<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">Evolutionary psychology,</span><br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">Richardson concludes, may offer a program of research, but it lacks</span><br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">the kind of evidence that is generally expected within evolutionary</span><br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">biology. It is speculation rather than sound science—and we should</span><br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">treat its claims with skepticism.  bill k</span><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">Agreed.  But since it usually deals with the behaviors of ancient peoples, what else could it be but speculation?  Bad theories are often very useful things:  people want to go out and find evidence against them, and so a bad theory, and I am not saying evolutionary psych is a bad theory, stimulates research.  Just look at Freud's followers (granted, they did not do a lot of experiments) and critics.  </span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">A bad theory is a good theory if it is testable and falsifiable.</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:19.2px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">bill w</span></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Mar 14, 2018 at 5:09 AM, BillK <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:pharos@gmail.com" target="_blank">pharos@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Laurence A. Moran<br>
March 12, 2018<br>
<br>
<<a href="https://sandwalk.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/is-evolutionary-psychology-deeply.html" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://sandwalk.blogspot.co.<wbr>uk/2018/03/is-evolutionary-<wbr>psychology-deeply.html</a>><br>
<br>
Quotes:<br>
The critique from biologists is summarized by Robert C. Richardson (a<br>
philosopher) in his book Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted<br>
Psychology.<br>
<br>
The claims of evolutionary psychology may pass muster as psychology;<br>
but what are their evolutionary credentials? Richardson considers<br>
three ways adaptive hypotheses can be evaluated, using examples from<br>
the biological literature to illustrate what sorts of evidence and<br>
methodology would be necessary to establish specific evolutionary and<br>
adaptive explanations of human psychological traits. He shows that<br>
existing explanations within evolutionary psychology fall woefully<br>
short of accepted biological standards. The theories offered by<br>
evolutionary psychologists may identify traits that are, or were,<br>
beneficial to humans. But gauged by biological standards, there is<br>
inadequate evidence: evolutionary psychologists are largely silent on<br>
the evolutionary evidence relevant to assessing their claims,<br>
including such matters as variation in ancestral populations,<br>
heritability, and the advantage offered to our ancestors. As<br>
evolutionary claims they are unsubstantiated. Evolutionary psychology,<br>
Richardson concludes, may offer a program of research, but it lacks<br>
the kind of evidence that is generally expected within evolutionary<br>
biology. It is speculation rather than sound science—and we should<br>
treat its claims with skepticism.<br>
<br>
You may disagree with these criticisms of evolutionary psychology but<br>
there's no denying that the discipline is being attacked. In fact,<br>
it's hard to think of any other academic discipline whose fundamental<br>
validity is being questioned so openly.<br>
<br>
The field of evolutionary psychology is full of hyper-adaptationist<br>
thinking. It's primary task is explaining modern features of human<br>
behavior as adaptations that took place in primitive human<br>
populations. From an evolutionary perspective, this requires that the<br>
behavior has strong enough genetic components to be subject to<br>
evolution by natural selection. It requires that primitive populations<br>
contained alleles for the modern behavior as well as alleles for a<br>
different behavior that reduced fitness. Finally, it requires that<br>
selection for the modern behavior is strong enough to lead to fixation<br>
in just a few hundred thousand years.<br>
<br>
All of these assumptions require supporting evidence that is almost<br>
always missing in evolutionary psychology publications.<br>
<br>
In the absence of evidence, the default assumption should be that the<br>
behavior is cultural. If there's evidence of a genetic component then<br>
the default assumption should be fixation by drift unless there's<br>
evidence of selection.<br>
--------------<br>
<br>
BillK<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br></div>