Christopher Badcock

Evolutionary Psychology

A Critical Introduction

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

According to evolutionary biologists, we are the minders of our genes. But, as Christopher Badcock points out in this book, it is only recently that evolutionists have realized that minders need minds, and that evolution needs psychology to fill the yawning gap between genes and behaviour. Evolutionary Psychology assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, and concentrates on the fundamental issues raised by the application of modern Darwinism to psychology. Basic concepts of evolution are explained carefully, so that the reader has a sound grasp of them before their often controversial application to psychology is discussed. The approach is a critical one, and the author does not hide the many difficulties that evolutionary psychology raises. Examples include the strange neglect of Darwin's own writings on psychology, and the fact that no existing theory has succeeded in explaining why the human brain evolved in the first place. The book is the first to give a non-technical account of remarkable new findings about the roles that conflicting genes play in building different parts of the brain. It is also the first to consider the consequences of this for controversies like those over nature/nurture, IQ, brain lateralization and consciousness. Evolutionary Psychology is based on many years experience of teaching evolution and psychology to social science students, and is intended for all who wish to get to grips with the basic issues of one of the most exciting and rapidly growing areas of modern science.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Polity Press
• Seitenzahl: 320
• Erscheinungstermin: 30. November 2000
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 235mm x 160mm x 29mm
• Gewicht: 572g
• ISBN-13: 9780745622057
• ISBN-10: 0745622054
• Artikelnr.: 21811214

Autorenporträt

Christopher Badcock is Reader in Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Inhaltsangabe

List of Figures viii
List of Boxes ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xiv
1 Selection and Adaptation 1
The concept of evolution 1
Natural selection 3
Survival of the fittest 6
Three assumptions about adaptations 9
The EEA 11
Designer Darwinism 16
Design flaws in evolution 19
The Swiss army knife model of the mind 22
The triune brain 24
The benefits of human brain evolution 29
The costs of human brain evolution 33
The evolutionary psychology of evolutionary psychology 26
Suggestions for further reading 37
2 Genetics and Epigenetics 38
Inheritance of acquired characteristics 39
Blending inheritance and mutation 42
Mendel 45
The discovery of DNA 49
The genetic code 53
Development and preformation 55
Epigenesis 58
The role of the single gene 61
Genetic and environmental determinism 63
The problem with programming behaviour 65
Epigenetic agents 69
Suggestions for further reading 71
3 The Evolution and Psychology of Co-operation 72
Super-organisms and group selection 72
Individualism in groups 76
The problem of altruism 78
Hamilton's inequality 79
Kin altruism 85
Inclusive fitness 88
Prisoner's dilemma 88
Iterated prisoner's dilemma 92
Familiarity and reputation 98
The evolved psychology of reciprocity 102
Cognitive adaptations for social exchange 106
Suggestions for further reading 110
4 Mind, Emotion and Consciousness 111
Anti-mentalism 111
Autism and theory of mind 113
Darwin's three principles of the expression of the emotions 115
Evolutionary psychology and The Expression of the Emotions 123
The pleasure principle 125
Freud and Darwin 129
Trivers's evolutionary psychodynamics of consciousness 132
Divided consciousness 134
Mental topography and brain lateralization 144
Suggestions for further reading 148
5 Sex, Mating and Parental Investment 149
Sex and parental investment 149
Variance of reproductive success 152
Mating systems 155
Divorce and remarriage 158
Human sexual adaptations 160
Mating preferences 173
Sex, scent and the selfish gene 175
Sex ratios 178
Sex discrimination, abortion and infanticide in humans 182
Suggestions for further reading 188
6 Growth, Development and Conflict 189
Parent-offspring conflict 189
Genomic imprinting 192
Conflict in pregnancy 198
Imprinted genes and brain development 204
Postnatal depression 208 Weaning conflicts 212
Psychological conflict between parent and child 217
Genetic conflict and Freudian psychodynamics 220
The evolution of ambivalence 222
Suggestions for further reading 226
7 Nature, Nurture, Language and Culture 227
Evolutionary psychology and the SSSM 228
Memes 234
Conditioning 238
The nurture assumption 243
Language 244
Turner's syndrome 253
The nature of nurture 262
Suggestions for further reading 268
Glossary of Technical Terms 269
Notes 274
References 277
Index 296

Rezensionen

Christopher Badcock has produced the most thorough integration of modern genetics and human behaviour to appear. This stimulating book will be valued by those who want an up to date treatment of modern genetics and human behaviour and who value a bit of controversy and a touch of speculation in their reading. Charles Crawford, Simon Fraser University

Once again Christopher Badcock has written a compulsively readable book on an important topic. The application of Darwinian evolutionary biology to our understanding of the human mind and our social behaviour is producing cutting-edge science, and Badcock explains the advances made and the problems remaining with skill and insight. Knowledgeable both about the social sciences and the discoveries of modern biology, this book offers a penetrating analysis of the interacions between the branches of science. Written in a clear and understandable style, Evolutionary Psychology will surely be a standard work on the subject for years to come. Michael Ruse, University of Guelph

Christopher Badcock s Evolutionary Psychology: A Critical Introduction has got to be one of the better introductory texts out there. It is a way into what can often be perceived as an intimidating and overly science-based endeavour. It fact it is extremely informed from within the natural sciences, but it is also intensely fascinating ... Christopher Badcock has done an excellent job introducing the public to a field that is often mired in high academia and scientific obfuscation. Self & Society

it contains excitement and vision that, when tempered by a mature critic such as a teacher or tutor, make this book stand out as one from which I should love to teach Paul Harvey, Head of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Times Higher Education Supplement