1 / 79

The emperor’s new paradigm

The emperor’s new paradigm. The rise and fall and rise and fall of evolutionary perspectives in psychology. On evolution. A chicken is just an egg's way of making more eggs. Charles Darwin. Premise 1: Struggle for survival Premise 2: Variability Premise 3: Heritability Premise 4: Fitness

eudora
Download Presentation

The emperor’s new paradigm

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. The emperor’s new paradigm The rise and fall and rise and fall of evolutionary perspectives in psychology

  2. On evolution A chicken is just an egg's way of making more eggs.

  3. Charles Darwin • Premise 1: Struggle for survival • Premise 2: Variability • Premise 3: Heritability • Premise 4: Fitness • CONCLUSION : NATURAL SELECTION • He observed breeders and different naturally evolving species • Charles Babbage: God = programmer of laws

  4. Charles Darwin • Premise 1: Struggle for survival • Premise 2: Variability • Premise 3: Heritability • Premise 4: Fitness • CONCLUSION : NATURAL SELECTION • (Artificial selection = eugenics – later!)

  5. On the origin of species, 1859 • Premise 1: Struggle for survival • Species have great fertility. They have more offspring than ever grow to adulthood. • Populations remain roughly the same size, with small changes. (Food resources ) • An implicit struggle for survival ensues.

  6. On the origin of species, 1859 • Premise 2: Variability • In sexually reproducing species, generally no two individuals are identical. • Some of these variations directly affect the ability of an individual to survive in a given environment.

  7. On the origin of species, 1859 • Premise 3 Inheritability • Much of this variation is inheritable. • Mind you: Mendel’s work – though existant at the time – was not known by Darwin from the outset! • Inheritance mechanism was imagined entirely differently

  8. On the origin of species, 1859 • Premise 4 Fitness • Individuals less suited to the environment are less likely to survive and less likely to reproduce, • while individuals more suited to the environment are more likely to survive and more likely to reproduce.

  9. On the origin of species, 1859 • CONCLUSION : NATURAL SELECTION • The individuals that survive are most likely to leave their inheritable traits to future generations. • A continuous natural embetterment of the world?

  10. Underlying assumptions • Premise 1: Struggle for survival • Malthusian idea – technological improvement • Premise 2: Variability • Much uniformity • Premise 3: Heritability • Debates even today – syphilis, doctoritis running in families • Premise 4: Fitness – well-adapted to the environment • Not at all a clear concept • Sickle cell anaemia • what it means for a non-natural selection philosophy

  11. The puzzling survivor • The Naked Ape – homo sapiens • No claws • No sharp teeth • Not too fast – slower than most predators at any rate • Why is this parody of evolutionary perfection still around and moreover everywhere?

  12. Solution by Evolutionary Psychology • The adapted mind • The complexity seen in nature by Darwin is compared to the complexity in human behaviour and it is explained as such • Evolutionary psychology as an approach

  13. Evolutionary psychology • The Human Animal (Sociobiology) • Adaptationism • Originally applied to biological organs – the most well-known is the eye • Extensions: the brain is a biological organ • Supposition: the brain produces behaviour and consciousness • Therefore: behaviour and consciousness is formed by evolution just as the biological body is • Eye’s complexity – in the centre of debates

  14. Richard Dawkins • An ardent proponent of adaptations - earning him the title of Darwin’s Rottweiler (and equally ardent opponent to creationism ) • The Blind Watchmaker – focuses on how evolution could create marvellous structures – like the eye • William Paley – a watch presupposes intelligent design because of its complexity

  15. The Weasel problem • Shakespeare’s Hamlet • Hamlet: Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel?Polonius: By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed.Hamlet: Methinks it is like a weasel. • Based on the infinite monkey theorem • A monkey bashing away at random on a typewriter – given enough time he would type the entire works of Shakespeare • how long would it take him to produce the sentence ‘Methinks it is like a weasel.’?

