Evolutionary psychology explains present psychological processes as adaptations to ancestral environmental problems.

Evidence

These theories fall within the category of “evolutionary psychology,” which considers the contexts characterizing the prehistory of the human species. It is perhaps valuable to clarify the broad principles guiding this approach to psychological theorizing. The fundamental assertion is that contemporary psychological processes evolved in part to solve the particular problems im­ posed by the physical and social environments that characterized our ances­ tral past. To understand the nature of these processes, it is important to consider specific problems characterizing ancestral populations and to identify specific plausible psychology-relevant adaptations that may have emerged within these populations as means to solve those problems. — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide, 489

Categorization

• DEFINE: Lays out the ancestral-problem/adaptation heuristic that structures the three fear theories Glick reviews.
• XREF: connects to: Descending from the trees to eat rotting fruit drove apes to evolve alcohol tolerance — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 285; Evolutionary psychologists see the human mind as many domain-specific evolved instincts, not fewer — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 72; Natural selection shaped psychological mechanisms that determine which cultural beliefs persist. — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 3 (+17 more)

Broader Connections

• Costly sentiments like guilt persist because they confer evolutionary gain #exemplifies (0.90)
• Evolution tuned humans to feel distinct emotions for distinct intergroup threats #exemplifies (0.90) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2275
• The situation resembles an evolutionary environment structuring adaptation #exemplifies (0.85) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 444
• Evolutionary explanations of behavior should look forward, not backward to prehistory #contradicts (0.85) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 191
• Cultural evolution fills in god content within evolved mentalizing constraints #expands (0.85)
• Human evolution’s selecting environment is recurring face-to-face group configurations #expands (0.85) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 390
• Distinct group types evolved to fulfill distinct psychological needs #expands (0.85)
• Human evolution selected for learnability and behavioral malleability, not fixedness #complicates (0.85)
• Culture is a genetically evolved consequence of social learning adaptations. #expands (0.85) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 139
• Human cumulative culture emerges from evolved domain-specific cognitive adaptations for social learning #expands (0.85) — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 16
• Individual learning from environmental cues does not always yield the adaptive behavior. #corroborates (0.75) — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 35
• Darwinian views of brain imply selection oriented toward efficacy #corroborates (0.75) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 216
• Cultural adaptation physically rewires the brain and perception #expands (0.75) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2238
• Observational learning enables cumulative cultural evolution of behaviors no individual could invent alone #expands (0.75) — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 19
• Psychology and psychiatry co-evolved with changing norms of the self #complicates (0.75) — Alain Ehrenberg, The Weariness of the Self, 730