Evolutionary Psychology: New Developments in Psychology Series

Author: Zhu Xinching
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: Evolutionary psychology gradually formed starting in the 1980s, guided by Darwin's theory of evolution, to explore the structure and origins of human psychology. Over the past two decades, research in evolutionary psychology has made significant advancements, permeating various branches of psychology and giving rise to new research areas and achievements. At the same time, the theories and research of evolutionary psychology have had a profound impact on various social sciences, including philosophy, economics, management, ethics, law, and political science. Currently in academia, the evaluation of evolutionary psychology is divided—advocates view it as the future direction of psychology and a meta-theory for integrating psychology, while critics see it as merely "old wine in new bottles," a repackaging of sociobiology theory with no new substance. It can be said that no other school of psychology has yet to stir as much debate in academia as evolutionary psychology. Having read a large amount of literature and materials, this book is merely a summary of my own learning and exploration of evolutionary psychology. Since evolutionary psychology is a highly debated emerging discipline, many ideas and viewpoints still await empirical research to validate them. Therefore, the focus of this book is to introduce some fundamental perspectives of evolutionary psychology while making minimal judgments.