Evolutionary Psychology Critique (Video)
If you search YouTube, you will find a lot of videos discussing the ‘scientific evidence’ uncovered by evolutionary psychologists who purportedly explain everything from ‘why we shop,’ to religion and moral behavior. Most layperson reviews are overwhelmingly favorable and the skeptic would be hard-pressed to find many serious criticisms in the online video discussions. Richard Boyd’s talk “Debating Darwin: Evolutionary Psychology” is one exception. Although it is a bit dry, I think he is spot on with most of his arguments. If you have the time and patience, I would encourage readers to listen to what he has to say:
While Boyd takes more of a philosophical or methodological approach to critiquing evolutionary psychology, I prefer to take more of a theoretical one. I have been meaning to do a video critique of evolutionary psychology for some time. This post is not meant so summarize all of my grievances with evolutionary psychology – that would end up being a 5-hour video post. This is a 35-minute summary of my main argument. I would strongly encourage unpersuaded viewers to read my original Critique of Evolutionary Psychology, which is a more fully-formed argument, followed by two additional posts including Evolutionary Psychology and Theoretical Faith, and the more recent, Evolutionary Psychology and its Defenders, before posting your critical comments or rebuttals. Enjoy.
5 Responses to “Evolutionary Psychology Critique (Video)”
I enjoyed that very much Brad. It’s not my chosen field, but, it seems to me that there is just something hollow and very inelegant about a preprogramed, modular man. I’m not even sure I could understand the evolution of any kind of a mind without some kind of plasticity out there at the edges.
Exactly how much free will we have and how much we don’t remains mysterious to me, but, you have convinced me we do have some.
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Mrs. Neutron Reply:
January 26th, 2013 at 11:05 am
Have you seen this… http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/opinion/sunday/schizophrenic-not-stupid.html?ref=opinion
Thought you might find it interesting… I did.
Mrs. N.
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Brad Reply:
January 27th, 2013 at 11:07 am
Interesting – and consistent with my own experience. As you probably know, I am very critical of the medical model of mental illness. Certain diagnostic labels, including Schizophrenia, seem to be almost exclusively treated by medication or in inpatient settings, so I don’t see much of it in private practice. I am sure you’d be regarded as a ‘quack’ if you tried to do traditional therapy as a first-line intervention with schizophrenia, and many professionals would likely question the utility of therapy at all.
That said, I have worked with an individual who I discovered would experience ‘delusions’ and ‘hallucinations’ in the therapy room… after some time I determined that they were triggered by my touching on some emotional nerve (it was hard to know because the raw feeling was absent, and they did not exhibit anxiety like most other patients). We conceptualized the ‘schizophrenic’ symptoms as an adaptive defense mechanism and worked on finding other ways to regulate emotion (can’t say more due to confidentiality) while setting up some environmental safeguards that would provide some resilience. This approach might not work for everyone, but it seems to fit with the experience of the person who wrote the article you linked.
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Brad Reply:
January 27th, 2013 at 10:46 am
Well, Evolutionary psychologists do not go so far as to deny neural plasticity, though for them, the plasticity that often exists might be found at the edges of some module or program (e.g. allowing for slight cultural variation). This approach allows them to avoid accusations of ‘genetic determinism’ … they do not deny the environment and neural plasticity play a role, but they insist that the ‘ultimate’ causes are our modular programs. They can’t seem to imagine how culture could shape a neural ‘program’ in its own right – there are plenty of legitimate theories demonstrating how this would work and it is consistent with both developmental neurobiology and neo-Darwinian evolution.
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I agree with Mrs. Neutron, and I will add my own words, that having a preprogramed, modular man cheapens the richness of individual experiences.
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