Social Psychology And Evolutionary Psychology - 793 Words

Recently a start-up social marketing Silicon Valley executive was quoted as saying If you are comfortable when you launch your site you waited too late. In other words, if one felt comfortable then this secure, comfortable feeling was an indication that one had fallen behind the innovation curve, a detriment to success. The implication was that innovation is inherently a tenuous and uncertain thing and that making it into a comfort thing is very bad strategy. Theodore Roosevelt called the comfort zone the the Gray Twilight and those that dwelt there poor spirits. They neither enjoyed much nor suffered much and in fact in his opinion they didn t really live very much either. If we look back to the origins of social psychology and evolutionary psychology we quickly learn that never were our ancestors in a so-called comfort zone. Life was tough and a daily struggle for survival. That doesn t mean there was never time to relax and enjoy...just not much time. The most recent human evolution theories speculate that human gene mutations occurred 50,000 and a million years ago. These mutations were important because they increased the size of the brain and cranial capacity. The purpose of these mutations was to give our human team the survival edge; being able to think has distinct evolutionary advantages. The ability to think gave both the individual and the tribe the edge. When things got difficult the thinking brain could figure out ways to find a solution.Show MoreRelatedEssay on Social and Evolutionary Psychology1041 Words   |  5 PagesSocial and Evolutionary Psychology In an attempt to define civilized man’s relationship to the jungle and primitive societies, one must first consider the theories of social psychologists who have offered interpretations of modern man’s reactions upon insertion into a primitive setting. The main contrast in human states that arises from this argument is the concept of civilization versus savagery. Much is uncovered about the path man tends to take when confronted with these two optionsRead MoreTheories Of Evolution Of Psychology1192 Words   |  5 Pages Ideas in psychology have been influenced by many fields of study ranging from philosophy to physics. Evolutionary ideas, themselves, have had a substantial role in shaping psychological thought. This paper will provide an overview of the influence of evolutionary thought on the field of psychology along with a discussion of the range of societal implications associated with evolutionary psychology. The influence of evolutionary ideas on psychology dates back to Charles Darwin, the man who proposedRead MoreEvolution Of Evolutionary Psychology And Culture1151 Words   |  5 PagesIn his article, Sadd (2012) explains the relationship of evolutionary psychology and culture, particularly regarding popular culture. He argues the theory of evolution is widely applicable in multiple disciplines. While evolution theory is essentially biological in nature, it can also give us insight to our culture, society and human behaviours. According to Sadd, recurrent themes in cultural forms could be explained by evolutionary psychology. He uses example of song lyrics and collective wisdom toRead MoreTheory of Mind Essay1086 Words   |  5 Pages Describe what evolutionary psychologists mean when they employ the term ‘theory of mind’. Use examples and research studies from Book 1, Chapter 2 to show why this theory is important in evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology is a specialist field within the spectrum of psychological enquiry, which seeks to examine and understand some of the predominant reasoning behind the concept of why the human species, whilst biologically similar to other species on the planet, is so very distinctRead MorePerspectives of Psychology1141 Words   |  5 PagesPerspectives of Psychology Psychology can be defined as the systematic study of mental processes, couple with behaviors, and experiences (Kalat, 2011). There are many ways in examining, mental processes and behaviors among people, and therefore psychologist uses different perspectives to understand how human beings, think, act, and behave. Some psychologist uses one perspective to analyze behaviors, and other uses a multidimensional approach. Carter Seifert (2013) identified 7 major perspectivesRead MoreSocial Psychology : An Uphill Battle Against Behaviorism1536 Words   |  7 Pagessince Goethals’ (2003) â€Å"A Century of Social Psychology† and seven years after Ross, Lepper, and Ward’s (2010) â€Å"History of Social Psychology†. From that time, much has changed in the historical, intellectual, and social zeitgeist that has always influenced social psychology as a field—through the latter’s desire to meet the needs and trappings of its place and time. In the s ame way that people interact with the situation to understand behavior and construe their social reality, the discipline (not unlikeRead MoreAn Overview of Evolutionary Psychology718 Words   |  3 PagesEvolutionary psychology is the study of universal human nature, or the sex specific male human nature and female human nature. Human nature consists of domain-specific evolved psychological mechanisms. A psychological mechanism is an information-processing procedure which evolution by natural and sexual selection has equipped humans to possess in order to solve an adaptive problem, such as: survival and reproduction. Psychological mechanisms mostly operate behind our conscious thinking. Evolved psychologicalRead MoreFoundations of Psychology Essay763 Words   |  4 PagesFoundations of Psychology According to science philosopher Thomas Kuhn, the ongoing development of scientific paradigms is responsible for scientific progress. A scientific paradigm has three basic characteristics: a series of assertions that provide a model of the object of study, a group of common metaphors that assist with comprehension of the object of study, and a methodology that is accepted by the scientific community to provide legitimate and valuable data when carried out correctly. WithinRead MoreEvolution of Social Psychology Essay1668 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Social Psychology is one of the younger sub disciplines within the field of Psychology. In the short span in which social psychology has existed, began with the work of the Norman Triplett in the late 1890s. Tripletts work at Indiana University was primarily experimentation with people in competitive settings. Gordon Allport followed Tripletts experimentation with his observations the attitudes of individuals and the study of the self. While these contributions to the history of social psychologyRead MoreSocial Psychology : A Unique Subfield Of Psychology1474 Words   |  6 PagesSocial psychology is a unique subfield of psychology. The history of the psychology dates back in 387 BC when Plato had inferred that the human brain is a device comprising of mental structures. Charles Darwin coined the theory of evolution called â€Å"Survival of the Fittest† when he disseminated his On the Origin of Species in 1859. Many other names have made major contributions in the field of psychology. However, it was Leon Festinger, in 1957, who propositioned his postulation of â€Å" Cognitive