  16. The Weasel problem • Methinks it is like a weasel • This is 28 characters • Using 26 letters – only capitals and a space bar • Probability? • 2728 = 1040 = infinity, or at least much longer than milliseconds from the existence of the universe (13,73 billion = 13,73 * 109 years = 7,22 * 1018 milliseconds)

  17. Sir Frederick Hoyle • „approximately the same order of magnitude as the probability that a hurricane could sweep through a junkyard and randomly assemble a Boeing 747.” • solar system full of blind men solving Rubik's Cube simultaneously. • The simplest bacterium needs 1040,000permutations, while the number of the atoms in the universe is „only” 1080, • the chance is the same as throwing 50000 sixes in a row with a die

  18. Sir Frederick Hoyle • Astronomer and sci-fi writer • He opposed the Big Bang theory – because it needs a cause Steady State theory • He also opposed natural abiogenesis! • Intelligent design - Evolution from Space

  19. Hoyle’s fallacy • You don’t need 28 letters. You start with say 3. • They calculate the probability of the formation of a "modern" protein, or even a complete bacterium with all "modern" proteins, by random events. • This is not the abiogenesis theory at all – it starts with VERY SIMPLE organisms • They assume that there is a fixed number of proteins, with fixed sequences for each protein, that are required for life. • They calculate the probability of sequential trials, rather than simultaneous trials. • Changing one at a time – mutations are rare but do not exclude each other • They seriously underestimate the number of functional enzymes/ribozymes present in a group of random sequences – only one good solution fallacy

  20. The Weasel problem • Cumulative selections instead of a single step selection • Two differences in his model: • Copying mechanism – it retains previous states • There is an inherent goal – any change that occurs towards methinks it is a weasel is kept, others are discarded • Generation 1: WDLMNLT DTJBKWIRZREZLMQCO P • Generation 2: WDLTMNLT DTJBSWIRZREZLMQCO P • Generation 10: MDLDMNLS ITJISWHRZREZ MECS P • Generation 20: MELDINLS IT ISWPRKE Z WECSEL • Generation 30: METHINGS IT ISWLIKE B WECSEL • Generation 40: METHINKS IT IS LIKE I WEASEL • Generation 43: METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL

  21. Adaptive landscapes • Fitness or adaptive landscapes – genetic variation is pushed to the direction of the arrows • Waddington – epigenetic landscape – curiously posits a rolling, not a climbing ball • Saddle points in mathematics as non-optimal solutions

  22. Cosmides & Tooby • Flexibility – a basis never questioned • Instinct vs reason distinction • Please make a mental note as this is to be relevant to the discussion on implicit/explicit! • What is instinct blindness according to Williams James? • Make the „natural seem strange” program • „’of course’ is no longer a good answer” – does evolutionary psychology manage to get round the problem? • „cognitive psychologists spend more time studying how we solve problems we are bad at” – the concept of „difficult” is being redefined

  23. The Blank Slate • The Standard Social Science Model (SSSM) • learning • Induction • Intelligence • Imitation • Rationality • the capacity for culture • Culture • A proposed problem with domain generality: if there is no inborn mechanism at all (only perception), what learns how to learn?

  24. SSSM What is this „roughly” supposed to mean exactly? The problem of innateness – is it presence at birth? • Hypotheses and problems: • Babies are born with the same capacities (roughly) all over the world • YET they come to be very different adults finally, with different customs and habits • The difference must therefore lie in their experience of the world • This experience is mediated through general-purpose-learning mechanisms • Culture must be the explanation – it has an overarching and all-pervasive effect Are domain-general learning mechanisms good enough to deal with the information load? +Consider the visual system Are cultures all that different? How much universality lies under the cultural differeces of human societies?

