Evolutionary psychology meets socio-ecological psychology: the motivational psychologies of disease-avoidance and parental care. (April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Schaller, Mark
• Is Part Of: Current opinion in psychology. Volume 32(2020)
• Page Start: 6
• Page End: 11
• Publication Date: 2020-04
• Subjects: Psychology -- Periodicals; 150.5
• DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.020
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2352-250X

Abstract

Highlights: The mind is adapted to problems posed by diseases in ancient ecologies. Many phenomena are affected by the evolved psychology of disease-avoidance. The mind is adapted to problems posed by dependent offspring in ancient ecologies. Many phenomena are affected by the evolved psychology of parental care. Evolutionary principles are useful tools for socio-ecological psychology. Abstract : Specific features of ancestral ecologies had implications for the evolution of psychological mechanisms that regulate specific aspects of human cognition and behavior within contemporary ecologies. These mechanisms produce predictably different attitudes, judgments and behavioral dispositions under different circumstances. This article summarizes two illustrative programs of research—one that focuses on the evolved psychology of disease-avoidance and its many implications, and the other that focuses on the evolved psychology of parental care-giving and its many implications. These programs of research exemplify the generative utility of evolutionary psychological conceptual methods within the domain of socio-ecological psychology.