Summary
Contents
Subject index
Essential Evolutionary Psychology introduces students to the core theories, approaches, and findings that are the necessary foundations for developing an understanding of evolutionary psychology. It offers a sound, brief, and student friendly explication of how evolutionary theory has been and is applied in psychology. The book unpicks the very essence of human evolution, and how this knowledge is used to give evolutionary accounts of four of the central pillars of human behavior - cooperation, attraction, aggression, and family formation. It also covers evolutionary accounts of abnormal behavior, language and culture.
Cooperation and Interdependence
Cooperation and Interdependence
Some of the questions addressed in this chapter:
- How does evolution account for cooperation?
- Do we do things for the good of the species?
- Are we nepotistic?
- What is ‘virtual’ altruism?
- Does it pay to be a cheat?
- Are some emotions adaptations for altruism?
Some Key Terms and Concepts
Game theory; Group selection; In-group; Kin altruism; Reciprocal altruism; Social identity theory; Tragic vision; Zero-sum game.
Learning Objectives
Having studied this chapter you should be better able to:
- Describe the concept of a ‘selfish gene’.
- Explain how selfish genes could give rise to organisms that are not selfish.
- Present an argument to show how emotional states might be adaptive.
Introduction
In Chapter 1 we briefly paused to consider the claim that nature is ‘red in tooth and claw’. The phrase is of a piece with a ...
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