Evolutionary Psychology

September 12, 2022

Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary psychology is based on Darwin’s Theory of Evolution published in 1859. According to Darwin, evolution works on patterns as well as similar anatomy and physiology of the body. 

Charles Darwin deserves the title of first evolutionary psychologist. He believes that humans evolved emotionally as well as they have evolved physical features (such as opposable thumbs and upright posture). Darwin understood that facial expressions play a very important role while communicating with others of the same species. For example: when we are angry, we witness the signal of a fight or we wish to heat up the argument. Darwin was the person who believed in the evolution of expressions and emotions throughout these years. 

Evolutionary psychology is a revolutionary new science, it consists of modern principles of psychology and evolutionary biology. 

For example, as the ability to recognize poisonous snakes was passed down through generations, evolutionary psychology theory says that our brains adapted to include instinctual fear and caution around snakes, and different feelings are also great examples of evolutionary psychology. 

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Evolutionary psychology, which emerged in the late 1980s, is a synthesis of developments in several different fields, including ethology, cognitive psychology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and social psychology. At the base of evolutionary psychology is Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin’s theory made it clear how an animal’s physical features can be shaped by the demands of recurrent problems posed by the environment. Seals are more closely related to dogs than to dolphins, but seals and dolphins share several physical features shaped by common problems of aquatic life (where fins and streamlined body shape assist in catching one’s dinner and reduce the chance of becoming dinner for an aquatic predator). Besides overt physical features designed by natural selection, animals also inherit central nervous systems designed to generate the behaviors needed to run those bodies. The behavioral inclinations of a bat would not work well in the body of a dolphin or a giraffe, and vice versa. 

Also, few people argue about the fact that we have very little idea of how homo sapiens evolved in which environment. Well, we may not know exactly how behaviors have evolved but we surely know we as humans have evolved physically, emotionally and through emotions as well.