Evolutionary Psychology: A Critical Introduction
According to evolutionary biologists, we are the minders of our genes. But,
as Christopher Badcock points out in this book, it is only recently that
evolutionists have realized that minders need minds, and that evolution needs
psychology to fill the yawning gap between genes and behaviour.
Evolutionary Psychology assumes no prior knowledge of the subject,
and concentrates on the fundamental issues raised by the application of modern
Darwinism to psychology. Basic concepts of evolution are explained carefully,
so that the reader has a sound grasp of them before their often controversial
application to psychology is discussed. The approach is a critical one, and the
author does not hide the many difficulties that evolutionary psychology raises.
The book is the first to give a non-technical account of remarkable new
findings about the roles that conflicting genes play in building different
parts of the brain. It is also the first to consider the consequences of this
for controversies like those over nature/nurture, IQ, brain lateralization and
consciousness.
Evolutionary Psychology is based on many years' experience of
teaching evolution and psychology to social science students, and is intended
for all who wish to get to grips with the basic issues of one of the most
exciting and rapidly growing areas of modern science.
Psychodarwinism: The New Synthesis of Freud and Darwin
Psychodarwinism is a revolutionary book that brilliantly
demonstrates how the ideas of the two most enduringly influential thinkers of
the last 200 years are not irredeemably antithetical, but in fact form
part of a whole vision of life only now being explored and elaborated by a new
breed of scientist.
