The object of study of evolutionary psychology is the study of behavioral change over time, that is, throughout the entire life cycle of the human being. It is the study of the human being from an ontogenetic perspective. Perhaps the most characteristic and distinctive aspect of man in relation to the rest of the species is the possibility of adapting to different demands, and this ability to adapt is fundamentally a product of learning and therefore of culture.
Definition of evolutionary psychology
This culture is transmitted from generation to generation through the symbols and particularly through language. That is why since ancient times language has been proposed as the fundamental characteristic of our species. Central ideas: behavioral change, temporal dimension, process, life cycle.
Change This interest leads us not only to express the differences and similarities of behavior in different temporal models since what is typical of Ps. E. is the description and explanation of the process of change itself.
Temporal dimension: Development needs time for its manifestation. Age is the most used temporal dimension in psychology, but it is not the only possible one. Change can also be studied at a macrogenetic level e.g. Piaget and Vigosky are concerned with phylogenetic evolution and sociocultural evolution respectively. Another way of facing change is microgenetics, which presents the objective of observing the constitution of a psychological process in a time limited to one or several experimental sessions. The development is continuous. It happens with the passing of hours, days, weeks, months and years, it happens throughout life. Development is directional, moving towards increasing complexity. Childhood is characterized by immaturity and plasticity.
Human beings have to learn almost everything since they are born with a very small repertoire of behaviors and this is one of our great advantages as a species since it allows us a greater capacity to adapt to changing situations. The plasticity and interaction between subject and environment allows the emergence of a wide range of individual differences. Each life is subject to individual changes in a specific social, cultural and historical context, which determines the individuality of the human being.
Influences on evolutionary psychology
In evolutionary psychology, most of the fields of study of psychology., the peculiarity that this discipline presents is that this study is carried out from its development perspective. If we intend to understand psychological development, we must attend to both its cognitive and social and affective aspects. The need to study them together is determined by the fact that these aspects are continuously affecting development.
Biology plays an essential role in the evolution of the human being, but this evolution takes place in a social environment (sociology). Psychoanalysis. It is not a discipline per se but it has had a great impact on the conceptualization of developmental psychology for a time. Psychoanalytic theory includes: A method for the treatment of mental illnesses, a system of analysis of reality and an explanatory method of development. The approach to development occurs not because of its interest as an object of study in itself, but as a means to explain the pathologies that are detected in adult behavior. Much clearer evolutionary orientations appear in positions after Freud. Anne Freudunderstands development in a broad context in which not only factors inherent to the subject are taken into account, but also the outside world; the child must reconcile both types of experiences.
Erikson develops a theory of stages that extend to the entire life cycle in which it integrates maturational, affective, cognitive and social factors. Regarding affective development, it is worth highlighting the studies on the genesis of object relations Spitz Winnicott Bowlby, these authors focus on the affective development of the child and analyze the effects of affective deprivation on the development of the human being. Bowlby formulates attachment theory, connecting with ethology.
Ethology. Biological study of animal behavior, attaches great importance to the interaction between the organism and the environment. Until the 70s it did not have influence in the field of psychology. Ethology has recovered and renewed observation techniques that have been important in evolutionary psychology. It has contributed to disseminating the concept of ecological validity; refers to the similarity between the research conditions and the natural conditions in which the studied phenomenon occurs. The methodological contribution is one of the greatest merits recognized in ethological theories.
Ecology. Term adopted from biological science where it is used to refer to the habitat of a plant or animal and in the same way to the biological structure, function and characteristics as a population of that plant or animal. In Psychology it is aimed at describing the range of situations in which people intervene. The ecological approach poses a critical stance towards a psychology that ignores the context in the study of development. “Ecological Ps. studies human behavior as it occurs in its natural contexts, as well as the relationships between behavior and environment, with the aim of producing detailed descriptions that allow quantitative analysis. The articulation of an ecological approach to development corresponds to Bronfenbrenner (1979).
Anthropology. Currently, there is an increase in the use of ethnographic methods in Evolutionary Psychology, coming from the field of anthropology. Ethnographic studies allow us to penetrate into the contexts in which the phenomena we want to study develop. Ethnography focuses on participant observation of a society or culture through a complete cycle of regularly occurring events. The ethnographer starts from very general approaches in his study to progress by defining more specific aspects throughout the investigation. Ethnography has contributed a narrative dimension to psychological studies on development defended by authors who take a contextualist perspective such as Bruner.
Historical perspective of evolutionary psychology
It was at the end of the 18th century when a real interest began to scientifically understand the development of the child. It is usually attributed to Tiedemann the inauguration of this first period with the publication in 1787 of the observations made on the development of his son in his first three years. This is the first published study based on a diary. Tiedemann made systematic observations.
At the time these works had no significance; it was the cultural climate that fostered evolutionism that promoted the rediscovery of Tiedemann and that once again stimulated biographical studies. The most notable diary will be that of Preyer (1841-1877), whose publication in 1882 The soul of the child is usually considered the first manual of Evolutionary Psychology and consequently, Preyer himself is also often seen as the initiator of the discipline as an empirical science.
Preyer tried to follow methodologically controlled observation programs through a series of explicitly formulated criteria that sought to guarantee the systematization and objectivity of the observations. Studies on special subjects Itard (1774-1838) about Victor de Aveyron, a wild child. With observational studies, Evolutionary Psychology begins as an independent empirical science.
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