OpenLB
Open Library of Bioscience
Advanced Search
Integrative psychological & behavioral science
06, 2021;55 (2): 225-249.

Toward a Cultural Evolutionary Psychology: Why the Evolutionary Approach does not Imply Reductionism or Determinism.

Andrea Zagaria, Agata Ando', Alessandro Zennaro
Author Information
  1. Andrea Zagaria: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10124, Turin, Italy. zagaria.andrea@gmail.com. ORCID
  2. Agata Ando': Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10124, Turin, Italy. ORCID
  3. Alessandro Zennaro: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10124, Turin, Italy. ORCID
PMID: 33880709 DOI: 10.1007/s12124-021-09613-z

Abstract

Does evolutionary psychology (EP) properly account for the sociocultural context? Does it underestimate both the developmental and the relational aspects of the human psyche? Is it instantiated in a mechanistic epistemology? Does it imply determinism or reductionism? The commentaries on our previous target article raised similar questions and we try to tackle them in the current response. Our "epistemological assessment" of Psychology and our consequent unification claim under the banner of the evolutionary approach (Zagaria et al., Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54(3), 521-562, 2020 ) was deeply examined and discussed. The objections to our target article can be grouped into four main categories. We sum them up and argue why: 1) the pre-paradigmatic status of psychology is a problem rather than a richness of perspectives; 2) EP's criticisms stem from common misconceptions-furthermore, developmental and relational aspects of human psyche might find their natural explanation in EP; 3) EP does not wipe out the emergence of the sociocultural context as something qualitatively different; 4) evolutionary meta-theory is not incompatible with subjectivity. Evolutionary psychology might be approached with caution and curiosity, rather than with prejudicial concepts. Incorporating some legitimate cultural criticisms, it may aspire to become a "cultural evolutionary psychology", hence an integrative psychological meta-theory that tries to connect the biological "plane of existence" (Henriques, Review of General Psychology, 7(2), 150-182, 2003) to the cultural "plane of existence". However, a basic philosophical concern has yet to be answered, i.e. what ultimately constitutes mind and thus the "psycho-logical" science. We argue that when trying to find the answer we know where to look at.

Keywords

Criticisms of evolutionary psychology Cultural evolutionary psychology Determinism Evolutionary psychology Reductionism Theoretical psychology

