The Adapted Mind

1995-10-19
 |  Science
The Adapted Mind

Author: Jerome H. Barkow

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISBN: 9780195356472

Category: Science

Page: 688

View: 907

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Although researchers have long been aware that the species-typical architecture of the human mind is the product of our evolutionary history, it has only been in the last three decades that advances in such fields as evolutionary biology, cognitive psychology, and paleoanthropology have made the fact of our evolution illuminating. Converging findings from a variety of disciplines are leading to the emergence of a fundamentally new view of the human mind, and with it a new framework for the behavioral and social sciences. First, with the advent of the cognitive revolution, human nature can finally be defined precisely as the set of universal, species-typical information-processing programs that operate beneath the surface of expressed cultural variability. Second, this collection of cognitive programs evolved in the Pleistocene to solve the adaptive problems regularly faced by our hunter-gatherer ancestors--problems such as mate selection, language acquisition, cooperation, and sexual infidelity. Consequently, the traditional view of the mind as a general-purpose computer, tabula rasa, or passive recipient of culture is being replaced by the view that the mind resembles an intricate network of functionally specialized computers, each of which imposes contentful structure on human mental organization and culture. The Adapted Mind explores this new approach--evolutionary psychology--and its implications for a new view of culture.

The Adapted Mind

1995-10-19
 |  Science
The Adapted Mind

Author: Jerome H. Barkow

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISBN: 0195356470

Category: Science

Page: 684

View: 159

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Although researchers have long been aware that the species-typical architecture of the human mind is the product of our evolutionary history, it has only been in the last three decades that advances in such fields as evolutionary biology, cognitive psychology, and paleoanthropology have made the fact of our evolution illuminating. Converging findings from a variety of disciplines are leading to the emergence of a fundamentally new view of the human mind, and with it a new framework for the behavioral and social sciences. First, with the advent of the cognitive revolution, human nature can finally be defined precisely as the set of universal, species-typical information-processing programs that operate beneath the surface of expressed cultural variability. Second, this collection of cognitive programs evolved in the Pleistocene to solve the adaptive problems regularly faced by our hunter-gatherer ancestors--problems such as mate selection, language acquisition, cooperation, and sexual infidelity. Consequently, the traditional view of the mind as a general-purpose computer, tabula rasa, or passive recipient of culture is being replaced by the view that the mind resembles an intricate network of functionally specialized computers, each of which imposes contentful structure on human mental organization and culture. The Adapted Mind explores this new approach--evolutionary psychology--and its implications for a new view of culture.

The Adaptable Mind

2020-11-20
 |  Psychology
The Adaptable Mind

Author: John Zerilli

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISBN: 9780190067892

Category: Psychology

Page: 288

View: 589

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A familiar trope of cognitive science, linguistics, and the philosophy of psychology over the past forty or so years has been the idea of the mind as a modular system-that is, one consisting of functionally specialized subsystems responsible for processing different classes of input, or handling specific cognitive tasks like vision, language, logic, music, and so on. However, one of the major achievements of neuroscience has been the discovery that the brain has incredible powers of renewal and reorganization. This "neuroplasticity," in its various forms, has challenged many of the orthodox conceptions of the mind which originally led cognitive scientists to postulate hardwired mental modules. This book examines how such discoveries have changed the way we think about the structure of the mind. It contends that the mind is more supple than prevailing theories in cognitive science and artificial intelligence acknowledge. The book uses language as a test case. The claim that language is cognitively special has often been understood as the claim that it is underpinned by dedicated-and innate-cognitive mechanisms. Zerilli offers a fresh take on how our linguistic abilities could be domain-general: enabled by a composite of very small and redundant cognitive subsystems, few if any of which are likely to be specialized for language. In arguing for this position, however, the book takes seriously various cases suggesting that language dissociates from other cognitive faculties. Accessibly written, The Adaptable Mind is a fascinating account of neuroplasticity, neural reuse, the modularity of mind, the evolution of language, and faculty psychology.

The Maladapted Mind

2013-04-15
 |  Psychology
The Maladapted Mind

Author: Simon Baron-Cohen

Publisher: Psychology Press

ISBN: 9781134836291

Category: Psychology

Page: 300

View: 251

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Newly available in paperback, this is the first book to bring together classic and contemporary readings illustrating the new subdiscipline, evolutionary psychopathology. Each chapter demonstrates how evolutionary arguments are being brought to bear on the study of a different psychiatric condition or pathalogical behaviour. The Maladapted Mind is aimed primarily at primarily at advanced students and researchers in the fields of psychiatry, abnormal psychology, biological anthropology, evolutionary biology and cognitive science.

Worlds in Transition

2009-01-01
 |  Social Science
Worlds in Transition

Author: Joseph Camilleri

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9780857930804

Category: Social Science

Page: 696

View: 435

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We are living through a unique moment of transition, marked by a frenetic cycle of invention, construction, consumption and destruction. However, there is more to this transition than globalization, argue the authors of this unique and penetrating study. In their highly innovative approach, they set this transition against a broader evolutionary canvas, with the emphasis on the evolution of governance. The book's detailed analysis of five strategic sectors (economy, environment, health, information and security) points to an intricate and rapidly evolving interplay of geopolitical, cultural an.

