Theoretical Basis and Controversial Issues in Evolutionary Psychology

For the past two decades, evolutionary psychology has rapidly developed as a novel theoretical perspective that studies the human mind and behavior, thus gaining much attention from psychologists working worldwide. Unfortunately, Korea has few psychologists specialized in evolutionary psychology, which often results in a number of misunderstandings or prejudices of evolutionary psychology among mainstream psychologists. To overcome this difficulty, I hereby attempt to clarify the theoretical foundations of evolutionary psychology and to redress the common misunderstandings about it. Evolutionary psychology aims to elucidate the adaptive design of the human mind and hence provides the organizing theoretical framework that can be utilized to study any psychological phenomena. I then discuss four common misunderstandings of evolutionary psychology: 1) evolutionary psychology is empirically unfalsifiable, 2) evolutionary psychology is a form of genetic determinism, 3) human behavior stems from learning, rather than from biological evolution, and 4) between-group differences are best explained by culture, rather than biological evolution. I conclude that the evolutionary perspective not only unify scattered findings within a coherent explanation, but also provides a heuristic guide to unknown facts.

keywords: evolutionary psychology, psychological mechanism, natural selection, adaptation, human mind, 진화심리학, 심리 기제, 자연선택, 적응, 마음

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Article Contents

Vol.29 No.4

Theoretical Basis and Controversial Issues in Evolutionary Psychology

Abstract

Reference

Korean Journal of Psychology: General