Evolution of the Mind: 4 Fallacies of Psychology
Scientific American has an interesting article up, Evolution of the Mind: 4 Fallacies [Evolutionary] of Psychology by David Buller. He discusses what he sees as some of the basic problems with the trendy field. The four fallacies, briefly, are:
The article is somewhat lengthy, but worth reading. Buller's central thesis is:
“Although some work in evolutionary psychology backs modest claims with careful empirical research, a dominant strain, pop evolutionary psychology, or Pop EP, offers grand and encompassing claims about human nature for popular consumption.… The ideas suffer not so much from one fundamental flaw as from many small mistakes.”
Some people may also be interested in the discussion of this article on the atheism community.
Thoughts? Comments? Critiques?
- Analysis of Pleistocene Adaptive Problems Yields Clues to the Mind’s Design
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- “Our Modern Skulls House a Stone Age Mind”
- The Psychological Data Provide Clear Evidence for Pop EP
The article is somewhat lengthy, but worth reading. Buller's central thesis is:
“Although some work in evolutionary psychology backs modest claims with careful empirical research, a dominant strain, pop evolutionary psychology, or Pop EP, offers grand and encompassing claims about human nature for popular consumption.… The ideas suffer not so much from one fundamental flaw as from many small mistakes.”
Some people may also be interested in the discussion of this article on the atheism community.
Thoughts? Comments? Critiques?