Evolutionary Psychology Essay Example for Free

evolutionary Psychology EssayJust as in the past a brilliant scientist and researcher William Harvey was able to find the item that it is the heart that is responsible for pumping blood through the man body, psychologists of today have been able to find out and to prove the fact that cognition has a point and specific structure. These psychologists argon known as evolutionary psychologists, and it is this team of experts that have floated the theory that cognitive structure, identical physiological structure, has followed, through the centuries, the in all important exhibit of natural selection. This was how it has been able to survive and engage in fosterage through the years. What exactly is evolutionary psychology? It is a science that focuses on discovering the evolved process of the flighty systems of human beingsse beings, bringing into focus the fact that the human humour is a completely organized structure, h mavenst like tissues in every living organism ar fully organized. In other words, it is the tone of evolutionary psychologists that the human brain is composed of several functional parts, do to facilitate the survival and the reproduction of that particular organism.Therefore, this can be tacklen to mean that the human brain is non an organ with one single function, but rather as an organism made up of a large do of fully functioning parts. In agentral, evolutionary psychologists refer to the functional components of organisms as adaptations, and this is the term applied to the functions of the human brain as well. (Hagen, Edward 2004) It is evident therefore that evolutionary psychology refers to a particular approach to psychology, which uses the authorized principles of evolutionary biology to research the design and the workings of the human mind.It can be severalized as an approach, or a way of thinking, which can be applied to any subject within it. (Cosmides, Leda, Tooby, whoremonger 1997) What are the primary ac tivities of evolutionary psychologists? Charles Darwin had this to say, in the year 1859, In the distant future, I see free-spoken flying fields for far more important researches. Psychology will be based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradation. Darwin had foreseen the advances that would be made in the field of psychology in the future, and the science of evolutionary psychology was one of his predictions that came true. As mentioned earlier, evolutionary perspectives on human psychology are a part of the larger theory of general selection, and this field has led to greater scientific advancements in areas like sociobiology and ethnobotany, among others. Evolutionary psychologists have to find answers to questions such as how, why and when did human consciousness evolve, are there any differences amongst the psychology of men and women, and if so, what are they?Are there any differences between the psychologies of var ious races and ethnicities? Are there are adaptive explanations for human behaviors such as aggressiveness, self destructiveness and so on? Is it true that human consciousness is evolving today, as it has been steadily over the past hundreds and thousands of years? Is it true that human intelligence is inherited, and is it at all in any way influenced by ones environment?Can the theories of evolutionary psychology accurately describe and explain the evidences behind the common phobias among human beings? One must remember however that several sociologists, anthropologists and psychologists are completely wary of using and understanding the new evolutionary perspective on human brains and behaviors, by chance because in their opinion, evolutionary psychologists tended to adapt theories from the animal world and apply them to humans, and also, tended to generalize the principles of evolution in a much too dramatic fashion.(Evolutionary Psychology 2003) these are the basic of evolut ionary psychology theory Darwins descent with modification theory, Hamiltons inclusive fitness theory, Maynard Smiths game theory, and Trivers optimization theory. Take for example the theory of inclusive fitness. This is also referred to as kin selection, and therefore forms an important element of evolutionary psychology. Kin selection explains away the fact of altruism and philanthropy, by stating that all genes are invariably selfish, and that an fewbody is in reality nothing but a genes survival machine.Nevertheless, since a gene would automatically be passed on to the undermentioned generation, if the soul who is carrying that gene survives in order to reproduce, or even if any of the several other relatives of the surviving individual survive and reproduce, thereby passing on the gene to the next generation. According to Maynard Smith, this whitethorn be the reason why a lapwing will fake being injured in order to draw a predatory hawk away from its offspring, thereby act ing in an altruistic manner towards its young.This vitrine of altruism may also benefit non-relatives, because it is an acknowledged fact that the members of the same species will help take care of the youngsters of the species, even if they are not related in any way. The reason why this happens may be because of the fact that the evolved mechanism may not be sufficiently complex to make book discriminations of this kind. This may be why some people like to take care of pets, while some do not. The people who do have pets are in fact allowing their caretaking mechanism to be exploited.Evolutionary psychology has also been applied into another important are aggression of the human being. It is an accepted fact that sexual rivalry often leads to blatant aggression, and most violent deaths are caused by man cleansing another man, or man killing a woman in the name of sexual tensity and rivalry. In such a case, rage may be taken to refer to be but one strategy in the plethora of male coercive tools, coercion being the like a shot pull up stakes of sexual proprietorship and possessiveness.Men who allow themselves to be cuckolded would then be considered losers of the zero-sum evolutionary game that human beings play in their desire to make sure that their genes get into the next generation. Men use violence as a tool to stop and prevent their mates from sexually engaging with other men, because although maternal quality is always a given, paternity may not be proven. It is this same principle that works in the case of step-children and their adoptive fathers.These fathers have no interest in their step children, because they are not carrying their genes onto the next generation, and supporting another mans child may mean that this man is working in opposition to his evolutionary interests. History can prove to man that in general, step fathers indulge in greater violence and aggression towards their step children than towards their biological children, th e primary reason being that of ensuring that his genes are carried forward, and not another mans.(Evolutionary Psychology 1998) According to evolutionary psychologists, there is a lack of fit between the current environment and the adaptation of the brain. In their opinion, if the brain is an adaptation, then there could be no inquiry that at some time back in time, there existed some sort of selection for brain mechanisms, which in effect transformed information about environment and its conditions, into human behaviors that could adapt and change in accordance with the requirements of the situation and environment.Selection, however took place because of the manner in which they responded to the environment at the time in which they were selected. Therefore, this theory can be taken to imply that because environmental conditions are different today, the information that is infix to the brain is different as well, and as a direct consequence, the brain may respond by generating b ehavior that may not be adaptive to the new conditions in which it finds itself.Failure to adapt may occur in two ways either the brain could continue to produce the same old behavior under the newer conditions given, or the brain could produce new behavior that responded to the new information glide path in, and the behavior could fail to be of the adaptive sort. This is in fact a rather common behavioural pattern, and when conditions change, the response becomes different from what the designers intended, like for example, as demonstrated by sophisticated computing device programs, designed to put to death a variety of complicated tasks, are also programmed to produce adaptive outputs as a direct response to certain key commands.At the same time, a new input could confuse the computer and prompt it into giving a completely nonsensical and non-adaptive output in response. In human beings, as evolutionary psychologists theorize, there is in place an evolved behavioral predisposi tion to make sure that reproductive achiever is always at its highest level, but this conflates the theory that the human brain was designed through a process of selection, as mentioned earlier. (Buller J David n. d)