Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2010
Abstract
Evolutionary psychology offers an important perspective to scientific psychology. Evolutionary psychology, in its short existence, has added an abundance of knowledge to the social sciences, let alone psychology. The study of human cognition and behavior remains incomplete without an evolutionary perspective. Here, we argue that evolutionary psychology uniquely provides a complete understanding of scientific psychology because it explains the functions of our psychological traits, provides us with the most parsimonious explanation of many psychological phenomena, predicts undocumented phenomena, and possibly allows us to avoid the downfalls of some of our contemptible evolved psychological mechanisms.
Recommended Citation
Jenkins (Gentle), B. N., & Goetz, A. T. (2010). Functionality, parsimony, discovery, avoiding hamartia: How evolutionary perspectives are changing psychology. EvoS Journal: The Journal of the Evolutionary Studies Consortium, 2(1), 24-31.
Copyright
Evolutionary Studies Consortium
Included in
Biological Psychology Commons, Evolution Commons, Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons, Other Psychology Commons
Comments
This article was originally published in EvoS Journal, volume 2, issue 1, in 2010.