Evolutionary Psychology and the Massive Modularity Hypothesis

Evolutionary Psychology and the Massive Modularity Hypothesis

In recent years evolutionary psychologists have developed and defended the Massive Modularity Hypothesis, which maintains that our cognitive architecture—including the part that subserves 'central processing'—is largely or perhaps even entirely composed of innate, domain-specific computational mechanisms or 'modules'. In this paper I argue for two claims. First, I show that the two main argumen...

Putting the theory before the data: is “massive modularity” a necessary foundation of evolutionary psychology?

In this volume, Burke (2014) makes a number of arguments for why evolutionary approaches have failed to penetrate the rest of the field of psychology (what Burke refers to as “mainstream” psychology). While all of his arguments have merit, I will focus on one that I consider to be particularly important—the characterization by critics of the “Santa Barbara school” (Laland and Brown, 2011) as re...

Evolutionary Psychology, Meet Developmental Neurobiology: Against Promiscuous Modularity

Evolutionary psychologists claim that the mind contains “hundreds or thousands” of “genetically specified” modules, which are evolutionary adaptations for their cognitive functions. We argue that, while the adult human mind/brain typically contains a degree of modularization, its “modules” are neither genetically specified nor evolutionary adaptations. Rather, they result from the brain’s devel...

Get Over: Massive Modularity

O16: How Do Concepts of Evolutionary Psychology and Evolutionary Psychiatry Explain Anxiety Disorders?

Our ancestors without fear, worry and anxiety are not our ancestors, as organisms without defense systems were extinct. Therefore, while behavior such as fear and anxiety are useful to prevent harm, the exaggerated form, that is, anxiety disorders, has more costs than benefits. Likewise, while a panic attack is a normal and useful response in the face of life-threatening danger, a panic disorde...