Evolutionary Psychology

Basic Assumptions

One of the most controversial assumptions of the EP perspective is that, because there were so many strong and recurrent selection pressures throughout evolutionary history, the human mind contains a host of highly domain-specific cognitive algorithms. Once they had been selected and could be passed on genetically to offspring, these algorithms permitted our ancestors to make rapid, efficient, reliable, and usually fitness-enhancing decisions when confronted with issues and situations that were most relevant to survival and reproduction across evolutionary history. According to the EP approach, the evolution of these genetically based algorithms accounts for much of the cross-cultural consistency that is witnessed in many psychological features, ranging from which features of mates tend to be most attractive cross-culturally to which types of objects or social situations most people in vastly different cultures universally like, dislike, fear, become addicted to, or dread. This cardinal assumption—that the human mind is comprised of many domain-specific cognitive algorithms, shaped by past selection pressures, which helped our ancestors “solve” recurrent problems related to their reproductive fitness with economy, efficiency, and reliability—remains one of the most contentious aspects of the EP framework.

In addition to knowing what the cardinal assumptions of EP are, it is equally important to understand what the EP perspective does not suggest. It does not suggest that the environment and what people learn within their cultures or groups is unimportant. In fact, virtually all EP-based models assume that one cannot understand the operation of evolved mental algorithms without also knowing to which kinds of environmental stimuli, events, or learning histories an individual has been exposed. EP also does not presume that natural selection reflects what is “right” or “proper” (that is, it does not fall prey to the naturalistic fallacy), nor does it imply that naturally selected genes that underlie specific mental algorithms invariably [Page 259]“determine” how people think, feel, and behave in different social situations. Genes cannot express themselves in phenotypes unless they are triggered by and unfold within the context of specific environments.

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