Why do you agree or disagree with evolutionary psychology?

Question

I have always been a supporter of evolutionary pshychology. According to wikipedia, "Evolutionary psychology (abbreviated ev-psych or EP) is a theoretical approach to psychology that explains many mental traits as adaptations in the sense of evolutionary biology, as a product of natural or sexual selection." I don't wish to get into whether anylysing a book with evolutionary pyscholgy is acceptable scientifically. Instead, I wish for people to say whether they think the actual principle that the human concious is a product of evolution is good and to give support.

Answer 1

I generally agree with the idea of evolutionary psychology. However, one should be very careful not to give undue weight to the impact of genes on behavior. Human behavior is a very complex subject and is the result of a number of factors including learning, environment, will and genes. Genes certainly do not predetermine behavior but they probably do help to explain broad patterns of behavior over numbers of individuals.

Answer 2

I've struggled with the nature vs. nurture question for a long time. I believed in evolutionary psychology before I ever learned about it, because it was a natural extension of evolution. I've done a tremendous amount of reading on the subject, and would caution that it can be overdone. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So maybe expand your tool set. Keep in mind that the brain is an incredibly complex piece of wetware, and it is a lot to expect the evolution of this complexity to be fully accountable to the biological urge to reproduce. Does evolutionary psychology explain jealousy in a way that is intuitively appealing? Absolutely. But can you easily link evolutionary psychology to OCD or musical prodigies? I think evolutionary psychology is a good tool in the study of complexity, of which human behavior is a subset, but not the only tool.

Answer 3

I don't agree with evolutionary psychology. Not because I don't believe in evolution, just because, while studying psychology, I noticed that nearly all of my own personal preferences are opposite to what evolutionary psychology says they should be.

Answer 4

Genesis

Answer 5

i agree for too many reason to go into here

Answer 6

just my belief,
When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion.
Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865), (attributed)
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The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself.
Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821 - 1890)
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Answer 7

disagree