Whereas it is well accepted in biology that human bodies are products of natural selection, the discipline of psychology has just started to link human behavior to evolution. This course takes an evolutionary approach to explore the ultimate question of why, but not just how, human beings behave in the ways in which they do. Broadly covered in the traditionally defined areas of psychology, the topics include how the human mind works and why it works in these ways (cognitive psychology), how and why human beings negotiate social contracts and detect deceptions in group living (social psychology), and how and why related individuals resolve family conflict of interest (developmental psychology). In addition to the coverage of evolutionary psychological concepts, theoretical perspectives, and empirical findings, this course also introduces natural selection, sexual selection, kin selection, reciprocal altruism, life history, and other theoretical foundations of evolution, as well as factual knowledge about human evolution, brain evolution, language evolution, cultural evolution, and the evolution of religion.
- Teacher: jiaqingo, O Jiaqing