  25. Arguments against • Many things are not present at birth that are rarely doubted to be innate • Do we learn to grow beards and menstruate? • The nature/nurture dichotomy is not only arbitrary – it is false • again connected to innateness • In some cases domain-general learning mechanisms are just not enough • Most prominent example is language – poverty of stimulus argument • Moreover: striking differences - species-specific learning mechanisms (also consider phobias)

  26. Asking the wrong questions • genes vs environment ~ engine or gasoline? ~ the ingredients of bread • Presence at birth is not required – points at the problematics of „innate”

  27. Innateness • What do we mean by innate? Cognitive science • Non-acquisition • UG – vacuous, as in a sense everything is acquired at some point – a blastula has no UG • Presence at birth – inborn • Neither necessary (pubic hair), nor sufficient (prenatal learning is possible) • Internally caused as opposed to environmentally induced • Jeffrey Ellman: rethinking Innateness „the product of interactions internal to the organism…” • Impossible: without maternal blood, no organ could possibly develop at all • Triggering is often evoked – yet unsure in meaning

  28. Innateness • What do we mean by innate? Biology • Genetically determined? • Genetically caused • Genetically represented – mapped in DNA • Both accounts fail because of • interactionist explanations • difficulty of observation • Invariance accounts – stable across „normal” environments • Attractive as it explains stability and universality in a species • YET: the concept that water is wet would be innate

  29. Innateness • What do we mean by innate? • Innateness as high heritability • Heritability=overall phenotypic variation that is due to genetic variation (Vg/Vp) • However: only works if there is phenotypic variation – if there is none, it is useless • Opposable thumb in humans – drug taaken by mother disrupting its development -> low heritability • Not learned • Learning is nearly as slippery as innateness is…Yet.. • Psychologically primitive • Can not be explained by general psychological mechanisms – have to retreat to biological explanations • Bootstrapping-type learning – learning that is faster that would be expected based on a domain-general view

  30. Adaptive minds • Problem-specificity: • The brain is a naturally constructed computational system whose function is to solve adaptive information-processing problems • Modularity of mind – the Swiss army knife model • face recognition, threat interpretation, language acquisition, or navigation • Domain specificity (environment specifity) – domain generality (modus ponens works in all environmental conditions) • adaptive problems • Permanent to be solved in the life of a species • Enhance reproductive success • What about survival? • The side-effect trick (exaptation) • Walking and skateboarding

  31. MMA hypothesis • Massive modularity • Modern-day phrenology?

  32. Jerry Fodor: Modularity • Differentiation of modules and central processing systems • Modules are: • Domain-specific • Rapid • Informationally encapsulated • Automatic – obligatory firing • Shallow output • Inaccessible to consciousness • Characteristic pattern of breakdown - lesions • „The moon looks bigger when it’s on the horizon; but I know perfectly well it’s not. My visual perception module gets fooled, but I don’t. The question is: who is this I?[…]  If, in short, there is a community of computers living in my head, there had also better be somebody who is in charge; and, by God, it had better be me. ” Jerry Fodor on Pinker and Plotkin • Jerry Fodor: The trouble with psychologicalDarwinism. London Review of Books

  33. Reasoning circuits – rational instincts • Structured around an adaptive problem • Universally present in homo sapiens • Develop without conscious effort (speech vs writing) • Applied without conscious effort • Distinct from more general abilities

  34. Stone age minds • EEA - environment of evolutionary adaptedness • „For this reason, evolutionary psychology is relentlessly past-oriented…” • What is problematic about this argument? • Proximal and distal explanations in psychology • Universalism • the universal, species-typical architecture • reliably develops across the (ancestrally) normal range • psychic unity of humankind – as opposed to marvellous cultural diversity • (Donald Brown – the universal human) • Margaret Mead – coming of age in the Samoa – Derek Freeman

