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Sociobiology (evolutionary psychology)
From Edward O. Wilson's On Human Nature (pp. 32-33):
The heart of the genetic hypothesis is the proposition, derived in a straight line from neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory, that the traits of human nature were adaptive during the time that the human species evolved and that genes consequently spread through the population that predisposed their carriers to develop those traits. Adaptiveness means simply that if an individual displayed the traits he stood a greater chance of having his genes represented in the next generation than if he did not display the traits. The differential advantage among individuals in this strictest sense is called genetic fitness. There are three basic components of genetic fitness: increased personal survival, increased personal reproduction, and the enhanced survival and reproduction of close relatives who share the same genes by common descent. An improvement in any one of the factors or in any combination of them results in greater genetic fitness. The process, which Darwin called natural selection describes a tight circle of causation. If the possession of certain genes predisposes individuals toward a particular trait, say a certain kind of social response, and the trait in turn conveys superior fitness, the genes will gain an increased representation in the next generation. If natural selection is continued over many generations, the favored genes will spread throughout the population, and the trait will become characteristic of the species. In this way human nature is postulated by many sociobiologists, anthropologists, and others to have been shaped by natural selection.
Wilson, Edward O. On Human Nature. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1978.
- Darwin's Progress - National Review - Britannica.com
Wilson's orthodox Darwinian sociobiology made countless enemies in academia. Centrist anthropologists John Tooby and Leda Cosmides accordingly relaunched sociobiology under the neutral name of "evolutionary psychology." Pronouncing themselves the truest True Believers in equality, Tooby and Cosmides portrayed human nature as almost monolithically uniform and proclaimed that evolutionary psychology should study only human similarities. But while egalitarianism served as a useful cover for infiltrating neo-Darwinism into academia, it proved a largely useless methodology for learning about humanity. Why? Because knowledge consists of contrasts. To learn much about human nature, we need to look for patterns of similarities and differences among humans.
- Salon.com Technology | Flameproof racism On the Evolutionary Psychology mailing list, dangerous ideas thrive -- without the usual online rancor and hatred.
- http://www.egroups.com/group/evolutionary-psychology
- the Evolutionary Psychology mailing list.
- Salon Books | Chains of love Always fall for losers? According to some evolutionary psychiatrists, the brain has little control over choices of the heart.
- Salon Books | Born to rape? All men are potential sex criminals, say two evolutionary psychology proponents in a controversial new book.
- Rape, sex and the research program of evolutionary psychology - Massimo Pigliucci. Review of A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion, by R. Thornhill and C.T. Palmer, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2000.
- Salon Books | Suspicious minds In his new book, "The Dangerous Passion," psychologist David Buss proposes that jealousy is an evolutionary necessity.
- Salon Books | Crisis of faith Scientists who use evolutionary psychology to explain religion are ignoring facts and missing the point.
- The Moral Animal: Evolutionary Psychology and Everyday Life - Robert Wright
Social status
Once this status ladder exists, and the higher rungs bring reproductive
payoffs, genes that help a chimp climb it at acceptable cost will
spread. The genes may work by instilling drives that, in humans, get
labelled "ambition" or "competitiveness;" or by instilling feelings such
as "shame" (along with an aversion to it, and a tendency to feel it after
conspicuous failure); or "pride" (along with an attraction to it, and a
tendency to feel it after doing impressive things). But whatever the
exact feelings, if they raise inclusive fitness, they will become part of
the species' psychology.
- Evolutionary Psychology - David J. Buller.
1. What Is Evolutionary Psychology?
2. Evolutionary Psychology, the Paradigm
3. Adaptationism
4. Modularity and the Adapted Mind
5. "Our Modern Skulls House a Stone Age Mind"
6. "Human Nature"
- Skeptic's Dictionary: evolutionary psychology
- The (Im)moral Animal: A Quick & Dirty Guide to Evolutionary Psychology & the Nature of Human Nature - skeptic.com
- Evolutionary Psychology: Annotated Bibliography [via Northern Light]
- Open Directory - Science: Biology: Sociobiology: Evolutionary Psychology - Ian Pitchford.
- Google Web Directory - Science > Biology > Sociobiology
- Google Web Directory - Science > Biology > Sociobiology > Evolutionary Psychology
- AltaVista - Web Directory Results: evolutionary psychology
- Yahoo! Social Science > Psychology > Branches > Evolutionary Psychology
- About > Science > Anthropology > Human Evolution
- http://search.britannica.com/search?query=sociobiology - includes a selection of online magazine articles.
- Yahoo! Science > Biology > Biologists > Wilson, Edward O. (1929- ) > Writings and Works
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