Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary psychology suggests that in the course of human evolution, our ancestors often encountered difficulties related to survival or reproduction. These challenges are called “adaptive problems.” To solve these problems, we have slowly evolved a unique set of psychological mechanisms that help us better adapt to our environment.

For example, we have a strong taste preference for fat. Evolutionary psychology explains this by stating that this preference has adaptive value in evolutionary history and was more conducive to the survival of primitive humans. This is because fat was a valuable, calorie-rich, and scarce resource in that environment. This is what the book “Evolutionary Psychology” emphasizes. Humans have slowly evolved a series of psychological mechanisms over the course of evolution to help us solve problems and thus better adapt to our environment. But in the case of fat preference, evolutionary psychologists remind us that the mechanisms that have been able to successfully solve problems in evolutionary history don't necessarily help us solve problems in our modern environment. Today, for example, a taste preference for fat can make us overweight and even bring us various diseases.

As a landmark work in evolutionary psychology, this book sheds light on how adaptive problems in evolution affect our psychological mechanisms and the critical features of the psychological mechanisms formed by evolution.