Gregory Gorelik

Florida Atlantic University | FAU · Department of Psychology

The current article advances the hypothesis that creative culture evolved, in part, to allay the costs of the overgrown human brain and the cognitive integration limit that it imposes. Specific features can be expected among cultural elements best suited to allaying the integration limit and also among the neurocognitive mechanisms that might under...

Trauma-informed care (TIC), a system of behavioral treatment practices that focuses on understanding and responding to the effects of adverse experiences via empathic and non-punitive interactions, is a promising intervention for the treatment of academic and mental health problems among youth. However, the effect of TIC on caregivers themselves is...

The present article advances the view that women's mate preferences can be grouped into at least two overarching domains: competitiveness and fatherhood. Theoretical and empirical considerations suggest that female mate preferences evolve in contexts of male competitiveness and often amplify the effects of male-male competition. Evidence for the im...

Joiner, Hom, Hagan, and Silva (Psychological Review, 123, 235–254, 2016) argue that human suicidal behavior is an evolutionarily maladaptive byproduct of eusociality. We believe that Joiner et al. are committing the moralistic fallacy in their analysis of human suicidal behavior, which may have led to a number of unexamined assumptions and possible...

Transcendence is an important subject of investigation within the scientific study of religion and beyond, and as such, presents a Hilbert problem that must be addressed. We lay out three subcomponents of this problem: (1) what is transcendence; (2) what are its evolutionary antecedents; and (3) is it beneficial? We argue that transcendence should...

The transcendent experience, often described as an ego-dissolving encounter with something greater than one’s self, is cross-cultural and pan-historical. I present a model describing the evolution and function of various evolved modes of transcendence, such as group-directed transcendence, theory of mind (ToM)-evoking transcendence, aesthetic trans...

In this chapter, we advance the concept of “evolutionary awareness,” a metacognitive framework that examines human thought and emotion from a naturalistic, evolutionary perspective. We begin by discussing the evolution and current functioning of the moral foundations on which our framework rests. Next, we discuss the possible applications of such a...

Men have been sexually selected (both via male– male competition and female choice) to compete with other men for survival and reproduction. Evidence in humans suggests that men are especially competitive with other men over resources and, if successful, are valued as attractive mating prospects by women. We predicted that experimentally manipulati...

In this article, we advance the concept of “evolutionary awareness,” a metacognitive framework that examines human thought and emotion from a naturalistic, evolutionary perspective. We begin by discussing the evolution and current functioning of the moral foundations on which our framework rests. Next, we discuss the possible applications of such a...

The evolution and development of adaptations results from the gradual selection of traits that enable organisms to acquire and maintain resources needed for survival and reproduction. We argue that instances of individual, regional, and global violence are rooted in our adaptations to seek, acquire, maintain, and utilize limited resources, regardle...

Regarding Gorelik, G., & Shackelford, T.K. (2011). Human sexual conflict from molecules to culture. Evolutionary Psychology, 9, 564-587: The authors wish to correct an omission in citation to the existing literature. In the final paragraph on p. 570, we neglected to cite Burch and Gallup (2006) [Burch, R. L., & Gallup, G. G., Jr. (2006). The psycho...

Evolutionary conflicts pervade all of life. The coevolutionary arms race between males and females has equipped both sexes with mutually manipulative and defensive adaptations. These adaptations function to benefit individual reproductive interests at the cost of the reproductive interests of opposite-sex mates and arise from evolutionary dynamics...

Familial relationships cannot be properly understood outside of an evolutionary framework. Pseudoscientific and traditional modes of thought have steered us away from an accurate account of ourselves and our kin. Recent theoretical and empirical advancements in the evolutionary sciences, such as the theories of inclusive fitness, parental investmen...

The evolution and development of adaptations result from the gradual selection and inheritance of traits and behaviors that better enable organisms to acquire and maintain resources needed for survival and reproduction. We argue that instances of individual, regional, and global violence are rooted in our adaptations to seek, acquire, maintain, and...

Coevolutionary arms races between males and females have equipped both sexes with mutually manipulative and defensive adaptations. These adaptations function to benefit individual reproductive interests at the cost of the reproductive interests of opposite- sex mates, and arise from evolutionary dynamics such as parental investment (unequal reprodu...

We examine the self-deceptive aspects of religion and nationalism. By embracing various religious or political ideals, regardless of their truth, our ancestors could have enhanced their confidence, solidified their social ties, and manipulated their reproductive rivals. This use of culture as one's extended phenotype may increase the spread of misi...

Familial relationships cannot be properly understood outside of an evolutionary framework. Pseudoscientific and traditional modes of thought have steered us away from an accurate account of ourselves and our kin. Recent theoretical and empirical advances in the evolutionary sciences, such as the theories of inclusive fitness, parental investment, a...