Evolutionary Psychology – Essay 1 – Artefact: Human
brain
It is now thought that the human brain as known today developed some
50.000 years ago and that the human mind was adapted to a hunter-gatherer
existence in the African Savannah. This view has been put forward by
evolutionary psychology, an approach which endeavours to explain the structure
of the human mind. Evolutionary psychologists believe that they have valid
evidence for proposing that many human behaviours are
universal and predictable and serve, first and foremost, reproduction and
inclusive fitness (Cosmides & Tooby, 1997). Boas and Almquist
(2001) propose that only evolutionary theory provides the insight that can
explain the variations of physiological and psychological data.
According to evolutionary psychology theory the functions of the human
brain, on an architectural level, can be understood in terms of massive
modularity (Sperber, 1994). In this view, each module
is responsible for adapted functions which are largely inaccessible to human
consciousness. The neural circuits of these
domain-specific mechanisms were adapted through natural selection, over a long
period of time, in answer to the problems and challenges faced by the
hunter-gatherers. This account is supported by genetic research. Allman, 1999 (as cited in Carlson, 2001) found that complex
brains can be explained by genetic duplication. In this process the original
gene will carry on with its designated function while the duplicate gene is
free to adapt to new functions. The language acquisition device, put forward by
Chomsky, is one example of unconscious adapted modularity ( Sperber, 2002). Some neuropsychological findings
support the modularity paradigm, for example research on blind sight (Matlin, 2003). However, this theory is not unchallenged.
For example, modern neuroscientific techniques, for
example fMRI scanning have found that most brain
processes are also domain-general (Andres, 2003). More generally, discounting
theory is based on the “blank slate” paradigm subscribed to by learning theory
(Pinker, 1997).
References
Almquist,
A.J. & Boaz, N.T. (2001).
Biological Anthropology: A Synthetic
Approach to Human Evolution. Prentice Hall. Retrieved 17, February,
2005 from
http://vig.prenhall.com:8081/catalog/professional/product/0,1144,0130908193,00.html
Cosmides, L.
& Tooby, J. (1997). Evolutionary Psychology: A Primer.
Centre For
Evolutionary Psychology.
Retrieved 17, February, 2005 from
http://www.psych.ucsb.edu/research/cep/primer.html
Sperber,
D. (2002). In Defense Of Massive Modularity. In Dupoux, E. Language,
Brain and Cognitive Development:
Essays in Honor of Jacques Mehler.
2002,
from http://www.dan.sperber.com/modularity.htm
Andres, P. (2003)
Pinker (1997)
Matlin
(2003)