References

  1. Aristotle. (1941). Physics (Physica). In R. McKeon (Ed.), The basic works of Aristotle. (pp. 213–394). Random House.
  2. Balachandran, N. (2011). A proposed taxonomy of human evolved psychological adaptations. Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology., 5, 194.
  3. Barrett, L. (2011). Beyond the brain: How body and environment shape animal and human minds. Princeton University Press.
  4. Barrett, L., Pollet, T., & Stulp, G. (2015). Evolved biocultural beings (who invented computers). Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1047. [PMID: 26257693]
  5. Barrett, L., Pollet, T. V., & Stulp, G. (2014). From computers to cultivation: Reconceptualizing evolutionary psychology. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 867. [PMID: 25161633]
  6. Baucal, A., & Krstić, K. (2020). Searching for an integrative theoretical framework for psychology: Evolutionary psychology is needed, but not sufficient. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54, 579–588. [PMID: 32472482]
  7. Blackmore, S., (2000). The meme machine. Oxford Paperbacks.
  8. Brinkmann, S. (2020). Moving on our feet: For a nomadic psychology. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54(3), 589–596. [PMID: 32279199]
  9. Buchanan, B. (2008). Onto-Ethologies: The Animal Environments of Uexküll, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Deleuze. Suny Press.
  10. Buss, D. (2019). Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind. Routledge.
  11. Buss, D. M., Haselton, M. G., Shackelford, T. K., Bleske, A. L., & Wakefield, J. C. (1998). Adaptations, exaptations, and spandrels. American psychologist, 53(5), 533.
  12. Chaudhary, N., & Sriram, S. (2020). Musings about metaphors and models: The need to put psychology together again. Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-020-09575-8 .
  13. Cole, S. (1983). The hierarchy of the sciences? American Journal of Sociology, 89(1), 111–139.
  14. Cole, S. (2001). What’s wrong with sociology? . Transacton Publishers.
  15. Creanza, N., Kolodny, O., & Feldman, M. W. (2017). Cultural evolutionary theory: How culture evolves and why it matters. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(30), 7782–7789.
  16. Dawkins, R. (2015). How does learned behavior evolve into inherited instinct? Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science. URL: https://richarddawkins.net/2015/04/darwin-day-2015-questions-6-how-does-learned-behavior-evolve-into-inherited-instinct/ Retrieved: 23/03/2021.
  17. Del Giudice, M. (2018). Evolutionary psychopathology: A unified approach. Oxford University Press.
  18. De Luca Picione, R. (2020). The semiotic paradigm in psychology. A Mature Weltanschauung for the definition of semiotic mind. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54, 639–650. [PMID: 32500470]
  19. Di Nuovo, S. (2020). Searching for models for psychological science: A possible contribution of simulation. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54, 701–709. [PMID: 32418157]
  20. Dobzhansky, T. (1968). On some fundamental concepts of Darwinian biology. In Evolutionary biology (pp. 1–34). Springer.
  21. Dunbar, R. I., & Barrett, L. (2007). Oxford handbook of evolutionary psychology. Oxford University Press.
  22. Fanelli, D. (2010). “Positive” results increase down the hierarchy of the sciences. PLoS ONE, 5(4), e10068. [PMID: 20383332]
  23. Fanelli, D. (2020). Metascientific reproducibility patterns revealed by informatic measure of knowledge (No. 5vnhj). Center for Open Science.
  24. Fanelli, D., & Glänzel, W. (2013). Bibliometric evidence for a hierarchy of the sciences. PLoS ONE, 8(6), e66938. [PMID: 23840557]
  25. Feinberg, T. E., & Mallatt, J. M. (2016). The ancient origins of consciousness: How the brain created experience. MIT Press.
  26. Gamsakhurdia, V. L. (2020). Systematic semiotic organisation and anthropologisation of the science of soul-towards cultural psychology. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54, 625–638. [PMID: 32458229]
  27. Ginsburg, S., & Jablonka, E. (2019). The evolution of the sensitive soul: Learning and the origins of consciousness. MIT Press.
  28. Gould, S. J. (1978). Sociobiology: The art of storytelling. New Scientist, 80(1129), 530–533.
  29. Gould, S. J., & Lewontin, R. C. (1979). The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: A critique of the adaptationist programme. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences, 205(1161), 581–598.
  30. Gould, S. J., & Vrba, E. S. (1982). Exaptation-a missing term in the science of form. Paleobiology, 8(1), 4–15.
  31. Gozli, D. (2020). Staying with questions and resisting quick answers: Commentary on Zagaria, Andò, and Zennaro. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54, 572–578. [PMID: 32451958]
  32. Gray, R. D., & Watts, J. (2017). Cultural macroevolution matters. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(30), 7846–7852.
  33. Hendry, J. (2017). Shoes: The early learning of an important distinction in Japanese society. In J. Hendry (Ed.), An Anthropological Lifetime in Japan. (pp. 80–88). Brill.
  34. Henriques, G. (2003). The tree of knowledge system and the theoretical unification of psychology. Review of General Psychology, 7(2), 150–182.
  35. Henriques, G. (2011). A new unified theory of psychology. Springer Science & Business Media.
  36. Henriques, G. (2019). Toward a metaphysical empirical psychology. In Re-envisioning Theoretical Psychology (pp. 209–237). Palgrave Macmillan.
  37. Henriques, G. (2021a). The Distinction Between the Natural and Social Sciences as Found in the Vision Logic of the Tree of Knowledge System. Medium  https://medium.com/unified-theory-of-knowledge/the-distinction-between-the-natural-and-social-sciences-as-found-in-the-vision-logic-of-the-tree-ea68ff57595e . Accessed 23 Mar 2021.
  38. Henriques, G. (2021b). Human Consciousness in Five Basic Steps. Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/theory-knowledge/202102/human-consciousness-in-five-basic-steps#_=_ . Accessed 23 Mar 2021.
  39. Henriques, G. R. (2004). Psychology defined. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 60(12), 1207–1221. [PMID: 15470736]
  40. Henriques, G. R. (2008). The problem of psychology and the integration of human knowledge: Contrasting Wilson’s consilience with the tree of knowledge system. Theory & Psychology, 18(6), 731–755.
  41. Heyes, C. (2018). Cognitive gadgets: The cultural evolution of thinking. Harvard University Press.
  42. Jensen, M. (2020). Wrong problem but right answer? Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54, 660–666. [PMID: 32488692]
  43. Koch, S. (1981). The nature and limits of psychological knowledge: Lessons of a quarter century qua science. American Psychologist, 36, 257–269.
  44. Koch, S. (1993). “Psychology” or “the psychological studies”? American Psychologist, 48, 902–904.
  45. Kuhn, T. S. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions. The University of Chicago Press.
  46. Lagerspetz, K. Y. (2001). Jakob von Uexkull and the origins of cybernetics. Semiotica-La Haye Then Berlin, 134(1/4), 643–652.
  47. Laland, K. N., Uller, T., Feldman, M. W., Sterelny, K., Müller, G. B., Moczek, A., Jablonka, E., & Odling-Smee, J. (2015). The extended evolutionary synthesis: Its structure, assumptions and predictions. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1813), 20151019. [PMID: 26246559]
  48. Liotti, G. (2005). La dimensione interpersonale della coscienza,(secondaedizione). Carocci.
  49. Lloyd, E. (2020). In Edward N. Zalta (ed.), Units and Levels of Selection, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. URL =  https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2020/entries/selection-units/ . Accessed 23 Mar 2021.
