Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsBackground5 PrinciplesPhobias
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Background
5 Principles
Phobias
Evolutionary psychology is a scientific discipline that approaches human cognition, emotions, and behavior through a lens that incorporates the effects of evolution over time. It combines two sciences,psychologyand biology.
Based onCharles Darwin’sideas explained in his book, “Origin of Species,” an organism’s main goal is tosurvive and reproduceand those organisms that adapted biologically to environmental changes were able to do both.
Similarly, evolutionary psychologists seek to explain how people made psychological adaptations in order to survive the dangers of the past which is the framework used to explain modern human behavior.
This article will describe how evolutionary psychologists explain modern human behavior as a product of the past, review the basic principles of evolutionary psychology, and apply these principles to the development of fear and phobias.
Evolutionary Psychology Approach
Proponents of this psychological approach posit that our ancestors confronted problems and developed ways of solving them. Those who had more problem-solving skills would be more likely to survive. They gained important advantages, such as better health or a longer lifespan, allowing them to produce more offspring. Examples of these adaptive skills:
Other psychological adaptations to promote survival include thefight or flight responsethat is activated when we face a dangerous situation such as a predator or enemy. In addition,aggressive behaviorsmay have been necessary when people had to compete for resources or mates.
Our ancestors who developed advanced cognitive, emotional, behavioral, andsocial skillspassed down these traits to future generations, resulting in a population of offspring that were born with these adaptive behaviors.
Hardwired for Survival
How Genes Influence Child Development
Principles of Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary psychology explains the behavior of humans today as a set of psychological adaptions that were made in order for our ancestors to survive in their environment.These adaptations are now hardwired into the human genome through the natural selection process, or thesurvival of the fittest,so to speak.
Below are some of the basic principles of evolutionary psychology that contribute to the nature of modern man:
Although many aspects of biological evolution are widely accepted among scientists, evolutionary psychology is a controversial field of study with much debate. One of the field’s major criticisms is that the assumptions are not falsifiable because we do not truly know the intimate details of the psychological functioning of our stone-aged ancestors.
Biological Preparedness and Classical Conditioning
How Evolution Explains Fear and Phobias
Healthy Fear
Developmental psychologists explain that in normal infant development, there are a variety ofhardwired reflexesthat help newborns get through their most vulnerable months. They root, suck, grasp, and cry. They have a startle reaction called themoro reflexwhen they sense their head shifting position quickly (like a falling sensation), and they jump at loud noises.
Fearand disgust are two of the earliest basic emotions that emerge in babies, along with happiness, anger, surprise, andsadness. These emotions appear to be hardwired in the developing human, and an evolutionary psychologist would explain they are adaptive behaviors to assist in their survival.In other words, expressing these emotions is how they get their needs met and promotes bonding with their caregivers.
Fear and disgust are two of the earliest basic emotions that emerge in babies.
Irrational Fear, Anxiety, and Phobias
It has been debated whether certain fears exhibited in young children are learned or innate. For example, research studies show you are more likely to fearsnakesandspidersthan other predatory animals, such aslions and tigers.
Babies who are less than six months old exhibit a fear response (pupils dilate) when they see a picture of a snake or spider, presumably before they have had a chance to learn this response from a bad experience or observing fear in others.It may be a combination of fear and disgust that creates this healthy fear response, one that helps us survive as infants.
From an evolutionary point of view, this may be due to the fact that snakes and spiders are more difficult to spot. It made sense to our ancestors to look carefully for poisonous creatures before sticking their hands into woodpiles or overgrown brush. Over time, that ability to recognize and quickly react to these small, quiet creatures became a trait that many humans inherited as an instinctive human reaction.
However, these mechanisms that are designed to help us survive can become problematic if we are responding with excessive fear to imaginary threats or stressors that are not life-threatening. An overactive fight or flight response can lead to mental health conditions such as anxiety,panic attacks, andphobias. Phobias are fears that are irrational and that go beyond protecting you from danger.
Techniques to Tame the Fight-or-Flight Response
9 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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