Evolutionary psychology

2020 ◽  
pp. 45-80
Author(s):  
Gavin Miller
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Social Darwinism ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanisms ◽  
Feminist Ethic ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Parable Of The Sower ◽  
Ethical Systems

This chapter explores the importation into science fiction of evolutionary psychology, including earlier schools such as Social Darwinism and sociobiology. Social Darwinism motivates an anti-utopian tendency to forecast a state of future decadence that can be arrested only by the re-activation of dormant evolutionary mechanisms. This pattern may be familiar enough from H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine (1895) and Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966), but is less easily perceived in Octavia Butler’s sequence, Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998), which predicts a new evolutionary lineage for homo sapiens emerging from a future in which the USA is a failed state. The authority of evolutionary psychology is challenged in Kurt Vonnegut’s Galápagos (1985), which satirizes the sociobiological paradigm by taking to the point of absurdity evolutionary explanations for human aggression. Science fiction can, moreover, escape hackneyed Social Darwinist discourses by drawing upon alternative evolutionary psychologies. Naomi Mitchison’s future utopia in Memoirs of a Spacewoman (1962) draws upon attachment theory to offer a renewed feminist ethic of compassion and imaginative understanding, while also estranging our dominant ethical systems.

Evolutionary Cognitive Archaeology

Anthropology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick L. Coolidge ◽  
Thomas Wynn
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Evolutionary Development ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Cognitive Archaeology

Cognitive archaeology may be divided into two branches. Evolutionary cognitive archaeology (ECA) is the discipline of prehistoric archaeology that studies the evolution of human cognition. Practitioners are united by a methodological commitment to the idea that archaeological traces of past activity provide access to the minds of the agents responsible. The second branch, ideational cognitive archaeology, encompasses archaeologists who strive to discover the meaning of symbolic system, primarily through the analysis of iconography. This approach differs from ECA in its epistemology, historical roots, and citation universes, and focuses on comparatively recent time periods (after 10,000 years ago). Evolutionary cognitive archaeologists are concerned with the nature of cognition itself, and its evolutionary development from the time of the last common ancestor with chimpanzees to the final ascendancy of modern humans at the end of the Pleistocene. Although ECA methods are primarily archaeological, its theoretical grounding is in the cognitive sciences, including cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and cognitive neuroscience. It is by its nature interdisciplinary. ECA differs from the allied discipline of evolutionary psychology in several important respects. Methodologically, ECA is a macroevolutionary science that studies physical evidence of past human cognition, including archaeological and fossil remains. Evolutionary psychology relies heavily on reverse engineering from controlled experiments on living humans. Theoretically, ECA is more eclectic, drawing on a variety of cognitive and evolutionary models; evolutionary psychology is committed to a neo-Darwinian, selectionist understanding of evolutionary change. The two approaches tend to study different components of human mental life, but are not inherently contradictory. ECA practitioners reconstruct prehistoric activities using well-established archaeological methods and techniques, including morphological analysis of artifacts to identify action sequences and decision patterns, functional analyses (e.g., microwear) to identify use patterns, and spatial patterns within sites to recognize activity loci (e.g., hearths). An increasingly important method is the actualistic recreation of prehistoric technologies to identify features not preserved in the archaeological remains. Neuroarchaeologists enhance such actualistic research by imaging the brains of the participants (most typically using fMRI), an approach that also contributes directly to cognitive science’s understanding of the neural basis of technical cognition. ECA practitioners take two non-mutually exclusive approaches to documenting human cognitive evolution. The first approach enriches the understanding of specific hominin taxa (i.e., Homo sapiens and their direct ancestors since 6 million years ago) by providing accounts of their cognitive life worlds, or by contrasting two taxa with one another. This approach is famously exemplified by attempts to contrast the abilities of Neandertals with those of modern humans. The second approach traces the evolution of specific cognitive abilities from the first appearance of stone tools 3.3 million years ago to the emergence of city-states 5,000 years ago. The range of accessible cognitive abilities is limited by the nature of archaeological remains, but evolutionary cognitive archaeologists have been able to trace developments in spatial cognition, memory, cognitive control, technical expertise, theory of mind, aesthetic cognition, symbolism, language, and numeracy.

