Evolutionary Psychology

In its simplest form, evolutionary psychology is the idea that human behavior is part of the natural world. That is to say, the same processes that govern all phenomena in the natural world, shaped by evolutionary forces, also ultimately govern human behavior.

In short, evolutionary psychologists work to explain and understand behavioral patterns and psychological processes in terms of Darwinian principles, such as natural selection. For instance, consider the fear of snakes, which is a very common fear found in people across cultures. An evolutionary approach to understanding this phenomenon focuses on how such a fear may be the result of evolutionary forces. Can one understand fear of snakes as a product of natural selection? And what exactly would such an explanation look like?

Natural selection simply ...