#548 Todd Shackelford: An Introduction to Evolutionary Psychology
Dr. Todd Shackelford is a Distinguished Professor and Chair of Psychology at Oakland University, as well as the Co-Director of the Evolutionary Psychology Lab there. He is the editor in chief of the academic journals Evolutionary Psychology and Evolutionary Psychological Science. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science.
In this episode, we focus on The SAGE Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology. We first get into what evolutionary psychology is, and a bit of its history and theoretical bases. We then go through sex differences (and how they derive from sexual selection and intrasexual competition), parental investment, life history theory, attachment theory, Tinbergen’s 4 questions, and culture from an evolutionary perspective. We talk about the relationship between evolutionary psychology and behavioral genetics, and the place of evolutionary psychology in the broader context of psychology and the social sciences. We discuss the insights we get by doing comparative psychology, and comparing ourselves to other animals. We talk about the cross-cultural nature of evolutionary psychology and if it has suffered from a replication crisis. We discuss studying morality from an evolutionary perspective, and if evolutionary psychology can be prescriptive. We talk about the politicization of evolutionary psychology. Finally, we discuss the concept of evolutionary mismatch, and Dr. Shackelford tells about the questions he would like to see tackled in evolutionary psychology.
Time Links:
Intro
What is evolutionary psychology?
Its history and theoretical bases
Understanding sex differences from an evolutionary perspective
Parental investment
Life history theory, and attachment theory
Tinbergen’s 4 questions
An adaptationist approach to the human mind
Culture
Comparative psychology
Evolutionary psychology and behavioral genetics
Cross-cultural studies in evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary ethics – can evo psych be prescriptive?
Is evo psych political?
Evolutionary mismatch
Future research
Follow Dr. Shackelford’s work!
Follow Dr. Shackelford’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/3fcgkLx
Website: https://www.toddkshackelford.com/
ResearchGate profile: https://bit.ly/3i8H15I
Books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3zNDKPa
The SAGE Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology: https://amzn.to/2VkUhLq
Twitter handle: @TKShackelford