  50. Loredo-Narciandi, J. C., & Castro-Tejerina, J. (2021). The clay of evolution: Megalomania in (Evolutionary) psychology. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 1–11.
  51. Lundh, L. G. (2021). Persons and genes. Is a gene-centered evolutionary psychology compatible with a person-oriented approach to psychological science? Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 55, 189–197.
  52. Mameli, M. (2007). Evolution and psychology in philosophical perspective. In R.I.M Dunbar, & L. Barrett (Eds.), Oxford Handbook Of Evolutionary Psychology (pp. 21–34). Oxford University Press.
  53. Marsico, G., & Calandrini, A. R. (2020). Getting psychology back onto its feet: The developmental view of James mark Baldwin. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54, 686–693. [PMID: 32378177]
  54. Martí, E. (2020). The need for epistemological vigilance. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54(3), 677–685. [PMID: 32361964]
  55. Märtsin, M. (2020). Psychology: A discipline in need of reflective foundations. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54, 694–700. [PMID: 32483701]
  56. Mascolo, M. F. (2021). Inching toward a unified metatheory for psychology. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 55(1), 198–211. [PMID: 32572856]
  57. Mazur, L. B. (2020). Progress in psychological science. The importance of informed ignorance and curiosity-driven questions. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54, 613–624. [PMID: 32451959]
  58. Mironenko, I. A., & Sorokin, P. S. (2020). Concerning paradigmatic status of psychological science: For a flexible and flowing psychology in the face of practical and theoretical challenges. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54(3), 604–612. [PMID: 32337678]
  59. Misra, G., Pirta, R. S., Misra, I., & Chandra, N. (2021). The game of science and puzzles of paradigm. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 55(1), 167–180. [PMID: 32596801]
  60. Morioka, M. (2020). Continuity and discontinuity between the psychological world and the biological world. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-020-09557-w .
  61. Murachi, T. (1989). Taking off shoes to enter Japanese houses—Why? Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 32(3), 385–386.
  62. Nesse, R. M. (2001). The smoke detector principle. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 935, 75–85. [PMID: 11411177]
  63. Öhman, A., & Mineka, S. (2001). Fear, phobias and preparedness: Toward an evolved module of fear and fear learning. Psychological Review, 108, 483–522. [PMID: 11488376]
  64. Ossorio, P. G. (2006). The behavior of persons. The collected works of P. G. Ossorio (Vol. V). Descriptive Psychology Press.
  65. Pinheiro, M. A. (2020). A wittgensteinian comment on “psychology: A giant with feet of clay” a question from research on creativity. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54, 651–659. [PMID: 32447538]
  66. Pigliucci, M., & Müller, G. (2010). Evolution–the extended synthesis. The MIT press.
  67. Schmitt, D. P., & Pilcher, J. J. (2004). Evaluating evidence of psychological adaptation: How do we know one when we see one? Psychological Science, 15, 643–649. [PMID: 15447633]
  68. Siegel, D. J. (2020). The developing mind: How relationships and the brain interact to shape who we are. Guilford Publications.
  69. Simonton, D. K. (2004). Psychology’s status as a scientific discipline: Its empirical placement within an implicit hierarchy of the sciences. Review of General Psychology, 8(1), 59–67.
  70. Simonton, D. K. (2015). Psychology as a science within Comte’s hypothesized hierarchy: Empirical investigations and conceptual implications. Review of General Psychology, 19(3), 334–344.
  71. Simpson, J. A., & Campbell, L. (2015). Methods of evolutionary sciences. In D. M. Buss (Ed.), The handbook of evolutionary psychology. (pp. 115–135). Wiley.
  72. Smedlund, M. B. (2021). On the foundations of psychology: The problem is grammatical, not theoretical. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 55(1), 181–188. [PMID: 32681410]
  73. Tateo, L. (2020). The golem of psychology and the ecosystemic epistemology. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54(3), 667–676. [PMID: 32356043]
  74. Tomasello, M. (1999). The cultural origins of human cognition. Harvard University Press.
  75. Tomasello, M. (2019). Becoming human: A theory of ontogeny. Belknap Press.
  76. Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (2015). The theoretical foundations of evolutionary psychology. In D. M. Buss (Ed.), The handbook of evolutionary psychology. (2nd ed., pp. 3–87). Wiley.
  77. Toomela, A. (2007). Unifying psychology: Absolutely necessary, not only useful. In A. V. B. Bastos & N. M. D. Rocha (Eds.), Psicologia: Novas direçoes no dialogo com outros campos de saber. (pp. 449–464). Casa do Psicologo.
  78. Toomela, A. (2007). Culture of science: Strange history of the methodological thinking in psychology. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 41(1), 6–20. [PMID: 17992864]
  79. Toomela, A. (2009). How methodology became a toolbox—and how it escapes from that box. In Dynamic process methodology in the social and developmental sciences (pp. 45–66). Springer.
  80. Toomela, A. (2010). Quantitative methods in psychology: inevitable and useless. Frontiers in Psychology, 1, 29. [PMID: 21833199]
  81. Toomela, A. (2011). Travel into a fairy land: A critique of modern qualitative and mixed methods psychologies. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 45(1), 21–47. [PMID: 21258882]
  82. Toomela, A. (2012). Guesses on the future of cultural psychology: Past, present, and past. In J. Valsiner (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Culture and Psychology. (pp. 998–1033). Oxford University Press.
  83. Toomela, A. (2020). Psychology today: Still in denial, still outdated. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54(3), 563–571. [PMID: 32363525]
  84. Uher, J. (2021). Psychology’s status as a science: Peculiarities and intrinsic challenges. Moving beyond its current deadlock towards conceptual integration Integrative. Psychological and Behavioral Science, 55(1), 212–224.
  85. Valsiner, J. (2020). From clay feet to new psychology: Starting the move. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54, 515–520.
  86. Von Uexküll, J. (1992). A stroll through the worlds of animals and men: A picture book of invisible worlds. Semiotica, 89(4), 319–391.
  87. Wells, D. A. (2021). Plasticity-led evolution and human culture. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 1–29.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-021-09607-x .
  88. Williams, G. C. (1996) Adaptation and natural selection: A critique of some current evolutionary thought. Princeton University.
  89. Wilson, E. O. (1999). Consilience: The unity of knowledge (vol. 31). Vintage.
  90. Wu, A., & Xu, S. (2020). One step further: where to put the subjectivity of human mind in efforts of integrating psychology? Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54, 597–603. [PMID: 32504408]
  91. Wynne, C. D., & Udell, M. A. (2013). Animal cognition: Evolution, behavior and cognition. Macmillan International Higher Education.
  92. Zagaria, A. (2021). A missing link between the natural and social sciences: The justifying mechanism [Manuscript in preparation]. University of Turin.
  93. Zagaria, A., Andò, A., & Zennaro, Al. (2020). Psychology: A giant with feet of clay. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science., 54(3), 521–562. [PMID: 32297037]

