#432 Laith Al-Shawaf: Evolutionary Psychology, Just-so Stories, Anger and Disgust, and Culture
RECORDED ON FEBRUARY 2nd 2021.
Dr. Laith Al-Shawaf is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS). Before, he was an Assistant Professor at Bilkent University in Turkey and a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, Germany. Laith has taught and conducted research in several different countries, and is a member of the Arab-German Young Academy (AGYA), as well as an academic adviser at Ideas Beyond Borders (IBB).
In this episode, we focus on a recent article of his published on Areo Magazine - Evolutionary Psychology: Predictively Powerful or Riddled with Just-So Stories?. We first tackle the misconception of evolutionary psychology’s predictions, hypotheses and theories being nothing but just-so stories. We mention hypotheses that have been falsified in evolutionary psychology. We discuss the emotions of anger and disgust, and address the controversy surrounding the domains of disgust. We talk about error management theory. In the final part, we discuss cultural psychology, the influence of culture on human psychology, and how evolutionary psychology deals with culture. We also address the WEIRD problem in Psychology, and more particularly in evolutionary psychology.
Time Links:
Intro
Just-so stories
Hypotheses that have been falsified in evo psych
Evo psych, and consilience in Psychology
Anger
Disgust and its domains
Error management theory
Culture
The WEIRD problem in Psychology
Follow Dr. Al-Shawaf’s work!
Follow Dr. Al-Shawaf’s work:
Faculty page: http://bit.ly/32n4VjI
Personal website: http://bit.ly/2pnIwnK
ResearchGate profile: http://bit.ly/32mGrqD
Articles on Areo Magazine: http://bit.ly/3oFsHS8
Twitter handle: @LaithAlShawaf