INTRODUCTION TO EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY The biology of the mind

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INTRODUCTION TO EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGYThe
biology of the mind

• Katja Valli
• Skövde Högskola
• Autumn 2008

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Evolutionary psychology -course

• The main topics are
• Theoretical discussion of principles of
  evolutionary biology and psychology
• Scientific writing essay

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Evolutionary psychology -course

• Goals
• After this course, you should be able to
• 1) Grasp the evolutionary psychological picture
  of human nature
• 2) Understand the theoretical background
  assumptions of evolutionary psychology and the
  empirical requirements of evolutionary
  psychological research 3) Critically analyze
  both the theoretical and empirical strengths and
  weaknesses of evolutionary psychological approach
  4) Evaluate whether currently conducted
  research in the field of evolutionary psychology
  fulfils the scientific requirements, both on
  theoretical and empirical level 5) Communicate
  basic level information about both the
  theoretical background assumptions of
  evolutionary psychology as well as specific
  evolutionary psychological research

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Practical info

• The course accounts for 7.5 points
• To earn the credits, you are required to
• Participate in the lectures ?
• Write a short essay
• Pass the exam
• Gaulin, S. J. C., McBurney, D. H. (2004).
  Evolutionary Psychology
• Exam consists of brief questions (10)
• Fill in the feedback form

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Contents lectures

• The course is divided into the following major
  topics
• I Traditional and evolutionary psychology
• How EP differs from traditional psychology?
• What is EP all about?
• II Theoretical commitments of Evolutionary
  Psychology
• Natural selection has crafted psychological
  adaptations
• What is evolution and how does natural selection
  work?
• What is an adaptation / a psychological
  adaptation?
• CRITICISM

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Contents lectures

• Theoretical commitments of Evolutionary
  Psychology
• 2. Species-typical psychological adaptations have
  evolved in EEA
• What is EEA and what does species-typical mean?
• How environment shapes designs of species?
• Evolution of life
• Evolution of hominids
• CRITICISM

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Contents lectures

• Theoretical commitments of Evolutionary
  Psychology
• 3. Each adaptation has solved a specific adaptive
  problem in the evolutionary environment
• What is an adaptive problem?
• What were the adaptive problems in EEA?
• What types of adaptations natural selection
  shaped in response to adaptive problems?
• 3.1. Methodological commitment of EP
  Evolutionary functional analysis
• empirical data on psychological adaptations
• CRITICISM

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Contents lectures

• Theoretical commitments of Evolutionary
  Psychology
• 4. Psychological adaptations are universal
• All adaptations evolved in EEA, thus all current
  humans share the same adaptations
• CRITICISM
• 5. Human mind is modular
• What is a module?
• What does modular mind mean?
• CRITICISM

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Contents lectures

• III Scientific writing
• The American Psychological Association guidelines
  for scientific writing
• APA publication manual
• Main focus on the use of references
• Practiced by writing an essay

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Contents Essay

• The aims of the essay are
• To acquaint oneself with empirical issues in
  evolutionary psychology by
• - writing an essay on one topic
• To practise literature search and the use of
  scientific databases
• To practice scientific writing, especially the
  use of references
• You will write a short essay (5 pages of text
  title page, abstract, table of contents, and
  references) which will include ten references