scholarly journals The Saliva Tree: Archiving the (Monster) Tree

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-144
Author(s):  
Somasree Sarkar
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Physical Appearance ◽  
The Other ◽  
Care Giver ◽  
Cultural Space ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Companion Species ◽  
Cultural Construct

To view culture as a multispecies and not as an anthropocentric one is the call of the era. The liberal Humanist idea of human as an autonomous entity is to be debunked, as culture involves not only Homo sapiens, but also other species – animals, plants, microbes, machines and hybrids. No species can dwell independently. Each species thrives in a network, interconnected and interdependent to each other. This network forms a culture of multispecies, where every being is akin to the other. Multispecies culture is all inclusive and all encompassing, disregarding the crippling binaries of human/ non-human, culture/nature, abled/disabled, normal/abnormal and so on. It is important to realize that each binary is an anthropocentric cultural construct. It must be discarded in order to create the culture of companion species, that is includes all forms of existence, not overlooking the ‘unwanted’ object as the minor ‘other’, in the anthropocentric view. The paper aims to argue that each species (highlighting the figure of tree in the paper) is an active actor in the bio cultural space. It strives to emancipate the figure of a tree from the clutch of anthropocentric notion, as ‘nature’/ ‘passive recipient’/ ‘care-giver’/ ‘mother’. To serve my purpose, I have chosen a Science Fiction, titled The Saliva Tree by Brian Aldiss. The fiction has an alien tree, functioning in a farm on the Earth. The tree has a horrendous physical appearance, is carnivorous and is non-sessile. All such features compile to render the arboreal creature as a ‘monster’, an identity imposed upon a misfit, considering it as a threat to the human-centered culture. I have argued how the farm with the ‘monster’ tree and other variety of species and machines becomes an archive, a dynamic biocultural space. It also enhances the botanical culture or ‘FloraCulture’, as termed by John Charles Ryan.

7. Human behaviour, mind, and culture

2019 ◽  
pp. 101-118
Author(s):  
Samir Okasha
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Dual Inheritance Theory ◽  
Nature Vs Nurture ◽  
Dual Inheritance

‘Human behaviour, mind, and culture’ examines the implications of biology for humans, asking whether human behaviour and culture can be explained in biological terms. The intelligence, language use, cultural inventions, technological prowess, and social institutions of our own species, Homo sapiens, seem to set us apart from other species. Can biology shed any light on humanity and its achievements? One way to tackle this question is to ask whether human behaviour can be understood in biological terms. The nature vs nurture debate is discussed, followed by the approaches of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology to the study of human behaviour. Finally, cultural evolution—or dual inheritance theory—is considered and how this relates to biological evolution.

Schneiderman, Perkins, and the early labor movement

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leon C. Prieto ◽  
Simone T. A. Phipps ◽  
Lemaro R. Thompson ◽  
Xavier A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Ethic Of Care ◽  
Ethical Perspective ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Feminist Ethic ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Comprehensive Search ◽  
History Books ◽  
Research Endeavor

Purpose – This paper aims to depict the pivotal role played by Rose Schneiderman and Frances Perkins in early twentieth-century labor and safety reform in the USA. The paper also examines the contributions made by these notable women through the lens of stakeholder theory and the feminist ethic of care. Design/methodology/approach – The review process commenced with a comprehensive search for women in history who advocated labor and safety reform and campaigned for safer organizational practices in the workplace. History books, academic journals and newspaper articles, including writings from Schneiderman and Perkins, were the main sources used for this research endeavor. Findings – Schneiderman and Perkins were both instrumental in playing a major role in fighting for labor and safety reform in the early twentieth century, albeit in different ways. Through their work, there was a heightened understanding of organizations’ duties and obligations to their stakeholders and, in particular, to their employees. They also embodied the feminist ethic of care by being attentive to the needs of others, accepting responsibility and demonstrating competence, while being responsive to their needs. Originality/value – The influential women in management history are often given scant recognition or not recognized at all. This article highlights the contributions of two women who greatly impacted labor and safety through their struggle for the improvement of working conditions in the USA. The originality of this manuscript also lies in the ethical perspective in which it is grounded.

