Can Evolutionary Psychology be Revived

Can Evolutionary Psychology be Revived

A solid epistemological endeavour

8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts,

University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Gottfried A. Suessenbacher, Klagenfurt

8th Alps-Adria Psychology Conference Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

The Hot-Interference-&-Symbolic-Transformation Model

Contents-> Species look for and live on energy

- Evolution of primate species- Preconditions- Transitions- Australopithecines -> Genus homo

-> Energy the species-specific attractor- Transitions

-> The species´ brains evolve due to energy resources-> Energy-management the base of Genus homo´s

symbolic culture


The Hot-Interference-&-Symbolic-Transformation ModelSpecies look for and live on energy

Evolution of primate speciesArchaic primates (similar to Great Apes)~16myaAncestor of Chimpanzees and Genus homo ~10myaAustralopithecines ~6myaHomo habilis & erectus ~2mya Homo ergaster ~1.5myaArcaic Homo sapiens ~0.5-0.2myaHomo neanderthalensis ~0.4-0.025myaHomo sapiens ~0.4-0.0mya

Klein, 1999

Evolution of primate speciesArchaic primates (similar to Great Apes)Ancestor of Chimpanzees and Genus homoAustralopithecines ~6myaHomo habilis & erectus ~2mya Homo ergaster ~1.5myaArcaic Homo sapiens ~0.5-0.2myaHomo neanderthalensis ~0.4-0.025myaHomo sapiens ~0.4-0.0mya

Klein, 1999




PRECONDITIONSFrom Archaic primates to Hominin ancestors toAustralopithecines to Homo habilis & erectus

Oscillations Seasonality & climate changes: Need for adjusting to ecological conditions(moist & temperature, repeated forest contraction etc.)

Ward/Flinn/Begun, 2004



PRECONDITIONS Ward/Flinn/Begun, 2004Oscillations led toarborial and terrestrial locomotion/navigation ->- Cognitive challenges (representational capacity)- Fission-fusion behavior in foraging:

evolution of different primate species dependent on food -Dietary breath: arborial soft food -> technically difficult food & fallback foods

(hard food, foods needing preparation)



PRECONDITIONSFission-fusion according to foraging led to- less rigid dominance & enhanced social tolerance (flexible use of eye contact) - intrasexual bonds with non-kin (Social learning, cultural transmission)

Complex social and ecological demands tangle: Diverse demands need integrated solutions



Transitions = 2.5 mya start of stone manufacturing= 2 mya robust australopithecines (till 1.4 mya)= 2 mya H. erectus (taller) & (later) Neandertals= 250,00 ya H. sapiens replaces H. erectus etc. H.sp.= 100.00-50.00 ya special-purpose tools, human speech, decoration etc (symbols)= 40.000 ya tools from bones, shells, burials, artifacts




“First” /”Great” TransitionFrom Australopithecines to first Homo species = 2.5 mya start of stone manufacturing= 2 mya robust australopithecines (till 1.4 mya)= 2 mya H. erectus (taller) & (later) Neandertals

Variety of stone tools (hand axes) and fire and containers for water & food




“First” /”Great” TransitionFrom Australopithecines to first Homo species From 2.5 mya to 2 mya: Adaptions to different ecosystems and to the environmental factor FIRE

Ignition by solar radiation, volcanic activity, lightningCombustion of wood/pitch, animal fat/hair/dung, beeswax, vegetable fat/oil, tar





Advantages – light, warmth, heatDisadvantages - smoke, explosion, injury, deathIgnition - igniting techniques

Fessler, 2006




Utilities of fire usageCooking (Diet), cave colonization, settlement & hunting, combat (predators, conspecifics), tool production, management of plant resources



“First” /”Great” Transition FU & affective processes -> Adaptation: Discipline Ability- to inhibit impulses towards avoidance/escape- to master nociceptive stimuli (pain) - to adopt and memorize emotional values which develop in the context of fire- to share emotions common to all

The Hot-Interference-&-Symbolic-Transformation ModelEnergy the species-specific attractor


“First” /”Great” Transition FU & cognitive processes -> Adaptation:Cognition (Proto)Logical operations Ability- to recognize elements & their relations - to invent the concept FU & its schemata-to initiate, execute, evaluate FU-behavior (eg. assessing dangers & advantages of fire)



“First” /”Great” Transition FU & communicative behavior -> Adaptation: Rules Exchange of purposeful informationAbility, at first- to develop recursive FU-rituals (peripheral FU- relate to central FU-features) - to use simple forms of empathy- to initiate, execute & evaluate prosocial behavior



