Editing Evolutionary psychology (section)

==Evolved psychological mechanisms==
{{Main|psychological adaptation|l1=Evolved psychological mechanisms}}
Evolutionary psychology is based on the hypothesis that, just like hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys, and immune systems, cognition has a functional structure that has a genetic basis, and therefore has evolved by natural selection. Like other organs and tissues, this functional structure should be universally shared amongst a species and should solve important problems of survival and [[reproduction]].

Evolutionary psychologists seek to understand psychological mechanisms by understanding the survival and reproductive functions they might have served over the course of evolutionary history.<ref name="Buss 2015 p.">{{cite book |last=Buss |first=David |title=Evolutionary psychology : the new science of the mind |publisher=Psychology Press, an imprint of Taylor and Francis |publication-place=Boca Raton, FL |year=2015 |isbn=9781317345725 |oclc=1082202213 }}</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2020}} These might include abilities to infer others' emotions, discern kin from non-kin, identify and prefer healthier mates, cooperate with others and follow leaders. Consistent with the theory of natural selection, evolutionary psychology sees humans as often in conflict with others, including mates and relatives. For instance, a mother may wish to wean her offspring from breastfeeding earlier than does her infant, which frees up the mother to invest in additional offspring.<ref name=moralanimal/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://scilib-biology.narod.ru/MoralAnimal/index_en.html |title=The Moral Animal: Why We Are The Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology |access-date=15 October 2013 |first=Robert |last=Wright}}</ref> Evolutionary psychology also recognizes the role of kin selection and reciprocity in evolving prosocial traits such as altruism.<ref name=moralanimal/> Like [[common chimpanzee|chimpanzee]]s and [[bonobo]]s, humans have subtle and flexible social instincts, allowing them to form extended families, lifelong friendships, and political alliances.<ref name=moralanimal/> In studies testing theoretical predictions, evolutionary psychologists have made modest findings on topics such as infanticide, intelligence, marriage patterns, promiscuity, perception of beauty, bride price and parental investment.<ref name="social-behavior">"Despite this difficulty, there have been many careful and informative studies of human social behavior from an evolutionary perspective. Infanticide, intelligence, marriage patterns, promiscuity, perception of beauty, bride price, altruism, and the allocation of parental care have all been explored by testing predictions derived from the idea that conscious and unconscious behaviours have evolved to maximize inclusive fitness. The findings have been impressive." "social behaviour, animal." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 23 January 2011. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/animal-social-behaviour/The-proximate-mechanisms-of-social-behaviour#ref48608].</ref>

Another example would be the evolved mechanism in depression. Clinical depression is maladaptive and should have evolutionary approaches so it can become adaptive. Over the centuries animals and humans have gone through hard times to stay alive, which made our fight or flight senses evolve tremendously. For instances, mammalians have separation anxiety from their guardians which causes distress and sends signals to their hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis, and emotional/behavioral changes. Going through these types of circumstances helps mammals cope with separation anxiety.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sloman |first=L |date=April 2003 |title=Evolved mechanisms in depression: the role and interaction of attachment and social rank in depression |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0165032702001167 |journal=Journal of Affective Disorders |language=en |volume=74 |issue=2 |pages=107–121 |doi=10.1016/S0165-0327(02)00116-7|pmid=12706512 }}</ref>

===Historical topics===
Proponents of evolutionary psychology in the 1990s made some explorations in historical events, but the response from historical experts was highly negative and there has been little effort to continue that line of research. Historian [[Lynn Hunt]] says that the historians complained that the researchers:
{{Blockquote|have read the wrong studies, misinterpreted the results of experiments, or worse yet, turned to neuroscience looking for a universalizing, anti-representational and anti-intentional ontology to bolster their claims.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hunt | first1 = Lynn | year = 2014 | title = The Self and Its History | journal = American Historical Review | volume = 119 | issue = 5| pages = 1576–86 | doi=10.1093/ahr/119.5.1576| doi-access = free }} quote p 1576.</ref>}}

Hunt states that "the few attempts to build up a subfield of psychohistory collapsed under the weight of its presuppositions." She concludes that, as of 2014, the "'iron curtain' between historians and psychology...remains standing."<ref>Hunt, "The Self and Its History." p. 1578.</ref>

===Products of evolution: adaptations, exaptations, byproducts, and random variation===
Not all traits of organisms are evolutionary adaptations. As noted in the table below, traits may also be [[exaptation]]s, byproducts of adaptations (sometimes called "spandrels"), or random variation between individuals.<ref>Buss et al. 1998</ref>

