Rethinking Evolutionary Psychology

In Rethinking Evolutionary Psychology, Andrew Goldfinch dramatically reframes the way we think about evolutionary psychology. Rather than follow the standard way of thinking about evolutionary psychology as a paradigm and a pretender metatheory of the evolutionary behavioural sciences, Goldfinch argues that evolutionary psychology is better thought of as a heuristic research programme within the evolutionary behavioural sciences. Elucidating evolutionary psychology as a heuristic illuminates those aspects of adaptationist methodology in psychology that deserve serious attention. It reveals evolutionary psychology to be a unique set of concepts, research strategies and recipes for generating new and bold discoveries in psychology; a searchlight that can identify and chart plausible and unexplored research trajectories; a constrained yet creative way to win new facts that would otherwise be lost to the infinite space of random trial and error.

Dr Andrew Goldfinch is a Research Associate at the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Sciences, London School of Economics. He has degrees from London and Cambridge Universities. His PhD is from the London School of Economics, where he has taught for several years.

Introduction
1. Evolutionary Psychology As A Paradigm
1.0. Introduction
1.1. Evolutionary Theory, With An Emphasis On Natural Selection And Adaptation
1.2. The Possibility Of Psychological Adaptations
1.3. Empirical Adaptationism
1.4. Inference From Empirical Adaptationism To Massive Modularity
1.5. Methodological Adaptationism
1.6. Metatheory For Psychology And The Behavioural Sciences
1.7. Public Policy Agenda
1.8. Conclusion
2. Subverting The Paradigm
2.0. Introduction
2.1. Levels Of Selection
2.2. Environment Of Evolutionary Adaptedness
2.3. Behavioural Flexibility
2.4. Developmental Complexity, Robustness, And Calibration
2.5. Psychological Adaptations As Modules
2.6. The Failure To Infer Massive Modularity From Empirical Adaptationism
2.7. Methodological Objections
2.8. Metatheory Or Marketing?
2.9. Policy And Popularisation Dangers
2.10. Conclusion
3. Evolutionary Psychology And Heuristics
3.0. Introduction
3.1. Heuristics In Science
3.2. Heuristics In Evolutionary Psychology
3.3. The Two Research Strategies In Tandem
3.4. Heuristics For Identifying Adaptive Problems
3.5. Heuristics For Identifying Adaptive Solutions
3.6. Testing Predictions
3.7. Methodological Challenges Revisited
3.8. Conclusion
4. Unbundling And Reframing Evolutionary Psychology
4.0. Introduction
4.1. Streamlining Evolutionary Psychology
4.2. The Challenge Of Adaptationist Explanation Revisited
4.3. Evolutionary Psychology In The Evolutionary And Behavioural Sciences
4.4. Conclusion
5. Restructuring The Debate
5.0. Introduction
5.1. Focusing On Explanation: The Fundamental Interpretative Mistake
5.2. Towards A Streamlined Evolutionary Psychology
5.3. A New Subversion
5.4. The Need For Evolutionary Psychology As A Heuristic Project
5.5. Conclusion
6. Conclusions
References