Psychological Adaptations: A Model and It's Relevance

Psychological Adaptations: A Model and It's Relevance

We are accustomed to thinking of giraffes' necks or peacock displays when we consider natural selection and adaptations. Our own patterns of behavior and correlated physical structures seem less remarkable, as if any other structure would be ridiculous or impossible. We are likely unaware of our own structure, whatever it may be. It's also likely that giraffes find nothing peculiar about long necks.

Barkow et al (1992, The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture, Oxford Univ Press, p 24) define a Psychological Adaptation (PA) as: a) An information processing system ... with sensory, central, and motor elements b) Highly efficient with specific inputs and specific outputs c) A combination of cognitive, limbic, brainstem, autonomic, hormonal, and spinal components as well as the associated muscular, skeletal, neural, and organ specializations. d) A solution to a "survival problem" that can be usefully identified and classified by the problem that is solved. PAs are likely products of natural selection.

Our psychological structure has been compared to computer systems (as if a particular type of mind builds a similar type of mind but with different materials!). We can also compare it to a mosaic of biological tiles, differing in colors but assembled while still wet and the hue allowed to bleed between adjacent blocks. "Smiling at a baby" is one subsection of the larger PA of child rearing; each of us does it a little differently depending on our histories and on other PAs that we do or do not have.

Relevance: a) PAs are presumed to generate a uniformity of behavior across human societies and are a key element in the development of culture. Examples of PA include: Language Acquisition & Use, Group Formation, Kin Recognition, Child Rearing, Mating, Food Acquisition and Sharing, Gossip, Humor, Incest Avoidance, Deception, and Social Exchange. There are subroutines. For example, Child Rearing may include Morning Sickness, preferential investment in healthier children, parental and child vocal patterns, and play fighting. It would be possible to build long, arbitrary lists of PAs; however, there is some preliminary data for each of the above being a plausible PA. b) Cognitions are one component of PAs and are tied to specific affective, autonomic, and motor systems. Thoughts of an adulterous spouse may elicit hatred and anger, changes in heart rate, pupillary dilation, and blood pressure, searching behaviors, threats, and aggression. c) Cognitions are often a specific response to highly specific stimuli. For example, we can expect highly accurate psychological responses to signals that reflect disgust, anger, fear, attraction, jealousy, lying, or disbelief. d) Cognitions are generally "content specific"; that is, our minds are specialized to make certain types of comparisons efficiently, form certain types of memories, and generate certain types of responses (See also "Mapping the Mind: Domain Specificity in Cognition & Culture" by Shelman & Hirschfeld, 1994, Cambridge Univ Press for a more advanced discussion of cognitive specificity.)

If PAs are a result of natural selection, then we can expect: a) Some variability in PAs to occur between individuals. Some women, for example, may be highly maternal, others may be the opposite. b) There to be reproductive competition between people who show differing expressions of a PA c) A PA that confers reproductive success might be expected to occur in more individuals with each generation. Thus, PAs might assume the properties of genes or memes (Dawkins R, 1989, The Selfish Gene, Oxford Univ Press). That is, their existence can be traced across generations of people, independently of any single carrier (person). They may compete with or compliment each other and their expression can vary sharply as a function of other PAs, ontogeny, environmental releasers, or cultural support. d) PAs are likely to be compatible, supportive of one another, and expressed in parallel, hierarchic, or nested combinations. d) Some incompatibility will exist between different PAs. This incompatibility can enhance survival or may encourage dysfunctional behaviors. Competing PAs can even provide a therapeutic tool if used correctly.

More to come ...

• Ecclesiastes: A venerated hint of psychological adaptations by James Brody, 4/24/97
• Psych Adaptations: Finding a Place to Be Yourself by James Brody, 4/27/97
• Cats, Aggression, and Psychological Adaptations by James Brody, 5/3/97
• ECT, Depression, and Conflicting Psychological Adaptations by James Brody, 5/9/97
• Adaptations: A Bouquet of Subtle Weeds by James Brody, 5/11/97
• Coalitions: The Prosthetic Adaptation? by James Brody, 5/11/97
• Mania and Shamans by James Brody, 5/16/97
  • Published: Mania and Shamans by James Brody, 7/14/98
• Follows Directions: ADHD and Psych Adaptations by James Brody, 5/17/97
• Butler, ADHD, and Watching Television by James Brody, 5/24/97
• The Original Picnic? by James Brody, 5/25/97
• Husbands, Adaptations, and Toilet Training by James Brody, 5/25/97
• Cognitive Mechanisms and the Bucket of Mush by James Brody, 6/8/97
  • Why spontaneous remission? by Brian Robinson, 6/12/97
    • Probably by James Brody, 6/14/97
• Billy Joel: Cubist Cognitive Therapist by James Brody, 6/8/97
• Memories, Cognitive Therapy, and Depression by James Brody, 6/8/97
• Memories and Depression by James Brody, 6/8/97
• Ned and the Breast: Psych Adaptations by James Brody, 6/14/97
• Psychological Adaptations: Succorance and the Placebo Response by James Brody, 7/12/97
• The Tamagatchi and Our Psych Adaptations by James Brody, 9/1/97
  • Tamagatchi Abandoned, Reared by Granny by James Brody, 9/27/97
• We Still Have Nature... by James Brody, 9/17/97
• When People Disappear by James Brody, 9/21/97
• Hypnosis & Evol Psych by James Brody, 9/21/97
  • Parental Traits, Emotion, & Transference by James Brody, 9/27/97
    • Origins of hypnotic rapport and transference in emotional regulation by Todd I. Stark (ToddStark@AOL.COM), 9/27/97
      • Early Bonding & the Hypnotist by James Brody, 10/4/97
• Houses & Tree Tops by James Brody, 10/4/97
• Cheater Detectors and Facial Expression by James Brody, 10/12/97
• Nested Psych Adaptations: It's Only My Vocal Cords by James Brody, 11/23/97
• Parents: Tools for Tots by James Brody, 12/25/97
• Lorenz, Dawkins, and Ed Wilson by James Brody, 4/25/98
  • Theism, Empiricism, and Human Variation by John Fentress, 4/29/98
• Wellfleet Girl by James Brody, 8/2/98
• Huxley by James Brody, 8/31/98
• Brown Wooly by James Brody, 10/3/98