. Her research interests are wide-ranging and include the evolutionary psychology of family dynamics, parental investment and birth order, human sexuality, and eating disorders. She is the author of (with Don Symons) Warrior Lovers: Erotic Fiction, Evolution, and Female Sexuality.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Part I: Methodological and Philosophic Considerations
Public Policy and Personal Decisions: The Evolutionary Context	3	(20)
Charles Crawford
The Essence of Evolutionary Psychology: An Introduction	23	(28)
Charles Crawford
Catherine Salmon
Beyond Sociobiology: A Kinder and Gentler Evolutionary View of Human Nature	51	(22)
Maria G. Janicki
Darwin and Evolutionary Moral Psychology	73	(26)
Harmon Holcomb
Part II: Cognitive and Affective Psychological Processes
Mentalism and Mechanism: The Twin Modes of Human Cognition	99	(18)
Christopher Badcock
Self-Deception: Helping and Hindering Public and Personal Decision Making	117	(28)
Michele K. Surbey
Ancestral Emotions, Current Decisions: Using Evolutionary Game Theory to Explore the Role of Emotions in Decision Making	145	(24)
Timothy Ketelaar
Natural Law and Natural Selection: Deontic Reasoning as Part of Evolved Human Nature	169	(28)
Laurence Fiddick
Part III: Real-World Applications
Marital Cooperation and Conflict	197	(20)
Margo Wilson
Martin Daly
The Pornography Debate: What Sex Differences in Erotica Can Tell About Human Sexuality	217	(14)
Catherine Salmon
Why Don't Men Pay Child Support? Insights From Evolutionary Psychology	231	(18)
Todd K. Shackelford
Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford
Evolutionary Life History Perspective on Rape	249	(26)
Randy Thornhill
Craig T. Palmer
Women in the Workplace: Evolutionary Perspectives and Public Policy	275	(18)
Kingsley R. Browne
Is Psychopathy a Pathology or a Life Strategy? Implications for Social Policy	293	(26)
Kirsten N. Barr
Vernon L. Quinsey
Cultivating Morality and Constructing Moral Systems: How to Make Silk Purses From Sows' Ears	319	(24)
Dennis L. Krebs
Darwinism and Public Policy: The View From Political Science	343	(10)
Robert S. Robins
Author Index	353	(12)
Subject Index	365