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Evolutionary Theory Meets Cognitive Psychology: A More Selective Perspective
Author(s) -
Shapiro Lawrence,
Epstein William
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
mind and language
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.905
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1468-0017
pISSN - 0268-1064
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0017.00072
Subject(s) - evolutionary psychology , perspective (graphical) , psychology , cognition , cognitive science , epistemology , function (biology) , philosophy of psychology , heuristic , domain specificity , basic science , field (mathematics) , theoretical psychology , perceptual psychology , differential psychology , cognitive psychology , social psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence , philosophy , mathematics , neuroscience , pure mathematics , evolutionary biology , biology
L. Cosmides and J. Tooby, leaders in the field of evolutionary psychology, have claimed that an evolutionary perspective toward psychology requires both that psychologists conceive of psychological processes as domain specific and that psychologists view all adaptive behavior as the product of cognition. In fact, we argue, an evolutionary perspective commits psychology to neither of these positions. The real value of evolutionary theory for psychology, we contend, lies in the heuristic role it plays in determining the function of psychological mechanisms and in the depth it contributes to explanations of why psychological processes have the properties they do.