Handbook on Evolution and Society

2015-11-17
 |  Political Science
Handbook on Evolution and Society

Author: Alexandra Maryanski

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781317258339

Category: Political Science

Page: 669

View: 618

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"Handbook on Evolution and Society" brings together original chapters by prominent scholars who have been instrumental in the revival of evolutionary theorizing and research in the social sciences over the last twenty-five years. Previously unpublished essays provide up-to-date, critical surveys of recent research and key debates. The contributors discuss early challenges posed by sociobiology, the rise of evolutionary psychology, the more conflicted response of evolutionary sociology to sociobiology, and evolutionary psychology. Chapters address the application and limitations of Darwinian ideas in the social sciences. Prominent authors come from a variety of disciplines in ecology, biology, primatology, psychology, sociology, and the humanities. The most comprehensive resource available, this vital collection demonstrates to scholars and students the new ways in which evolutionary approaches, ultimately derived from biology, are influencing the diverse social sciences and humanities.

Sex from Plato to Paglia: M-Z

2006
 |  Sex
Sex from Plato to Paglia: M-Z

Author: Alan Soble

Publisher: Greenwood Publishing Group

ISBN: 0313334250

Category: Sex

Page: 1176

View: 544

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More than 150 alphabetically arranged entries on topics, thinkers, religions, movements, and concepts locate sexuality in its humanistic and social contexts.

The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics

2005-01-27
 |  Art
The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics

Author: Jerrold Levinson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISBN: 0199279454

Category: Art

Page: 844

View: 960

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'The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics' has assembled 48 brand-new essays, making this a comprehensive guide available to the theory, application, history, and future of the field.

Conceptual Challenges in Evolutionary Psychology

2012-12-06
 |  Science
Conceptual Challenges in Evolutionary Psychology

Author: Harmon R. Holcomb III

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

ISBN: 9789401006187

Category: Science

Page: 401

View: 923

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This series will include monographs and collections of studies devoted to the investigation and exploration of knowledge, information, and data-processing systems of all kinds, no matter whether human, (other) animal, or machine. Its scope is intended to span the full range of interests from classical problems in the philosophy of mind and philosophical psychology through issues in cognitive psychology and sociobiology (concerning the mental capabilities of other species) to ideas related to artificial intelligence and to computer science. While primary emphasis will be placed upon theoretical, conceptual, and epistemological aspects of these problems and domains, empirical, experimental, and methodological studies will also appear from time to time. Few areas of inquiry have generated as much interest and enthusiasm in recent times as has the discipline known as "evolutionary psychology", but its pretentions and its accomlishments have not always been properly understood. This collection brings together important work in psychology, anthropology, and the philosophy of science that contributes toward that goal, especially by emphasizing the role of natural selection and sexual selection as crucial factors in the evolution of cognitive mechanisms for information processing. The methodological studies that are presented here are bound to enhance appreciation for the scope and limits of this fascinating domain. The editor has produced a fascinating volume that should appeal to a broad and diverse audience.

Evolutionary Social Psychology

2014-02-25
 |  Psychology
Evolutionary Social Psychology

Author: Jeffry A. Simpson

Publisher: Psychology Press

ISBN: 9781317779476

Category: Psychology

Page: 418

View: 199

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What a pity it would have been if biologists had refused to accept Darwin's theory of natural selection, which has been essential in helping biologists understand a wide range of phenomena in many animal species. These days, to study any animal species while refusing to consider the evolved adaptive significance of their behavior would be considered pure folly--unless, of course, the species is homo sapiens. Graduate students training to study this particular primate species may never take a single course in evolutionary theory, although they may take two undergraduate and up to four graduate courses in statistics. These methodologically sophisticated students then embark on a career studying human aggression, cooperation, mating behavior, family relationships, or altruism with little or no understanding of the general evolutionary forces and principles that shaped the behaviors they are investigating. This book hopes to redress that wrong. It is one of the first to apply evolutionary theories to mainstream problems in personality and social psychology that are relevant to a wide range of important social phenomena, many of which have been shaped and molded by natural selection during the course of human evolution. These phenomena include selective biases that people have concerning how and why a variety of activities occur. For example: * information exchanged during social encounters is initially perceived and interpreted; * people are romantically attracted to some potential mates but not others; * people often guard, protect, and work hard at maintaining their closest relationships; * people form shifting and highly complicated coalitions with kin and close friends; and * people terminate close, long-standing relationships. Evolutionary Social Psychology begins to disentangle the complex, interwoven patterns of interaction that define our social lives and relationships.

Art and Adaptability

2017-11-13
 |  Literary Criticism
Art and Adaptability

Author: Gregory F. Tague

Publisher: BRILL

ISBN: 9789004356269

Category: Literary Criticism

Page: 216

View: 487

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Art and Adaptability argues for a co-evolution of theory of mind and material/art culture.