Evolutionary Psychology

The Why is Not the Same as the How: Levels of Analysis and Scientific Progress in Psychology

The emerald-colored jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa) parasitizes the common cockroach with a sophistication that beggars the imagination. Here’s how the morbid scene unfolds. The wasp begins by injecting a venomous…

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11 min

The Uses and Abuses of the Human Sciences

We are awash in the language of the human sciences. Each new day brings a slew of hyperbolic headlines, each brandishing the results of some recently published study that claims,…

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16 min

Seven Key Misconceptions about Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary approaches to psychology hold the promise of revolutionizing the field and unifying it with the biological sciences. But among both academics and the general public, a few key misconceptions…

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12 min

Of Rats, Voles and Online Porn

Rats in a Skinner Box Rats wired up to electrodes, housed in an experimental Skinner box, continually press a button to give themselves powerful, pleasurable sensations. The rats go into…

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11 min

Science & Tech

The Ape That Understood the Universe: Book Review

We humans take so much of reality for granted that it is often difficult to recognize which phenomena even require explanation. This is especially true of human behavior, as Steve…

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10 min

Psychology

Who or What Are We Human Mammalia, Really?

Warning Assimilation of the concepts herein may lead to mental anxiety if the external world is believed to be reality. Who or What Are We? We have an unbroken lineal…

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11 min

Psychology

Aping Around: The Importance of Our Animal Nature

Charles Darwin published the Origin of Species more than 150 years ago, in 1859, to share the discovery that the slow processes of evolution have shaped us, along with all…

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13 min

Will Declining Monogamy Lead to an Increase in Violence?

The Invention of Gender Inequality Ever since sex was first “invented” a little more than a billion years ago, it’s been the source of endless problems. For sure, it has…

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10 min

The Water We Swim In: A Need to Look at Causes as Well as Effects.

There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the…

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10 min

Culture & Media

The Task Facing Masculinity.

“I think everyone would agree the world would be a better place if we had less testosterone.” My friend shared this quote with me in bemusement after he heard it…

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6 min

Science & Tech

The Evolutionary Roots of Identity Politics

“We have constructed pyramids in honor of our escaping…” — James Douglas Morrison It seems these days whether you are an Islamist in Dhaka, an Antifa extremist in Boston, a…

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23 min

Science & Tech

Assessing Female Mate Preferences: Answers to Ten Common Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology

A few years ago, I was giving an invited presentation to an audience of mostly sociologists and family studies professors on the topic of evolution and human reproductive strategies. I…

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21 min

Science & Tech

Sex and Gender Are Dials (Not Switches)

It has become more and more common for young people around the world to describe themselves not as a “man” or a “woman,” but as “something else.” One term for…

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14 min

Features

Postmodernists Don’t Understand Evolutionary Psychology

“Racist Wilson, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.” — A member from the International Committee Against Racism (prior to dumping a pitcher of water on E.O. Wilson’s head),…

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20 min