Content uploaded by Vinícius Renato Thomé Ferreira
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Vinícius Renato Thomé Ferreira on Sep 23, 2014
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
Evolutionary Psychology: Interfaces Between Natural Selection and Human Behavior
Abstract
The theory of evolution by natural selection postulates that involuntary adaptations in species gave them advantage for survival and reproduction, so the creatures that had the characteristics that made them better adapted to their niche were able to pass on their genes, and thus perpetuate the specie. In the evolutionary perspective, the brain is an organ that has evolved over millions of years to solve problems related to survival and reproduction in the same way as other body parts also came under pressure from natural selection. Understanding how the processes occurred and how natural selection has refined our skills and behavioral consequences has been the aim of Evolutionary Psychology. This article aims, through a narrative review, to describe the evolutionary psychology and its relevance to the understanding of human behavior. For this purpose, this article was composed by topics that may help in understanding this field of study and its applicability in psychology. Possibly the challenge remains to Latin American psychology is not just integrate Evolutionary Psychology effectively in aca-demic teaching , but to ensure that dialogues between areas of knowledge which differ and that permit a more complete understanding of the human being.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
Resumo Este artigo apresenta a concepção de cultura na Psicologia Evolucionista, comparando-a com outras abordagens no campo evolucionista. A Ecologia Comportamental tende a ver o comportamento dos indivíduos como busca de maximização da inclusão dos seus genes nas gerações futuras; cultura é o que as pessoas fazem, não tendo propriedades especiais. A Antropologia Cultural Evolutiva, chamada também de teoria da transmissão dual, atribui à cultura um papel muito importante na explicação do comportamento e advoga influências recíprocas entre cultura e evolução biológica. Finalmente, a Psicologia Evolucionista focaliza, especificamente, os mecanismos psicológicos que guiam o comportamento, e descreve três componentes do conceito de cultura, articuláveis à luz da teoria evolucionista. Palavras chave: cultura; Psicologia Evolucionista; conceito de cultura; mecanismos psicológicos. Abstract Evolutionary Psychology and the concept of culture. This essay presents the concept of culture according to evolutionary psychology, comparing it with other approaches in the evolutionary field. Behavioral Ecology trends to see the behavior of the individuals as search for maximization of their fitness in next generations; culture is what people do and does not have special properties. Evolutionary Cultural Anthropology, also named dual transmission or co-evolutionary approach, attributes to the culture a very much important role in explaining behavior, and sustains reciprocal influences between culture and biological evolution. Finally, Evolutionary Psychology focuses on the psychological mechanisms that guide the behavior, and distinguishes three components of the concept of culture. These components should necessarily be articulated theoretically.
Evolutionary Psychology (EP) is a broad theoretic field within Psychology that to understand human nature from the standpoint of evolutionary perspective of neo-Darwinism. Although its emergence dates back to the 1980's, EP has developed in Brazil only in this century. The aim of the present study was to review systematically the Brazilian scientific publications related to EP and compare them to the international publications in the same period. Therefore, a systematic review of the literature was carried out on the following databases: Virtual Health Library, CAPES Theses Database, and PsycINFO. Studies containing the keyword "Evolutionary Psychology" or its correspondent version in Portuguese were used. The search was carried out considering studies available on the databases until 2010. Brazilian publications were classified by subject matter and method employed, whereas frequencies by year were computed for international studies. Although results showed a growing number of publications related to EP as a general tendency, there were few empirical studies in the area in Brazil. Non-systematic reviews of the literature and studies on general aspects of the evolutionary approach comprised the major part of Brazilian publications. The need of further empirical studies in the area in Brazil, particularly investigations of issues related to personality and psychopathology, is highlighted.
