Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology

JOHN TOOBY AND Leda Cosmides have been true pioneers in developing the conceptual foundations of evolutionary psychology, so it is fitting that they supply the first foundational chapter. They provide a fascinating tour of the discipline’s intellectual origins, showing how a series of conceptual advances, from the cognitive revolution to evolutionary game theory, led to the emergence of evolutionary psychology. Tooby and Cosmides then discuss six foundational premises on which the field rests. They explicate principles of organic design, the logic of reverse engineering, and the nature of evidence for special design and discuss how theories of good design provide powerful heuristics for psychological scientists. They describe how the framework of evolutionary psychology differs from that of traditional psychology. Finally, Tooby and Cosmides offer an intriguing novel framework for conceptualizing the functional architecture of cognition, motivation, and emotion. The original theoretical papers of Tooby and Cosmides over the past 18 years have informed virtually all work being conducted in the field of evolutionary psychology. This chapter consolidates and expands the conceptual foundations of the field. Hillard Kaplan and Steven Gangestad argue in Chapter 2 for the integration of life history theory and evolutionary psychology, suggesting that adaptations are designed to make different budget-allocation trade-offs over the life span. They begin with a presentation of the fundamentals of life history theory. All energy budgets of an organism are finite, so trade-offs are inevitable. Kaplan and Gangestad discuss the most important trade-offs—between present and future reproduction, quality and quantity of offspring, and mating effort and parental effort. They proceed to illuminate the important effects of ecological factors such as food supply and mortality hazards on optimal life history strategies. Kaplan and Gangestad then turn to humans specifically, showing how life history theory informs, and can be successfully integrated with, evolutionary psychology. Most buss_c01.qxd 5/19/05 1:27 PM Page 1