Evolutionary Social Psychology

Jeffry A. Simpson, Douglas T. Kenrick

• Publisher: Psychology Press
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781317779476
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

What a pity it would have been if biologists had refused to accept Darwin's theory of natural selection, which has been essential in helping biologists understand a wide range of phenomena in many animal species. These days, to study any animal species while refusing to consider the evolved adaptive significance of their behavior would be considered pure folly--unless, of course, the species is homo sapiens. Graduate students training to study this particular primate species may never take a single course in evolutionary theory, although they may take two undergraduate and up to four graduate courses in statistics. These methodologically sophisticated students then embark on a career studying human aggression, cooperation, mating behavior, family relationships, or altruism with little or no understanding of the general evolutionary forces and principles that shaped the behaviors they are investigating. This book hopes to redress that wrong.

It is one of the first to apply evolutionary theories to mainstream problems in personality and social psychology that are relevant to a wide range of important social phenomena, many of which have been shaped and molded by natural selection during the course of human evolution. These phenomena include selective biases that people have concerning how and why a variety of activities occur. For example:
* information exchanged during social encounters is initially perceived and interpreted;
* people are romantically attracted to some potential mates but not others;
* people often guard, protect, and work hard at maintaining their closest relationships;
* people form shifting and highly complicated coalitions with kin and close friends; and
* people terminate close, long-standing relationships.

Evolutionary Social Psychology begins to disentangle the complex, interwoven patterns of interaction that define our social lives and relationships.

Author Index

A

Abbey, A., 11, 17

Abbott, M., 229, 230

Abitbol, M. M., 204, 205, 229

Abrahams, D., 126, 140

Abramson, L. Y., 31, 42

Adams, B. N., 266, 290

Adams, D. B., 209, 229

Adams, J. S., 75, 83, 101, 103

Agyei, Y., 13, 17, 80, 104

Aiken, L. S., 154, 158, 161, 164, 167

Ainsworth, M. D. S., 216, 217, 229, 241, 254, 258

Albright, L., 55, 68

Alcock, J., 248, 249, 258

Aldag, R. J., 364, 366, 373, 377, 382

Alexander, R. D., 27, 36, 37, 39, 42, 74, 103, 181, 192, 267, 274, 278, 280, 290, 318, 340, 392, 393, 399, 399

Alexander, R. S., 288, 290

Alibhasi, N., 128, 135

Alicke, M.D., 128, 132

Allen, V. L., 22, 42

Alley, T.R., 111, 114, 120, 133

Allgeier, E. R., 85, 86, 88, 90, 96, 99, 102, 107

Allison, S.T., 298, 313

Alloy, L. B., 31, 42

Amazeen, P. G., 323, 327, 341

Anderson, C. O., 304, 313

Anderson, K., 31, 46

Anderson, J. L., 4, 17, 128, 133, 271, 290

Anderson, L. E., 375, 3...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• ack
• Introduction
• 1 Why Social Psychology and Evolutionary Psychology Need One Another
• 2 Social Illusions and Self-Deception: The Evolution of Biases in Person Perception
• II Social Perception
• III Interpersonal Attraction
• IV Pair Bonding and Mating Strategies
• V Kinship and Social Relations
• VI Groups and Group Selection
• VII Capstone
• Author Index
• Subject Index