Examined Lives: Misunderstandings & Misconceptions about Evolutionary Psychology (Session 39)

Misunderstandings & Misconceptions about Evolutionary Psychology (Session 39)

Resources:

1. Confer, J. et al. (2010) Evolutionary psychology: Controversies, questions, prospects and limitations. American Psychologist 65(2), 110-126. PDF attached.
2. 10 evolutionary psychological concepts that people don't get: The erroneous portrayal of evolutionary psychology by Glenn Geher, Ph.D. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/darwins-subterranean-world/201712/10-evolutionary-psychological-concepts-people-don-t-get
3. Seven misconceptions about evolutionary psychology by Laith Al-Shawaf, Ph.D. https://areomagazine.com/2019/08/20/seven-key-misconceptions-about-evolutionary-psychology/
4. What do evolutionary researchers believe about human psychology and behavior? https://news.umich.edu/what-evolutionary-researchers-believe-and-dont-about-human-psychology-and-behavior/#

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Each month in Examined Lives we have lively discussions exploring evolutionary thinking and applying it towards human behavior. We do this by examining an aspect of human behavior through the lens of cutting-edge evolutionary science, hence our group’s name.  Our topics are suggested and voted on by participants. Over the past three years we have discussed altruism & prosocial behavior, attachment & parenting, climate change, convergent evolution, cultural evolution & dual inheritance theory, dehumanization, disinformation and mental immunity, evolutionary mismatch, evolutionary psychiatry, happiness, human self-domestication, learning, lies & self-deception, monogamy, morality, religion, science denial, status, trust, war, and weaponized stories & narratives.