Jordan Oates's Key Ideas from Evolutionary Psychology
by David Buss

 "Behaviorism, with its emphasis on general-purpose learning mechanisms and the rejection of innate psychological adaptations, dominated psychology for much of the twentieth century."

"The cognitive revolution provided the crucial insight that the mind is not a blank slate but rather contains a large number of information-processing mechanisms."

"Evolutionary psychology is not simply about applying evolutionary theory to psychology; rather, it involves a specific set of theoretical constructs and a commitment to testing hypotheses derived from evolutionary principles."

 "Adaptations are inherited and reliably developing characteristics that came into existence through natural selection because they helped to solve problems of survival or reproduction during the period of their evolution."

 "Sexual selection operates by virtue of differential mating success. It occurs in two primary ways: (1) intrasexual competition and (2) intersexual selection."

"Food selection is a critical adaptive problem because what our ancestors ate directly affected their survival and reproductive success."

 "Fear is a universal emotion, and it is likely that specific fears evolved to deal with specific dangers that were recurrently present in ancestral environments."

"The disgust emotion is hypothesized to be an adaptation that functions to avoid contact with sources of disease."

 "Evolutionary theory predicts sex differences in mate preferences in domains where men and women have faced different adaptive problems."

"Women, more than men, should value in a long-term mate characteristics associated with the acquisition of resources."

 "Men, more than women, should place a premium on cues to youth and health in potential mates, as these were likely associated with fertility in ancestral environments."

 "The opportunity for increased reproductive success is the primary evolutionary benefit hypothesized for men pursuing short-term mating strategies."

 "Although the evolutionary benefits to women of short-term mating are less obvious than they are for men, several potential benefits have been proposed."

 "Commitment is a crucial aspect of long-term mating, solving the adaptive problems of ensuring reliable investment and exclusive sexual access."

"Love is hypothesized to be a commitment device, a powerful emotion that motivates individuals to form and maintain long-term bonds."

"Mate guarding encompasses a range of behaviors designed to prevent a partner from defecting and to ward off potential rivals."

"Parental investment theory predicts that the sex that invests more in offspring will be more discriminating in mate selection."

"Parent-offspring conflict arises because the genetic interests of parents and their offspring are not perfectly aligned."

 "Hamilton's rule provides a crucial theoretical framework for understanding the evolution of altruism toward kin: c < rb (where c is the cost to the altruist, r is the degree of genetic relatedness between the altruist and the recipient, and b is the benefit to the recipient)."

"Reciprocal altruism, or 'you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours,' can evolve if the benefits of receiving help outweigh the costs of providing help, and if there is a mechanism for detecting and punishing cheaters."

"The evolution of cooperation requires solutions to several key adaptive problems, including the problem of cheaters."

 "Men, on average, are more likely than women to engage in physically aggressive acts, a sex difference that is found across cultures and throughout history."

 "Aggression is often triggered by situations involving competition for resources, including mates, territory, and status."

"Warfare, as a form of intergroup aggression, likely evolved in response to the potential for gaining access to valuable resources and increasing reproductive opportunities."

 "Social hierarchies are a pervasive feature of human social groups, and they likely evolved because they helped to solve adaptive problems related to resource allocation and group coordination."

"Humans appear to have evolved psychological mechanisms that are sensitive to their status within a group and that motivate them to strive for higher status."

"Social attention, the degree to which one is noticed by others, is a valuable resource that can translate into benefits such as increased mating opportunities and access to cooperation."

 "Emotions are hypothesized to be evolved psychological adaptations that serve to direct behavior toward fitness-enhancing goals."

 "Each basic emotion is thought to have evolved to deal with a specific class of adaptive problems."

 "Language is a uniquely human adaptation that likely evolved to facilitate social coordination, communication of complex information, and the transmission of culture."

 "From an evolutionary perspective, individual differences in personality can be viewed as alternative adaptive strategies that are differentially successful depending on environmental conditions."

 "The Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality – Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism – has been explored in terms of its potential evolutionary significance."

 "One evolutionary perspective suggests that personality traits represent trade-offs in the costs and benefits associated with different behavioral strategies."

 "Culture can be viewed as the aggregate of shared beliefs, values, practices, and technologies that are transmitted across generations."

"Evolved psychological mechanisms provide the foundation upon which cultural practices are built and transmitted."

"Within-group variation can arise from a variety of sources, including genetic differences, environmental influences, and frequency-dependent selection."

 "An evolutionary perspective suggests that some psychological disorders may represent the maladaptive expression of evolved psychological mechanisms."

"Understanding the adaptive functions of emotions like anxiety can provide insights into the conditions under which these emotions become dysregulated."

 "Evolutionary psychology offers a novel framework for understanding the roots of mental illness and can potentially inform the development of more effective treatments."

"Evolutionary psychology has made significant strides in understanding a wide range of psychological phenomena, from mate selection to cooperation to psychopathology."

"Future progress in evolutionary psychology will likely involve greater integration with other biological and social sciences."

"The ultimate goal of evolutionary psychology is to provide a comprehensive and principled understanding of the human mind and behavior based on the principles of evolution."