The Evolution of Mind: Fundamental Questions and ControversiesSteven W. Gangestad, Jeffry A. Simpson In the past two decades, an explosion of research has generated many compelling insights--as well as hotly debated controversies--about the evolutionary bases of human nature. This important volume brings together leading proponents of different theoretical and methodological perspectives to provide a balanced look at 12 key questions at the core of the field today. In 43 concise, accessible chapters, followed by an integrative conclusion, the contributors present viewpoints informed by human behavioral ecology, evolutionary psychology, and gene-culture coevolutionary approaches. Topics include the strengths and limitations of different methodologies; metatheoretical issues; and debates concerning the evolution of the human brain, intellectual abilities, culture, and sexual behavior. |
From inside the book
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Page 2
... evolved to interact with both their physical environments and with one another. When theorists eventually turned ... evolve and be sustained. The optimality and game theoretic approaches developed during these decades quickly generated a ...
... evolved to interact with both their physical environments and with one another. When theorists eventually turned ... evolve and be sustained. The optimality and game theoretic approaches developed during these decades quickly generated a ...
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... evolved to enact different strategies in different circumstances (e.g., to adjust clutch size in response to changes in resource abundance), cross-species differences are typically presumed to reflect differences in gene pools ...
... evolved to enact different strategies in different circumstances (e.g., to adjust clutch size in response to changes in resource abundance), cross-species differences are typically presumed to reflect differences in gene pools ...
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... evolved to have many specialized information-processing procedures (algorithms), each one dedicated to detecting and ... evolve via differential replication, ideas also undergo a Darwinian-like selection process. Ideas are passed from ...
... evolved to have many specialized information-processing procedures (algorithms), each one dedicated to detecting and ... evolve via differential replication, ideas also undergo a Darwinian-like selection process. Ideas are passed from ...
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... evolve independently. Lumsden and Wilson (1981) and Cavilli-Svorza and Feldman (1981) recognized that the way in which ... evolved through cultural selection to persist even when substantial changes in the environment are operating on ...
... evolve independently. Lumsden and Wilson (1981) and Cavilli-Svorza and Feldman (1981) recognized that the way in which ... evolved through cultural selection to persist even when substantial changes in the environment are operating on ...
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... evolved outcomes. Selection does not generate variants; itselects between existing variants. Variation is introduced through alterations in developmental processes. As a result, a complete understanding of how a given outcome evolved ...
... evolved outcomes. Selection does not generate variants; itselects between existing variants. Variation is introduced through alterations in developmental processes. As a result, a complete understanding of how a given outcome evolved ...
Contents
1 | |
23 | |
PART II Fundamental Metatheoretical Issues | 145 |
PART III Debates Concerning Important Human Evolutionary Outcomes | 233 |
Whither Science of the Evolution of Mind? | 397 |
Index | 439 |
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Common terms and phrases
ability adaptationism adaptationist adaptive problems ancestral environments Anthropology apes approach argue Barrett behavioral ecologists benefits Borgerhoff Mulder Boyd Buss Byrne Cambridge causal chimpanzees cognitive mechanisms complex computational cooperation Cosmides culture Darwin developmental systems domains Dunbar ecological estrus evidence evolutionary biology evolutionary history evolutionary psychology evolved example exaptation favored fitness Flinn foraging function Gangestad genes genetic group selection hominid human behavior human behavioral ecology human brain human evolution human evolutionary human mating hunter-gatherer hypotheses important individuals inferences intelligence interactions issues Kaplan language male Mithen models modern humans modular modules natural selection Neanderthals neocortex norms one’s organisms Oxford University Press perspective phenotypic phylogenetic Pleistocene primates processes produce psychological adaptations REFERENCES relative reproductive success Richerson role selection pressures sexual selection social selection Sociobiology solve species strategies structure Thornhill tion Tooby traits understanding variation women York