T. Ketelaar () Department of Psychology, New Mexico State University, MSC 3452, Las Cruces, NM, 88001-8001, USA e-mail: [email protected] The first rumblings of a modern evolutionary psychology of the emotions began in the late 1880s in the form of William James’ writings on instinct and emotion. James’ most notable attempt to combine Darwin’s insights on human nature with a scientific discuss...

Evolutionary genetics studies the patterns and mechanisms of genetic changes underlying evolutionary change. Because biological diversity at all levels (including population, species, and ecosystem diversity) has a genetic basis and is a result of evolution, evolutionary genetics provides insight into the ultimate mechanisms creating biodiversity. Evolutionary genetics utilizes empirical tools ...

Evolutionary psychologists argue that because humans are biological creatures, cultural explanations must include biology. They thus offer to unify the natural and social sciences. Evolutionary psychologists rely on a specific history of cultural anthropology, particularly the work of Alfred Kroeber to make this point. A close examination of the history of cultural anthropology reveals that Kro...

Universals of shamanism reflect innate brain processes and representational systems and fundamental aspects of consciousness. Shamanic universals involve psychophysiological dynamics of altered states of consciousness (ASCs) and visionary experiences, metaphoric representations produced through integration of innate representational modules, and rituals that produce psychophysiological healing ...

Evolution has since the publication of The origin of species (1859) been a source of inspiration, and a bone of contention, not only for biology but also for philosophy and the sciences of man. The moral consequences of Darwinism have been a concern for ethicists since Herbert Spencer elevated the survival of the fittest to a norm underwriting cultural and societal progress—hard for the individ...

Stephen Turner’s work on practice theory makes important progress toward constructing a consistent narrative incorporating contemporary social theory, cognitive science, and neuroscience. The purpose in this article is not primarily to criticize this work, but rather to build on it by discussing results from related disciplines that may further enrich social theory. My article is structured as ...

Evolutionary researchers have identified age, operational sex ratio and high variance in male resources as factors that intensify female competition. These are discussed in relation to escalated intrasexual competition for men and their resources between young women in deprived neighbourhoods. For these women, fighting is not seen as antithetical to cultural conceptions of femininity, and femal...

Personality characteristics figure prominently in unstmctured nominations of what people want in a mate (Langhome & Secord, 1955). Both women and men say they want a mate who is kind, understanding , dependable, sociable, stable, and intelligent. Personality traits such as these have made their way onto more stmctured instmments designed to assess mate preferences but not in a systematic fashio...