MeSH Term

Biological Evolution
Clay
Cultural Evolution
Humans
Knowledge
Psychological Theory

Chemicals

Clay
Journal Article Comment

Word Cloud

Created with Highcharts 10.0.0psychologyevolutionaryEvolutionaryEPsocioculturaldevelopmentalrelationalaspectshumantargetarticlePsychology3arguerather2criticismsmightfindmeta-theorycultural"planeexistence"CulturalReductionismDeterminismproperlyaccountcontext?underestimatepsyche?instantiatedmechanisticepistemology?implydeterminismreductionism?commentariespreviousraisedsimilarquestionstrytacklecurrentresponse"epistemologicalassessment"consequentunificationclaimbannerapproachZagariaetalIntegrativePsychologicalBehavioralScience54521-5622020deeplyexamineddiscussedobjectionscangroupedfourmaincategoriessumwhy:1pre-paradigmaticstatusproblemrichnessperspectivesEP'sstemcommonmisconceptions-furthermorepsychenaturalexplanationwipeemergencecontextsomethingqualitativelydifferent4incompatiblesubjectivityapproachedcautioncuriosityprejudicialconceptsIncorporatinglegitimatemayaspirebecome"culturalpsychology"henceintegrativepsychologicaltriesconnectbiologicalHenriquesReviewGeneral7150-1822003Howeverbasicphilosophicalconcernyetansweredieultimatelyconstitutesmindthus"psycho-logical"sciencetryinganswerknowlookatTowardPsychology:ApproachImplyCriticismsTheoretical

Similar Articles

Cited By (2)