Biological and cultural aspects, psychological and neurological aspects, emotional and rational aspects were privileged separately in different times and perspectives - the vision of mind was sometimes focused and sometimes relegated to the black box of the psychological science. Presently, integration between mind and human behavior is sought. Mind is seen as an object of science and a product of the natural selection in the evolution of Homo sapiens. Our essay presents a brief history of the main transformations in the conception of mind and of evolutionary models of mind which contemplate reason, emotion and human actions. An effort is made to integrate and discuss the research evidence from various disciplines (anthropology, ethology, primatology, and psychology), offering an evolutionary comprehension of the human mind, of its phylogeny and ontogeny. Cooperative and competitive behavior are discussed within such framework.
Ever since Darwin published The origin of species, in 1859, natural and social scientists have been arguing about the possibility of constructing a bridge between biological and social sciences. The aim of this article is to shed light on some of these approaches in order to comprehend and explain some aspects of human behavior. Although such an issue is very controversial, mainly in a political perspective, in recent decades scientists have developed assayable models demonstrating the necessity of genetic systems, to equate certain interest conflicts that appear in variable forms of social interactions.
Este ensaio investiga a presença, na obra de Freud, da idéia de uma filogenia anímica paralela, concomitante e dependente da filogenia somática descrita pelos teóricos da evolução. Objetivamos mostrar como se forma esta vizinhança da psicanálise com a biologia evolutiva, sublinhando que na filogenia esboçada por Freud, formas psíquicas típicas se sucedem na história da espécie humana, sendo repetidas por cada indivíduo em sua ontogenia singular. Tal como ocorre no plano somático, tempo e forma se associam intimamente na espécie e nos indivíduos. A presença desta idéia no pensamento freudiano abriu um debate sobre sua filiação lamarckista ou darwinista.
Essential Evolutionary Psychology introduces students to the core theories, approaches, and findings that are the necessary foundations for developing an understanding of evolutionary psychology. It offers a sound, brief, and student friendly explication of how evolutionary theory has been and is applied in psychology. The book unpicks the very essence of human evolution, and how this knowledge is used to give evolutionary accounts of four of the central pillars of human behavior - cooperation, attraction, aggression, and family formation. It also covers evolutionary accounts of abnormal behavior, language and culture.
As organizations are large groups, and consist of many subgroups, evolutionary theorizing would seem very relevant to understand behaviour in organizations. Applying evolutionary thinking to organizations may help understand why people in organizations behave the way they do, even if these behaviours seem counterproductive or irrational. We first discuss how the human brain seems to have evolved particularly to deal with living in large groups. We suggest that comparing oneself with others seems a basic human characteristic that may have various positive and negative consequences for individuals, as well as for organizations. Next, we focus on intrasexual competition, and discuss how this may lead not only to investing in one's career, but also to gossip, bullying and conspicuous consumption. Finally, we discuss the role of altruistic behaviour within organizations, and link this also to intrasexual competition. An evolutionary perspective does not provide unequivocal recommendations for organizational practice, but it may help understand why some persistent problems in organizations continue to occur.
Considerable data suggest that humans have evolved a dual reproductive strategy: life long and/or serial monogamy in conjunction with clandestine adultery. This paper explores the underlying biochemical and genetic mechanisms likely to contribute to this flexible, yet specific human reproductive system, and explores some of the implications of this dual human reproductive strategy for contemporary partnerships. Critics of evolutionary psychology fail to find the profound value of this budding discipline, yet it yields important insights that could be of use to medical and legal professionals, researchers and therapists.
The general psychoevolutionary theory of emotion that is presented here has a number of important characteristics. First, it provides a broad evolutionary foundation for conceptualizing the domain of emotion as seen in animals and humans. Second, it provides a structural model which describes the interrelations among emotions. Third, it has demonstrated both theoretical and empirical relations among a number of derivative domains including personality traits, diagnoses, and ego defenses. Fourth, it has provided a theoretical rationale for the construction of tests and scales for the measurement of key dimensions within these various domains. Fifth, it has stimulated a good deal of empirical research using these tools and concepts. Finally, the theory provides useful insights into the relationships among emotions, adaptations, and evolution.