Charles Darwin was never a per se psychologist, but his studies and theories has led to some of the best findings of all time and has slowly shaped several fields of psychology. Darwin helped craft the theory of evolution through his examination of natural selection in nature and showed the world how different variations of animals came to be. While his opinion wasn’t very popular during his time it has become more accepted throughout the years with more facts and because of this, is on the verge of becoming law instead of theory. Darwin’s theoretical concepts, ideas that were astounding for his time, and perspective view of the world has shaped the way health professionals all over the world look at life today. Charles Darwin was an evolutionary
…show more content…
Darwin has commonly been called the father of evolution because he contributed the most to the theory. Darwin’s work was centered around what he called “survival of the fittest” which has come to be known today as natural selection. O’Neil describes natural selection in an article as nature selecting the best varieties of species to survive and reproduce (2013). This is a very good description because Darwin’s phrase of survival of the fittest is commonly misunderstood. As O’Neil goes on to say, many people believe that survival of the fittest refers to the biggest, strongest, and smartest of the species (2013). This is a misconception of the theory of natural selection because Darwin is not referring to the survival of one animal, but to the entire species and specific traits that they carry. It is the specifically different species that will not only survive, but reproduce, passing on the most desired traits of …show more content…
The reproductive part of survival of the fittest is called “sexual selection” rather than natural selection. The basis behind sexual selection is that the most appealing male to the female sex of species will garner more attention from the females and in turn has more offspring. More offspring means that more of the following generation would look more like the appealing male rather than unappealing males. Whye points out on Darwin Online that Darwin stated that “a hornless stag or a spur less cock would have a poor chance of leaving offspring” (2002). This is the part of natural selection that matters the most because it doesn’t matter if a species can survive if they can’t reproduce to spread their genetics to following generations. The combination of the “survival” traits with the “reproduction” traits are what forms natural selection and sexual selection together to form the theory of
Darwin has commonly been called the father of evolution because he contributed the most to the theory. Darwin’s work was centered around what he called “survival of the fittest” which has come to be known today as natural selection. O’Neil describes natural selection in an article as nature selecting the best varieties of species to survive and reproduce (2013). This is a very good description because Darwin’s phrase of survival of the fittest is commonly misunderstood. As O’Neil goes on to say, many people believe that survival of the fittest refers to the biggest, strongest, and smartest of the species (2013). This is a misconception of the theory of natural selection because Darwin is not referring to the survival of one animal, but to the entire species and specific traits that they carry. It is the specifically different species that will not only survive, but reproduce, passing on the most desired traits of …show more content…
The reproductive part of survival of the fittest is called “sexual selection” rather than natural selection. The basis behind sexual selection is that the most appealing male to the female sex of species will garner more attention from the females and in turn has more offspring. More offspring means that more of the following generation would look more like the appealing male rather than unappealing males. Whye points out on Darwin Online that Darwin stated that “a hornless stag or a spur less cock would have a poor chance of leaving offspring” (2002). This is the part of natural selection that matters the most because it doesn’t matter if a species can survive if they can’t reproduce to spread their genetics to following generations. The combination of the “survival” traits with the “reproduction” traits are what forms natural selection and sexual selection together to form the theory of