  35. Abstraction (in speech and in thought) Language! baby talk Antonyms Nouns numerals Belief in supernatural/religion – magic (wicca) Beliefs about death, disease, fortune & misfortune Binary cognitive distinctions – antonyms Childhood fear of strangers/loud noises Coalitions Collective identities Cooperation & competition Morals Murder prohibited Rape prohibited Myths & narratives Meals & meal times Marriage Daily routines Melody Metaphors Music Repetition&variation Dance Crying (emotions?) Personal names Planning Prode Promise Recognition of individuals by face Rhythm Rites of passage & rituals Oedipus complex – defense mechanisms self-image The Universal PeopleThe total list comprises about 150 items Donald Brown

  36. The importance of universalism • In theory, evolution could explain diversity – supposing a varying environment would entail varying organisms • Why is universalism so highly emphasized then? • Sociobiology and social Darwinism

  37. Edward O. Wilson • 1971. Insect societies • 1975: Sociobiology: The New Synthesis • 1978: On human nature • In a Darwinian sense the organism does not live for itself. Its primary function is not even to reproduce other organisms; it reproduces genes, and it serves as their temporary carrier... Samuel Butler's famous aphorism, that the chicken is only an egg's way of making another egg, has been modernized: The organism is only DNA's way of making more DNA

  38. Edward O. Wilson • People are animals, their behavior has evolved just like that of the animals, and our culture has a biological component • altruism : self-destructive behavior performed for the benefit of others – what other explanation than culture?

  39. Edward O. Wilson • Culture is the slave of biology – it can only survive as long as it supports biological needs • Gathering of resources (territorial fights) • cooperation – helping relatives • Securing the continuity of the population • Resonates to Nazi „Sozialbiologie”, genetic determinism, eugenics

  40. Richard Lewontin Not in Our Genes • Population geneticist – locus studies • The concept of niche and interaction – the environment does not form passive creatures according to its own accord • Deterministic perspective is false : biological creatures are actively forming their environment • Sould it be different the homo sapiens would not be alive by now • Legitimation and ideology – first God and now science is the weapon – universities the factories that produce them

  41. The danger in evolutionary belief • Sociobiology • The mere idea of struggle and survival is inherent in nature and it is inevitable gives moral justification towards the „unfit” • Mary Midgley: Evolution as a Religion • „Facts will never appear to us as brute and meaningless; they will always organize themselves into some sort of story, some drama” • Buss: the moral/naturalistic fallacy (Dawkins examines it as well) • Does studying heart attack cause heart attacks?

  42. Eugenics • Eu – good, well (euphoria) • Genics – (genes) born (genetics) • any human action whose goal is to improve the gene pool • Renaissance idea: improvement of the world through science: why not better humankind?

  43. Second International Eugenics Conference, 1921

  44. Popularity of eugenics • Originally a field of science!

  45. Trait Intelligence Mental diseases Detrimental mental traits - criminality Physical diseases (tubercolosis) Race Means: Dissemination of information and free choice Vocational counselling Genetic counselling Marriage restriction Segregation Compulsory sterilization Compulsory abortion Forced pregnancy Genocide Multifaceted Eugenics

  46. Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) • Charles Darwin’s half-cousin • and a child prodigy • Statistician • Correlation • Medical studies • 1960 – Oxford Evolution Debate

  47. Hereditary Genius • Count the number of the relatives of various degrees of eminent men • Proposed: • adoption studies • trans-racial adoption studies • Twin studies • adopted and non-adopted • Later: dyzigotic and monozygotic • Aware of the nature-nurture debate • 1883: invented the word eugenics (Inquiries into human faculty and its development) • Dysgenic behaviour of eminent people • Introducing monetary incentives

  48. The Galton Institute (Former Eugenics Society)

  49. The Bell Curve, 1994 • Intelligence predicts: • Financial income • Job performance • Crime • Intelligence is inherited 40-80% • Perils of a custodial State

  50. The Bell Curve, 1994 • Intelligence is normally distributed - g • sum of many small random variations in genetic and environmental factors • Racial claims – differences between blacks and whites • Controversial – APA Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns • At present, no one knows what causes this differential. Validity problem National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience of Youth

More Related