Interest in the theory of evolutionary psychology.

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POLITICS ASSESSMENT 06/12/01

Within the last century there has been increasing interest in the theory of evolutionary psychology, which attempts to explain why human beings behave in certain fashions. This essay will outline the basis for this theory in two fundamental areas of crime and punishment and conflict and violence within the family and will briefly compare with its main opponent.

Evolutionary psychology (EP) is the combination of biology and psychology that is based on Darwin’s findings on evolution.  The modern science has discovered that evolution occurs by way of genes and DNA, with two types of reproduction: hereditary and mutation.  The former meaning that offspring resemble parents and the latter that duplication is not always perfect.  Part of the theory known as ‘Natural Selection’ is that the mutant genes, which change uniformity, only evolve if they are ‘survival’ genes and not those that would end a species.  

The behavioural supposition of EP is that human conduct is genetic.  This is in direct conflict with the sociological theory that it is a result of environmental influences leading to the so-called ‘nature versus nurture’ debate.  Scientists such as Fodor  claim that the mind is made up of modules, which control general actions such as the senses.  However, American psychologists  believe these modules are much more specific and plentiful than Fodor envisaged.  They claim that as well as general purpose survival modules that evolved into humans from apes such as avoiding predators, offspring care, eating correctly and forming alliances there are other modules which have evolved via ‘natural selection’.  They acknowledge critics who say that such natural selection would take centuries to evolve and point out that as well as module adaptation there are quicker by-products, which occur along the way, such as reading, the side effect of the modules of vision and language.  The resulting hypothesis is that there is not a module for all behaviour but a collection of different by-products.  At this point that the theory suffers the most criticism from sociologists who claim that these side effects are the result of environmental influences.  This essay will therefore now move on to examine the two aforementioned areas and analyse EP’s credibility as a sole cause.

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The by-product theory is the explanation for criminal behaviour.  It is believed that it is the result of several genes synthesizing to produce a side effect of crime.  The genes behind crime are predominantly male.  Studies of male offenders  often show low serotonin levels,  high testosterone and low pulse rate, the extremes of survival.  Men are twenty-six times more likely to kill another man than a woman would kill another woman.  These same sex murders are much more prevalent in young males  where testosterone is at its highest.  

Men mainly commit both sex murders and ...

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