scholarly journals Multiple modes of convergent adaptation in the spread of glyphosate-resistant Amaranthus tuberculatus

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia M. Kreiner ◽  
Darci Ann Giacomini ◽  
Felix Bemm ◽  
Bridgit Waithaka ◽  
Julian Regalado ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Herbicide Resistance ◽  
Population Genomics ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Rapid Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanisms ◽  
Multiple Modes ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Amaranthus Tuberculatus ◽  
Genome Analyses

The selection pressure exerted by herbicides has led to the repeated evolution of herbicide resistance in weeds. The evolution of herbicide resistance on contemporary timescales in turn provides an outstanding opportunity to investigate key questions about the genetics of adaptation, in particular, the relative importance of adaptation from new mutations, standing genetic variation, or geographic spread of adaptive alleles through gene flow. Glyphosate-resistant Amaranthus tuberculatus poses one of the most significant threats to crop yields in the midwestern United States (1), with both agricultural populations and herbicide resistance only recently emerging in Canada (2, 3). To understand the evolutionary mechanisms driving the spread of resistance, we sequenced and assembled the A. tuberculatus genome and investigated the origins and population genomics of 163 resequenced glyphosate-resistant and susceptible individuals from Canada and the USA. In Canada, we discovered multiple modes of convergent evolution: in one locality, resistance appears to have evolved through introductions of preadapted US genotypes, while in another, there is evidence for the independent evolution of resistance on genomic backgrounds that are historically non-agricultural. Moreover, resistance on these local, non-agricultural backgrounds appears to have occurred predominantly through the partial sweep of a single haplotype. In contrast, resistant haplotypes arising from the midwestern US show multiple amplification haplotypes segregating both between and within populations. Therefore, while the remarkable species-wide diversity of A. tuberculatus has facilitated geographic parallel adaptation of glyphosate resistance, more recently established agricultural populations are limited to adaptation in a more mutation-limited framework.SignificanceWhile evolution is often thought of as playing out over millions of years, adaptation to new enviroments can occur in real time, presenting key opportunities to understand evolutionary processes. An important example comes from agriculture, where many weeds have evolved herbicide resistance. We have studied glyphosate resistant Amaranthus tuberculatus, a significant threat to crop yields in the midwestern US and Canada. Genome analyses showed that rapid evolution can either occur by “borrowing” resistance alleles from other locations, or by de novo evolution of herbicide resistance in a genetic background that was not previously associated with agriculture. Differences in recent evolutionary histories have thus favored either adaptation from pre-existing variation or new mutation in different parts of the A. tuberculatus range.

Increased affluence, life history theory, and the decline of shamanism

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Baumard
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanisms

AbstractI applaud Singh's proposition to use evolutionary psychology to explain the recurrence of shamanistic beliefs. Here, I suggest that evolutionary mechanisms (i.e., life history theory) also can explain the variability of the distribution of shamanism. When resources are abundant, individuals become more patient and more open minded to the point that science becomes cognitively attractive and may replace magic.

scholarly journals Science Fiction and Psychology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavin Miller
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Modern Psychology ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Existential Humanism ◽  
Everyday Reality ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

Psychology and Science Fiction goes beyond such incidental observations and engagements to offer an in-depth exploration of science fiction literature’s varied use of psychological discourses, beginning at the birth of modern psychology in the late nineteenth century, and concluding with the ascendance of neuroscience in the late twentieth century. Rather than dwelling on psychoanalytic readings, this literary investigation combines with history of psychology to offer attentive textual readings that explore five key psychological schools: evolutionary psychology, psychoanalysis, behaviourism, existential-humanism, and cognitivism. The varied functions of psychological discourses in science fiction are explored, whether to popularise and prophesy, to imagine utopia or dystopia, to estrange our everyday reality, to comment on science fiction itself, or to abet (or resist) the spread of psychological wisdom. Psychology and Science Fiction also considers how psychology itself has made use of science fiction in order to teach, to secure legitimacy as a discipline, and to comment on the present.

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