Discussion Questions for Tooby & Cosmides, Evolutionary Psychology Primer
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Introduction
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Compare William James ‘instincts’ to Haidt’s ‘intuitions’.
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What do T&C mean by ‘natural competencies’ and ‘instinct blindness’?
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What is the Standard Social Science Model? In your opinion, is that a caricature? Or does it describe
members of the UW Psychology Department? (It is safe to answer this question.)
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What is the Blank Slate concept?
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What do they mean by ‘domain-general’ mechanisms?
Principle 1. The brain is a physical system. It functions as a computer. Its circuits are designed to generate
behavior appropriate to your environmental circumstances.
Not much here! But why do you suppose T&C feel the need to make this one of their five principles?
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Principle 2. Our neural circuits were designed by natural selection to solve problems that our ancestors
faced during our species' evolutionary history.
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Ok, here we get into it. They begin with disgust. We questioned whether disgust belongs as one of
Haidt’s five moral foundations – how does this discussion relate to that question?
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T&C say that the brain is not designed like a computer to solve general-purpose problems, but to solve
specific adaptive problems faced by our ancestors. Then how come we are capable of skateboarding
and surfing (not an option for our ancestors)?
Principle 3. Consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg; most of what goes on in your mind is hidden from
you.
“You are not, and cannot become, consciously aware of most of your brain's ongoing activities”. Would
Haidt agree with that?
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Principle 4. Different neural circuits are specialized for solving different adaptive problems.
Why is this is often referred to as the ‘Swiss Army Knife’ principle?
What are these ‘crib sheets’?
How does Pinker define an ‘instinct’? Does this seem reasonable to you?
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Principle 5. Our modern skulls house a stone age mind.
What is the ‘the environment of evolutionary adaptedness’?
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Adaptationist Logic and Evolutionary Psychology
Why focus on the ‘design’ of an adaptation when in fact no one designed it? Related, what do T&C mean
by ‘carving nature at the joints’?
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Nature and nurture: An adaptationist perspective
T&C say that “Evolutionary psychology is not just another swing of the nature/nurture pendulum”. Explain.
“Evolutionary psychology seeks to characterize the universal, species-typical architecture of these
mechanisms”. Given Haidt’s emphasis on cultural differences in morality, do you think he would buy into
this statement?
How, according to T&C, is evolutionary psychology and behavior genetics differ fundamentally?
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Reasoning instincts: An example
What point about psychology do T&C believe is made by the experiments with the Wason Selection task
(Cosmides’ dissertation research)?
What point does Haidt believe is made by these experiments? (Haidt Chapt 2)