Evolutionary psychology: the emperor's new paradigm

@article{citeulike:214192, abstract = {For some evolutionary psychology is merely a field of inquiry, but for others it is a robust paradigm involving specific theories about the nature and evolution of the human mind. Proponents of this paradigm claim to have made several important discoveries regarding the evolved architecture of the mind. Highly publicized discoveries include a cheater-detection module, a psychological sex difference in jealousy, and motivational mechanisms underlying parental love and its lapses, which purportedly result in child maltreatment. In this article, I argue that the empirical evidence for these 'discoveries' is inconclusive, at best. I suggest that, as the reigning paradigm in evolutionary psychology has produced questionable results, the evolutionary study of human psychology is still in need of a guiding paradigm.}, author = {Buller, David J.}, citeulike-article-id = {214192}, doi = {10.1016/j.tics.2005.04.003}, journal = {Trends in Cognitive Sciences}, keywords = {emperor, paradigm, psychology}, month = {June}, number = {6}, pages = {277--283}, posted-at = {2005-05-30 15:10:07}, priority = {2}, title = {Evolutionary psychology: the emperor's new paradigm}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2005.04.003}, volume = {9}, year = {2005} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:214192 L3 - citeulike-article-id:214192 N2 - For some evolutionary psychology is merely a field of inquiry, but for others it is a robust paradigm involving specific theories about the nature and evolution of the human mind. Proponents of this paradigm claim to have made several important discoveries regarding the evolved architecture of the mind. Highly publicized discoveries include a cheater-detection module, a psychological sex difference in jealousy, and motivational mechanisms underlying parental love and its lapses, which purportedly result in child maltreatment. In this article, I argue that the empirical evidence for these 'discoveries' is inconclusive, at best. I suggest that, as the reigning paradigm in evolutionary psychology has produced questionable results, the evolutionary study of human psychology is still in need of a guiding paradigm. IS - 6 JF - Trends in Cognitive Sciences EP - 283 TI - Evolutionary psychology: the emperor's new paradigm VL - 9 SP - 277 KW - emperor KW - paradigm KW - psychology AU - Buller, David PY - 2005/06// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2005.04.003 ER -