Psychological adaptations are hypothesized to be innate or relatively easy to learn and to manifest in cultures worldwide. For example, the ability of toddlers to learn a language with virtually no training is likely to be a psychological adaptation. On the other hand, ancestral humans did not read or write, thus today, learning to read and write requires extensive training, and presumably involves the repurposing of cognitive capacities that evolved in response to selection pressures unrelated to written language.<ref>Pinker, Steven. (1994) The Language Instinct</ref> However, variations in manifest behavior can result from universal mechanisms interacting with different local environments. For example, Caucasians who move from a northern climate to the equator will have darker skin. The mechanisms regulating their pigmentation do not change; rather the input to those mechanisms change, resulting in different outputs.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! !! Adaptation !! Exaptation !! Byproduct !! Random variation
|-
| Definition || Organismic trait designed to solve an ancestral problem(s). Shows complexity, special "design", functionality || Adaptation that has been "re-purposed" to solve a different adaptive problem. || Byproduct of an adaptive mechanism with no current or ancestral function || Random variations in an adaptation or byproduct
|-
| Physiological example || Bones / Umbilical cord|| Small bones of the inner ear || White color of bones / Belly button || Bumps on the skull, convex or concave belly button shape
|-
| Psychological example || Toddlers' ability to learn to talk with minimal instruction || Voluntary attention || Ability to learn to read and write || Variations in verbal intelligence
|}

One of the tasks of evolutionary psychology is to identify which psychological traits are likely to be adaptations, byproducts or random variation. [[George C. Williams (biologist)|George C. Williams]] suggested that an "adaptation is a special and onerous concept that should only be used where it is really necessary."<ref>George C Williams, ''Adaptation and Natural Selection''. p. 4.</ref> As noted by Williams and others, adaptations can be identified by their improbable complexity, species universality, and adaptive functionality.

===Obligate and facultative adaptations===
A question that may be asked about an adaptation is whether it is generally obligate (relatively robust in the face of typical environmental variation) or facultative (sensitive to typical environmental variation).<ref name=Buss-D-M-2011>Buss, D. M. (2011). Evolutionary psychology.</ref> The sweet taste of sugar and the pain of hitting one's knee against concrete are the result of fairly obligate psychological adaptations; typical environmental variability during development does not much affect their operation. By contrast, facultative adaptations are somewhat like "if-then" statements. For example, {{Citation needed span|text=adult attachment style seems particularly sensitive to early childhood experiences. As adults, the propensity to develop close, trusting bonds with others is dependent on whether early childhood caregivers could be trusted to provide reliable assistance and attention.|date=August 2021|reason=Who makes this claim?  Sounds like the problematic "attachment parenting", a theory among many.}} The adaptation for skin to tan is conditional to exposure to sunlight; this is an example of another facultative adaptation. When a psychological adaptation is facultative, evolutionary psychologists concern themselves with how developmental and environmental inputs influence the expression of the adaptation.

===Cultural universals===
{{main|Cultural universal}}
Evolutionary psychologists hold that behaviors or traits that occur universally in all cultures are good candidates for evolutionary adaptations.<ref name=Psychology/> Cultural universals include behaviors related to language, cognition, social roles, gender roles, and technology.<ref>[[Donald E. Brown|Brown, Donald E.]] (1991) Human Universals. New York: McGraw-Hill.</ref> Evolved psychological adaptations (such as the ability to learn a language) interact with cultural inputs to produce specific behaviors (e.g., the specific language learned).

Basic gender differences, such as greater eagerness for sex among men and greater coyness among women, are explained as sexually dimorphic psychological adaptations that reflect the different reproductive strategies of males and females. It has been found that both male and female personality traits differ on a large spectrum. Males had a higher rate of traits relating to dominance, tension, and directness. Females had higher rates organizational behavior and more emotional based characteristics.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Schmitt |first1=David P. |last2=Long |first2=Audrey E. |last3=McPhearson |first3=Allante |last4=O'Brien |first4=Kirby |last5=Remmert |first5=Brooke |last6=Shah |first6=Seema H. |date=21 March 2016 |title=Personality and gender differences in global perspective |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijop.12265 |journal=International Journal of Psychology |language=en |volume=52 |issue=S1 |pages=45–56 |doi=10.1002/ijop.12265 |pmid=27000535 |issn=0020-7594}}</ref>

Evolutionary psychologists contrast their approach to what they term the "[[standard social science model]]," according to which the mind is a general-purpose cognition device shaped almost entirely by culture.<ref>Barkow et al. 1992</ref><ref name="instinct">"instinct." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 18 February 2011. [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/289249/instinct].</ref>