1998/12/31 by Jaime C. Confer, Judith A. Easton, Diana S. Fleischman +9 · 2 citations
Engineering · Materials Science · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Cultural Differences and Values #Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation #Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior #Nuclear Materials and Properties #Nuclear and radioactivity studies #Nuclear reactor physics and engineering
paper · doi:10.1037/a0018413
openalex publication_date 1998/12/31 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Evolutionary psychology has emerged over the past 15 years as a major theoretical perspective, generating an increasing volume of empirical studies and assuming a larger presence within psychological science. At the same time, it has generated critiques and remains controversial among some psychologists. Some of the controversy stems from hypotheses that go against traditional psychological theories; some from empirical findings that may have disturbing implications; some from misunderstandings about the logic of evolutionary psychology; and some from reasonable scientific concerns about its underlying framework. This article identifies some of the most common concerns and attempts to elucidate evolutionary psychology's stance pertaining to them. These include issues of testability and falsifiability; the domain specificity versus domain generality of psychological mechanisms; the role of novel environments as they interact with evolved psychological circuits; the role of genes in the conceptual structure of evolutionary psychology; the roles of learning, socialization, and culture in evolutionary psychology; and the practical value of applied evolutionary psychology. The article concludes with a discussion of the limitations of current evolutionary psychology.