“First” /”Great” Transition Interpenetration of Affect, cognition & communication:Need for success in competition AND cooperation

Adaption & by-products:

Target oriented control by recursive group-interaction -> brain alterations

Mithen, 2007



Prinziples of cerebral evolutionAdaptation by

Mosaic cerebral evolutionConzerted cerebral evolution

Neurogenetc prinziples (Deacon´s rule)Late equals largeLarge equals well-connected

Trend in PrimatesIncreasing neocortex-sizeNon-neocortex structures simplified(shifted to/subsumed of neocortex)

Striedter, 2005

The Hot-Interference-&-Symbolic-Transformation ModelThe species´ brains evolve due to energy resources


Need for success in competition AND cooperation:

ToM (Theory of Mind)= Specific adaptation for competition (empathy!)

Gyrus cinguli & Amygdala & …..MSA (Mental State Attribution)= skills for competition AND cooperation(cognition!)

Medial prefrontal Cortex, Lobus temporalis, …..MNS (Mirror Neuron System)= Activation represents the meaning of action

Broca-Region, motoric Cortex, …..

The Hot-Interference-&-Symbolic-Transformation ModelThe species´ brains evolve due to energy resources

1 mya2 mya3 mya 500,00 300,00 100,00 50,00 10,000

1234

5

PFU

Tools

Aust

ralo

pith

ecin

es

20-70 species of Genus HomoStone industries

Homo s. sapiens

Homo neanderthalensis

16th Psychology Days in Zadar – May 2008


01. The mind consists of specialized modules 02. Modules = network within the cerebral substrate 03. Module = domain-specific, relates to Pleistocene 04. Mind is the product of psychological adaptations05. Adaptations solved problems of pleistocene life06. 150.00 years Homo sapiens = genetically to short07. Genus Homo -> aptations, by-products, spandrels08. Selectionally orientated, Human Nature means “normality” in the sense of average in Grey´s Anatomy09. Universal psychological adaptations constituted the regularities of cultures Buller, 2007

The Hot-Interference-&-Symbolic-Transformation ModelEnergy-management the base of Genus homo´s symbolic culture


01. The mind consists of specialized modules 02. Modules = network within the cerebral substrate 03. Module = domain-specific, relates to Pleistocene 04. Mind is the product of psychological adaptations05. Adaptations solved problems of pleistocene life06. 150.00 years Homo sapiens = genetically to short07. Genus Homo -> aptations, by-products, spandrels08. Selectionally orientated, Human Nature means “normality” in the sense of average in Grey´s Anatomy09. Universal psychological adaptations constituted the regularities of cultures



08. Selectionally orientated, Human Nature means “normality” in the sense of average in Grey´s Anatomy09. Universal psychological adaptations constituted the regularities of cultures

(a) “a claim that there exists an universal human nature must be committed to some distinction between normality and abnormality. For, strictly speaking, there are no characteristics that are universally distributed among all and only human beings (Buller, 2007, p. 428).

(b) (b) due to the process of proliferate-and-prune of the brain´s neurons & connections the “´modular´ information-processing structures are environmentally shaped, not ´genetically specified´, outcomes of [different] development´” (p. 134) .




(a) “some cultural universals may have emerged without having been generated by evolved psychological mechanisms” and they

(b) “may signal only a common origin of all the world´s cultures”.

(c) they “may be cultural homologies – cultural traits that derived, possibly with modification, from a cultural trait of the ancestral human population from which we all evolved” (Buller, 2007, 467/68).




Conclusion: Those evolutionary adaptions to different

environmental conditons of FIRE from 2.5 mya to 2 mya

may bring up a solid answer to the endeavour of a solid Evolutionary Psychology



The Hot-Interference-&-Symbolic-Transformation ModelReferences

Buller, D.J. (2006). Adapting Minds. Evolutionary Psychology and the Persistent Quest for Human Nature. Cambridge, MA: MIT. - Deacon, T.W. (1997). The Symbolic Species. The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain. London: Norton. - Merlin, D. (2001). A Mind so Rare. The Evolution of Human Consciousness. New York: Norton. - Platek, St. et al. (2007). Evolutionary Cognitive Neuroscience. Cambridge: MIT.Russon, A.E. & Begun, D.R. (2004). The Evolution of Thought. Evolutionary Origins of Great Ape Intelligence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Striedter, G. (2005). Principles of Brain Evolution. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer.

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Can Evolutionary Psychology be Revived