Who likes evolution? Dissociation of human evolution versus evolutionary psychology.

Abstract

Recent media accounts have highlighted opposition to evolutionary theory among certain groups and individuals in the United States. At the same time, evolutionary psychology, which relies on evolutionary theory to explain and predict human behavior, remains a controversial academic discipline. In the following two studies, we investigated the relation between willingness to support evolutionary theory in general and willingness to support key tenets of evolutionary psychology. Our results revealed a double dissociation, whereby endorsers of human evolution displayed relatively weak support for claims derived from evolutionary psychology, whereas non-endorsers of human evolution displayed relatively strong support for such claims. This latter support remained strong, though diminished, when the relation between evolutionary theory and evolutionary psychology was made explicit to respondents. The results suggest that strong support or opposition regarding human evolution does not carry over into corresponding attitudes toward evolutionary psychology.

Nothing in Popular Culture Makes Sense except in the Light of Evolution

“…I genuinely believe that in the not-so-distant future, the key tenets of EP will be noncontentious and will constitute an important part of our popular culture. However, the intellectual battle will be a difficult one, as evidenced by the fact that members of the general public who support evolutionary theory were found to be less receptive to key tenets of EP (as relating to mating) than those who were opponents of evolutionary theory (Ward, Wallaert, & Schwartz, 2011). Apparently, much work remains to be done to sway the public's opinion regarding EP, as exemplified by the case analysis discussed next.…”

Physical attractiveness predicts endorsement of specific evolutionary psychology principles

“…Evolutionary psychology, which attempts to explain the origins of psychological mechanisms by appealing to biological adaptation, has emerged as a controversial approach [ 1 ], particularly in the domain of sex differences in mate preferences [ 2 – 4 ]. Whereas many aspects of evolutionary psychology are undoubtedly not the subject of significant disagreement in the scientific community, some are more controversial.…”

“…Given the sometimes sharp disagreements between supporters and opponents of specific aspects of evolutionary psychology [ 4 ], we sought to investigate a heretofore unexamined variable that might affect support for this particular set of controversial evolutionary psychology predictions: physical attractiveness. Drawing on theories of motivated inference [ 10 , 11 ], we hypothesized that endorsers of particular tenets of evolutionary psychology would be those most likely to benefit under the theory’s assumptions.…”